Browse Cases

Showing 1-10 of 10 results

Indian muzaras refuse to pay landlords and demand restoration of property, 1930-1953

Country
India
Time period
May, 1930 to 15 April, 1953
Classification
Change
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
7.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Molly Murphy 28/11/2015

In the 1870s, the Maharaja (prince) of Patiala, a small princely state in the Punjab region of northern India, implemented the Biswedari (big landlord) system, which appointed biswedaris as local authorities of agrarian villages. The biswedaris, mostly government officials and close kin of the Maharaja, gradually took full possession of lands and reduced the original owners to the status of muzaras (tenants). Muzaras had to pay batai (share rent) to their landlords, consisting of half of their crop, though landlords often overestimated the crop yield to justify taking a larger share.

Indians make gains on land rights (Janadesh), 2007

Country
India
Time period
2 October, 2007 to 28 October, 2007
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Melissa D Romanow, 06/03/2013

In the early 2000s, many residents of rural India did not own the land on which they lived and worked.  Without land rights, peasant farmers were often economically insecure.  

Students and doctors protest reservation/affirmative-action system in India, 2006-2008

Country
India
Time period
April, 2006 to May, 2008
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Christopher Capron, 25/11/2012

India has maintained much of its traditional caste system, which separates communities based on the socioeconomic status of the communities’ forefathers. Early 20th century constitutional reforms prevented the kind of medieval discrimination that used to make some castes literally ‘untouchable’. The untouchables were replaced by what are referred to as ‘scheduled tribes’ (STs), ‘scheduled castes’ (SCs) and ‘other backward castes’ (OBCs) that collectively refer to India’s socioeconomically disadvantaged people. Combined, they represent about 85% of India’s population.

Ahmedabad textile laborers win strike for economic justice, 1918

Country
India
Time period
February, 1918 to 19 March, 1918
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Natalia Choi, 16/03/2012

A heavy monsoon season had destroyed agricultural crops and led to a plague epidemic claiming nearly 10 percent of the population of Ahmedabad in 1917. During the period of intense plague outbreak from August 1917 to January 1918, the workers of the textile mills in Ahmedabad were given ‘plague bonuses’ (some of which were as much as 80 percent of the workers’ wage) in an attempt to dissuade the workers from fleeing during an outbreak of a plague.

Indian farmers and fishermen stop coal plant in Sompeta, Andhra Pradesh, 2010-11

Country
India
Time period
14 July, 2010 to 23 June, 2011
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Environment
Human Rights
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Elizabeth Reilly, 16/03/2012

Coal is the main commercial energy in India and the government launched an internal improvement program in the early 2000s to bring energy to the hundreds of millions of people in the country without technology and other modern conveniences. Andhra Pradesh was the most ambitious state in this endeavor, as it proposed for 7 major and 30 smaller coal-powered power stations.

Indians campaign for independence (Salt Satyagraha), 1930-1931

Country
India
Time period
January, 1930 to 1931
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Aden Tedla and George Lakey, 01/09/2011

The Salt Satyagraha campaign that began in 1930 sought to continue previous efforts that had attempted to undermine British colonial rule in India and establish Purna Swaraj (complete self-rule).  The previous nationwide nonviolent campaign for independence (1919-22) had been called off by Gandhi because it broke into disarray and violence, even though it had been preceded by local campaigns: a campaign in Champaran (Indian peasants in Champaran campaign for rights, 1917) and a textile workers strike in Ahmedabad in 1918.

Indian peasants in Champaran campaign for rights, 1917

Country
India
Time period
April, 1917 to October, 1917
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Jeewon Kim, 09/10/2010

During the time of British occupation of India, peasants of Champaran district of the Bihar state were highly exploited by the indigo cultivation. The lessees of Indigo and agricultural areas had been Indians until 1793, but as the British Empire began its rule in India, European planters began to take over and gained total control of the indigo and sugar cane cultivation.  

Indians campaign for full independence (Quit India Campaign), 1942-1943

Country
India
Time period
July, 1942 to March, 1943
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Anjali Cadambi, 11/10/2010

In March 1942, the British Parliament sent a delegation to India under Sir Stafford Cripps, a Labor Party Politician, in order to negotiate with the Indian National Congress a constitution that would secure Indian support of World War II. The Indian National Congress (INC) found the proposal for the new constitution unsatisfactory, since the draft declaration promised India domination status—but not complete independence—in return for its total cooperation during the war.

Kumaon villagers campaign against British forest regulations, 1916-1921

Country
India
Time period
1916 to 1921
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Environment
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Anjali Cadambi, 25/10/2010

From 1916 to 1921, villagers in Kumaon in northern India set hundreds of forest fires to protest the colonial British state’s increasing regulations of the natural environment.

Bardoli peasants campaign against the Government of Bombay, 1928

Country
India
Time period
February 12, 1928 to August 4, 1928
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Adriana Popa, 07/11/2010

The Bombay Government (through its Revenue Department) had, in 1927, enhanced the land revenue assessment in the Bardoli taluka (county) by a nominal 22 percent, which, when applied, amounted in some cases to as much as 60 percent enhancement. This translated in increased land taxes. The Bardoli peasants had immediately made several claims regarding this modification, the most important of which were that the rate of enhancement was unjust and that it had been established without full and appropriate investigation.