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CONTEMPOARY INDIA (NCERT) CHAPTER 5-7 AND OUR PAST 3-PART 1
CHAPTER1,2

DAY 8 SYLLABUS-23-1-18

5.MINERALS AND ENERGY RESOURCES

1. Toothpaste cleans your teeth. Abrasive minerals like silica, limestone,

aluminium oxide and various phosphate minerals do the cleaning. Fluoride
which is used to reduce cavities, comes from a mineral fluorite. Most
toothpaste are made white with titanium oxide, which comes from minerals
called rutile, ilmenite and anatase. The sparkle in some toothpastes comes
from mica. The toothbrush and tube containing the paste are made of plastics
from petroleum.

2. All living things need minerals Life processes cannot occur without minerals.
Although our mineral intake represents only about 0.3 per cent of our total
intake of nutrients, they are so potent and so important that without them we
would not be able to utilise the other 99.7 per cent of foodstuff

3. Geologists define mineral as a “homogenous, naturally occurring substance

with a definable internal structure.” Minerals are found in varied forms in
nature, ranging from the hardest diamond to the softest talc.

4. Minerals are usually found in “ores”. The term ore is used to describe an
accumulation of any mineral mixed with other elements. The mineral content
of the ore must be in sufficient concentration to make its extraction
commercially viable. The type of formation or structure in which they are found
determines the relative ease with which mineral ores may be mined. This also
determines the cost of extraction. It is, therefore, important for us to
understand the main types of formations in which minerals occur

5.Minerals generally occur in these forms: (i) In igneous and metamorphic

rocks minerals may occur in the cracks, crevices, faults or joints. The smaller
occurrences are called veins and the larger are called lodes. In most cases, they

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are formed when minerals in liquid/ molten and gaseous forms are forced
upward through cavities towards the earth’s surface. They cool and solidify as
they rise. Major metallic minerals like tin, copper, zinc and lead etc. are
obtained from veins and lodes.

(ii) In sedimentary rocks a number of minerals occur in beds or layers. They

have been formed as a result of deposition, accumulation and concentration in
horizontal strata. Coal and some forms of iron ore have been concentrated as a
result of long periods under great heat and pressure. Another group of
sedimentary minerals include gypsum, potash salt and sodium salt. These are
formed as a result of evaporation especially in arid regions. (iii) Another mode
of formation involves the decomposition of surface rocks, and the removal of
soluble constituents, leaving a residual mass of weathered material containing
ores. Bauxite is formed this way.

6. (iv) Certain minerals may occur as alluvial deposits in sands of valley floors
and the base of hills. These deposits are called ‘placer deposits’ and generally
contain minerals, which are not corroded by water. Gold, silver, tin and
platinum are most important among such minerals.

7(v) The ocean waters contain vast quantities of minerals, but most of these are
too widely diffused to be of economic significance. However, common salt,
magnesium and bromine are largely derived from ocean waters. The ocean
beds, too, are rich in manganese nodule.

8. Rat-Hole Mining. Do you know that most of the minerals in India are
nationalised and their extraction is possible only after obtaining due
permission from the government? But in most of the tribal areas of the north-
east India, minerals are owned by individuals or communities. In Meghalaya,
there are large deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and dolomite etc. Coal
mining in Jowai and Cherapunjee is done by family member in the form of a
long narrow tunnel, known as ‘Rat hole’ mining.

9. India is fortunate to have fairly rich and varied mineral resources. However,
these are unevenly distributed. Broadly speaking, peninsular rocks contain
most of the reserves of coal, metallic minerals, mica and many other non-
metallic minerals.

10.Sedimentary rocks on the western and eastern flanks of the peninsula, in

Gujarat and Assam have most of the petroleum deposits. Rajasthan with the
rock systems of the peninsula, has reserves of many non-ferrous minerals. The
vast alluvial plains of north India are almost devoid of economic minerals.

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These variations exist largely because of the differences in the geological
structure, processes and time involved in the formation of minerals.

11. Iron Ore Iron ore is the basic mineral and the backbone of industrial
development. India is endowed with fairly abundant resources of iron ore. India
is rich in good quality iron ores. Magnetite is the finest iron ore with a very
high content of iron up to 70 per cent. It has excellent magnetic qualities,
especially valuable in the electrical industry. Hematite ore is the most
important industrial iron ore in terms of the quantity used, but has a slightly
lower iron content than magnetite. (50-60 per cent).

