Land Revenue Systems in British India

The Land Tenure System in India

• From the early modern period, taxation of agricultural output by Indian states proved easier than taxing immovable property, trade, or profit.
• Agricultural output was relatively easy to predict and exchange
• Producers and land controllers were identifiable and less mobile than traders.

Pre-British Systems of Land Revenue

• In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mughals collected land revenue through non-hereditary, transferable state officials.
• The Mansabdari System, introduced by Akbar, assigned mansabdars to collect land revenue.
• After the decline of Mughal power, these officials became hereditary landlords and local chiefs.

Three Major Systems of Land Revenue

• A Landlord Based System (Zamindari or Malguzari)
• An Individual Cultivator Based System (Raiyatwari)
• A Village Based System (Mahawari)

The Zamindari System

• The responsibility to pay revenue to the British rested with the landlord.
• The revenue was set permanently
• The landlord collected revenue from peasants under his jurisdiction.
• The landlord had the right to fix revenue terms for the peasants.
• Landlords could dispossess any peasant not paying his dues.
• The landlord effectively had property rights on the land.
• This system was found in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, the Central Provinces (modern Madhya Pradesh), and parts of Madras Presidency (modern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh).

The Ryotwari/Raiyatwari System

• Revenue settlement was made directly with the cultivator.
• An extensive cadastral survey was done to prepare a detailed record of rights, serving as the legal title of the land.
• The revenue commitment was not fixed but calculated as the money value of a share of the estimated average annual output.
• The Ryotwari/Raiyatwari System was in most areas of Madras and Bombay

Mahalwari System

• Village bodies jointly owning the village were responsible for paying the land revenue.
• Village bodies could be in charge of varying villages, from part of a village to several villages.
• The composition of the village body varied from place to place.
• In some areas a single person or family, similar to a landlord, made up the village body.
• . In other areas, a large group of members was responsible for paying a fixed share of the revenue.

Benefits of the Ryotwari System

• Sir Thomas Munro argued that settling revenue with an individual cultivator was better in Madras.
• Agricultural productivity would increase since the cultivator would not be subject to arbitrary revenue demands from the landlord.
• The government received guaranteed revenue as the cultivator had little political sway.

Benefits of the Zamindari System

• The Madras Board of Revenue used Munro's arguments to oppose the Ryotwari system.
• Large landlords could invest for higher agricultural productivity.
• Cultivators would have protection by the landlord, including insurance to small cultivators.
• Wealthy landlords make up for any revenue shortfall by paying.

Choice of the Land Revenue Systems

• Two main points for selecting land revenue systems
  • Ability to ensure steady income for the government.
  • Ability to balance their own political power with other important political powers in the region.
• Other factors include:
  • Influence of Individual Administrators.
  • Political Events.
  • Date of Conquest.
  • Presence of a landlord class before the arrival of the British.

Individual Administrators

• Holt Mackenzie, the Secretary of the Board of Revenue claimed that a village body historically owned land.
• The Minute helped to build the village-level settlements.

Political Events

• Awadh was annexed by British in 1856 with a village based revenue system was imposed initially.
• During the Revolt of 1857, large landlords aided in stopping the conflict as the British realized the value of landlords.
• There was a reversal of policy and landlords whose land had been taken away due to the village based system were given back their land.

Date of Conquest

• Landlord-based areas needed less administrative machinery to be put up by the British.
• Areas conquered early in British rule were likely to have landlord-based systems.
• Deciding land revenue directly with the cultivator reflected ideas of economists in Britain.
• Areas considered later were more likely to have non-landlord systems.
• Berar was put under an individual based system, similar to neighboring Bombay.

Presence of the Landlord Class

• Presence of the landlord class is an important determinant in productivity investments by rich cultivators.
• Cultivators of another persons land were less likely to invest in it

Misconceptions about Tradition and Modernity

• There are seven fallacies about Tradition and Modernity
  • Developing societies have been static societies.
  • Traditional culture is a consistent body of norms and values.
  • Traditional society is a homogenous social structure.
  • Old traditions are displaced by new changes.
  • Traditional and modern forms are always in conflict.
  • Tradition and modernity are mutually exclusive systems.
  • Modernizing processes weaken traditions.
• Fallacy is a false or mistaken idea.
• Misconception is a wrong or inaccurate idea

Static Societies

• Fallacy: Developing societies have been static societies.
• Traditional societies are often a product of change.
• Foreign conquests, social and cultural movements influenced family life, religious beliefs, and social structure in India over many centuries.

How traditional society changes

• Cultural changes such as Sanskritization may occur in traditional societies.
• Social movements may create change.
• The Bengal Sati Regulation prohibited the practice of Sati within British India and was passed by the Governor Lord William Bentinck.
• The Sati (Prevention) Act 1987 came about when attempts to revive the custom surfaced.

Consistent Body of Norms and Values

• Fallacy: Traditional culture is a consistent body of norms and values.
• The difference between practices of "popular" religion and mainstream religion shows that traditional culture is not a consistent body.
• Multiple practices allows alternative forms of behavior to exist.

Homogeneous Social Structure

• Fallacy: Traditional society is a homogeneous social structure.
• Homogeneous means of the same kind, similar.
• The Hindu social structure was considered anti-economic, but not a homogeneous characteristic.
• There is provision for specific groups to grow economically.
• Other castes have traditions of commerce such as the Marwari, Chettiar, and Baniya.
• Untouchables within Hinduism perform tabooed occupations needed by the economy.

Displaced by New Change

• Traditions are not always replaced by change.
• Magic and medicine can exist side by side and be used alternatively by the same people.

