TN History Textbook: Revenue Administration and Economic Policy of the British | Old & New NCERTs for IAS Preparation (Must Read) - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


British Agrarian Policy
It is a well-known fact that India is primarily an agricultural
country. The overwhelming majority of its people depend on
agriculture for sustenance.  If the crop is good, prosperity prevails
otherwise it leads to famine and starvation.
Till the 18th century, there was a strong relation between
agriculture and cottage industries in India.  India was not only ahead
in the field of agriculture than most other countries but it also held a
prominent place in the world in the field of handicraft production.
The British destroyed handicraft industry in the country while
unleashing far-reaching changes in the country’s agrarian structure
by introducing new systems of land tenures and policies of revenue
administration.
India’s national income, foreign trade, industrial expansion and
almost every other dominion of economic activity, depended on the
LESSON 7
REVENUE ADMINISTRATION AND
ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE BRITISH
Learning Objectives
Students will understand
1. The British agrarian policy.
2. Different Land Revenue Systems introduced by the British.
3. The Merits and demerits of the revenue administration.
4. British policy towards the handicrafts industry.
5. Causes for the decline of the Indian handicrafts.
66
Page 2


British Agrarian Policy
It is a well-known fact that India is primarily an agricultural
country. The overwhelming majority of its people depend on
agriculture for sustenance.  If the crop is good, prosperity prevails
otherwise it leads to famine and starvation.
Till the 18th century, there was a strong relation between
agriculture and cottage industries in India.  India was not only ahead
in the field of agriculture than most other countries but it also held a
prominent place in the world in the field of handicraft production.
The British destroyed handicraft industry in the country while
unleashing far-reaching changes in the country’s agrarian structure
by introducing new systems of land tenures and policies of revenue
administration.
India’s national income, foreign trade, industrial expansion and
almost every other dominion of economic activity, depended on the
LESSON 7
REVENUE ADMINISTRATION AND
ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE BRITISH
Learning Objectives
Students will understand
1. The British agrarian policy.
2. Different Land Revenue Systems introduced by the British.
3. The Merits and demerits of the revenue administration.
4. British policy towards the handicrafts industry.
5. Causes for the decline of the Indian handicrafts.
66
country’s agriculture. The British policies revolved around getting
maximum income from land without caring much about Indian
interests of the cultivators.  They abandoned the age -old system of
revenue administration and adopted in their place a ruthless policy of
revenue collection.
After their advent, the British principally adopted three types
of land tenures.  Roughly 19 per cent of the total area under the
British rule, i.e., Bengal, Bihar, Banaras, division of the Northern
Western Provinces and northern Karnatak, were brought under the
Zamindari System or the Permanent Settlement.  The second
revenue system, called the Mahalwari Settlement, was introduced
in about 30 per cent of the total area under British rule i.e., in major
parts of the North Western Provinces, Central Provinces and the
Punjab with some variations. The Ryotwari System covered about
51 per cent of the area under British rule comprising part of the
Bombay and Madras Presidencies, Assam and certain other parts of
British India.
The Permanent Settlement
Lord Cornwallis’ most conspicuous administrative measure was
the Permanent Land Revenue Settlement of Bengal, which was
extended to the provinces of Bihar and Orissa.  It is appropriate to
recall that Warren Hastings introduced the annual lease system of
auctioning the land to the highest bidder.  It created chaos in the
revenue administration.
Cornwallis at the time of his appointment was instructed by
the Directors to find a satisfactory and permanent solution to the
problems of the land revenue system in order to protect the interests
of both the Company and the cultivators.  It obliged the Governor-
General to make a thorough enquiry into the usages, tenures and
rents prevalent in Bengal.  The whole problem occupied Lord
Cornwallis for over three years and after a prolonged discussion with
his colleagues like Sir John Shore and James Grant he decided to
abolish the annual lease system and introduce a decennial (Ten years)
settlement which was subsequently declared to be continuous. The
main features of the Permanent Settlement were as follows:
(i) The zamindars of Bengal were recognised as the owners
of land as long as they paid the revenue to the East India
Company regularly.
(ii) The amount of revenue that the zamindars had to pay to
the Company was firmly fixed and would not be raised
under any circumstances. In other words the Government
of the East India Company got 89% leaving the rest to
the zamindars.