12. The major iron ore belts in India are: • Odisha-Jharkhand belt: In Odisha
high grade hematite ore is found in Badampahar mines in the Mayurbhanj and
Kendujhar districts. In the adjoining Singbhum district of Jharkhand
haematite iron ore is mined in Gua and Noamundi. • Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur
belt lies in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. And Ballari-Chitradurga-
ChikkamagaluruTumakuru belt in Karnataka, Maharashtra-Goa belt includes
the state of Goa and Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

13. Manganese Manganese is mainly used in the manufacturing of steel and

ferro-manganese alloy. Nearly 10 kg of manganese is required to manufacture
one tonne of steel. It is also used in manufacturing bleaching powder,
insecticides and paints

14. Copper India is critically deficient in the reserve and production of copper
The Balaghat mines in Madhya Pradesh, Khetri mines in Rajasthan and
Singhbhum district of Jharkhand are leading producers of copper. Bauxite
Though, several ores contain aluminium, it is from bauxite, a clay-like
substance that alumina and later aluminium is obtained.

15. Bauxite deposits are formed by the decomposition of a wide variety of rocks
rich in aluminium silicates, India’s bauxite deposits are mainly found in the
Amarkantak plateau, Maikal hills and the plateau region of Bilaspur-Katni.

16. After the discovery of aluminium Emperor Napoleon III wore buttons and
hooks on his clothes made of aluminium and served food to his more
illustrious guests in aluminium utensils and the less honourable ones were
served in gold and silver utensils. Thirty years after this incident aluminium
bowls were most common with the beggars in Paris.

17. Mica is a mineral made up of a series of plates or leaves. It splits easily into
thin sheet . Mica deposits are found in the northern edge of the Chota Nagpur

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plateau. Koderma Gaya – Hazaribagh belt of Jharkhand is the leading
producer. In Rajasthan, the major mica producing area is around Ajmer.
Nellore mica belt of Andhra Pradesh is also an important producer in the
country.

18. Limestone is found in association with rocks composed of calcium

carbonates or calcium and magnesium carbonates. It is found in sedimentary
rocks of most geological formations. Limestone is the basic raw material for the
cement industry and essential for smelting iron ore in the blast furnace.

19. Conventional Sources of Energy Coal: In India, coal is the most abundantly
available fossil fuel. It provides a substantial part of the nation’s energy needs.
It is used for power generation, to supply energy to industry as well as for
domestic needs.

India is highly dependent on coal for meeting its commercial energy

requirements. As you are already aware that coal is formed due the
compression of plant material over millions of years. Coal, therefore, is found in
a variety of forms depending on the degrees of compression and the depth and
time of burial.

Decaying plants in swamps produce peat. Which has a low carbon and high
moisture contents and low heating capacity. Lignite is a low grade brown coal,
which is soft with high moisture content. The principal lignite reserves are in
Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and are used for generation of electricity. Coal that has
been buried deep and subjected to increased temperatures is bituminous coal.
It is the most popular coal in commercial use.

Metallurgical coal is high grade bituminous coal which has a special value for
smelting iron in blast furnaces.

Anthracite is the highest quality hard coal. In India coal occurs in rock series of
two main geological ages, namely Gondwana, a little over 200 million years in
age and in tertiary deposits which are only about 55 million years old. The
major resources of Gondwana coal, which are metallurgical coal, are located in
Damodar valley (West Bengal-Jharkhand). Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro are
important coalfields. The Godavari, Mahanadi, Son and Wardha valleys also
contain coal deposits. Tertiary coals occur in the north eastern states of
Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

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 Remember coal is a bulky material, which loses weight on use as it is reduced
to ash. Hence, heavy industries and thermal power stations are located on or
near the coalfields.

20. Petroleum Petroleum or mineral oil is the next major energy source in India
after coal. It provides fuel for heat and lighting, lubricants for machinery and
raw materials for a number of manufacturing industries. Petroleum refineries
act as a “nodal industry” for synthetic textile, fertiliser and numerous chemical
industries.

Most of the petroleum occurrences in India are associated with anticlines and
fault traps in the rock formations of the tertiary age. In regions of folding,
anticlines or domes, it occurs where oil is trapped in the crest of the upfold.
The oil bearing layer is a porous limestone or sandstone through which oil may
flow. The oil is prevented from rising or sinking by intervening non-porous
layers.

Petroleum is also found in fault traps between porous and non-porous rocks.
Gas, being lighter usually occurs above the oil. About 63 per cent of India’s
petroleum production is from Mumbai High, 18 per cent from Gujarat and 16
per cent from Assam. From the map locate the 3 major off shore fields of
western India. Ankeleshwar is the most important field of Gujarat.

