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Assignment On Permanent Settlement Act 1793: Implementation and Reasons

for Its Failure

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 Assignment
On
Permanent Settlement Act 1793: Implementation and Reasons for Its Failure

Submitted to: Rahnuma Ayesha Siddiqua

Lecturer, Department of Criminology,
University of Dhaka

Course No. and Name: CRM 113, Bangladesh Society and Culture

Submitted by
Name: Nafisa Islam Tultul
Roll : 11
Batch: 7th
Session: 2019-20
Submission Date: 06/12/20

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Contents
Objective: ........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction: ..................................................................................................................................3
Past History of Permanent Settlement Act: ................................................................................4
Expansion of British Colonial Rule in India:..........................................................................4
Warren Hastings and His Land Reform: .............................................................................4
Quinquennial Settlement (1772-1777): .............................................................................5
One Year Settlement (1777): ..........................................................................................5
Permanent Settlement Act 1793: ..................................................................................................6
Approval of Permanent Settlement Act: .................................................................................6
Provisions of Permanent Settlement Act:.............................................................................6
Purposes of Permanent Settlement Act: .............................................................................7
Merits of Permanent Settlement Act: .........................................................................................7
Demerits of Permanent Settlement Act: .....................................................................................8
Reasons for Failure of the Permanent Settlement Act: ...........................................................11
Conclusion: ...................................................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................................................12

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 Objective
This assignment discusses how the Permanent Settlement was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in
1793 and the reasons why it failed.

Introduction

The Permanent Settlement Act is an important event in the history of the Indian subcontinent.
Lord Cornwallis formulated the Permanent Settlement Act in 1793 for the stagnation of the land
system of Bengal. Although he introduced this system, he was not an inventor. After the reform
of several types of land revenue, the Permanent Settlement was implemented in Bengal.

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 Past History of Permanent Settlement Act

Expansion of British Colonial Rule in India:

Different European nations (Portuguese-1498, Dutch-1602, English-1608, Denmark-1616,

French-1668) have come to trade in the Indian subcontinent at different times. Only the British
established colonial rule in India by setting up trading factories. The British rule in Bengal was
not established in a day. From the Mughal period, the British laid the foundation of the rule of
East India Company in various ways. In 1757, Lord Clive defeated Nawab Sirajuddaula in the
battle of Palashi and handed over the power of Bengal directly to the Company. Lord Clive took
over civil power by introducing dual rule. But the results of dual rule are failed and occured
famine in Bengal in 1769-70 and collapsed of law-order and economy.

Warren Hastings and His Land Reform:

In 1772, Warren Hastings was appointed Governor of Bengal and entrusted with the task of
reforming the land. But Hastings faced three major problems in introducing the land system.
1. There was no survey of the extent of the damage caused by the Battle of Plassey and the
subsequent mismanagement of the revenue regime and the Great Famine, so Hastings
didn’t know on what basis he would determine revenue.
2. The company faced the problem of lack of ignorance in language, local customs,
customs, and traditions with the natives and didn’t have adequate manpower, so the
means of collecting the company's revenue are not certain.
3. Administrative costs will be higher if the company hires people to collect revenue. So
domestic agency is better. But the problem is who will be determined by the domestic
agency.

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Quinquennial Settlement (1772-1777):

Hastings introduced Quinquennial Settlement to gain experience of land revenue. Under the
Quinquennial Settlement Policy, the zamindar system of Bengal was changed and five years of
rent was levied on the leaseholders who promised to pay the maximum rent through auction. Its
main goal was to increase land rent and collect on time.

After the introduction of the Quinquennial Settlement, it was seen that the rich people got leases
by calling more auctions than the zamindars. Many zamindars became pensioners. The
zamindars call for extravagant auctions to get a five-year lease. Inhumane treatment was inflicted
on the ryots to collect rent. So, many ryots fled their homes.

Richard Burwell, head of and the Dhaka Provincial Council, and Hastings described the
disadvantages of the five-year settlement.

One Year Settlement (1777):

The court auction system and the provincial council were lifted when the outcome of the five-
year settlement was reported to the Court of Directors. The arrangement made by the Board for
the collection of annual revenue for three years by appointing a Collector in each district is
known as a one-year settlement. But even here peasants were oppressed.

