Page 31 - SST Class 08

raised and this was between the British East India tillers were recognised as proprietors. Under the
Company and the Landlords of Bengal. Lord
Cornwallis, who was the British East India’s
leader had come to India as the post of
Governor-General.
The Permanent Settle-
ment of the Bengal was
the famous measures of
Lord Cornwallis. It cre-
ated the agreement that
the landlords will have to
be perpetual and heredi-
tary rights on the lands, it
will be the start as they
will pay the full amount
till the fixed revenue to
the British Government. Lord Cornwallis
They have the rights to transfer their land by
replacing the land by others landlords of the
same measures of the lands. From that the tax
burden on the landlords was fixed, to invest into
the lands, this became the passion and attraction
for the Zamindars and the landlords of the
Bengal.
Ryotwari System
In the East India Company territories, the
Ryotwari System was introduced by Thomas
Munroe and Captain Reed first in Madras presi-
dency. It was later extended to Bombay, Parts of
Bengal, Assam, Coorg, etc. This system was
exactly opposite to the Zamindari system. In this
system, peasants were given the ownership and
proprietorship and they would make direct
payment to state as 55% of produce. But, the
system was such that whatever government
calculated was faulty and exploitive. Thus,
excessive rate of revenue made the agriculture
unprofitable. Then, the ways of collecting reve- man or Lambardar, was required to pay the
nue were so harsh and rigid that the peasants
would like to handover their ryots to some
money lenders. It is not that uniformly all the
Social Science-8
Ryotwari settlement system, the company recog-
nised mirasdars as the sole proprietors of land,
dismissing tenants’ rights completely. Only in
villages where no mirasdars system existed, were
the villagers holding permanent occupancy rights
recognised as landholders responsible for the
payment of land revenue. The impacts were
more visible such as :
g the supply side of land increased and land
prices fell.
g Interest rates increased. The rates were so
high that the cultivator was at best could
pay only interest.
Mahalwari System
When the Zamindari System as well as Ryotwari
System failed to come up to the expectation of
the then policy-makers, they decided to intro-
duce the third system known as the Mahalwari
System. In this system the basis of assessment
was th produce of a Mahal or estate and all the
proprietors of a Mahal were jointly and severally
responsible in their persons and property for the
sum assessed by the government on the Mahal. If
the number of proprietors was large, a few were
selected as representatives of the whole and
made responsible for the management of Mahal
and payment of the revenue. Actually, this
settlement was made, constituting the whole
village community jointly and severally. Thus, it
was a two-fold settlement — the ownership and
the occupancy right, that was reserved for the
individual peasants and the cultivation was to be
done individually, but the peasants were jointly
responsible for paying the land revenue to the
state. The village as a whole through its head-
revenue. The Mahalwari System was first
adopted in Agra and Awadh and later extended
to other parts of the united provinces.
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