Assam is the oldest oil producing state of India. Digboi, Naharkatiya and
Moran-Hugrijan are the important oil fields in the state.

21.Natural Gas Natural gas is an important clean energy resource found in

association with or without petroleum. It is used as a source of energy as well
as an industrial raw material in the petrochemical industry Natural gas is
considered an environment friendly fuel because of low carbon dioxide
emissions and is,

therefore, the fuel for the present century. Large reserves of natural gas have
been discovered in the Krishna- Godavari basin. Along the west coast the
reserves of the Mumbai High and allied fields are supplemented by finds in the
Gulf of Cambay. Andaman and Nicobar islands are also important areas having
large reserves of natural gas.

The 1700 km long Hazira-Vijaipur - Jagdishpur cross country gas pipeline

links Mumbai High and Bassien with the fertilizer, power and industrial
complexes in western and northern India.

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22. Thermal electricity is generated by using coal, petroleum and natural gas.
The thermal power stations use non-renewable fossil fuels for generating
electricity. There are over 310 thermal power plants

23. Nuclear or Atomic Energy It is obtained by altering the structure of atoms.

When such an alteration is made, much energy is released in the form of heat
and this is used to generate electric power. Uranium and Thorium, which are
available in Jharkhand and the Aravalli ranges of Rajasthan are used for
generating atomic or nuclear power. The Monazite sands of Kerala is also rich
in Thorium.

24. Wind power India has great potential of wind power. The largest wind farm
cluster is located in Tamil Nadu from Nagarcoil to Madurai. Apart from these,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra and Lakshadweep
have important wind farms. Nagarcoil and Jaisalmer are well known for
effective use of wind energy in the country

25. Biogas Shrubs, farm waste, animal and human waste are used to produce
biogas for domestic consumption in rural areas. Decomposition of organic
matter yields gas, which has higher thermal efficiency in comparison to
kerosene, dung cake and charcoal. Biogas plants are set up at municipal,
cooperative and individual levels. The plants using cattle dung are known as
‘Gobar gas plants’ in rural India. These provide twin benefits to the farmer in
the form of energy and improved quality of manure.

26. Biogas is by far the most efficient use of cattle dung. It improves the quality
of manure and also prevents the loss of trees and manure due to burning of
fuel wood and cow dung cakes.

27.Tidal Energy Oceanic tides can be used to generate electricity. Floodgate

dams are built across inlets. During high tide water flows into the inlet and
gets trapped when the gate is closed.

After the tide falls outside the flood gate, the water retained by the floodgate
flows back to the sea via a pipe that carries it through a power-generating
turbine. In India the Gulf of Khambhat, the Gulf of Kuchchh in Gujarat on the
western coast and Gangetic delta in Sunderban regions of West Bengal provide
ideal conditions for utilising tidal energy.

Geo Thermal Energy Geo thermal energy refers to the heat and electricity
produced by using the heat from the interior of the Earth. Geothermal energy
exists because, the Earth grows progressively hotter with increasing depth.

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Where the geothermal gradient is high, high temperatures are found at
shallow depths. Groundwater in such areas absorbs heat from the rocks and
becomes hot. It is so hot that when it rises to the earth’s surface, it turns into
steam.

This steam is used to drive turbines and generate electricity. There are several
hundred hot springs in India, which could be used to generate electricity. Two
experimental projects have been set up in India to harness geothermal energy.
One is located in the Parvati valley near Manikarn in Himachal Pradesh and
the other is located in the Puga Valley, Ladakh.

6.MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRIES

1. Textile Industry: The textile industry occupies unique position in the Indian
economy, because it contributes significantly to industrial production (14 per
cent), employment generation (35 million persons directly – the second largest
after agriculture) and foreign exchange earnings (about 24.6 per cent). It
contributes 4 per cent towards GDP. It is the only industry in the country,
which is self-reliant and complete in the value chain i.e., from raw material to
the highest value added products.

2. In the early years, the cotton textile industry was concentrated in the cotton
growing belt of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Availability of raw cotton, market,
transport including accessible port facilities, labour, moist climate, etc.
contributed towards its localisation.

ndia exports yarn to Japan. Other importers of cotton goods from India are
U.S.A., U.K., Russia, France, East European countries, Nepal, Singapore, Sri
Lanka, and African countries.

