Peasant Tribal and Labour Uprisings

Peasant and tribal uprisings ran in parallel to the elite national movement and often anticipated its mass character. CDS-OTA tests the leadership-location pairings - Birsa Munda, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Sidhu-Kanhu - and the distinction between pre-Gandhian (Indigo, Deccan, Santhal) and Gandhian-era (Champaran, Bardoli) campaigns.

Early Peasant Movements (19th c)

• Indigo Revolt (1859-1860, Bengal):
  • Triggered by tinkathia system - European planters forced ryots to plant indigo on a portion of land at below-cost rates.
  • Leaders: Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Nadia.
  • Newspaper support: Harish Chandra Mukherjee's Hindoo Patriot.
  • Dinabandhu Mitra's play Nil Darpan (1860, translated by Madhusudan Dutt) galvanised opinion.
  • Indigo Commission (1860) - planters discredited; indigo cultivation in Bengal collapsed.
• Pabna Agrarian League (1873): Pabna district (East Bengal). Against zamindari rack-renting. Led to Bengal Tenancy Act 1885.
• Deccan Riots (1875): Pune district. Peasants attacked Marwari and Gujarati moneylenders, burned bonds. Led to Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act 1879.
• Mappila Outbreaks (19th c): Malabar (Kerala) — Mappila peasants against Hindu Nair-Nambudiri landlords. Repeated outbreaks 1830s-1900s.

Tribal Uprisings

Uprising	Year	Leader / Region
Chuar Rebellion	1768-99	Midnapur, Bengal — early tribal uprising against EIC
Bhil Revolts	1818-1846	Western India
Kol Insurrection	1831-32	Chhota Nagpur — Buddho Bhagat. Against money-lenders and revenue farmers
Khond Rising	1837-1856	Chinna Bhoi - Odisha. Against suppression of meriah (human sacrifice)
Santhal Hool	1855-1856	Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand, Bhairav Murmu - Rajmahal Hills. Against zamindars, moneylenders, Company police. Birth of Santhal Parganas as a separate district
Naikda	1858-68	Gujarat - Joria Bhagat
Kacha Naga	1882	Sambudhan
Munda Ulgulan	1899-1900	Birsa Munda - Chhota Nagpur. "Abua raj seter jana" (let our reign come). Birsa died in Ranchi jail 1900. Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act 1908 followed
Bhuyan Rising	1900-13	Dharani Bhuyan - Odisha
Tana Bhagat	1914-19	Jatra Oraon - Chhota Nagpur
Rampa Rebellion	1922-1924	Alluri Sitarama Raju - Andhra (Rampa region, Eastern Ghats). Killed by police in 1924
Naga Movement	1905-31	Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu

Gandhian-Era Peasant Movements

• Champaran Satyagraha (1917): Indigo, Bihar. Tinkathia abolished by Champaran Agrarian Act 1918. Gandhi joined by Rajendra Prasad, Mazharul Haq, J.B. Kripalani, Brajkishore Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha.
• Kheda Satyagraha (1918): Crop failure, revenue suspension demand. Gujarat. Patel emerged as Gandhi's chief lieutenant.
• Awadh Peasant Movement (1920-22): Baba Ramchandra. Eka Movement (1921) — Madari Pasi in Hardoi-Sitapur. Demanded revenue cap and against bedakhli (eviction).
• Moplah (Mappila) Uprising (August-November 1921): Malabar. Started during Khilafat-Non-Cooperation. Mappila peasants against Hindu landlords and Madras government. Brutally suppressed by army; estimates of deaths 3,000+. Wagon tragedy (Nov 1921) - 70 prisoners suffocated in railway wagon.
• Bardoli Satyagraha (1928): Vallabhbhai Patel — title Sardar bestowed here. Tax revision withdrawn after no-tax campaign. Bardoli district (Gujarat).
• All India Kisan Sabha (1936, Lucknow): President N.G. Ranga, General Secretary Sahajanand Saraswati. Demanded zamindari abolition.
• Tebhaga Movement (1946-47, Bengal): Sharecroppers (bargadars) demanded two-thirds of crop instead of half. Led by Kisan Sabha activists.
• Telangana Armed Struggle (1946-1951): Communist-led. Against Razakars (paramilitary of Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan of Hyderabad) and landlords (deshmukhs). After Police Action (Sep 1948) annexed Hyderabad to India, struggle continued against zamindari till 1951.
• Punnapra-Vayalar (1946, Travancore): Communist-led against Diwan Sir CP Ramaswami Aiyar's "American Model" autonomy plan.

