Tebhaga movement

The Tebhaga movement was an independence campaign initiated in Bengal by the Kisan Sabha (peasants front of Communist Party of India) in 1946–47. At that time sharecropping peasants (essentially, tenants) had to give half of their harvest to the owners of the land. The demand of the Tebhaga (sharing by thirds) movement was to reduce the share given to landlords to one third.[1]

In many areas the agitations turned violent, and landlords fled villages leaving parts of the countryside in the hands of Kisan Sabha. In 1946, the sharecroppers of Bengal began to assert that they would no longer pay a half share of their crop to the Jotedars but only one-third and that before division the crop would be sure in their godowns and not that of the Jotedars. The Jotedars were encouraged by the fact that the Bengal Land Revenue Commission, popularly known as the Flood Commission had already made this recommendation in its report to the government. The Tebhaga movement resulted in clashes between Jotedars and Bargadars.

As a response to the agitations, the then Muslim League ministry in the province launched the Bargadari Act, which provided that the share of the harvest given to the landlords would be limited to one third of the total. But the law was not fully implemented.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Asok Majumdar (2011). The Tebhaga Movement : Politics of Peasant Protest in Bengal 1946-1950. Aakar Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-9350021590.
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