3. Jute Textiles India is the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods and
stands at second place as an exporter after Bangladesh. There were about 80
jute mills in India in 2010-11. Most of these are located in West Bengal, mainly
along the banks of the Hugli river, in a narrow belt

Factors responsible for their location in the Hugli basin are: proximity of the
jute producing areas, inexpensive water transport, supported by a good
network of railways, roadways and waterways to facilitate movement of raw
material to the mills, abundant water for processing raw jute, cheap labour

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from West Bengal and adjoining states of Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.
Kolkata as a large urban centre provides banking, insurance and port facilities
for export of jute goods.

4. Challenges faced by the industry include stiff competition in the

international market from synthetic substitutes and from other competitors
like Bangladesh, Brazil, Philippines, Egypt and Thailand. However, the internal
demand has been on the increase due to the Government policy of mandatory
use of jute packaging. To stimulate demand, the products need to be
diversified. In 2005, National Jute Policy was formulated with the objective of
increasing productivity, improving quality, ensuring good prices to the jute
farmers and enhancing the yield per hectare.

5. Production and consumption of steel is often regarded as the index of a

country’s development. Iron and steel is a heavy industry because all the raw
materials as well as finished goods are heavy and bulky entailing heavy
transportation costs. Iron ore, coking coal and lime stone are required in the
ratio of approximately 4 : 2 : 1

6.Most of the public sector undertakings market their steel through Steel
Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL). In the 1950s China and India produced almost
the same quantity of steel. Today, China is the largest producer of steel.

7.China is also the world’s largest consumer of steel. In 2004, India was the
largest exporter of steel which accounted for 2.25 per cent of the global steel
trade. Chotanagpur plateau region has the maximum concentration of iron and
steel industries. It is largely, because of the relative advantages this region has
for the development of this industry. These include, low cost of iron ore, high
grade raw materials in proximity, cheap labour and vast growth potential in the
home market.

Though, India is an important iron and steel producing country in the world
yet, we are not able to perform to our full potential largely due to: (a) High costs
and limited availability of coking coal (b) Lower productivity of labour (c)
Irregular supply of energy and (d) Poor infrastructure.

8. Aluminium smelting plants in the country are located in Odisha, West

Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu.

9. Chemical Industries The Chemical industry in India is fast growing and

diversifying. It contributes approximately 3 per cent of the GDP. It is the third

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largest in Asia and occupies the twelfth place in the world in term of its size. It
comprises both large and small scale manufacturing units.

10. Fertiliser Industry The fertiliser industry is centred around the production
of nitrogenous fertilisers (mainly urea), phosphatic fertilisers and ammonium
phosphate (DAP) and complex fertilisers which have a combination of nitrogen
(N), phosphate (P), and potash (K). The third, i.e. potash is entirely imported as
the country does not have any reserves of commercially usable potash or
potassium compounds in any form. India is the third largest producer of
nitrogenous fertilisers.

There are 57 fertiliser units manufacturing nitrogenous and complex

nitrogenous fertilisers, 29 for urea and 9 for producing ammonium sulphate as
a byproduct and 68 other small units produce single superphosphate. At
present, there are 10 public sector undertakings and one in cooperative sector
at Hazira in Gujarat under the Fertiliser Corporation of India.

After the Green Revolution the industry expanded to several other parts of the
country. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala contribute
towards half the fertiliser production. Other significant producers are Andhra
Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, Goa,
Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

11. The first cement plant was set up in Chennai in 1904. After Independence
the industry expanded. Decontrol of price and distribution since 1989 and
other policy reforms led the cement industry to make rapid strides in capacity,
process, technology and production

12. NTPC shows the way NTPC is a major power providing corporation in India.
It has ISO certification for EMS (Environment Management System) 14001. The
corporation has a pro-active approach for preserving the natural environment
and resources like water, oil and gas and fuels in places where it is setting up
power plants.

This has been possible through(a) Optimum utilisation of equipment adopting

latest techniques and upgrading existing equipment. (b) Minimising waste
generation by maximising ash utilisation. (c) Providing green belts for nurturing
ecological balance and addressing the question of special purpose vehicles for
afforestation. (d) Reducing environmental pollution through ash pond
management, ash water recycling system and liquid waste management.

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7.LIFELINES OF INDIAN ECONOMY

1. National Highways: National Highways link extreme parts of the country.

These are the primary road systems and are laid and maintained by the
Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

2. State Highways: Roads linking a state capital with different district

headquarters are known as State Highways. These roads are constructed and
maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD) in State and Union
Territories.

3.District Roads: These roads connect the district headquarters with other
places of the district. These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.