(iii) The ryots became tenants since they were considered
the tillers of the soil.
(iv) This settlement took away the administrative and judicial
functions of the zamindars.
The Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis was bitterly criticised
on the point that it was adopted with ‘undue haste’.  The flagrant
defect of this arrangement was that no attempt was made ever either
to survey the lands or to assess their value.  The assessment was
made roughly on the basis of accounts of previous collections and it
was done in an irregular manner. The effects of this system both on
the zamindars and ryots were disastrous.  As the revenue fixed by
the system was too high, many zamindars defaulted on payments.
Their property was seized and distress sales were conducted leading
to their ruin.  The rich zamindars who led luxurious lives left their
villages and migrated into towns.  They entrusted their rent collection
to agents who exacted all kinds of illegal taxes besides the legal ones
from the ryots.
67 68
Page 3


British Agrarian Policy
It is a well-known fact that India is primarily an agricultural
country. The overwhelming majority of its people depend on
agriculture for sustenance.  If the crop is good, prosperity prevails
otherwise it leads to famine and starvation.
Till the 18th century, there was a strong relation between
agriculture and cottage industries in India.  India was not only ahead
in the field of agriculture than most other countries but it also held a
prominent place in the world in the field of handicraft production.
The British destroyed handicraft industry in the country while
unleashing far-reaching changes in the country’s agrarian structure
by introducing new systems of land tenures and policies of revenue
administration.
India’s national income, foreign trade, industrial expansion and
almost every other dominion of economic activity, depended on the
LESSON 7
REVENUE ADMINISTRATION AND
ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE BRITISH
Learning Objectives
Students will understand
1. The British agrarian policy.
2. Different Land Revenue Systems introduced by the British.
3. The Merits and demerits of the revenue administration.
4. British policy towards the handicrafts industry.
5. Causes for the decline of the Indian handicrafts.
66
country’s agriculture. The British policies revolved around getting
maximum income from land without caring much about Indian
interests of the cultivators.  They abandoned the age -old system of
revenue administration and adopted in their place a ruthless policy of
revenue collection.
After their advent, the British principally adopted three types
of land tenures.  Roughly 19 per cent of the total area under the
British rule, i.e., Bengal, Bihar, Banaras, division of the Northern
Western Provinces and northern Karnatak, were brought under the
Zamindari System or the Permanent Settlement.  The second
revenue system, called the Mahalwari Settlement, was introduced
in about 30 per cent of the total area under British rule i.e., in major
parts of the North Western Provinces, Central Provinces and the
Punjab with some variations. The Ryotwari System covered about
51 per cent of the area under British rule comprising part of the
Bombay and Madras Presidencies, Assam and certain other parts of
British India.
The Permanent Settlement
Lord Cornwallis’ most conspicuous administrative measure was
the Permanent Land Revenue Settlement of Bengal, which was
extended to the provinces of Bihar and Orissa.  It is appropriate to
recall that Warren Hastings introduced the annual lease system of
auctioning the land to the highest bidder.  It created chaos in the
revenue administration.
Cornwallis at the time of his appointment was instructed by
the Directors to find a satisfactory and permanent solution to the
problems of the land revenue system in order to protect the interests
of both the Company and the cultivators.  It obliged the Governor-
General to make a thorough enquiry into the usages, tenures and
rents prevalent in Bengal.  The whole problem occupied Lord
Cornwallis for over three years and after a prolonged discussion with
his colleagues like Sir John Shore and James Grant he decided to
abolish the annual lease system and introduce a decennial (Ten years)
settlement which was subsequently declared to be continuous. The
main features of the Permanent Settlement were as follows:
(i) The zamindars of Bengal were recognised as the owners
of land as long as they paid the revenue to the East India
Company regularly.
(ii) The amount of revenue that the zamindars had to pay to
the Company was firmly fixed and would not be raised
under any circumstances. In other words the Government
of the East India Company got 89% leaving the rest to
the zamindars.
(iii) The ryots became tenants since they were considered
the tillers of the soil.
(iv) This settlement took away the administrative and judicial
functions of the zamindars.
The Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis was bitterly criticised
on the point that it was adopted with ‘undue haste’.  The flagrant
defect of this arrangement was that no attempt was made ever either
to survey the lands or to assess their value.  The assessment was
made roughly on the basis of accounts of previous collections and it
was done in an irregular manner. The effects of this system both on
the zamindars and ryots were disastrous.  As the revenue fixed by
the system was too high, many zamindars defaulted on payments.
Their property was seized and distress sales were conducted leading
to their ruin.  The rich zamindars who led luxurious lives left their
villages and migrated into towns.  They entrusted their rent collection
to agents who exacted all kinds of illegal taxes besides the legal ones
from the ryots.
67 68
This had resulted in a great deal of misery amongst the peasants
and farmers.  Therefore Lord Cornwallis’ idea of building a system
of benevolent land-lordism failed.  Baden Powell remarks, “The
zamindars as a class did nothing for the tenants”. Though initially the
Company gained financially, in the long run the Company suffered
financial loss because land productivity was high, income from it was
meagre since it was a fixed sum. It should be noted that in pre-
British period a share on the crop was fixed as land tax.
Nevertheless, this system proved to be a great boon to the
zamindars and to the government of Bengal. It formed a regular
income and stabilised the government of the Company.  The zamindars
prospered at the cost of the welfare of the tenants.
Ryotwari Settlement
The Ryotwari settlement was introduced mainly in Madras,
Berar, Bombay and Assam.  Sir Thomas Munro introduced this system
in the Madras Presidency. Under this settlement, the peasant was
recognised as the proprietor of land.  There was no intermediary like
a Zamindar between the peasant and the government.  So long as he
paid the revenue in time, the peasant was not evicted from the land.
Besides, the land revenue was fixed for a period from 20 to 40 years
at a time. Every peasant was held personally responsible for direct
payment of land revenue to the government. However, in the end,
this system also failed.  Under this settlement it was certainly not
possible to collect revenue in a systematic manner. The revenue
officials indulged in harsh mesuares for non payment or delayed
payment.
Mahalwari Settlement
In 1833, the Mahalwari settlement was introduced in the Punjab,
the Central Provinces and parts of North Western Provinces. Under
this system the basic unit of revenue settlement was the village or
the Mahal.  As the village lands belonged jointly to the village
community, the responsibility of paying the revenue rested with the
entire Mahal or the village community. So the entire land of the village
was measured at the time of fixing the revenue.
Though the Mahalwari system eliminated middlemen between
the government and the village community and brought about
improvement in irrigation facility, yet its benefit was largely enjoyed
by the government.
British Policy towards Indian Handicrafts
The European companies began arriving on the Indian soil from
16th century.  During this period, they were constantly engaged in
fierce competition to establish their supremacy and monopoly over
Indian trade. Not surprisingly, therefore, initial objective of the English
East India Company was to have flourishing trade with India.  Later,
this objective was enlarged to acquire a monopoly over this trade
and obtain its entire profit.  Although the trade monopoly thus acquired
by the Company in India was ended by the Charter Act of 1833, yet
the British Policy of exploiting the resources of India continued
unabated.  In this respect, the nature of the British rule was different
from the earlier rulers.
As far as the traditional handicraft industry and the production
of objects of art were concerned, India was already far ahead of
other countries in the world. The textiles were the most important
among the Indian industries.  Its cotton, silk and woolen products
were sought after all over the world.  Particularly, the muslin of Dacca,
carpets of Lahore, shawls of Kashmir, and the embroidery works of
Banaras were very famous.  Ivory goods, wood works and jewellery
were other widely sought after Indian commodities.
Apart from Dacca, which was highly famous for its muslins, the
other important centres of textile production were Krishnanagar, Chanderi,
69 70
Page 4


British Agrarian Policy
It is a well-known fact that India is primarily an agricultural
country. The overwhelming majority of its people depend on
agriculture for sustenance.  If the crop is good, prosperity prevails
otherwise it leads to famine and starvation.
Till the 18th century, there was a strong relation between
agriculture and cottage industries in India.  India was not only ahead
in the field of agriculture than most other countries but it also held a
prominent place in the world in the field of handicraft production.
The British destroyed handicraft industry in the country while
unleashing far-reaching changes in the country’s agrarian structure
by introducing new systems of land tenures and policies of revenue
administration.
