The land revenue was a major source of income for the rulers from ancient times.To increase the income the British introduced a number of systems of tax collection.

1. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM IN
BRITISH INDIA
Dr. Monica Sharma

2. LAND REVENUE
 The land revenue (tax) was a major source of income for the kings and emperors
from ancient times.
 The ownership pattern of land has witnessed changes over centuries.
 Land was divided into Jagirs, which were alloted to Jagirdars, who in turn split
the land they got and allocated to sub-ordinate Zamindars.
 Zamindars made peasants cultivate the land, in-return collected part of their
revenue as tax.

3. INITIAL CHANGES UNDER THE BRITISH
 In 1765, the East India Company acquired the Diwani rights , or control
over the revenues, of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
 Initially, it made an attempt to continue the old system of revenue
collection though it increased the amount to be collected.
 In 1773, it decided to manage the land revenues directly.
 Warren Hastings auctioned the right to collect revenue to the highest
bidders.

4. REASON TO INTRODUCE NEW SYSTEM
 But the experiment of Warren hastings did not succeed. Though the amount of land
revenue was pushed high by zamindars and other speculators bidding against each
other, the actual collection varied from year to year and seldom came up to official
expectations.
 This introduced instability in the Company’s revenues at a time when the Company
was hard pressed for money.
 Moreover, neither the ryot nor the zamindar would do anything to improve cultivation
when they did not know what the next year’s assessment would be or who would be
the next year’s revenue collector

5. BRITISH MAINLY ADOPTED THREE TYPES OF LAND
TENURE SYSTEMS.
Permanent Settlement /Zamindari System: Roughly 19% of total
area under British rule – Bengal, Bihar, Banaras, NWFP
divisions.
Ryotwari System: Covered about 51% of the area under British
Rule – Assam, Bombay and Madras Presidencies.
Mahalwari System: Covered 30% of area under British Rule –
major parts of NWFP, Central Provinces and Punjab.

6. Land Revenue Systems
RyotwariPermanent Settlement Mahalwari
Lord Cornwallis Thomas Munro Lord William Benetick
Bengal,Bihar,Orissa Madras,Bombay,Assam Punjab,NWFP,Central Provinces

7. REASONS FOR ADOPTING THE PERMANENT
SETTLEMENT
• Due to the failure of the 'farming system' adopted by Lord Warren Hastings a new
system of land revenue was required.
• The permanent settlement was to ensure a stable and fixed income for the
company.
• To reduce the expenses of the Company on periodic revenue settlements and land
assessments. It was also to end the corruption by the officials in revenue
assessments.
• To reduce the burden of revenue collection on the company and to create a loyal
group of zamindars whose interests were aligned to the continuation of British Raj.
• The company thought that fixed rates would increase investments in agriculture by
the zamindars and company could benefit from the taxes from increased trade and
commerce.

8. PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
 It was introduced in Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and districts of Benaras by Lord
Cornwallis in 1793. John Shore planned the Permanent Settlement.
• The zamindars were recognized as the owners of the land.
• The amount of revenue that the zamindar had to pay was fixed and it was decided
that it wont be raised for the given period of time.
• The zamindars had to pay 10/11th or 89% of the revenue collected to the East
India Company while keeping the rest 1/11th or 11% to himself.
• The zamindars were free to fix the rent.
• The zamindars lost their administrative and judicial functions. They were performed
by the Company now.
• If a zamindar did not pay the fixed amount, his property was seized and sold.
leading to ruin of zamindar.

9. EFFECTS OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
• As the land revenue was going to be permanently fixed, the company fixed the rates arbitrarily high
(10/11th of total collection) much higher than the past rates. This placed a high burden on the
zamindars which were ultimately borne by the peasants.
• Peasants were left at the mercy of zamindars as no rules were made for revenue collection by
zamindars. The property rights of peasants suffered and they faced evictions and 'begar .
• It led to the growth of new landlords as the property was now transferable and those zamindars who
could not pay rents, their lands were auctioned.
• It also led to the growth of a system of absentee landlordism. These zamindars were interested only to
maximize their revenue collection and had no interest in the investments in agriculture.
• A new class of landless cultivators, agricultural coolies on one hand and money lenders on the other
was now created.
• High revenue demand and harsh methods of collection, eventually led to frequent land transfers which
didn't benefit zamindars either. Company's revenue collection also fell as agricultural output declined.
By 1770's Bengal witnessed famines.


