Why did the villagers under the Mahalwari Settlement lost their self-sufficiency? (Long answer please)
Answers
Mahalwari system (Template:Lannng-hi) was introduced by Holt Mackenzie (1787-1876), son of Henry Mackenzie[citation needed] . The other two systems were the Permanent Settlement of Bengal in 1793 and the Ryotwari system in 1820. It covered the States of Punjab,Awadh and Agra, parts of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. During the 1800s, the British tried to establish their control over the administrative machinery of India. The System of Land Revenue acted as a chief source of income of the British. Land was one of the most important source of income for the British. Thus, they used land to control the entire Revenue system, strengthening their economic condition in India.
The word Mahalwari (महलवारी) is derived from the Hindi word Mahal (महल), which means house, district, neighbourhood or quarter. This system consisted of landlords or Lambardars claiming to represent entire villages or even groups of villages. Along with the village communities, the landlords were jointly responsible for the payment of the revenues. But, individual responsibility was always there. The land included under this system consisted of all land of the villages, even the forestland, pastures etc.
This system was prevalent in the parts of Uttar Pradesh, the North Western province, parts of Central India and Punjab the Mahalwari system was introduced in the parts of central india and punjab due to the fertility of these two areas. the system was supposed to be revised after every 30 years, but this time period was not appropriate for the soldiers had to wait for such a long period of time for the system to be revised. moreover, the system did not take natural calamities in consideration and hence, led to debt and poverty while crop failures, droughts, earthquakes and other hazards when the land revenue was expected to be exempted.