The british believed in systematic documentation.Explain this with examples
Answers
It was believed by the British that if a document has been signed by any party, it cannot be denied by any party or anyone. Signing a document would mean guarantee, and this made the documentation very systematic and avoided confusion on a large as well as on small scale. The documents related to India under British rule are maintained by the India Office Records and are of the duration from 1600 to 1947. These are now stored as archives.
The British government reflected that a state had to be precisely known before it could be efficiently directed. Therefore, the British government and officials believed in well-organised documentation of each and every policy and laws enacted by them. They wanted to keep a check on the records in order to rule the country on their terms. For this, they even built record rooms to preserve their documents. The most important purpose for this was to get the information such as about the quality of soil, cropping patterns and land revenue etc. was used to determine the standard of the laws and policies. For example, British government introduced a system of surveying that was crucial for determining the rates of land revenue.