10. RYOTWARI SYSTEM
 It was introduced in Bombay, Madras, Assam and Berar. Sir Thomas Munro
introduced it in Madras.
• Since there were no zamindars in south India, the company recognized the
peasant as the proprietor.
• Under the Ryotwari system, a direct settlement was made between the
government and the ryot / cultivator.
• The revenue was fixed for a period from 20 to 40 years, where every
individual was responsible for payment of revenue.
• The revenue was fixed on the basis of quality of the soil and the nature of
crop. It was based on the scientific rent theory of economist Ricardo.

11. REASONS FOR THE ADOPTION OF RYOTWARI SYSTEM
• There were no zamindars or feudal lords with large estates in these areas. So it
was difficult for the British to implement the zamindari system.
• The government revenues were fixed in the permanent settlement so it could not
gain from the rise in prices. Moreover, the government felt that the revenue was
being unnecessarily shared with the zamindars which reduced its profits.
• The zamindari system was oppressive for the peasants and led to frequent agrarian
revolts. The government wanted to avoid these situations. It also hoped that by
introducing ryotwari system, the purchasing power of peasants would increase,
which would increase the demands for British goods in India.
 Impact o

12. IMPACT OF RYOTWARI SYSTEM
• The peasants did not benefit from this land revenue system and felt that smaller zamindars were
replaced by one giant zamindar, the British government .
• The farmers were forced to pay land revenue even during the famines otherwise they were forced to
evict the land.
• Further, the land revenue was very high, between 45% to 55% in different areas, which led to the
impoverishment of farmers.
• A major drawback of this system was over assessment of crop yields.
• The system of tenancy and landlordism still existed as the artisans who were now unemployed,
worked as tenants for rich farmers. In the several districts, more than two third of the total agricultural
land was leased.
• The government insisted the peasants grow cash crops which required higher in The government
insisted the peasants grow cash crops which required higher investments. It led to the indebtedness
of farmers and when prices declined they suffered the most. For example, when the prices of cotton
declined after the end of American Civil War the peasants suffered the most. This created conditions
ripe for rebellion that came in the form of Deccan Agrarian riots in 1875.

13. IMPACT OF RYOTWARI SYSTEM:
Even while the position of cultivator became more secure,
but the rigid system of revenue collection forced ryots into
the hands of moneylender.
Since the government itself became a big zamindar, it had
right to enhance revenue at will. The cultivator was left at
the mercy of the collecting officers.

14. MAHALWARI SYSTEM
 In 1833, the Mahalwari System was introduced under Wlliam Bentinck .
 This was basically a modified form of the zamindari system/settlement
introduced
in the Ganga valley, Punjab, North-west Frontier Province, parts of Central
India.
 Under this system, a basic unit of revenue settlement was ‘Mahal’ or
‘Village’.
 The village land belonged jointly to the village community, they were
responsible
for payment of revenue.
 Entire land of ‘Mahal’ was measured at the time of fixing the revenue.
 There were also known as Bhaichare, or Mahals, which were basically
groups of villages

15. IMPACT OF MAHALWARI SYSTEM
• As the areas covered under the Mahalwari system in Northern
India were fertile, the government put the revenue demands
between 50% to 75% of the crop production.
• Within subsequent generations, the lands were fragmented, but
the revenue demand was still high which had to be paid in cash.
This led to their indebtedness in the hands of money lenders.
• Further, this system led to the eviction of farmers from the land.
Due to this sub-leasing of land was more common in Mahalwari
areas.

16. IMPACT OF MAHALWARI SYSTEM:
Since the government revised the revenue
periodically, the peasants had not much benefit of
elimination of middlemen between the government
and the village.
This brought about some improvement in irrigation
facilities, though major benefits of the system were
largely enjoyed by the government.

17. CONSEQUENCES OF THE BRITISH LAND REVENUE SYSTEMS
 Land became a commodity.
 Earlier there was no private ownership of land. Even kings and cultivators did not
consider land as his ‘private property’.
 Due to the very high taxes, farmers resorted to growing cash crops instead of food
crops. This led to food insecurity and even famines.
 Taxes on agricultural produce were moderate during pre-British times. The British
made it very high.
 Insistence on cash payment of revenue led to more indebtedness among farmers.
Moneylenders became landowners in due course.
 Bonded labour arose because loans were given to farmers/labourers who could not
pay it back.
 When India achieved freedom from colonial rule, 7% of the villagers
(Zamindars/landowners) owned 75% of the agricultural land.