4. Other Roads: Rural roads, which link rural areas and villages with towns,
are classified under this category. These roads received special impetus under
the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.

5. Road Density The length of road per 100 sq. km of area is known as density
of roads. Distribution of road is not uniform in the country. Density of all roads
varies from only 12.14 km in Jammu and Kashmir to 517.77 km in Kerala (as
on 31 March 2011) with the national average of 142.68 km (31 March 2011).

6. There are three important networks of pipeline transportation in the

country. • From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), via
Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from Barauni to Haldia, via
Rajbandh, Rajbandh to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri.

7. From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab, via Viramgam, Mathura,

Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali (near Vadodara, Gujarat)
Chakshu and other places. • Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects
Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh, via Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It has branches
to Kota in Rajasthan, Shahajahanpur, Babrala and other places in Uttar
Pradesh

8.Lot of content already seen through last geography ,so need to revise here.

Ncert our past -3 part 1

1. In 1817, James Mill, a Scottish economist and political philosopher,
published a massive three-volume work, A History of British India. In

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 this he divided Indian history into three periods – Hindu, Muslim and
British. This periodisation came to be widely accepted. Can you think of
any problem with this way of looking at Indian history.
2. British rule, Mill felt, could civilise India. To do this it was necessary to
introduce European manners, arts, institutions and laws in India. Mill,
in fact, suggested that the British should conquer all the territories in
India to ensure the enlightenment and happiness of the Indian people.
For India was not capable of progress without British help.
3. You will also come to know about the changes British rule brought about
in values and tastes, customs and practices. When the subjugation of
one country by another leads to these kinds of political, economic, social
and cultural changes, we refer to the process as colonization
4. One important source is the official records of the British administration.
The British believed that the act of writing was important. Every
instruction, plan, policy decision, agreement, investigation had to be
clearly written up.
5. In 1946 the colonial government in India was trying to put down a
mutiny that broke out on the ships of the Royal Indian Navy. Here is a
sample of the kind of reports the Home Department
6. The practice of surveying also became common under the colonial
administration. The British believed that a country had to be properly
known before it could be effectively administered.
7. By the early nineteenth century detailed surveys were being carried out
to map the entire country. In the villages, revenue surveys were
conducted. The effort was to know the topography, the soil quality, the
flora, the fauna, the local histories, and the cropping pattern – all the
facts seen as necessary to know about to administer the region. From the
end of the nineteenth century, Census operations were held every ten
years.
8. What official records do not tell From this vast corpus of records we can
get to know a lot, but
9. We must remember,there are official documents.they tell us what
officials feels,not people.

2.TRADE TO TERRIORITY
1. Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers. He established
control over a very large part of the territory that is now known as India.

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 After his death in 1707, many Mughal governors (subadars) and big
zamindars began asserting their authority and establishing regional
kingdoms

2. In 1600, the East India Company acquired a charter from the ruler of
England, Queen Elizabeth I, granting it the sole right to trade with the East.
This meant that no other trading group in England could compete with the
East India Company. With this charter the Company could venture across
the oceans, looking for new lands from which it could buy goods at a cheap
price, and carry them back to Europe to sell at higher prices.

3.The Company did not have to fear competition from other English trading
companies. Mercantile trading companies in those days made profit
primarily by excluding competition, so that they could buy cheap and sell
dear. The royal charter, however, could not prevent other European powers
from entering the Eastern markets.

4.By the time the first English ships sailed down the west coast of Africa,
round the Cape of Good Hope, and crossed the Indian Ocean, the
Portuguese had already established their presence in the western coast of
India, and had their base in Goa. In fact, it was Vasco da Gama, a
Portuguese explorer, who had discovered this sea route to India in 1498.

5.By the early seventeenth century, the Dutch too were exploring the
possibilities of trade in the Indian Ocean. Soon the French traders arrived
on the scene. The problem was that all the companies were interested in
buying the same things. The fine qualities of cotton and silk produced in
India had a big market in Europe. Pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon
too were in great demand.

6.Competition amongst the European companies inevitably pushed up the

prices at which these goods could be purchased, and this reduced the
profits that could be earned. The only way the trading companies could
flourish was by eliminating rival competitors.

The urge to secure markets therefore led to fierce battles between the
trading companies. Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they
regularly sank each other’s ships, blockaded routes, and prevented rival
ships from moving with supplies of goods. Trade was carried on with arms
and trading posts were protected through fortification.

