Hyderabad was almost as wealthy as Mysore, Baroda, and Travancore combined and had its own currency (Osmania Sicca/Hyderabadi Rupee) and railways.
Yet the literacy rate in Hyderabad was lower than all three (5.0% in Hyderabad, vs. 10.6% in Mysore, 20.9% in Baroda, and 28.9% in Travancore) and its rural population was often subjected to forced, unpaid labor.
Under the bhagela system, landlords and government officials would intentionally structure loans so they could never be settled.
It was essentially slavery in the guise of debt bondage.
Approximately 30% of Hyderabad's acreage was under jagirdari tenure and the Vetti system was even worse than the Kamia or Harwahi systems because jagirdars often operated as semi-autonomous authorities with their own private armies.
While a landlord in the British Bihar and Odisha could use lathiyals to beat an individual peasant over a debt, a landlord in Hyderabad could theoretically flatten a village with little interference from the state.
The British were brutal, but Asif Jahi Hyderabad and Dogra Kashmir were no better. Arguably worse.
Namit Malhotra when Ramayana earns 1000 crores and everybody thinks it's a flop because of a 4000 crores budget, but the actual budget was 150 crores + Gemini Pro subscription.
Unlike most communities in India, the Banchhadas in M.P. invest more in their daughters’ upbringing than in their sons’, by giving them better nutrition and clothes, only so that they can force them into sex work and live off their earnings. Branded a ‘criminal tribe’ by the British and now classified as a Scheduled Caste, the community remains on society’s margins as government and NGOs have struggled to break the cycle, reports @MehulMalpani
https://t.co/HeKT4Hialf
every IITJEE failure i know (me included) claims EXACTLY the same thing. messing up in chemistry is a respectable cover story - better than saying you couldnt do math or physics
Now boarding -- #KhajurahoAirport into top customer-ranking slot, without any flights. The airport in the #MadhyaPradesh town - recently ranked India's top airport in the Airports Authority of India's latest Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) - has produced a surprising result: it has no commercial flights operating during July and Aug.
More details 🔗https://t.co/D3p1EkaPWA
News beyond the headlines — on the TOI App 👉 https://t.co/ogFaRsUKyn
A reminder that he isn’t prosecuting his colleagues child for actually attending the protests but has arrested three Muslims who were simply planning a protest.
What do we call a legal system that applies the law differently based on religion? Apartheid.
@Sam_Mitroda Govt reported inflation for FY25-26 is like 2%
This means either inflation number is rigged or the situation is so bad that even distributing cash is not resulting in demand creation.
The unwavering kindness and generosity shown by the Sikh community despite being the target and subject of violent pogroms and state authoritarianism is something else.