The land was reorganised under the comparatively harsh Zamindari system to facilitate the collection of taxes. In certain areas farmers were forced to switch from subsistence farming to commercial crops such as indigo, jute, coffee and tea. This resulted in hardship to the farmers and increases in food prices. Local industry, specifically the famous weavers of Bengal and elsewhere, also suffered under British rule. Import tariffs were kept low, according to traditional British free-market sentiments, and thus the Indian market was flooded with cheap clothing from Britain. Indigenous industry simply could not compete, and where once India had produced much of England's luxury cloth, the country was now reduced to growing cotton which was shipped to Britain to be manufactured into clothing, which was subsequently shipped back to India to be purchased by Indians. This extraordinary quantity of wealth, much of it collected as 'taxes', was absolutely critical in expanding public and private infrastructure in Britain and in financing British expansionism elsewhere in Asia and Africa.
British administrative laws ruined both the peasants and landlords. Indian handicrafts completely collapsed and the craftsmen were impoverished. India became a market place for finished goods from England. Poverty increased and the discontent among the masses motivated the Indians to join the revolt in large numbers. The Indigo rebellion of 1860, the Santhal Rebellion (1855-56), the Deccan Riots (1875) were some of the prominent Peasant movements and these protests finally culminated in the form of the Revolt of 1857, popularly referred to as the Sepoy Rebellion.
Most Indian soldiers in the East India Company’s army came from peasant families, so they were deeply affected by their impoverished status. Even in the army, there was a bias shown toward Indians. Not many Indians held a post higher than that of a Subhedar, and their salary was much less than their English counterparts. All this had made them discontented with the English.
The final spark was provided by the ammunition for new Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle. These rifles had a tighter fit, and used paper cartridges that came pre-greased. To load the rifle, sepoys had to bite the cartridge open to release the powder. The grease used on these cartridges included tallow, which if derived from pork would be offensive to Muslims, and if derived from beef would be offensive to Hindus.
The 1857 revolt spread from Dacca and Chittagong (now Bangladesh) in the East to Delhi in the West. Though the Sepoy Rebellion began among native soldiers, it spread like fire within the common people disaffected by the British rule. Throughout northern India, army units mutinied and killed their British officers. The rebels appealed to the 82-year-old Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar to lead the revolt and proclaimed him the Emperor of India.
It took British nearly two months to regroup and counter attack. The sepoys who mutinied were especially handicapped by their lack of ammunition, military intelligence, leadership and coordination. In September 1857, under the command of Major Nicholson and with support of Sikh and Gurkha army were able to reclaim Delhi, breaching the walls with heavy guns and after a bitter street-to-street fight. King Bahadur Shah was arrested and his three sons killed in cold blood. Bahadur Shah was tried for complicity to murder and other offences, found guilty and sent into exile in Rangoon. The last of the Moghuls, Bahadur Shah died there in 1862.
Lalbag Fort(Dhaka) garrison also planned to join the Sepoy Rebellion but were betrayed by a Khwaja Abdul Gani who upon hearing the plan on the night before informed the East India Company. About 20 leaders of this mutiny were hanged publicly in nearby Victoria Park, now known as Bahadur Shah Park. Abdul Gani was thus the first Nawab of Dhaka to be recognized by the British.
The term "Nawab" was originally used for the Subahdar (provincial governor) or viceroy of a
Subah (province) or region of the Mughal empire. In the British period, the term was used for a state conferred honorary title of rank without any official attachment, not to be confused with the earlier Naib Nazims of Dhaka which had been pensioned off in 1793. The 'Nawab' title was normally awarded to those
influential people who had some connection in land control and the title was attached to
the name of the concerned estate or village, such as Nawab of Dhaka, Nawab of Dhanbari
(Tangail), Nawab of Ratanpur (Comilla), and so on.
Fifty-four of the Bengal Army's 75 regular Native Infantry Regiments rebelled. The Bengal Army also included 10 Light Cavalry, 29 Irregular Cavalry and 42 Irregular Infantry regiments also rebelled en masse. The rebellion was confined to the Ganges plain between Calcutta and Delhi; Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi and Bareilly were the main centres of conflict. Other regions of Company-controlled India – such as Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, and the Madras Presidency – remained largely calm. In Punjab, the Sikh princes backed the Company by providing both soldiers and support. The large princely states of Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore, and Kashmir, as well as the smaller ones of Rajputana, did not join the rebellion.
By mid-1858 the Rebellion had been entirely crushed. Soon afterwards the British government assumed direct control over India, ushering in the period known as the British Raj, where an appointed governor-general administered India and Queen Victoria was crowned the Empress of India. The East India Company was dissolved the following year. British rule brought the entire geographical area of the country under a single administration. It unified the country by introducing a uniform system of law and government.
A secretary of state was entrusted with the authority of Indian affairs and the Crown's viceroy in India was to be the chief executive. The British embarked on a program of reform, trying to integrate Indian higher castes and rulers into the government and abolishing the East India Company. Indian Council was formed, with only advisory powers, to help the viceroy. Being predominantly an organisation of the landlords and of the upper class, it was obviously concerned with those measures of the administration that affected their class interests. The association attracted educated Indians and civic leaders from all parts of the country and became very popular. Later it merged with the Indian National Congress.
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