Patharughat uprising

Patharughat uprising

Why in news?

• Government of Assam and Indian Army paid respects to the the martyrs of Patharughat uprising in Assam recently.

About the uprising:

• The uprising took place on January 28, 1894 in Patharughat, a small village in Assam’s Darrang district, 60km northeast of Guwahati.
• The unarmed peasants were protesting the increase in land revenue levied by the colonial administration, when the military opened fire.  
• Unofficial sources estimate more than 100 peasants died in the firing.

What led to the uprising?

• After the British annexation of Assam in 1826, surveys of the vast lands of the state began.
• On the basis of such surveys, the British began to impose land taxes, much to the resentment of the farmers.
• In 1893, the British government decided to increase agricultural land tax reportedly by 70- 80 per cent.
• Up until then the peasants would pay taxes in kind or provide a service in lieu of cash.
• Across Assam, peasants began protesting the move by organising Raij Mels, or peaceful peoples’ conventions.
• British perceived these meetings as “breeding grounds for sedition and used to come down on it with a heavy hand to disperse them,
• That is what happened on January 28, 1894.
• British officers were refusing to listen to the farmers’ grievances and lathi charged the peasants, followed by an open firing which killed many of the peasants present.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Patharughat  peasant uprising in British India occurred in present day:
(a)Maharashtra
(b)Gujarat
(c)Assam
(d)Bengal

 Answer to Prelims Question