Question

briefly explain the revenue system in the British India

Answer 1

For UPSC, Land Revenue Systems in British India is always a hot topic for Prelims and Mains. And as per the new syllabus ‘land reforms in India’ is specifically mentioned for GS Mains, and the relevance just got multiplied. Now let’s have a quick look at the different methods of land revenue collection systems which existed in India.

Tax from the land was a major source of revenue for the kings and emperors from ancient times. But the ownership pattern of land had witnessed changes over centuries. During Kingship, land was divided into Jagirs, Jagirs were alloted to Jagirdars, these Jagirdars 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.