Critically examine the experiences of injustice felt by the ryots on the refusal of moneylenders to extend loans to them after 1830.

The experiences of injustice felt by the ryots:

(i) The first revenue settlement in the Bombay Deccan was made in the 1820s. The revenue that was demanded was so high that in many places peasants deserted their villages and migrated to new regions. In areas of poor soil and fluctuating rainfall the problem was particularly acute.

(ii) By the 1830s the problem became more serve. Prices of agricultural products fell sharply after 1832 and did not recover for over a decade and a half.

(iii) How did cultivators live through such years ? Inevitably, they borrowed, revenue could rarely be paid without a loan from a moneylender. But once a loan was taken, the ryot found it difficult to pay it back.

(iv) By the mid-1840s there were signs of an economic recovery of sorts. Many British officials had begun to realise that the settlements of the 1820s had been harsh. The revenue demanded was exorbitant, the system rigid and the peasant economy on the verge of collapse.

(v) To extend cultivation peasants needed more ploughs and cattle. They needed money to buy seeds and land. For all this they had to turn once again to moneylenders for loans.