CHANGES IN AGRARIAN STRUCTURE

CHANGES IN AGRARIAN STRUCTURE In order to extract maximum revenue from the peasants, the British resorted to various forms of land settlements. The first step was taken by Warren Hastings in 1m, when he entrusted the responsibility for the collection of land revenue to the contractors and started the practice of auctioning the right to collect land revenue to the highest bidder for five years. This system resulted in the ouster of a large number of hereditary zamindars.

Permanent Settlement (1793) It was Lord Cornwallis who modified the above arrangement. He introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793, according to which the zamindars were vested with proprietory rights over the land and were made responsible for the collection of land revenue. They were allowed to keep one-tenth to one­eleventh of the share but had to give the rest to the Company within a specified time. The most striking feature of this settlement was that, while the revenue demand was fixed, the rent to be realised by the landlord from the cultivator was left unsettled. The rate of revenue was on the higher side which proved a burden for the cultivators who became mere tenants. Later the zamindars got the right to evict tenants for non-payment of dues. This system, begun in Bengal and Bihar, was extended to Orissa, Varanasi and northern Madras