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 7. East India Company begins trade in Bengal The first English factory was
set up on the banks of the river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from
which the Company’s traders, known at that time as “factors”, operated. The
factory had a warehouse where goods for export were stored, and it had
offices where Company officials sat. As trade expanded, the Company
persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory.

By 1696 it began building a fort around the settlement. Two years later it
bribed Mughal officials into giving the Company zamindari rights over three
villages. One of these was Kalikata, which later grew into the city of Calcutta
or Kolkata as it is known today. It also persuaded the Mughal emperor
Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting the Company the right to trade duty
free.

8.The Company tried continuously to press for more concessions and

manipulate existing privileges. Aurangzeb’s farman, for instance, had
granted only the Company the right to trade duty free. But officials of the
Company, who were carrying on private trade on the side, were expected to
pay duty. This they refused to pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for
Bengal. How could the Nawab of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan, not protest?
Local boats bring goods from ships in Madras, painted by William Simpson.

9. How trade led to battles Through the early eighteenth century the conflict
between the Company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified. After the death
of Aurangzeb, the Bengal nawabs asserted their power and autonomy, as
other regional powers were doing at that time. Murshid Quli Khan was
followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the Nawab of Bengal.
Each one of them was a strong ruler.

10.They refused to grant the Company concessions, demanded large

tributes for the Company’s right to trade, denied it any right to mint coins,
and stopped it from extending its fortifications. Accusing the Company of
deceit, they claimed that the Company was depriving the Bengal government
of huge amounts of revenue and undermining the authority of the nawab. It
was refusing to pay taxes, writing disrespectful letters, and trying to
humiliate the nawab and his officials.

11.The Company on its part declared that the unjust demands of the local
officials were ruining the trade of the Company, and trade could flourish
only if the duties were removed. It was also convinced that to expand trade

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 it had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages, and rebuild its forts. The
conflicts led to confrontations and finally culminated in the famous Battle of
Plassey. The Battle of Plassey When Alivardi Khan died in 1756,
Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal. The Company was worried
about his power and keen on a puppet ruler who would willingly give trade
concessions and other privileges.

12.So it tried, though without success, to help one of Sirajuddaulah’s rivals

become the nawab. An infuriated Sirajuddaulah asked the Company to stop
meddling in the political affairs of his dominion, stop fortification, and pay
the revenues. After negotiations failed, the Nawab marched with 30,000
soldiers to the English factory at Kassimbazar, captured the Company
officials, locked the warehouse, disarmed all Englishmen, and blockaded
English ships. Then he marched to Calcutta to establish control over the
Company’s fort there.

13. On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Company officials in Madras
sent forces under the command of Robert Clive, reinforced by naval fleets.
Prolonged negotiations with the Nawab followed. Finally, in 1757, Rthe
defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one of
Sirajuddaulah’s commanders, never fought the battle. Clive had managed to
secure his support by promising to make him nawab after crushing
Sirajuddaulah.

14.The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first major
victory the Company won in Indobert Clive led the Company’s army against
Sirajuddaulah at Plassey. One of the main reasons for

After the defeat at Plassey, Sirajuddaulah was assassinated and Mir Jafar
made the nawab.

15The Company was still unwilling to take over the responsibility of

administration. Its prime objective was the expansion of trade. If this could
be done without conquest, through the help of local rulers who were willing
to grant privileges, then territories need not be taken over directly. Soon the
Company discovered that this was rather difficult.

16.For even the puppet nawabs were not always as helpful as the Company
wanted them to be. After all, they had to maintain a basic appearance of
dignity and sovereignty if they wanted respect from their subjects. What
could the Company do? When Mir Jafar protested, the Company deposed
him and installed Mir Qasim in his place.

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 17. When Mir Qasim complained, he in turn was defeated in a battle fought
at Buxar (1764), driven out of Bengal, and Mir Jafar was reinstalled. The
Nawab had to pay Rs 500,000 every month but the Company wanted more
money to finance its wars, and meet the demands of trade and its other
expenses. It wanted more territories and more revenue.

18.By the time Mir Jafar died in 1765 the mood of the Company had
changed. Having failed to work with puppet nawabs, Clive declared: “We
must indeed become nawabs ourselves.” Finally, in 1765 the Mughal
emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal.
The Diwani allowed the Company to use the vast revenue resources of
Bengal. This solved a major problem that the Company had earlier faced.

19.From the early eighteenth century its trade with India had expanded.
But it had to buy most of the goods in India with gold and silver imported
from Britain. This was because at this time Britain had no goods to sell in
India. The outflow of gold from Britain slowed after the Battle of Plassey,
and entirely stopped after the assumption of Diwani. Now revenues from
India could finance Company expenses.

