Subject : Modern Indian History
Chapter : Economic Impact of The British
Topic: British Land Revenue Policy
Question : Briefly Discuss the British land revenue Policy?
Answer:
Revenues are an important source of every economy. The basic
questions that go into collection and implementation of revenues can be
summarized in terms of - How much to collect? Who will collect? When to collect?
And how to collect? The land revenue policies followed during colonialism did
not materialize overnight but were the results of two odd decades of debates-
philosophical and ideological, and experiments.
In the pre-colonial days land relations and revenue
administration in India were marked by several layers of more or less powerful
intermediate local authorities positioned between the Central Government and the
actual tillers of land. From the beginning the reach of the central authority
had been rather narrow and based on collaboration with several allies- local
rajas, landowners, zamindars and so on. The land revenue was collected from the
peasants and sent to the centre through these several intermediate channels –
zamindars, landlords, nawabs and so on, each of which kept aside their own
share, leaving little for the peasants. It is also commonly believed that with
the breakup of the Mughal Empire the number of intermediaries of extraction
increased considerably leading to a decline in the conditions of the peasantry.
In 1790, 12 ‘big zamindari houses together paid more than 53% of the revenue
assessed in Bengal.
To this circle of powers was added the British, who had
originally come to trade. The question of land revenue and the means to secure
it was central to the interests of the British. The British acquisition of the
revenues of Bengal did not start in one go. But it was a gradual process that
started with a single territory and then after gaining diwani rights in 1765
extended over to the entire Presidency.
The land revenue system emerged as a consequence of
experiments. Three main systems of land revenue emerged in different parts of
British territory in India - Permanent Settlement (or Zarnindari), Ryotwari
Settlement and Mahalwari Settlement. But whatever be the legitimising credo, the
tax on the land saw a continuous increase. The revenue was exorbitant and left
less than subsistence for the farmers.
Given the importance of the revenues, the task of organizing
and administering the revenues was quite formidable yet imperative to the
British But what complicated their task was their lack of knowledge of the
agrarian system of India. They understood little about the land relations.
Wherever they went they faced a confusing array, of quasi-feudal rights and
obligations that were difficult to put in a concrete and identifiable terms.
Apart from the lack of knowledge about the local dialects, the various rules and
obligations were recorded only in memory and were considered as good as written
ones. On the Government’s behalf there was an absence of communication between
different levels of administration and the ever present corruption of some of
the officials in the early years of the Company’s administration. Moreover, the
tenure of the local officers was too short to permit them consistency in