India’s national income, foreign trade, industrial expansion and
almost every other dominion of economic activity, depended on the
LESSON 7
REVENUE ADMINISTRATION AND
ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE BRITISH
Learning Objectives
Students will understand
1. The British agrarian policy.
2. Different Land Revenue Systems introduced by the British.
3. The Merits and demerits of the revenue administration.
4. British policy towards the handicrafts industry.
5. Causes for the decline of the Indian handicrafts.
66
country’s agriculture. The British policies revolved around getting
maximum income from land without caring much about Indian
interests of the cultivators.  They abandoned the age -old system of
revenue administration and adopted in their place a ruthless policy of
revenue collection.
After their advent, the British principally adopted three types
of land tenures.  Roughly 19 per cent of the total area under the
British rule, i.e., Bengal, Bihar, Banaras, division of the Northern
Western Provinces and northern Karnatak, were brought under the
Zamindari System or the Permanent Settlement.  The second
revenue system, called the Mahalwari Settlement, was introduced
in about 30 per cent of the total area under British rule i.e., in major
parts of the North Western Provinces, Central Provinces and the
Punjab with some variations. The Ryotwari System covered about
51 per cent of the area under British rule comprising part of the
Bombay and Madras Presidencies, Assam and certain other parts of
British India.
The Permanent Settlement
Lord Cornwallis’ most conspicuous administrative measure was
the Permanent Land Revenue Settlement of Bengal, which was
extended to the provinces of Bihar and Orissa.  It is appropriate to
recall that Warren Hastings introduced the annual lease system of
auctioning the land to the highest bidder.  It created chaos in the
revenue administration.
Cornwallis at the time of his appointment was instructed by
the Directors to find a satisfactory and permanent solution to the
problems of the land revenue system in order to protect the interests
of both the Company and the cultivators.  It obliged the Governor-
General to make a thorough enquiry into the usages, tenures and
rents prevalent in Bengal.  The whole problem occupied Lord
Cornwallis for over three years and after a prolonged discussion with
his colleagues like Sir John Shore and James Grant he decided to
abolish the annual lease system and introduce a decennial (Ten years)
settlement which was subsequently declared to be continuous. The
main features of the Permanent Settlement were as follows:
(i) The zamindars of Bengal were recognised as the owners
of land as long as they paid the revenue to the East India
Company regularly.
(ii) The amount of revenue that the zamindars had to pay to
the Company was firmly fixed and would not be raised
under any circumstances. In other words the Government
of the East India Company got 89% leaving the rest to
the zamindars.
(iii) The ryots became tenants since they were considered
the tillers of the soil.
(iv) This settlement took away the administrative and judicial
functions of the zamindars.
The Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis was bitterly criticised
on the point that it was adopted with ‘undue haste’.  The flagrant
defect of this arrangement was that no attempt was made ever either
to survey the lands or to assess their value.  The assessment was
made roughly on the basis of accounts of previous collections and it
was done in an irregular manner. The effects of this system both on
the zamindars and ryots were disastrous.  As the revenue fixed by
the system was too high, many zamindars defaulted on payments.
Their property was seized and distress sales were conducted leading
to their ruin.  The rich zamindars who led luxurious lives left their
villages and migrated into towns.  They entrusted their rent collection
to agents who exacted all kinds of illegal taxes besides the legal ones
from the ryots.
67 68
This had resulted in a great deal of misery amongst the peasants
and farmers.  Therefore Lord Cornwallis’ idea of building a system
of benevolent land-lordism failed.  Baden Powell remarks, “The
zamindars as a class did nothing for the tenants”. Though initially the
Company gained financially, in the long run the Company suffered
financial loss because land productivity was high, income from it was
meagre since it was a fixed sum. It should be noted that in pre-
British period a share on the crop was fixed as land tax.
Nevertheless, this system proved to be a great boon to the
zamindars and to the government of Bengal. It formed a regular
income and stabilised the government of the Company.  The zamindars
prospered at the cost of the welfare of the tenants.
Ryotwari Settlement
The Ryotwari settlement was introduced mainly in Madras,
Berar, Bombay and Assam.  Sir Thomas Munro introduced this system
in the Madras Presidency. Under this settlement, the peasant was
recognised as the proprietor of land.  There was no intermediary like
a Zamindar between the peasant and the government.  So long as he
paid the revenue in time, the peasant was not evicted from the land.
Besides, the land revenue was fixed for a period from 20 to 40 years
at a time. Every peasant was held personally responsible for direct
payment of land revenue to the government. However, in the end,
this system also failed.  Under this settlement it was certainly not
possible to collect revenue in a systematic manner. The revenue
officials indulged in harsh mesuares for non payment or delayed
payment.
Mahalwari Settlement
In 1833, the Mahalwari settlement was introduced in the Punjab,
the Central Provinces and parts of North Western Provinces. Under
this system the basic unit of revenue settlement was the village or
the Mahal.  As the village lands belonged jointly to the village
community, the responsibility of paying the revenue rested with the
entire Mahal or the village community. So the entire land of the village
was measured at the time of fixing the revenue.
Though the Mahalwari system eliminated middlemen between
the government and the village community and brought about
improvement in irrigation facility, yet its benefit was largely enjoyed
by the government.
British Policy towards Indian Handicrafts
The European companies began arriving on the Indian soil from
16th century.  During this period, they were constantly engaged in
fierce competition to establish their supremacy and monopoly over
Indian trade. Not surprisingly, therefore, initial objective of the English
East India Company was to have flourishing trade with India.  Later,
this objective was enlarged to acquire a monopoly over this trade
and obtain its entire profit.  Although the trade monopoly thus acquired
by the Company in India was ended by the Charter Act of 1833, yet
the British Policy of exploiting the resources of India continued
unabated.  In this respect, the nature of the British rule was different
from the earlier rulers.
As far as the traditional handicraft industry and the production
of objects of art were concerned, India was already far ahead of
other countries in the world. The textiles were the most important
among the Indian industries.  Its cotton, silk and woolen products
were sought after all over the world.  Particularly, the muslin of Dacca,
carpets of Lahore, shawls of Kashmir, and the embroidery works of
Banaras were very famous.  Ivory goods, wood works and jewellery
were other widely sought after Indian commodities.
Apart from Dacca, which was highly famous for its muslins, the
other important centres of textile production were Krishnanagar, Chanderi,
69 70
Arni and Banaras.  Dhotis and dupattas of Ahmedabad, Chikan of
Lucknow, and silk borders of Nagpur had earned a worldwide fame.
For their silk products some small towns of Bengal besides, Malda and
Murshidabad were very famous.  Similarly, Kashmir, Punjab and western
Rajasthan were famous for their woolen garments.
Besides textiles, India was also known widely for its shipping,
leather and metal industries.  Indian fame as an industrial economy
rested on cutting and polishing of marble and other precious stones
and carving of ivory and sandalwood.  Moradabad and Banaras were
famous for brass, copper, bronze utensils.  Nasik, Poona, Hyderabad
and Tanjore were famous for other metal works.  Kutch, Sind and
Punjab were known for manufacturing arms.  Kolhapur, Satara,
Gorakhpur, Agra, Chittor and Palaghat had likewise earned a
reputation for their glass industries.  Making of gold, silver and
diamond jewellery was another important industrial activity in which
many places in India specialized.  These entire handicrafts industry
indicated a vibrant economy in India.
Despite enjoying such fame in the world, the Indian handicraft
industry had begun to decline by the beginning of the 18th century.
There were many reasons for it.  First, the policies followed by the
English East India Company proved to be highly detrimental to the
Indian handicrafts industry.  The Indian market was flooded with the
cheap finished goods from Britain.  It resulted in a steep decline in
the sale of Indian products both within and outside of the country.  In
1769, the Company encouraged the cultivation of raw silk in Bengal
while imposing service restrictions on the sale of its finished products.
In 1813 strategies were devised by the Company to enhance the
consumption of finished goods from Britain.  In this respect the tariff
and octroi policies were suitably modified to suit the British
commercial interests.  To cite an example, in 1835  only a minimal
import of British duty of 2.5 per cent was imposed on the import of
British manufactured cotton cloth whereas a very high 15 per cent
export duty was charged on Indian cotton textiles as per the new
maritime regulations.
Moreover, goods from England could only be brought by the
English cargo ships.  As a result of all these policies, the Indian textiles
could not enter the British market, whereas the Indian market was
flooded with British goods.
Thus, with the rise of British paramountcy in India, the process
of decline in the power and status of Indian rulers had set in.  Thus,
the demands for the domestic luxury goods like royal attires, armory
and objects of art by the Indian royalty also reduced
drastically.
So, with the disappearance of the traditional dynasties, their
nobility also passed into oblivion.  This led to a sharp decline in the
demand for traditional luxury goods.
Besides, the Industrial revolution led to the invention of new
machinery in Europe.  Power looms replaced handlooms. In India
also the advent of machines led to the decline of handicraft as now
the machine-made products were available at cheaper rate and more
goods could be produced in much lesser time.
Finally, the new communication and transport facilities brought
about a revolution in public life. Earlier, goods used to be transported
either by bullock carts or by ships.  Thus, during the rainy season, it
was not always convenient to carry on with the normal transportation.
But now conditions were changed with the introduction of railways
and steamer services. Concrete roads were laid to connect the
country’s agricultural hinterland. The import of goods from England
also increased with the simultaneous increase in exports of raw
materials from India, leading to massive loss of jobs among Indian
artisans and craftsman who lost their only means to livelihood.
71 72
Page 5


British Agrarian Policy
It is a well-known fact that India is primarily an agricultural
country. The overwhelming majority of its people depend on
agriculture for sustenance.  If the crop is good, prosperity prevails
otherwise it leads to famine and starvation.
Till the 18th century, there was a strong relation between
agriculture and cottage industries in India.  India was not only ahead
in the field of agriculture than most other countries but it also held a
prominent place in the world in the field of handicraft production.
The British destroyed handicraft industry in the country while
unleashing far-reaching changes in the country’s agrarian structure
by introducing new systems of land tenures and policies of revenue
administration.
India’s national income, foreign trade, industrial expansion and
almost every other dominion of economic activity, depended on the
LESSON 7
REVENUE ADMINISTRATION AND
ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE BRITISH
Learning Objectives
Students will understand
1. The British agrarian policy.
2. Different Land Revenue Systems introduced by the British.
3. The Merits and demerits of the revenue administration.
4. British policy towards the handicrafts industry.
5. Causes for the decline of the Indian handicrafts.
66
country’s agriculture. The British policies revolved around getting
maximum income from land without caring much about Indian
interests of the cultivators.  They abandoned the age -old system of
revenue administration and adopted in their place a ruthless policy of
revenue collection.
After their advent, the British principally adopted three types
of land tenures.  Roughly 19 per cent of the total area under the
British rule, i.e., Bengal, Bihar, Banaras, division of the Northern
Western Provinces and northern Karnatak, were brought under the
Zamindari System or the Permanent Settlement.  The second
revenue system, called the Mahalwari Settlement, was introduced
in about 30 per cent of the total area under British rule i.e., in major
parts of the North Western Provinces, Central Provinces and the
Punjab with some variations. The Ryotwari System covered about
51 per cent of the area under British rule comprising part of the
Bombay and Madras Presidencies, Assam and certain other parts of
British India.
The Permanent Settlement
Lord Cornwallis’ most conspicuous administrative measure was
the Permanent Land Revenue Settlement of Bengal, which was
extended to the provinces of Bihar and Orissa.  It is appropriate to
recall that Warren Hastings introduced the annual lease system of
auctioning the land to the highest bidder.  It created chaos in the
revenue administration.
Cornwallis at the time of his appointment was instructed by
the Directors to find a satisfactory and permanent solution to the
problems of the land revenue system in order to protect the interests
of both the Company and the cultivators.  It obliged the Governor-
General to make a thorough enquiry into the usages, tenures and
rents prevalent in Bengal.  The whole problem occupied Lord
Cornwallis for over three years and after a prolonged discussion with
his colleagues like Sir John Shore and James Grant he decided to
abolish the annual lease system and introduce a decennial (Ten years)
settlement which was subsequently declared to be continuous. The
main features of the Permanent Settlement were as follows:
(i) The zamindars of Bengal were recognised as the owners
of land as long as they paid the revenue to the East India
Company regularly.
(ii) The amount of revenue that the zamindars had to pay to
the Company was firmly fixed and would not be raised
under any circumstances. In other words the Government
of the East India Company got 89% leaving the rest to
the zamindars.
(iii) The ryots became tenants since they were considered
the tillers of the soil.
(iv) This settlement took away the administrative and judicial
functions of the zamindars.
The Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis was bitterly criticised
on the point that it was adopted with ‘undue haste’.  The flagrant
defect of this arrangement was that no attempt was made ever either
to survey the lands or to assess their value.  The assessment was
made roughly on the basis of accounts of previous collections and it
was done in an irregular manner. The effects of this system both on
the zamindars and ryots were disastrous.  As the revenue fixed by
the system was too high, many zamindars defaulted on payments.
Their property was seized and distress sales were conducted leading
to their ruin.  The rich zamindars who led luxurious lives left their
villages and migrated into towns.  They entrusted their rent collection
to agents who exacted all kinds of illegal taxes besides the legal ones
from the ryots.
67 68
This had resulted in a great deal of misery amongst the peasants
and farmers.  Therefore Lord Cornwallis’ idea of building a system
of benevolent land-lordism failed.  Baden Powell remarks, “The
zamindars as a class did nothing for the tenants”. Though initially the
Company gained financially, in the long run the Company suffered
financial loss because land productivity was high, income from it was
meagre since it was a fixed sum. It should be noted that in pre-
British period a share on the crop was fixed as land tax.
Nevertheless, this system proved to be a great boon to the
zamindars and to the government of Bengal. It formed a regular
income and stabilised the government of the Company.  The zamindars
prospered at the cost of the welfare of the tenants.
Ryotwari Settlement
The Ryotwari settlement was introduced mainly in Madras,
Berar, Bombay and Assam.  Sir Thomas Munro introduced this system
in the Madras Presidency. Under this settlement, the peasant was
recognised as the proprietor of land.  There was no intermediary like
a Zamindar between the peasant and the government.  So long as he
paid the revenue in time, the peasant was not evicted from the land.
Besides, the land revenue was fixed for a period from 20 to 40 years
at a time. Every peasant was held personally responsible for direct
payment of land revenue to the government. However, in the end,
this system also failed.  Under this settlement it was certainly not
possible to collect revenue in a systematic manner. The revenue
officials indulged in harsh mesuares for non payment or delayed
payment.
Mahalwari Settlement
In 1833, the Mahalwari settlement was introduced in the Punjab,
the Central Provinces and parts of North Western Provinces. Under
this system the basic unit of revenue settlement was the village or
the Mahal.  As the village lands belonged jointly to the village
community, the responsibility of paying the revenue rested with the
entire Mahal or the village community. So the entire land of the village
was measured at the time of fixing the revenue.
Though the Mahalwari system eliminated middlemen between
the government and the village community and brought about
improvement in irrigation facility, yet its benefit was largely enjoyed
by the government.
British Policy towards Indian Handicrafts
The European companies began arriving on the Indian soil from
16th century.  During this period, they were constantly engaged in
fierce competition to establish their supremacy and monopoly over
Indian trade. Not surprisingly, therefore, initial objective of the English
East India Company was to have flourishing trade with India.  Later,
this objective was enlarged to acquire a monopoly over this trade
and obtain its entire profit.  Although the trade monopoly thus acquired
by the Company in India was ended by the Charter Act of 1833, yet
the British Policy of exploiting the resources of India continued
unabated.  In this respect, the nature of the British rule was different
from the earlier rulers.
As far as the traditional handicraft industry and the production
of objects of art were concerned, India was already far ahead of
other countries in the world. The textiles were the most important
among the Indian industries.  Its cotton, silk and woolen products
were sought after all over the world.  Particularly, the muslin of Dacca,
carpets of Lahore, shawls of Kashmir, and the embroidery works of
Banaras were very famous.  Ivory goods, wood works and jewellery
were other widely sought after Indian commodities.
Apart from Dacca, which was highly famous for its muslins, the
other important centres of textile production were Krishnanagar, Chanderi,
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Arni and Banaras.  Dhotis and dupattas of Ahmedabad, Chikan of
Lucknow, and silk borders of Nagpur had earned a worldwide fame.
For their silk products some small towns of Bengal besides, Malda and
Murshidabad were very famous.  Similarly, Kashmir, Punjab and western
Rajasthan were famous for their woolen garments.
Besides textiles, India was also known widely for its shipping,
leather and metal industries.  Indian fame as an industrial economy
rested on cutting and polishing of marble and other precious stones
and carving of ivory and sandalwood.  Moradabad and Banaras were
famous for brass, copper, bronze utensils.  Nasik, Poona, Hyderabad
and Tanjore were famous for other metal works.  Kutch, Sind and
Punjab were known for manufacturing arms.  Kolhapur, Satara,
Gorakhpur, Agra, Chittor and Palaghat had likewise earned a
reputation for their glass industries.  Making of gold, silver and
diamond jewellery was another important industrial activity in which
many places in India specialized.  These entire handicrafts industry
indicated a vibrant economy in India.
Despite enjoying such fame in the world, the Indian handicraft
industry had begun to decline by the beginning of the 18th century.
There were many reasons for it.  First, the policies followed by the
English East India Company proved to be highly detrimental to the
Indian handicrafts industry.  The Indian market was flooded with the
cheap finished goods from Britain.  It resulted in a steep decline in
the sale of Indian products both within and outside of the country.  In
1769, the Company encouraged the cultivation of raw silk in Bengal
while imposing service restrictions on the sale of its finished products.
In 1813 strategies were devised by the Company to enhance the
consumption of finished goods from Britain.  In this respect the tariff
and octroi policies were suitably modified to suit the British
commercial interests.  To cite an example, in 1835  only a minimal
import of British duty of 2.5 per cent was imposed on the import of
British manufactured cotton cloth whereas a very high 15 per cent
export duty was charged on Indian cotton textiles as per the new
maritime regulations.
Moreover, goods from England could only be brought by the
English cargo ships.  As a result of all these policies, the Indian textiles
could not enter the British market, whereas the Indian market was
flooded with British goods.
Thus, with the rise of British paramountcy in India, the process
of decline in the power and status of Indian rulers had set in.  Thus,
the demands for the domestic luxury goods like royal attires, armory
and objects of art by the Indian royalty also reduced
drastically.
So, with the disappearance of the traditional dynasties, their
nobility also passed into oblivion.  This led to a sharp decline in the
demand for traditional luxury goods.
Besides, the Industrial revolution led to the invention of new
machinery in Europe.  Power looms replaced handlooms. In India
also the advent of machines led to the decline of handicraft as now
the machine-made products were available at cheaper rate and more
goods could be produced in much lesser time.
Finally, the new communication and transport facilities brought
about a revolution in public life. Earlier, goods used to be transported
either by bullock carts or by ships.  Thus, during the rainy season, it
was not always convenient to carry on with the normal transportation.
But now conditions were changed with the introduction of railways
and steamer services. Concrete roads were laid to connect the
country’s agricultural hinterland. The import of goods from England
also increased with the simultaneous increase in exports of raw
materials from India, leading to massive loss of jobs among Indian
artisans and craftsman who lost their only means to livelihood.
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MODEL QUESTIONS
I. Choose the correct answer.
1. The Permanent Settlement was introduced by
(a) Lord Cornwallis (b) Lord Wellesley
(c) Lord William Bentinck (d) Lord Dalhousie
II. Fill in the blanks.
1. The basic unit of revenue settlement under the Mahalwari
system was ……
III. Match the following.
1. Muslin a. Banares
2. Silk b. Tanjore
3. Carpets c. Dacca
4. Metal works d. Lahore
IV. Find out the correct statement. One statement alone is
right.
a) The Permanent Settlement took away the judicial functions of
zamindars.
b) There was an intermediary like zamindar between the
government and peasants under the Ryotwari settlement.
c) Indian handicrafts began to decline by the early 16
th
 century.
d) The Industrial Revolution in England had encouraged the Indian
handloom industries.
Learning Outcome
The students have learnt
1. The objectives of the British agrarian policy.
2. The Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari System and the
Mahalwari systems of land revenue.
3. The economic impact of British land revenue administration.
4. The Indian handicrafts industry and its importance.
5. British policy of exploitation.
6. The decline of the Indian handicrafts industry due to the
Industrial Revolution in England.
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