Orissa on the Eve of British Conquests

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Orissa on the Eve of British Conquests



In 1803, the British East India Company’s troops occupied this country after breaking down the feeble Maratha resistance. The Brahmins and the Maratha officials were conciliated with liberal promises and the eighteen Garhjat tributary mahals were also incorporated within the province of Cuttack which embraced about 23,907 sq. miles and an estimated population of about 1,462,500 people. The easy conquest of the province was followed by difficult task of consolidation of the British hold over Orissa.

Maratha misrule and maladministration led to the decentralization of the Governmental responsibility over the growth of a non-productive parasite class on the medieval agrarian economy of Orissa. Towards the end of 18th century resistance movement by the Zamindars and their paiks against the bureaucratic oppression of the Maratha Fauzdars or Bargis resulted in the complete dislocation of the socio-economic condition of the people.

Early British Administration:

After the Treaty of Deogaon, Harcourt and Melville, the commissioners became very much interested to organise the civil administration for settling the affairs of Cuttack. In 1804, the territories of Orissa were divided into two divisions—the northern and southern with river Mahanadi as the dividing line between them.

For each division a single British officer was appointed as the Judge, Magistrate and Collector. He shouldered all administrative responsi­bilities in his division. He was to work under the direction of a special commissioner. Such arrangements continued till September 1805 when new regulations were promulgated to regulate the civil administration on a permanent basis. The office of the special commissioners was abolished and the superintendence of the revenue affairs passed into the hands of the Board of Revenue at Fort William in Calcutta.

Orissa thus remained as a part of the Bengal Presidency till 1911 when the capital was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. Under the new arrangements Gorge Webb became the collector and Robert Ker became the Judge and Magistrate of the whole province. Robert Ker was also appointed as the Superintendent of the Tributary Mahals (Feudatory states) of Orissa. He was asked to look after the Government salt department till the appointment of J. King, the Salt Agent in Orissa in 1805.

 

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