20.These revenues could be used to purchase cotton and silk textiles in

India, maintain Company troops, and meet the cost of building the
Company fort and offices at Calcutta. Company officials become “nabobs”
What did it mean to be nawabs? It meant of course that the Company
acquired more power and authority.

21.But it also meant something else. Each company servant began to have
visions of living like nawabs fter the Battle of Plassey the actual nawabs of
Bengal were forced to give land and vast sums of money as personal gifts to
Company officials. Robert Clive himself amassed a fortune in India. He had
come to Madras (now Chennai) from England in 1743 at the age of 18.
When in 1767 he left India his Indian fortune was worth £401,102.

22.Interestingly, when he was appointed Governor of Bengal in 1764, he

was asked to remove corruption in Company administration but he was
himself cross-examined in 1772 by the British Parliament which was
suspicious of his vast wealth. Although he was acquitted, he committed
suicide in 1774. If we analyse the process of annexation of Indian states by
the East India Company from 1757 to 1857, certain key aspects emerge.

23.The Company rarely launched a direct military attack on an unknown

territory. Instead it used a variety of political, economic and diplomatic

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 methods to extend its influence before annexing an Indian kingdom. After
the Battle of Buxar (1764), the Company appointed Residents in Indian
states. They were political or commercial agents and their job was to serve
and further the interests of the Company.

24.Through the Residents, the Company officials began interfering in the

internal affairs of Indian states. They tried to decide who was to be the
successor to the throne, and who was to be appointed in administrative
posts. Sometimes the Company forced the states into a “subsidiary
alliance”.

25.According to the terms of this alliance, Indian rulers were not allowed to
have their independent armed forces. They were to be protected by the
Company, but had to pay for the “subsidiary forces” that the Company was
supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection. If the Indian rulers
failed to make the payment, then part of their territory was taken away as
penalty. For example, when Richard Wellesley was GovernorGeneral (1798-
1805), the Nawab of Awadh was forced to give over half of his territory to the
Company in 1801, as he failed to pay for the “subsidiary forces”. Hyderabad
was also forced to cede territories on similar grounds.

26.Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore” The Company resorted to direct

military confrontation when it saw a threat to its political or economic
interests. This can be illustrated with the case of the southern Indian state
of Mysore. Mysore had grown in strength under the leadership of powerful
rulers like Haidar Ali (ruled from 1761 to 1782) and his famous son Tipu
Sultan (ruled from 1782 to 1799).

27. Mysore controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast where the
Company purchased pepper and cardamom. In 1785 Tipu Sultan stopped
the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his
kingdom, and disallowed local merchants from trading with the Company.
He also established a close relationship with the French in India, and
modernised his army with their help.

28.The British were furious. They saw Haidar and Tipu as ambitious,
arrogant and dangerous – rulers who had to be controlled and crushed.
Four wars were fought with Mysore (1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799).
Only in the last – the Battle of Seringapatam – did the Company ultimately
win a victory. Tipu Sultan was killed defending his capital
SeringapatamMysore was placed under the former ruling dynasty of the
Wodeyars

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 29.War with the Marathas From the late eighteenth century the Company
also sought to curb and eventually destroy Maratha power. With their defeat
in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Marathas’ dream of ruling from
Delhi was shattered. They were divided into many states under different
chiefs (sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia, Holkar, Gaikwad
and Bhonsle. 30.These chiefs were held together in a confederacy under a
Peshwa (Principal Minister) who became its effective military and
administrative head based in Pune. Mahadji Sindhia and Nana Phadnis
were two famous Maratha soldiers and statesmen of the late eighteenth
century. The Marathas were subdued in a series of wars. In the first war
that ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor.

31.The Second AngloMaratha War (1803-05) was fought on different fronts,

resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the
Yamuna river including Agra and Delhi. Finally, the Third Anglo-Maratha
War of 1817-19 crushed Maratha power. The Peshwa was removed and sent
away to Bithur near Kanpur with a pension.

32.The Company now had complete control over the territories south of the
Vindhyas. The claim to paramountcy It is clear from the above that from the
early nineteenth century the Company pursued an aggressive policy of
territorial expansion. Under Lord Hastings (GovernorGeneral from 1813 to
1823) a new policy of “paramountcy” was initiated.

33. Now the Company claimed that its authority was paramount or
supreme, hence its power was greater than that of Indian states. In order to
protect its interests it was justified in annexing or threatening to annex any
Indian kingdom.

