UPSC Previous Year Questions Mains: The Revolt of 1857 | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Q.1. The 1857 Uprising was the culmination of the recurrent big and small local rebellions that had occurred in the preceding hundred years of British Rule. Elucidate. (UPSC MAINS GS1 )

Answer:

Introduction
Though many people consider 1857 revolt as the first major resentment against the British rule, however there were many incidents before 1857 revolt that indicated that there was a building resentment against the rule of Britishers.
Types of revolts occurred in the last 100 years from 1857:
In the last hundred (1757-1857) there were many revolts occurred that eventually led to uprising of 1857 revolt, which can be divided into 4 major parts:

• Civil revolts: These were the first group of people who revolted against Britishers to secure their traditional and customary rights. For instance, sanyasi revolts (1763-1800) ,revolts in Midnapore and Dhalbhum during 1766-74, revolts of Moamarias in Ahom state 1769, revolt of Raja of Vijayanagaram 1794 ,and civil rebellion in Awadh 1799 ,Kuka 1840 ,Surat salt agitation of 1840s were some major civilian revolts with common causes of resentment, that were illegal tax demands and oppression by police ,judiciary and revenue department.
• Tribal revolts: Tribal movements under British rule were the most frequent militants and violent of all movements. some of them were Chuar uprising of midnapur,Bengal of 1770s ,Kol of Chhota Nagpur during 1830s led by Buddho Bhagat,Khond uprising of Odisha 1835 to 1856 led by Chakra Bisnoi ,Santhal uprising led by Siddhu and Kanu just before 1857 revolt,Bhil and Ramoshi uprising in western India. The resentment of tribal against Britishers were mainly due to imposition of forest rights Act, forcefully conversion of tribals by Christian missionaries, oppression by money lenders and zamindars after extension of permanent settlement in tribal areas.
• Peasant revolts: Peasants uprising were protests against evictions, increase in rents of land, and moneylenders greedy ways and their demands was occupancy rights for peasants. some major and minor peasants revolts were for instance : pagal panthis of Bengal led by Karamshah during 1825 to 35,Faraizi revolt in eastern Bengal led by Hazi Shariatullah and his son Dadu Milan, Mopillah uprising in Malabar during 1834to 1854 and Paika revolt of Khurda, Odisha led by B Jagbandhu. The common provoking cause of resentment of these peasants were exorbitant demand of land revenue, oppression of officials and frequent occurrence of drought and famine etc.
• Princely states revolts: With the expansion of Britishers in India some princely states were annexed on excuse of maladministration and use of diplomacy of subsidiary alliance and Doctrine of Lapse. For instance Mysore in 1831 by William Bantick, Jhansi in 1852, Awadh in 1856. They also revolted against Britishers.

Conclusion
Thus, it can be said that these rebellions-which were localised in nature, lacking of efficient leadership and influenced by backward looking ideology were suppressed by Britishers with use of force but still they established a culture of resistance among natives and eventually prepared the way for 1857 revolt.

Q.2. Explain how the Uprising of 1857 constitutes an important watershed in the evolution of British policies towards colonial India. (UPSC MAINS GS1 )

Answer:

• One of the important events of Indian history is the 'Revolt of 1857' or 'India's first war of Independence' or 'The Sepoy Mutiny'. It was the first rebellion against the East India Company which took the massive form. It showed resentment towards British policies thus it acted as the watershed in the evolution of British policies towards colonial India. 
• Britishers felt that the efforts to westernize the Indian society were one of the reasons which caused the mutiny, after the revolt they tried to integrate Indian higher castes and rulers into the government and abolished any attempts of westernisation. Similarly the government distanced itself further from the Christian missionaries. 
• The revolt depicted the Hindu-Muslin unity thus Britishers started to appease one community over the other giving rise to the divide and rule policy. 
• It led to the dissolution of the east India company in 1858 with the passage of government of India act and was there after directly governed by the crown. 
• A new post named Secretary of State was created to govern India and formulate Indian policy. The Governor General from now on called as viceroy implemented the policies. 
• Doctrine of lapse policy was one of the main causes of the revolt was ended. 
• Administrative changes were made in the executive, legislative and judicial arenas with greater participation of Indians .This change was visible in the Indian Council Act 1861, the Indian High court act 1861 and the Indian Civil Services Act 1861. 
• After the rebellion British reorganized the army and brought changes in the financial system and administration as well. These troops were replaced by new units recruited from castes hitherto under-utilized by the British and from the so-called "Martial Races", such as the Sikhs and the Gorkhas, which were not part of mainstream Indian culture. 
• The British increased the ratio of British to Indian soldiers within India. From 1861 Indian artillery was replaced by British units.