1760-1800 — Fakir-Sannyasi Resistance

1765

East India Company Gets Diwani Rights in Bengal

In 1765, the East India Company secured the diwani, or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. That settlement turned post-Plassey influence into formal fiscal power. Revenue extraction, administrative leverage, and political authority began to flow through the Company, even as Mughal and nawabi institutions remained in place.

1770

Great Bengal Famine

The famine of 1770 devastated Bengal, producing catastrophic mortality across agrarian and urban communities. Crop failure, grain-market distortions, and rigid revenue collection under East India Company authority combined to turn environmental stress into a social collapse. The crisis became an early warning of how colonial political economy could magnify human vulnerability.

1793

Permanent Settlement in Bengal

In 1793, the East India Company introduced the Permanent Settlement in Bengal. Revenue demand was fixed permanently, and zamindars and talukdars were recognized as hereditary proprietors under colonial law. The measure aimed to stabilize revenue and bind local landed elites to Company rule, but it also deepened agrarian inequality and weakened the customary position of cultivators.

1757

Battle of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked a decisive shift in Bengal's political destiny. A short military encounter turned into a structural transfer of power as the East India Company used alliance, betrayal, and financial leverage to secure influence in Bengal. The aftermath reshaped governance, revenue extraction, and sovereignty, laying the foundation for long-term colonial rule.