Publisher's Synopsis
The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has recently revived its Major Project on the collection and collation of important documents pertaining to the economic history of British rule in India covering the period 1858-1947. Economic history is taken here in the widest possible meaning of the term, covering data and developments judged significant from the economic, social, cultural ecological history of the country. The present volume contains a wide range of economic documents for Eastern India, roughly covered by the Bengal Presidency of British India in the late nineteenth century. The volume is divided into two parts, Part I (1860s-1870s) and Part II (1880s-1890s). Part I contains documents on economic history of the region in the early decades after the administration of India was taken over from East India Company by the British Parliament. These documents display the plight of the people, often culminating in famines and epidemics. The collected data relate to diverse fields such as agriculture, forestry, population, public health, education and sanitation. Official data on agricultural operations, agricultural appliances, material conditions of agricultural classes, population change, health and morality, literacy and primary education, value of livestock and cattle diseases, production and export of cash crops, production and supply of food grains, distribution of waste lands, forests and reclamation of jungle lands, tenurial disputes and demarcation of village lands, are to be found here. The work is expected to be an important resource for students of the history of economic and human development of India.
