The Modern Period
Part II

Along with the repressive measures, the British Government astutely employed the policy of divide and rule in order to keep their hold firm over the populace. In the army as well as in the civil services, this policy was very carefully implemented which finally divided India vertically and horizontally.

The armies were organized in such a manner that tribal, sectarian, religious and caste groups could maintain their own peculiarities. They were stationed at such places where they had no contacts of any kind with the local population and therefore were considered alien.

The newly invented theory of martial and non-martial races was applied and the people of U.P. and Bihar were classed under the second category. Th ecommunities of North West India were declared as martial. The people of Oudh and North Western Provinces who had helped the British in the conquest of the Punjab and the North-West Frontier suddenly became non-martial.

The Police force in the central Provinces including Nagpur was placed under the supervision of the police officers of the Regular police. The old local village police which had strong affinities with the population were done away with. The aim was to create an efficient administrative instrument isolated form the public.

The loyal support afforded by Sayyad Ahmad to the British soon bore fruit. After 1875 the Muslims became the chosen people of the Government to put down the patriotic Hindu activities. In the Central Provinces the Muslim population was negligible. Yet more than fitfy per cent of the officers and nearly the same percentage of posts in the police were given to them. The policy of the British of setting the Muslims against the Hindus continued unabated. The evidence of the 'Berar Mitra'of 8^th July 1879 is significant in this respect. In one of the editorials is asked, ' why is it that only Musalmans are appointed Tahsildars these days?

As a part of the divide and rule policy in 1861 the entire Nagpur Irregular Force was incorporated in the police. The police were trained to be overbearing and contemptuous in their behaviour towards the people. The rank and file of the police force was drawn from that section of the population which had no character in the past. This naturally led to corruption and abuse of power in the police force. Sir Richard Temple, the Chief Commissioner of Central Provinces, 1864-65, referring to this state of affairs says,' Service in the police has always been unpopular with natives of superior stamp, and men of character avoided entering it. Men of ability rarely entered it except with the intention of making an unlawful fortune within a short time, risking the chance of such detection as would lead to personal punishment but quite prepared for dismissal.

The police purposely insulted men of status and the Government connived at their rudeness. A British police officer could easily whip a citzen of Nagpur on the street if he failed to stand up when the Saheb passed by. The feeling of oneness between the police and the people was completely disrupted.

Dalhousie's policy toward the native states was topsyturvied in the aftermath of the revolt. Except for their sovereignty the states were restored to their former honour and rights. As a result the States came to be recognised as one of the pillars of the British Empire in India till their disappearance. Nest to the states, it were the Zamindars who merited the attention of the British. In the Nagpur area a new class of Zamindars and Malguzars was created with full proprietary rights in their villages. This was quite against the Indian tradition which did not recognize private ownership in land. The landlords were revenue farmers or managers in the pre-British period. Endowed with proprietary rights in land, majority of them became stooges of the alien Government and at the same time took upon themselves the odium of revenue collection.