Peasants and Imperial Rule

This book is a detailed historical study of agriculture and agrarian society in a major province of British India, the Bombay presidency. Its objective is to examine the impact of British rule on the Indian peasantry, and the changes it brought. Among the specific issues discussed by the author are the development of the British land revenue system, the pattern of expansion in commercial agriculture and the consequences in terms of ownership and organisation of land and agrarian social structure. Dr Charlesworth goes on to look at the role of government policy, the nature of peasant protest movements and the effects of the interwar depression. He concludes that significant long-term economic and social change did occur but that the highly 'differential' pattern to commercialisation prevented any structural transformation in the peasant economy and society.