Introduction to History of Land Revenue Administration in Sher Shah Soori Reign

Revenue system during the reign of Sher Shah Suri was quite an efficient one. The main sources of
income of the state were the land-revenue, unclaimed property, trade-tax, mint, salt-tax, khams, viz.
one fifth of the plunder taken during the time of war, Jizya and presents from subordinate rulers,
governors, nobles, traders etc.

The land-revenue, however, constituted the primary source of income of the state. Sher Shah believed
that the welfare of the state could be achieved only by looking after the welfare of the peasants.
Therefore, he paid personal attention towards the revenue administration and introduced certain
successful measures to improve it. His revenue administration has been regarded as one of the best
during the medieval period.

Explanation

The system which Sher Shah introduced in most of the places was Ryotwari wherein the state kept
direct relations with the peasants for the assessment and collection of the land revenue. However, the
system could not be introduced in Multan, Malwa and Rajasthan where the Jagirdari system continued
to exist. All cultivable land was divided into three categories on the basis of production, viz. good,
middle and bad. The land was measured according to a uniform system and it was ascertained that what
quality of land was possessed by each cultivator. An average of the produce was estimated in each case
and then the cultivators were asked to pay one third of their produce to the state. The state preferred to
collect revenue in the form of cash and for that purpose; prices of every variety of cereals were fixed at
different places. The revenue on perishable articles was, however, paid by the peasants in form of cash
only.

The peasants were given the facility to pay their revenue in installments in a year according to crop
seasons. The peasants were given pattas (title deeds) by the state specifying the revenue which they had
to pay and were asked to sign deeds of agreement signifying their acceptance to pay the required
revenue. The peasants had also to pay two more taxes, named the surveyor`s fee and the tax-collector`s
fee to the state. These constituted two per cent to five per cent of their produce. Besides these, the
peasants had to pay two per cent of their produce in kind to be returned to them in case of any natural
calamity such as flood, famine etc. According to the orders of the Sultan, the peasants were treated with
generosity while fixing the revenue but once settled they were asked to pay their revenue without any
mercy on behalf of the state.

The revenue administration of Sher Shah also suffered from certain defects. The peasants who
possessed middle and bad quality of land had to pay more as compared to the owners of good quality
land under this system. The annual settlement of the revenue was inconvenient both to the peasants
and state-officials. There was corruption in the revenue department and Sher Shah failed to uproot it.
That must have affected adversely the welfare of the peasants. Yet, the measures introduced by Sher
Shah had largely succeeded in doing well to the peasants and increasing the income of the state. The
revenue system of Sher Shah, therefore, has been regarded as fairly good as compared with the system
of other rulers of medieval India.
The Patwar system was first introduced during the short but eventful rule of Sher Shah Suri and the
system was further enhanced by Akbar.
The first significant attempt at redistributive land reforms was undertaken by the military regime of
Ayub Khan in 1959.
Land Records Management & Information Systems is a major project of the Government of Punjab being
executed by the Board of Revenue with financial assistance of World Bank..

Sher Shah System

The historical importance of land revenue system of Sher Shah Suri (Sher Khan) lies in the fact that they
formed the starting point of the series of experiments what marked the first half of Akbar’s reign.

Land Revenue System of Sher Shah: Before Sher Shah, the land rent was realized from the peasants on
the basis of estimated produce from the land but this system did not seem to be faultless as the produce
was not constantly the same. It increased or decreased year after year. Sher Shah introduced a number
of reforms in the fields of revenue. These are as follows.

1. Sher Shah was the first Muslim ruler who got the whole of the land measured and fixed the
land-tax on it on just and fair principles.

2. The land of each peasant was measured first in “bighas” and then half of it was fixed as the land
tax. According to More land in certain portions of the empire such as Multan the land tax was
however one-fourth of the total produce.

3. The settlement made between the Govt. and the peasant in respect of the land revenue was
always put in black and white. Every peasant was given as written document in which the share
of the Govt. was clearly mentioned so that no unscrupulous officer might cheat the innocent
peasant. This is known as ‘Patta’.

4. Each and every peasant was given the option to pay the land-tax either in cash of in kind. The
subjects of Sher Shah used to Kabul (Promise) that they should pay taxes in lieu of Patta.

5. The peasants were required to credit the land-tax direct into the Govt. treasury, to be on the
safe side, so that the collecting officers might not charge them any extra money.

6. Strict orders had been issued to the revenue authorities that leniency might be shown while
fixing the land tax, but strictness in the collection thereof should be the inevitable rule.

7. But suitable subsidy was granted to the farmers in the time of drought, famine or floods from
the royal treasury.

8. Special orders were issued to soldiers that they should not damage the standing crops in any
way. According to Abbas Khan, the cars of those soldiers, who disregarded these orders, were
cut off. Even when Sher Shah led an expedition to the territory of his enemy, he was very
 particular about it that no harm shall come to the farmers in any way from the excesses of his
soldiers.

