Give three difference between permanent settlement and ryitwari settlement
Answers
Land revenue has been the traditional basis for state finance, and the British were no exception. The Company determined the amount of land revenue payable through a process called “settlement”.Permanent Settlement: Introduced by Lord Cornwallis in Bengal in 1793. Under this system, the zamindars collected the revenue; and at the same time, became owners of all land under their jurisdiction.On the other hand, the peasants became rent-paying tenants, who could be evicted at will.The revenue amount, fixed arbitrarily, was quite high. The zamindar had to submit the revenue at a particular date, even if the crop failed or got damaged or destroyed. Otherwise, the state reserved the right to sell his entire estate.The Ryotwari Settlement: In 1798, Lord Wellesley ordered the implementation of the Permanent Settlement in Madras. But his decision was opposed by a civilian named Thomas Munro, who pointed out the shortcomings of the system. Moreover, Munro made the Company’s Court of Directors realize that in India, if the ryot (peasant) who cultivates the land is also made its owner, he would be encouraged to improve both agricultural production and productivity.Consequently, in 1812, the Ryotwari Settlement was introduced in the lands seized from Mysore. Later, it was implemented in Bombay.Under this settlement, a village-level survey was conducted, followed by the drawing up of a register of all land within each village. The land was then categorized based on productivity.Like the Permanent Settlement, the Ryotwari Settlement too promoted individual ownership of land, but while the former focussed on the Zamindars, the latter made the peasant as the proprietor, who was responsible for payment of land revenue (in cash) to the government agents. Thus, the peasant got the opportunity to own the land he cultivated, with no intermediary between him and the state he owed revenue to.Another important difference was that the rate of revenue was not permanently fixed, but was revised after every 20–30 years. In Bombay, for instance, 55 per cent of the produce was fixed as revenue for 30 years. This way, the government was able to grab a share of the increased produce.The Mahalwari system: It was a modified version of the Permanent Settlement that was introduced in the Gangetic Valley, the North-West Provinces, parts of Central India, and the Punjab.“Mahal” means village. So, under the Mahalwari system, the settlement was made with a village, rather than with an individual peasant or zamindar.It was the duty of the local lambardar to collect revenue from the peasants of his village. Initially, the rate was fixed (at two-thirds of the produce for 20–30 years), but was eventually reduced to one-half.Like the Ryotwari System, here too the peasants were saved from dealing with corrupt revenue officials; but the rate of revenue was extremely high.Read more on Wikipedia if more information needed