Some of the Main Common Causes of Such Movements

1. Colonial Economic Policies

Economic policies favored the landlords and money lenders and exploited the peasants. The peasants were exploited under Zamindari, Ryotwari, Mahalwari, and the Permanent Settlement. The British administration sought more profit and the peasants were deserted to the tender benevolences of the zamindars who racked rented them and coerced them to remunerate the illegal dues. In 1935 at Bihar, The Provincial Kisan sabha developed and adopted the anti-zamindari slogan.

2. Overpopulated Agricultural Land

The decline of many cities and a process of ruralization of India started due to deindustrialization. Unemployed people moved to villages and took to agriculture. This resulted in increased pressure on land. The cultivators often had to take loans to pay the rent, on failing to pay the rent, they were evicted from the land. Sometimes the overcrowded peasants took to crime to get out of unbearable conditions.

3. Impoverishment of Peasantry

The government was only interested in the maximization of rents and in securing its share of the revenue. The government made little effort to increase the land’s productivity. The zamindars resorted to summary evictions, demanding illegal pretexts and insisting on maximizing their share of production, leaving nothing to invest in improving agriculture. Generally, peasants approached money lenders to be able to pay their dues to the zamindars. The money lenders forced the peasants to sell the produce at low prices to clear their dues. It turned out that the farmer was the last to suffer the triple burden of the government, the zamindar, and the moneylender that impoverished them.

4. Famines

The repeated outbreak of droughts became a common feature of daily existence in India. These droughts were an immediate consequence of poverty uncorked by colonial personnel in India. Also, the government did not pay attention to the famine and no major reforms were introduced to increase food productivity. The government was busy with the commercialization of Indian agriculture. The main focus was on commercialized crops like indigo, tobacco, tea, etc instead of edible crops like rice, wheat, etc. 

Every section of Indian society was suffering under the British Government just because of their policies. British made their policies to exploit their colonies. Farmers in the Zamindari areas suffered from high rents, illegal taxes, arbitrary evictions, and unpaid labor. The ruin of the Indian handicrafts led to the congestion of land. The overwhelmed farmer due to fears of the loss of his most effective supply of livelihood frequently approached the neighborhood moneylenders who extract excessive prices of interest. Many farmers become landless and realized that their main enemy was the colonial state and many movements took place against the British between 1857 and 1947.