9. In case of damages compensation was granted to the former by the Govt. This arrangement of
Sher Shah was as reasonable as was adopted not by Akbar only but was followed by the British
Govt. also. The well-known ‘Ryatwari System’ which has been in vague till now, was not founded
by Akbar but by Sher Shah.

Sher Shah saved his country from the ill-effects of the arbitrary land revenue system and he laid the
foundation of the policy of co-operation between the Govt. and the peasants.

However, some historians and scholars point out certain defects in the revenue system of Sher Shah.

 Firstly, it is pointed out that he could not completely root out the Jagirdari system which had
taken deep roots in the Afghan society.

 Secondly, it is said that as the land revenue was fixed on the average produce of each bigha of
good, average and inferior land, the owner of good land always stood to gain while owners of
inferior land was always the loser.

 Thirdly, it is said that as the convention of land revenue from kind to cash always depended on
the Central Government, it always led to delay in the collection of land revenue.

But we must not forget that Sher Shah had ruled only for five years. During this short period he had not
as yet tested his reforms when the cruel clutches of death ended his life. If death had spared him more
years, Sher Shah would have certainly won that renown which Akbar got for his land reforms.

Revenue Administration

The administrators, their staff and the forces under their command seem to have been paid by
assignment of the revenue of parts of the areas administered by them.

Land revenue formed of the chief source of the state-income. But custom duties, sales tax, excise tax,
additional cesses on land, cattle-tax, grazing tax, professional tax on some industries and ferry dues also
added to the state’s revenues. Some income was also derived from some of the industrial and
commercial undertakings of the state. Hindus paid the jazia also. This was levied on all the able-bodied
adult male Hindus.

Assessment of Land Revenue

Sher Shah made a substantial change in the assessment of land revenue and introduced some
improvements in the method of its collection.
According to the traditional system, the state claimed a substantial share of the produce. This required
detailed supervision all over the country. He had earlier tried to collect land revenue in cash and
calculated according to the area of the land under the cultivator.

Sher Shah aimed at introducing a system of land revenue where the cultivator (ryot) was asked to pay,
primarily in kind, one-third of the expected produce of the crop from the land under cultivation.

Under Sher Shah’s rule land was measured and records were maintained. The unit of measurement
was gaz-i Sikander-i. An average of produce per bigha for every crop was struck by taking into account
the produce of the best, the middle and the worst land for every crop. Every season the extent of area
under every crop was entered in the records for every cultivator against his name.

This area was supposed to be measured in every season. But it is quite likely that the primary
measurement was made when the system was first introduced, and served the purpose subsequently.

The records of the holdings of every cultivator were detailed and specified not only the entire area
cultivated by him but its sub-division also. Subsequently, it was considered sufficient to record the sub-
unit under cultivation, their area could be recorded from the earlier records.

At many places, the old system continued where by the state claimed one-third of the actual produce
(not the estimated and expected) of every cultivator.

Sometimes concessions in rates were made to the local custom, as in Multan, where only one-fourth of
the produce was claimed. Sher Shah might have preferred to collect some of the land revenue in cash.
Since no definite information is available on how the demand was assessed in cash, it is fair to suppose
that the conversion was done at the current market rates.

Collection of Land Revenue

Land revenue was collected by the village headman, (muqaddam or mukhiya) who charged an additional
5 percent for performing this task. Another 5 percent seems to have been collected for the expenses
incurred on visiting officials.

In other words it means the burden on land remained quite heavy and the peasents in spite of some
relief because of the better law and order situation, continued are to be exploited by those who
controlled the state power.

The amount of revenue varied according to the extent of area under cultivation and types of crops
cultivated. An increase in area meant higher collection; cultivation of more valuable crops also increased
the state’s share. The state, therefore, encourage not only the bringing of new land under the plough
but also the introduction of crops with a higher cash yield. Interest-free loans were given to the
cultivators for both the purposes.

An interesting innovation in the system of collection was also introduced. The revenue officials supplied
the village headman demandships indicating what every cultivator had to pay. The dues were vigorously
collected as the headman was bound to pay the exact amount due every season. The cultivators were
granted receipts for what they had paid so that there could be no undue exaction.

The Patwari kept the land records for one or more villages. He was the lowest of the officials but stiil
occupied a vital role in the land administration.

Revenue Officials

The pargana was the main unit for revenue collection. It consisted of a large number of villages, some
what a tehsil taluqa of today.

He had one clerk to help him in keeping local records in the local language; another clerk would prepare
records in Persian for submission to the capital, Shiqdar was responsible for transmitting the collection
to the centre in cash or in kind, as per orders. The treasury received the money thus collected.

Revenue Policy

15. Peasants had to pay jaribana (survey charge) and muhasilana (tax collection charge). The rates of
these charges were 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.