Economic ReasonsThe British wanted to occupy the rich and prosperous region of Bengal by subjugating the power of the Nawab and the other European powers. Trade permits also called 'Dastaks' were being used by the British officers for private trade ; this action offended the Nawab.
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Source : IndianDiplomacy Channel,'Palashi Ki Jung', 2007
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“Of the provinces which had been subject to the house of Tamerlane, the wealthiest was Bengal. No part of India possessed such natural advantages both for agriculture and for commerce. The Ganges, rushing through a hundred channels to the sea, has formed a vast plain of rich mould which, even under the tropical sky, rivals the verdure of an English April. The rice-fields yield an increase such as is elsewhere unknown. Spices, sugar, vegetable oils, are produced with marvellous exuberance. The rivers afford an inexhaustible supply of fish. The desolate islands along the sea-coast, overgrown by noxious vegetation, and swarming with deer and tigers, supply the cultivated districts with abundance of salt. The great stream which fertilises the soil is, at the same time, the chief highway of Eastern commerce. On its banks, and on those of its tributary waters, are the wealthiest marts, the most splendid capitals, and the most sacred shrines of India..."
- Robert Orme (1728 - 1801), the famous "writer" and histographer of the East India Company
Source : Remembering the Battle of Plassey, Article in Asian Age, 2008. By Indranil Banerjee
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