VIII RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

The document of the Permanent Settlement

"The Marquis Cornwallis, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, governor-General-in-Council now notifies to all zamindars in the provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, that he has empowered the Directors of the East India Company to declare the Jumma of their lands, fixed forever".

Failure of Mahalwari System

1. Decline of productivity due to fragmentation of land. 2. British demanded Revenue in cash. So, farmers had to borrow money to pay taxes in the case of crop failures. 3. When farmer failed to repay debt,money lender took his tilling rights.

Indigo prove boon to the British planters but bane to the Indian peasants.

1. It was a labour intensive crop that drained not only the peasant but also left the soil infertile. 2. The planters forced the Ryots to enter into unjust contracts for loan.

Third merit of permanent settlement.

Thirdly, the Permanent Settlement, by being a permanent system, created a sense of security in everyone concerned. There was a feeling of certainty in matters of land and revenue. The Government knew its exact income from the land. It knew the time of that income.

The Company Becomes the Diwan

on 12th August 1765, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam -II granted Dewani of Bengal to Robert Clive of the East India Company.

Chief features of Mahalwari Settlment

1. The unit of assessment was the village. 2. The village community had to distribute these tax collection targets among the cultivators. 3. A village inhabitant, called the lambardar, collected the amounts and gave to the British official. 4. British periodically revised tax rates.

Crops for Europe

The East India Company in 18th century tried it best to expand the cultivation of opium and indigo.The company persuaded or forced cultivators to produce crops of their choice,such as jute in Bengal, tea in Assam, Sugarcane in UP, Cotton in Maharashtra, Wheat in Punjab and Rice in Madras.

The Mahalwari Settlement

The Mahalwari (village) was a revenue collection system that was introduced by Holt Mackenzie in British India.It was one of the three major land tenure systems implemented by the British in India. The other two systems were the Permanent Settlement of Bengal and the Ryotwari system

Failure of Munro system

The system failed due to unrealistic revenue demand. The ryots unable to pay revenue fled the countryside.

Woad

A European herb (Isatis tinctoria) of the mustard family formerly grown for the blue dyestuff yielded by its leaves.

Social Demerit of permanent settlement

Socially, a small class of landlords formed the upper aristocracy in the society. They enjoyed social prestige arising out of status and wealth but the poor tillers of the soil at the bottom suffered hardship. Social privileges led to various social evils.

Revenue for the Company

The Company's only interest was to collect as high revenue as possible to meet the Company's growing expenditure and to buy fine Indian cotton and silk as cheaply as possible. It was not interested in welfare of the people of province.

The Champaran Movement

The peasants (bhumihars) of the Champaran and other areas of North Bihar were growing the Indigo under the tinkathia system. Under the tinkathia system the peasants were bound to plant 3 out of 20 parts of his land with indigo for his landlord.

Administrative demerits of Permanent Settlement

The peasants suffered the indifference of the Government and the oppression of the zamindars. If the zamindar was good, the people were happy. If he was bad, there was nobody to protect the weak. In brief the entire administration was at the mercy of the landlords.

Political demerit of Permanent settlement

Politically, the British Government regarded the landlords as the loyal supporters of the Empire. In fact, most landlords remained loyal to the British till the last. When the freedom movement began, the landlords as a class were suspected by the nationalists.

Second & Third features of Permanent settlement

Secondly, the landlords were given the right to transfer or sell their lands if they liked. Thirdly, all the rights of the landlords depended on their payment of the fixed revenue on the fixed date at the treasury of the Government. All their rights ended if they failed to pay.

Economical demerit of Permanent Settlement

Economically, the Permanent Settlement had several drawbacks. The land revenues were fixed in a random way. The nature of the soil, etc., was not taken into account. So, good and bad plots were assessed in the same manner. That was a defective system of assessment.

Indigo

A plant used to make valuable blue dye. By 1890, 95% of Britain's indigo was imported from India . As demand of Indigo grew in Europe, the British planters forced peasants in Bengal and Bihar to grow Indigo at least in 25% percent of their fertile crop land.

Fifth merit of permanent settlement

Fifthly, many of the landlords believed in philanthropic works for the benefit of their tenants. In those days, the Government did not establish charitable dispensaries, or schools. Government also did not dig wells or ponds for people's welfare. Such works were done by the landlords.

Merits of Permanent Settlement.

Firstly, in those beginning days of the British rule, the British administrative machinery could not touch the remote peasantry to collect revenue. Modern means of communication did not exist. It was decided, therefore, to shift the responsibility to the shoulders of Indian nobility.

Features of the Permanent Settlement

Firstly, it recognized the landlords as the proprietors of the land. It also recognized the rights of hereditary succession for the heirs or lawful successors of the landlords. The Government believed that these landlords would remain faithful to the British.

Fourth merit of permanent settlement.

Fourthly, all kinds of details regarding the lands, the papers of the countless ryots, the questions of their rights, etc., were managed by the lords, and their naibs or managers, etc. The servants of the zamindars were usually competent persons.

Fourth & Fifth features of Permanent Setlement

Fourthly,it was agreed that the tax rate would not be increased in future. Finally, the landlord was required to give to the tenant the patta describing therein the area of the land and the rent to be collected.

The "Blue Rebellion"

In 1859, as the Indigo system was oppressive , the ryots in Bengal refused to grow them. The Britishers was alarmed and sent the Lieutenant Governor to intervene.The indigo commission held the planters guilty. After the revolt, indigo production shifted to Bihar until Gandhiji intervene in 1917 in Champaran.

The Munro System

It was a land revenue system initiated by captain Alexander Read and perfected by Sir Thomas Munro, the Governor of Madras in 1820. Under this system revenue settlement was done directly with cultivators or Ryots. It was practiced in south India and latter on in Bengal and parts of Assam.

Second merit of permanent settlement.

Secondly, the landlords were themselves the sons of the soil. They understood the real difficulties of the Indian villager and the problems of his cultivation. Therefore, in those days they served the people better.

The Permanent Settlement 1793

The Permanent Settlement (also Premanent Settlement of Bengal) was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793. It was an agreement between the British East India Company and the Landlords of Bengal to settle the Land Revenue to be raised. Lord Cornwallis came to India as the Governor General.

Ashley Eden

was a magistrate who issued a notice stating that ryots would not be compelled to accept indigo contract.