class-2
Land Revenue Systems Before British Rule
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, the 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.
Land Revenue Systems in British India :
Three major systems of land revenue collection existed in India. They were – Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari.
- Zamindari System (Permanent Land Revenue Settlement)
- Introduced by Cornwallis in 1793 through the Permanent Settlement Act.
- Introduced in the provinces of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Varanasi.
- Zamindarswere recognized as the owner of the lands. Zamindars were given the rights to collect the rent from the peasants.
- While the zamindars became the owners of the land, the actual farmers became tenants.
- The tax was to be paid even at the time of poor yield.
- The tax was to be paid in cash. Before introducing this system, the tax could be paid in kind.
- Share of Zamindars -1/11 of collection and 10/11 of the share belongs to East India Company.
PROBLEMS CREATED BY THE BRITISH LAND REVENUE POLICIES
- Land revenue policies affected the agricultural sector deeply.
- When farmers unable to pay money (tax) before the deadline, their land can be seized by zamindars without court case, So had to take a loan from moneylenders at a high rate of interest after mortgaging agricultural land. If could not pay back the loan and interest, land be seized by the money lenders. (Debt trap) Ryotwari System
- Ryotwari system was introduced by thomas munro in 1820.
- This was the primary land revenue system in south india.
- Major areas of introduction include madras, bombay, parts of assam and coorg provinces of british india.
- In ryotwari system the ownership rightswere handed over to the peasants. British government collected taxes directly from the peasants.
- The revenue rates of the ryotwari system were 50% where the lands were dry and 60% in irrigated land.
- Though ownership of land was vested with the farmers, excessive tax impoverished them. Furthermore, the tax rates were frequently increased.
- Mahalwari System
- Mahalwari system was introduced in 1822 by holt mackenzie. Later, the system was reformed during the period of william bentick (1833).
- This was the primary land revenue system in north-west india.
- It was introduced in central province, north-west frontier, agra, punjab, gangetic valley, etc of british india.
- In this system, the land was divided into mahals. Each mahal comprises one or more villages.
- The entire village (mahal) was considered as a single unit for tax collection.
- The village headman or villages committee was assigned the responsibility to collect tax.
- Ownership rightswere vested with the peasants.
- The tax rate was excessive in this system too.
- The mahalwari system had many provisions of both the zamindari system and ryotwari system.
- INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
- Before British rule: world famous handicraft industries-
- Under British Government:
- Handicraft industries (H.I.) declined but could not develop a sound industrial base for place it.
- The primary motive: systematically de-industrializing India was two-fold:
- To turn India’s status from exporter of handicraft items to exporter of industrial raw materials.
- To turn India into a sprawling market so that British industries can continue expansion.
- Impact of this: decline of the indigenous handicraft -> massive unemployment + new demand because deprived of locally made goods.
- After 1850: Some modern industry (cotton & textile mills [by Indians in MH, Gujrat], jute [by foreigners in Bengal], Railway) established but progress was slow and for their own interest.
- Cotton Industries-> Mumbai (1854), Jute Industry -> Kolkata (1855), Iron and Steel Plant-> Kulti (1874), Woollen Textile Industry -> Kanpur (1876)
- After 1900: iron and steel industries (TISCO-1907 in Jamshedpur [Jharkhand]), Cement Industry in Chennai (1904), Chemical Fertilizer Industry ->Tamil Nadu (1906)
- 1940’s: After 2nd world war: sugar, cement, paper industries.
- Capital goods industry (industries which can produce machine tools for current consumption) could not promote industrialization.
- No substitute of the country’s traditional handicraft industries.
- Growth rate of the new industrial sector + contribution to GDP/GVA: was very small.
- New industrial sector was limited (public sector contribution-railways, power, communications, ports, departmental undertakings)
List showing where and when other modern industries of India were first set up
S. N.
|
Industries
|
Year
|
Places
|
1.
|
Iron and Steel Plant
|
1874, 1907
|
Kulti, Jharkhand
|
2. | Cotton Industries
|
1854
|
Mumbai
|
3. | Paper Industries
|
1879, 1881
|
Near Lucknow, Titagarh
|
4. | Cycle Industries
|
1938
|
Mumbai
|
5. | Cement Industry
|
1904
|
Chennai
|
6. | Chemical Fertilizer Industry
|
1906
|
Tamil Nadu
|
7. | Jute Industry
|
1855
|
Kolkata
|
8. | Woollen Textile Industry
|
1876
|
Kanpur
|
Argument: Industries which are not strategic in nature should not continue to be in the public sector. What is your view?
- PSU Privatisation Policy: government will retain maximum of four Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in Strategic Sectors and all other Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in Non-Strategic sectors will be privatized.
Strategic sector PSUs are:
- Arms & Ammunition of defence equipment
- Defence aircraft & warships
- Atomic energy
- Applications of radiation to agriculture, medicine and non-strategic industry
- Railways