Conflict in Modern and Tradition Forms

• Fallacy: Traditional and modern forms are always in conflict.
• Simon Ottenberg's research in West Africa reported natives able to accept British culture.
• By contrast, the Masai in East Africa resisted acculturation and maintained the status quo.

Mutually Exclusive Systems

• Fallacy: Tradition and modernity are mutually exclusive systems.
• Cultures contains interactive aspects
• They may be happy to buy you one because they accept modern culture and would want you to follow traditional practices in return.
• You represent the more modern aspect of your culture, and your parents represent the traditions
• Both you and your parents interact with modern influences but might not react the same way.

Mutually Exclusive System

• The caste system symbolizes tradition, while economic growth symbolizes modernism.
• Caste has been seen as a deterrent to economic expansion.
• It it said to have failed to balance labor division
• It has placed limits on accumulating money
• Caste mobility ensures economic life is improved and caste associations improve credit facilities
• Traditional family life is not an impediment to industrialism.
  • Tatas, Birlas, and Dalmias are examples of industrial businesses growing out of traditional families.

Modernizing Undermines Traditions

• Fallacy: Modernizing weakens traditions.
• M. N. Srinivas said higher castes are "westernizing"/ modernizing their life styles.
• Lower castes want to improve their status by sankritization.
• Modernity might threaten the upper caste position in caste hierarchy.
• Threat of modernity is tackled by upper classes becoming stricter.
• Indian tradition survived as it changed.
• Gandhi took his Ahimsa concept from Sermon on the Mount and Shamal Bhatt's poems.
• Concluding remarks
  • The idea was not to criticize modernity or tradition, it was to understand the interaction

What is Tradition

• It is the transition of knowledge, skill, and attitudes from one generation to the next.
• Customs, rituals, and beliefs in an ethnic group.

What is Modernity

• Urbanisation
• Industrialisation.
• Rational and scientific world view.
• Rise of nation states.

Robert Redfield: Little and Great Tradition

• In any civilization, there is a great tradition and little traditions.
• The great tradition is mainstream culture (Eg. Hinduism and Jainism).
• The little traditions are the culture of Namadic tribes
• These two traditions are interdependent.

Milton Singer's Questions on Madras

• Was great tradition replaced by modernity?
• Did great tradition play a role in modernization?
• Does tradition and modernity always coexist?

Tradtional Societies & Modern Influence

• Indian tradition isn't static
• It is capable of cultural persistency, and it has the ability to adopt foreign culture
• It integrates outside items into its indigenous culture.
• Sanskritization explains some aspects of tradition changes but fails to explain other aspects of social change.
• Modernization and Sanskritization work together
• Neuteral spaces help co-existence between the modes

Sanskritization

• Improving its position in caste
• In case of tribe, Sanskritization resulted in drawing it is drew into the Hindu hold.
• It can't account for all the major processes of change, as it cannot explain conversion to Buddhism or Christianity.

How Upper Cases Integrate Tradition & Modernity

• Compartmentalize their lives - traditional models are applied in domestic space, and are high for maintaining ritual
• In the sphere of ritual and neutralization, the Sanskritization of a group has the affect of maintaining the hierarchy

How Modernization Enters Cultures (Milton Singer)

• The 5 steps to introducing foreign culture into Indian culture, according to Milton Singer:
  • Enclavement of foreign imports. Ritual neutralization of foreign enclaves. Foreign imports become a typological option in the culture. The foreign import enters the sphere of the indigenous. The foreign import becomes ‘traditional.'
• 'The blacks' and 'whites towns' were both English designations
• It was first noted in ritually neutral public areas.

Choice of Land Revenue System

• Europeans from the eighteenth century onward
• European states made their power visible only through performance, but officializing through the gradual extension to maintain capacity
• The East Company only was interested in trading however Britain changed the law.

Changes

• The British wanted to set up own system of gvernmance but realized the cultural differences
• Hastings set out a plan to adapt to he Manners and Understandings of the People
• The law meant the commitment to Civilizing India

Translation Process

• Hastings sent out his own legal scholars
• There was also a view the legal got corrupted on the British sent them to Indian Text to free independence on
• Was it a cultural difference, fundamental between Hindus is it legal

Administrative & Collector Changed

• During Hastings's time Revenue was collected by Indian officials
• Lord Cornwallis believed that this system caused a lot of corruption so he made the executive collector an important role in political governance
• This lead to racial exclusion and racial bias

Military Reforms

• It was expensive to recruit for Europeans so British created native sepoys, increased for Indian Soldier to conquest
• Hastings ensure hiring was based on the caste system and the recruiting.

Mastering

• Central to discover a shared Aryan Language ties and links india
• This then created a close relationship between Greek and Latin

British views

• As a Portuguese traveler that a few observations of different Travelers different observation,
• This then created different approaches for administrators with the Orientalists

Colonial Government

• Studying the history of Indian, the India became racial and the term orientalism was associated with Edward Said.
  • that represented racial non-white and a lack of social and ethics.
• 16th Mughal was acknowledged and ruled was settled by Mughal empire and under Roger expansion.

Early Modernization Period

• The class of how that India was static and the modern.
• This was mainly caused by the European age of exploitation by sea
• The British saw the exploration. As it helped them to trade

Society

• The state helps in promoting the development of country, but time corruption might hinder this process of development.
• People consciousness of belonging to Indian society ,helps the excesses the state but society binds a group together.

Explore the differences between Raiyatwari and Zamindari systems, the impact of the 1857 Revolt on British land revenue policy, and the process of Sanskritization as described by M.N. Srinivas. Understand the key arguments, historical claims, and political events influencing land revenue systems in British India.