The Moneylenders and Indebtedness
Understanding the Peasant Economy of Colonial Assam, 1900–1950
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20179760 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arupjyoti Saikia (0000-0002-0449-7013, Associate Professor of History, IIT Guwahati, India, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 63-88 |
| Publication date | 2010-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Indian Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0376-9836 • E-ISSN: 0975-5977 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/037698361003700104 |
| OpenAlex | W1970478228 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 18 |
This article examines the dynamics of rural money lending in the Brahmaputra valley from 1881 to 1951. It begins with a question as to why the peasants in Assam borrowed, following it up with questions such as: Which section of the peasantry got involved in this process? To what extent did the local rich peasants participate in the money lending? How and to what extent were the Marwari businessmen involved in the process? Did the money lending lead to the transfer of land from the owner to the moneylenders? Did the arrival of the immigrant peasants from East Bengal accentuate the process? And finally, it tries to answer as to how it influenced the agrarian relations and legislative politics in the Brahmaputra valley. Despite the official claim of credit market operation through the banking sector becoming a success, the importance of usury never became marginal in the agrarian relations even after Independence. Assamese peasants treated the moneylenders with bitter distaste. The moneylenders were known as mahajans in rural vocabulary
Agrarian society · Agriculture · Development economics · Economics · Geography · Islam · Market economy · Peasant · Political science · Politics · Tamil · Usury · Agricultural Economics and Practices · Law · South Asian Studies and Conflicts
The Imperial impact
The History, Antiquities, Topography, and Statistics of Eastern India
Rural Credit in Western India, 1875-1930
Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital
The History, Antiquities, Topography, and Statistics of Eastern India
Sugarcane and sugar in Gorakhpur
Agrarian Conditions in Assam, 1880-1890
Indian Peasant Uprisings
On the Evolution of the Class of Agricultural Labourers in India
Some Aspects of Growth and Distribution of Rice in India
Informal Credit Markets in India
Usury, Dearth and Famine in Western India
Banias and the British
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |