Notes
Chapter 3
The Rural Life and Society.
Permanent Settlement
Introduced by Charles Cornwallis in
1793.
This system was introduced in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and some parts of the Madras Presidency.
The highest bidder became the owner of the land.
Had to pay a fixed amount and the date of payment was also fixed.
The zamindars paid fix rent, to the British and keeping the rest to themselves.
If the zamindars were not able to pay the fixed amount, the land was taken and sold to
someone else.
Administrative and judicial functions were in the hands of the British.
The Disadvantage of the System
The British had thought that the zamindars would invest in to increase the produce.
However, zamindars made no efforts to improve it. They had the right to remove tenants from
their land or seize the land belonging to a cultivator on non-payment of dues.
All these factors left the cultivators in pitiable conditions.
The Ryotwari System
The Ryotwari system was introduced by Sir Thomas Munro in 1799-1801 in Bombay and
Madras Presidencies.
According to this system,
There was no mediator, and the revenue was collected directly from the cultivator or the ryot.
The land revenue was fixed for a period of thirty years, after which it could be reassessed.
Peasants were expected to pay half the estimated net value of the total produce.
The method of collection was strict, the cultivators were compelled to borrow money from
moneylenders.
This new system hardly benefited the farmers. He was nothing more than a tenant of the land.
The rigid system only pushed farmers to borrow money.
The Mahalwari System
This system was formulated by Holt Mackenzie in 1822.
The Mahalwari System was based on the common ownership of land.
This system was introduced in north western India, Punjab, parts of central India and parts of
Bengal.
Payment and settlement of tax collection were made with village elders.
The person responsible for collecting revenue was the village headman.
Impact of the Land Revenue Systems
The land revenue systems had many drawbacks:
These land settlements damaged the economy of the country.
Increased money-lending amongst farmers.
It made farmers bonded labour as they had to mortgage their land.
Money lenders loaned money at high interest rates, thereby leading to growing debt and
impoverishment of farmers.
The rich could turn to the courts to defend their properties, however, the poor had no access to
them.
The cash payment of tax forced cultivators to produce cash crops, like cotton and sugarcane,
rather than food crops.
No effort was made to improve or modernize agriculture.
Conditions of farmers became miserable if crops failed in any given year.
Cultivation of Indigo
Indigo crop yielded a blue dye. It was in great demand among European cloth manufacturers.
Plant variety called woad.
Indigo was in short supply in the European markets, so the British decided to increase the
production of indigo in India. Business agents began investing in indigo farming.
They rented land and hired labourers.
This was known as nij cultivation.
But this type of cultivation had many problems. Indigo needed large pieces of compact land for
cultivation and most of the fertile land was already densely populated.
Therefore, only 25 per cent of indigo-producing land was under this system.
Kisan Sabhas were set up, which tried to represent the peasants and create awareness about
their problems.
Indigo Revolt in Bengal
The loans sanctioned to the peasants for indigo cultivation initially seemed reasonable, but the
cultivators soon realized it was not.
The cultivation was laborious and fetch no profits.
Moreover, they were unable to free themselves from the loans.
Also, the deep roots of the indigo plant made it impossible for the farmers to grow rice or any
other crop, as indigo plantation exhausted the soil.
The outcome of all this was that many peasants in Bengal refused to grow indigo.
In fact, Indigo planters were ostracised.
The indigo farmers gained tremendous support from the intellectuals within the city as well as
the local zamindars.
Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neel Darpan, a forceful play that depicted the real situation of the
indigo farmers.
Indigo production in Bengal came to a standstill and the planters shifted their attention towards
Bihar.
Mahatma Gandhi visited Champaran to observe the condition of the indigo farmers during this
time.
This visit was the beginning of the Champaran Movement against indigo cultivation and would
eventually grow into a nationwide movement against British