In the second half of 18th Century Bengal was a plundered as well as a sponsoring state. Explain

Bengal which was having a significant position in British trade and conquest policies in India had shown flavors of exploitation which started during the second half of the 18th century. The geographical beneficial of the Bengal region and the strategic position made the location attractive to the one who had  a magnificent naval force and the absence of Portuguese , French in the north eastern region led the British East India Company to fix their roots and started to juice out the nourishment of the  region during the Mughal rule. 

The East India Company were able to convince the then rulers of Bengal and secured the right to trade. Later on we have seen the changes in the policy of the company which ultimately paved the opening of the doors of supremacy and then exploitation. Two battles , Battle of Plassey and Buxar really firmed the fist of the Company over Nawab in Bengal. As a result of this, the granting of rights of Nizamat and Diwani was given to British Company. The company marked the introduction of Dual administration which ultimately led to the exploitation and corruption practices within Bengal. A kind of anarchy was going on the Bengal region made the position of Nawab a bit difficult as he owed the company. British had imposed heavy taxes in agriculture lead to the misery of farmers life; this was evidenced well in the famine of 1770s. The company plundered the region during this time to make benefit to establish an administrative sovereignty over the region and spike in the industrial revolution in England, destruction of cottage industries in Bengal, vetti (forced labour and less pay) for cultivation of cash crops upon the interest of Britain Company. The destruction of Jute industries and deficit in balance of payment also as a result of this plundering effect.

However after all these, or in parallel to some extend, we would say that in Bengal, the battles which helped to get sovereignty whereas in other areas, the policy changed was to make control with the help of sovereignty of British Company in Bengal. We have seen in ancient and medieval India, that the rulers are based in one area and then expands the empire. Similarly here also we can see the British empire conquered Bengal as base and they started sponsoring to other areas.

Since the intention of the company was to exploit through trade , the nature of the sponsoring was also similar to that. As a diverse country in resources, India was gifted with so many diversified crops and raw materials and this prompted the East India Company to widen their arms to other areas to grab more. Money was flowing from Bengal where the Company exported maximum raw materials and imported finished products and high taxes to other areas for the development of infrastructure like Railways, factories etc.  One thing to be mentioned here is wherever the company faces difficulty in expanding their trade, they adopted the policy of conquest through war and treaties. We have seen how the Company immersed the Maratha and Mysore kingdom into depth of the history. All these happenings were based on the British governor controlled Bengal and he was elevated to Governor General of India for this policy. The plundering of Bengal was necessary for the British to sponsor other areas to expand for the expansion of their trade or we can conclude that the money resulted in the plundering of Bengal was used to sponsor other areas to expand company's trade and the hindrances which they faced were suppressed with the conquest policies.

Regards

Viswa