Labour Movement

• Early labour: First registered strike - Bombay Bunder Workers 1882. Bombay Mill Hands Association (1890, N.M. Lokhande). Madras Labour Union (1918 - B.P. Wadia).
• AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress): Founded 31 October 1920 at Bombay. First president Lala Lajpat Rai; Dewan Chaman Lall General Secretary.
• Splits:
  • 1929 - communists (M.N. Roy) walked out. Reunited 1938.
  • 1947 - INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress, Congress-affiliated) founded.
  • 1948 - HMS (Hind Mazdoor Sabha, socialist).
  • 1955 - BMS (Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Sangh-affiliated).
  • 1970 - CITU (Centre of Indian Trade Unions, CPI-M).
• Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929-33): 31 communists and trade unionists tried for sedition. Nehru, Gandhi, Aruna Asaf Ali defended.
• Royal Commission on Labour (Whitley, 1931): Investigated working conditions; led to Trade Disputes Act, Factories Act amendments.
• Strikes in interwar period: 1928 Bombay mill workers' strike (six months, 150,000), 1929 GIP Railway strike, 1937-39 Bombay textile strikes.

Continuities into Independent India

• Zamindari abolition (1949-55): All states passed laws within first decade. Compensation paid.
• Land ceiling laws (1960s): Variably implemented.
• Bhoodan (1951): Vinoba Bhave — voluntary land donation movement after Pochampally (Telangana).
• Naxalbari (May 1967): Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal — uprising in Naxalbari (Darjeeling). CPI(M-L) founded 1969. Naxalite-Maoist movement subsequently spread to Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha.
• JP Movement (1974): Bihar - Jayaprakash Narayan's "Total Revolution". Coalesced into Janata Party after Emergency.
• Chipko Movement (1973): Mandal village, Uttarakhand - Sunderlal Bahuguna, Chandi Prasad Bhatt. Forest-rights and ecological campaign.

CDS/OTA PYQ Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the difference between tribal and peasant uprisings?

Tribal uprisings (Santhal, Munda, Bhil, Khond) targeted outsiders (dikus) - moneylenders, zamindars, missionaries, government - and were often religiously charged with millenarian themes. Peasant uprisings (Indigo, Deccan Riots, Bardoli) were against specific revenue or planter grievances and were more secular and localised.

Why is Birsa Munda important?

He led the Munda Ulgulan (1899-1900) against zamindars and dikus in Chhota Nagpur, established a religious-political movement (Birsait), proclaimed himself the prophet of an alternative tribal kingdom, and forced the colonial state to pass the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act 1908 protecting tribal land. His birth anniversary (15 November) is celebrated as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.

What was the impact of the Indigo Revolt?

It was the first peasant movement in colonial India to attract sustained national attention through the press and theatre. The Indigo Commission (1860) found planter abuses; indigo cultivation collapsed in Bengal. The revolt established a template for peasant agitation - newspaper publicity, urban middle-class support, and inquiry commissions.

What was the Telangana armed struggle?

Communist-led peasant uprising in the Telangana region of Hyderabad State (1946-51) against the Nizam, his paramilitary Razakars and large landlords (deshmukhs). Established communist village governments in ~3,000 villages. Continued against the Indian state after Hyderabad's Police Action (1948) until 1951 when CPI called it off.

What were the Mappila uprisings?

Mappila Muslims of Malabar were tenants under Hindu Nambudiri and Nair landlords. Sporadic uprisings throughout the 19th century. The 1921 Moplah uprising began as part of Khilafat agitation, escalated into peasant violence and was savagely suppressed by the army. The Wagon Tragedy (November 1921) - 70 prisoners suffocated in a sealed railway wagon - became a major national grievance.

Related Topics

CDS/OTA HistoryBritish Land Revenue CDS/OTA HistoryGandhian Phase CDS/OTA HistoryRevolutionary Struggle CDS/OTA HistoryEarly National Movement CDS/OTAHistory — Full Syllabus