Revenue demand and peasant debt

The first revenue settlement in the Bombay Deccan was introduced in the 1820s. The demand was set so high that in many places peasants simply abandoned their villages and migrated to other regions. The problem was worst in areas with poor soil and unreliable rainfall. When the rains failed and harvests were poor, peasants found it impossible to pay the revenue.

Yet the collectors in charge of revenue collection were determined to show their efficiency and please their superiors. They extracted payment with utmost severity. If someone failed to pay, his crops were seized and a fine was imposed on the entire village.

By the 1830s the situation grew far worse. After 1832, agricultural prices fell sharply and did not recover for over fifteen years. This meant a further decline in peasants' income. At the same time, a devastating famine struck the Deccan in 1832–34. One-third of the cattle died, and half the human population perished. Those who survived had no agricultural stocks left to see them through the crisis. Unpaid balances of revenue mounted.

How did cultivators live through such years? How did they pay the revenue, buy their everyday needs, purchase ploughs and cattle, or get their children married? Inevitably, they borrowed. Revenue could rarely be paid without a loan from a moneylender. But once a loan was taken, the ryot found it difficult to repay. As debt mounted and loans remained unpaid, peasants' dependence on moneylenders increased. They now needed loans even to buy everyday necessities and meet production expenses.

By the 1840s, officials were finding evidence of alarming levels of peasant indebtedness everywhere. …