ঔপনিবেশিক আমলে বীরভূম জেলার কৃষি : একটি ঐতিহাসিক অনুসন্ধান (১৮৫৫-১৯৪৭)/ Agriculture in Birbhum District During the Colonial period: A Historical Investigation (1855-1947)

Abstract

Recent surge in local history research, particularly through subaltern group contributions, has created widespread interest. National history cannot always illuminate local diversity, which gains completeness through local investigations. On Birbhum agriculture, W.W. Hunter's statistical research, Ranjan Kumar Gupta and Gourihar Mitra's socio-economic analyses, and works by Barun Roy, Mahima Niranjan Chakraborty, Amiya Ghosh, and Parthashankha Majumdar have laid important foundations. This paper goes beyond previous research to analyze agriculture's role in Birbhum's economic progress from new perspectives. Before 1855, Birbhum agriculture faced multiple natural and social crises. Between 1792-1855, at least 13 droughts occurred, leaving vast cultivable lands fallow. District officer reports mention landlord-tenant clashes over water scarcity. Severe droughts pushed rice prices in southern areas to 20 rupees per maund, increasing food grain and cattle theft tendencies. Ajay and Mayurakshi river floods rendered lands barren. The 1826 catastrophic flood depicted ryots' misery: "No trace of even mud huts remained." Zamindars neglected embankment repairs despite responsibilities. Kandar canals silted with sand and clay, crippling irrigation systems. In 1790, the Collector wrote: "Cattle are of the smallest breed, incapable of pulling heavy loads." Permanent Settlement turned urban merchants-traders into zamindars; pattani system created multi-layered rent burdens. 1776 famine reduced population, creating labor shortages. The 19th-century agricultural structure and social formation included the district's natural divisions: western rocky-forested areas, central limited cultivable land, eastern fertile lowlands. Aman rice was the main crop, with aus-boro limited, and rabi crops in Nalhati-Murarui thanas. Pre-colonial emperor chief-agent system transformed into zamindar-intermediary exploitation under colonial rule. 1799-1856 saw zamindari estates fragment into multiple parts with numbers multiplying manifold. New zamindars appointed naibs-gomastas; pattani system increased intermediary oppression. The 1859 Act classified ryots: occupancy (3 rupees 6 annas 3 paise/acre), temporary occupancy (3 rupees 14 annas 1 paisa), non-occupancy (4 rupees 2 paise). Grain-cash rents, nazrana payments, and rent increases upon estate transfers impoverished ryots. Post-1855 agricultural modernization featured an average of 5 tanks per village; Shankarpur had 111 tanks for 167 acres. Mayurakshi River Project (1951, inaugurated by Bidhan Chandra Roy: 595,000 acres irrigation, 5,000 kW hydropower), Bakreshwar-Kashinala canals, and chhaini-duni implements revolutionized irrigation. Railway expansion increased tribal labor: 1872 (6,954) to 1931 (64,079). Suri Cattle Show and imported foreign bulls (Multani, Hariana) improved livestock. Sriniketan (1921, Elmhirst, Rabindranath Tagore as Chancellor): new crops, hundi sugarcane, crossbred cattle, cooperative banks, and gaantoprottha system made farmers self-reliant. Cooperatives (1904 Act): 1926-27 saw 13,336 societies with ₹32,083,931 capital providing low-interest loans, reducing moneylender exploitation. Birbhum agriculture overcame traditional oppression-natural calamities to advance toward modernization. Sriniketan's rural reconstruction and co-operative movements exemplify unique local initiatives in Bengal's agricultural history, making this essential for understanding Bengal's comprehensive agricultural systems.