The pace of commercialisation of agriculture increased as a result of British revenue policies in India. Critically examine.

Answer:

Commercialisation of agriculture means the growing production of crops for market rather than only for local consumption. Under British rule, this process increased because revenue policies forced peasants to produce saleable crops and enter market networks. However, commercialisation was not always a sign of prosperity; in many regions it was coercive, uneven and linked with colonial exploitation.

British Revenue Policies and Commercialisation

Cash revenue demand:

• British land revenue was generally demanded in cash rather than kind.
• Peasants therefore had to sell part of their produce in the market to pay revenue.
• This pushed agriculture towards monetisation and market dependence.
• Even subsistence cultivators were drawn into commercial exchange.

High and rigid revenue assessment:

• In many regions, revenue demand was high and had to be paid within fixed time.
• Failure to pay revenue could lead to loss of land, auction or indebtedness.
• This forced peasants to cultivate crops that could fetch cash.
• Thus, revenue pressure accelerated production for market.

Permanent Settlement:

• In Bengal, zamindars had to pay fixed revenue to the Company.
• To meet their obligations and increase rent income, they pressured peasants to produce more.
• This encouraged commercial crops in some areas, though it also led to rent extraction and peasant distress.

Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems:

• In ryotwari areas, the state dealt directly with cultivators and demanded cash revenue.
• In mahalwari areas, village communities or landholders bore collective responsibility.
• In both systems, revenue pressure increased dependence on moneylenders and markets.

Expansion of Commercial Crops

Export-oriented agriculture:

• British rule encouraged crops needed for imperial markets and industries.
• Indigo, cotton, jute, tea, coffee, opium and sugarcane expanded in different regions.
• Cotton cultivation grew due to demand from British textile mills.
• Jute expanded in Bengal for global industrial use.

Plantation and coercive systems:

• Tea and coffee plantations developed under European capital.
• Indigo cultivation in Bengal often involved coercion by planters.
• The Indigo Revolt showed that commercialisation could be exploitative rather than voluntary.

Critical Examination

Not simply economic progress:

• Commercialisation did not necessarily improve peasant income.
• Peasants often had to sell produce immediately after harvest when prices were low.
• They depended on moneylenders, traders and planters.
• Debt and land alienation increased.

Food insecurity:

• Shift towards cash crops could reduce attention to food crops in some regions.
• Market dependence made peasants vulnerable to price fluctuations.
• Famines became more severe when food availability, purchasing power and colonial export priorities clashed.

Regional variation:

• Commercialisation was stronger in areas connected with ports, railways and export markets.
• It was weaker in remote subsistence regions.
• Therefore, the process was uneven across India.

Role of railways and global market:

• Revenue policy alone did not cause commercialisation.
• Railways, roads, ports, global demand, moneylenders and merchant capital also played important roles.
• British revenue policies created pressure, while transport and trade networks created opportunity and compulsion.

R.C. Dutt and nationalist economists saw commercialisation as part of colonial exploitation and drain of wealth. Later historians have shown that some peasants benefited temporarily in favourable market conditions, but the broader structure remained unequal. Therefore, British revenue policies did increase the pace of commercialisation of agriculture, but this commercialisation was largely colonial, coercive and vulnerable, rather than a balanced capitalist transformation of Indian agriculture.