MARATHI SOCIAL REFORMER, HISTORIAN, THINKER AND WRITER
19th Century Maharashtra
1818 AD – 1850 AD
Maratha Power was extinct after the Anglo-Maratha war of 1818. During Maratha Rule, the army consisted of mainly youth from the farming communities . Farming was sustainable because many farmer families had one son in the army. After the defeat of Marathas, the army was disbanded, almost thirty thousand families’ lost their support system and had to rely entirely on farm output to maintain their family.
Farmers depended entirely on vagaries of nature and the farmers commonly traded their grains for other necessities by barter. The British administration forced the farmers to pay revenue and the impoverished farmer was short of cash. Maharashtra suffered a major drought in 1824 and this severely affected the farming communities. There was no health support system in times of epidemic.
During the six months when there was no crop, many farmers used to weave rough clothes from cotton. This gave them some money to survive. The new rulers wanted to kill the textile industry in India which in 1816 exported cloth to many countries. The British took away cotton at throwaway price and manufactured machine made clothes which were exported to India. This killed the Indian textiles as English clothes were available in plenty at cheap rates.
Lokhitavadi Deshmukh laments at this state of affairs and writes that twenty years down the British rule, India has been impoverished. Every thing is cheap. Land is cheap, Houses are cheap, gold is cheap. Even at throwaway prices, there are few buyers. Landowners are oppressed by taxation. Zamindars are trying to extract whatever they can from tillers. The Patils, Kulkarnis, Deshmukhs and Deshpandes are a hated lot.
Farers are reduced to poverty. Foodgrains are in short supply. The traders have no business and they are unable to support their accountants. The firms , consequently are closing down. Clerks and writers are jobless. What should people do , he lamented ?