34.This view continued to guide later British policies as well. This process,
however, did not go unchallenged. For example, when the British tried to
annex the small state of Kitoor (in Karnataka today), Rani Channamma took
to arms and led an anti-British resistance movement. She was arrested in
1824 and died in prison in 1829.

But Rayanna, a poor chowkidar of Sangoli in Kitoor, carried on the

resistance. With popular support he destroyed many British camps and
records. He was caught and hanged by the British in 1830.

36.In the late 1830s the East India Company became worried about Russia.
It imagined that Russia might expand across Asia and enter India from the

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 north-west. Driven by this fear, the British now wanted to secure their
control over the north-west.

37.They fought a prolonged war with Afghanistan between 1838 and 1842
and established indirect Company rule there. Sind was taken over in 1843.
Next in line was Punjab. But the presence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh held
back the Company. After his death in 1839, two prolonged wars were fought
with the Sikh kingdom. Ultimately, in 1849, Punjab was annexed.

38.The Doctrine of Lapse The final wave of annexations occurred under Lord
Dalhousie who was the Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. He devised a
policy that came to be known as the Doctrine of Lapse. The doctrine
declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir his kingdom would
“lapse”, that is, become part of Company territory.

39.One kingdom after another was annexed simply by applying this

doctrine: Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853)
and Jhansi (1854). Finally, in 1856, the Company also took over Awadh.
This time the British had an added argument – they said they were “obliged
by duty” to take over Awadh in order to free the people from the
“misgovernment” of the Nawab! Enraged by the humiliating way in which
the Nawab was deposed, the people of Awadh joined the great revolt that
broke out in 1857. The Doctrine of Lapse The final wave of annexations
occurred under Lord Dalhousie who was the Governor-General from 1848 to
1856. He devised a policy that came to be known as the Doctrine of Lapse.

40.The doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir his
kingdom would “lapse”, that is, become part of Company territory. One
kingdom after another was annexed simply by applying this doctrine: Satara
(1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi
(1854). Finally, in 1856, the Company also took over Awadh.

41.This time the British had an added argument – they said they were
“obliged by duty” to take over Awadh in order to free the people from the
“misgovernment” of the Nawab! Enraged by the humiliating way in which
the Nawab was deposed, the people of Awadh joined the great revolt that
broke out in 1857.

42. A major problem was that the Brahman pandits gave different
interpretations of local laws based on different schools of the
dharmashastra. To bring about uniformity, in 1775 eleven pandits were
asked to compile a digest of Hindu laws. N.B. Halhed translated this digest

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 into English. By 1778 a code of Muslim laws was also compiled for the
benefit of European judges.

43.Under the Regulating Act of 1773, a new Supreme Court was

established, while a court of appeal – the Sadar Nizamat Adalat – was also
set up at CalcuttThe principal figure in an Indian district was the Collector.
As the title suggests, his main job was to collect revenue and taxes and
maintain law and order in his district with the help of judges, police officers
and darogas. His office – the Collectorate – became the new centre of power
and patronage that steadily replaced previous holders of authority.

44.The Company army Colonial rule in India brought in some new ideas of
administration and reform but its power rested on its military strength. The
Mughal army was mainly composed of cavalry (sawars: trained soldiers on
horseback) and infantry, that is, paidal (foot) soldiers. They were given
training in archery (teer-andazi) and the use of the sword.

45.The cavalry dominated the army and the Mughal state did not feel the
need to have a large professionally trained infantry. The rural areas had a
large number of armed peasants and the local zamindars often supplied the
Mughals with paidal soldiers. A change occurred in the eighteenth century
when Mughal successor states like Awadh and Benaras started recruiting
peasants into their armies and training them as professional soldiers.

46.The East India Company adopted the same method when it began
recruitment for its own army, which came to be known as the sepoy army
(from the Indian word sipahi, meaning soldier). As warfare technology
changed from the 1820s, the cavalry requirements of the Company’s army
declined. This is because the British empire was fighting in Burma,
Afghanistan and Egypt where soldiers were armed with muskets and
matchlocks. The soldiers of the Company’s army had to keep pace with
changing military requirements and its infantry regiments now became
more important.

47.In the early nineteenth century the British began to develop a uniform
military culture. Soldiers were increasingly subjected to European-style
training, drill and discipline that regulated their life far more than before.
Often this created problems since caste and community feelings were
ignored in building a force of professional soldiers.

Almost we have taken all points for this 2nd chapter from ncert.because
important points.

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