The British rule had pronounced arid profound impact on India. There was hardly any section of society or corner of country which could escape the long arms of British colonialism.

India being a country with predominance of agriculture, any impact of government on the people turned out to be essentially the impact of government on the village.

One result of the British rule was the sudden and quick collapse of the urban handicrafts industry caused by the competition with the cheaper imported machine-goods from Britain. The building of railways and the oppression practiced by East India Company together with the gradual disappearance of Indian rulers and courts only served to accentuate and accelerate the process.

The ruined artisans and craftsmen unable to find any alternative job began to come to villages and crowd into agriculture. This not only broke the union of agriculture overcrowding on land and destruction of self-sufficient rural economy. The peasant was also progressively impoverished under the British rule. The British policy of extracting the largest possible amount of land revenue ruined the peasants’ condition.

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In both the permanently settled areas and areas under Ryotwari settlement, the lot of peasants remained unenviable. They were left at the mercies of the zamindars that ransacked them, and compelled them to pay illegal dues and to perform forced labour. The high land revenue demand was accompanied by rigidity in collection, rise of new landed gentry, and intrusion of money lenders.

Moreover, the impacts of other administrative measures like railways. Law and order machinery was also felt in remote villages of India. Though, the railways served to verify India and brought the national consciousness, they served as the agents and areas of colonialism to drain off the valuable resources from India.

A major impact of the British policies was its expression in poverty and farmers. These again found their most dire reflections in rural India. The tragedy also found manifestations in the stagnation and deterioration of agriculture and the transformation of India into an agricultural colony of the Great Britain.

Thus, the impact of the government on the people meant essentially the impact of government on the village.