Consider the following statements concerning the Peasant Movements of ...
Causes of Peasant movements in Colonial period:
i. Colonial economic policies,
ii. Ruin of the handicrafts leading to overcrowding of land,
iii. The new land revenue system,
iv. Colonial administrative and judicial system.
The peasants suffered from high rents, illegal levies, arbitrary evictions and unpaid labour in Zamindari areas. In Ryotwari areas, the Government itself levied heavy land revenue.
The overburdened farmer, fearing loss of his only source of livelihood, often approached the local moneylender who made full use of the former’s difficulties by extracting high rates of interests on the money lent.
Often, the farmer had to mortgage his hand and cattle. Sometimes, the moneylender seized the mortgaged belongings. Gradually, over large areas, the actual cultivators were reduced to the status of tenants-at-will, share croppers and landless labourers.
The peasants often resisted the exploitation, and soon they realised that their real enemy was the colonial state. Sometimes, the desperate peasants took to crime to come out of intolerable conditions. These crimes included robbery, dacoity and what has been called social banditry.