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 Permanent Settlement Act 1793

Approval of Permanent Settlement Act:

The Pitts India Act of 1784 directed the Calcutta authorities to enact permanent laws by
introducing a permanent land system only with zamindars because the oppression of the ryots
didn't reduce on the policy of Quinquennial or annual revenue settlement. Lord Cornwallis was
appointed Governor-General of Bengal in 1786, with a specific order to enact permanent
legislation mentioned in Pitt’s India Act. Cornwallis was a landowner. The British Parliament
was also dominated by landlords. Since the introduction of Quinquennial and annual land
revenue settlement during Hastings's period, both the government and the ryot have suffered. So
Lord Cornwallis wanted to enact a permanent law on land management under the Pitt's India
Act-1784. But the perpetual law that Cornwallis enacted did not fall under either Mughal law or
Pitt's rule of India. It was the British model. Before making a permanent settlement in 1793,
Cornwallis made a ten-year settlement with the Indian zamindars in 1789-90 and declared if the
Court of Directors approved the permanent settlement, the ten-year settlement would be
permanent.

Provisions of Permanent Settlement Act:

 According to the Permanent Settlement Act, the zamindars will be the permanent owners
of the land and the ryots will be the tenants. As the owner, the zamindar can do any work
related to the land, without the consent of the government.

 The permission of the government is not required to determine the liability of the
zamindar with the tenant.

 The revenue earmarked in the Decade Settlement will not change. The revenue
installment of the zamindars i.e. 89% of the annual income to the state and 11% of the
income as the share of the zamindar has to be paid regularly, otherwise the arrears of
revenue will be collected by selling the land at auction.
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  As regional elite, the zamindars were deprived of their former feudal power.

Purposes of Permanent Settlement Act:

 If the permanent settlement is implemented, the zamindars will invest in the land. The
zamindar will use his surplus money for the development of the land for his own benefit.
So, agricultural production will increase and the country's economy will be prosperous.

 There will be an agricultural revolution in Bangladesh under the leadership of zamindars,

like England.

 The zamindar society will remain loyal to the British government. The British
government would establish a political base in India through the zamindar class as the
social ruler.

Merits of Permanent Settlement Act

 Fixed Revenue System: According to the Permanent Settlement Act, the government
didn’t have to face the problem of determining revenue every year. The state earned a
stable income from the zamindars. If the zamindars didn’t pay the revenue, the loss was
made good by selling a portion of the land of the Zamindars.

 Benefits of Government: The income of the company became fixed and the government
got the benefit of taking necessary measures and executing the expenses.

 Development of Agriculture: The zamindars arranged for cultivation on different lands

to increase the production of their land.Besides, the zamindars introduced new methods

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 of agriculture such as fertilizer application, crop rotation etc. The increase in agricultural
production affected economy and trade of the country. The province of Bengal became
the richest and most prosperous state.

 Development for Tenants: Wealthy zamindars dug canals and ponds and set up schools
and hospitals for the betterment of the people. Besides, due to heavy rains and drought,
they arranged for lending to the tenants due to famine.

 Political Support: The ownership of the land by the zamindars resulted in the formation
of a group of zamindars loyal to the British who remained loyal to the British until the
Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

 Development of Bengal: The economic prosperity of Bengal helped the rise of art,
literature and education of Bengal.

Demerits of Permanent Settlement Act

In the permanent settlement act, the amount of demerits is more than merits and turned into a
machine of exploitation and affected the interests of the Zamindars, cultivators and the company
alike. The interests of the zamindars are mainly protected through permanent settlement. They
gradually became the rich class. But on the other hand the old ownership of the land was
completely abolished. As a result, the zamindars could evict them from the land at any time if
they wished. In the beginning, as there was no tenancy law, they depended entirely on the mercy
of the landlord for their fate.

 Litigation: As the permanent settlement was suddenly introduced the land was not
divided through proper survey. In many zamindari less revenue became levied and more
revenue is levied on tax-free land. The zamindars started filing numerous cases against
each other for demarcation of land.

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 Destruction of Native Industry: This act became one of the reasons for the destruction
of the native cottage industries. In 1793, Lord Cornwallis sent a letter to the directors of
the East India Company stating that they would spend the huge amount of capital
available in the country for the purpose of purchasing land without any other means of
employment.

 The Misery of the Farmers: It didn’t bring any improvement to the tenants and
peasants. The old ownership of the land was abolished forever, they lost ownership of the
land. The zamindars used to oppress in various ways and could evict the farmers at any
time if they wished. Farmers did not get proper remuneration even after working hard. As
a result, the people became inattentive in agriculture. Later, the Tenancy Act was enacted
to protect the tenants from the oppression of the zamindars.

 Stagnation in revenue: Although the value of land continued to rise after the adoption of
this measure, the government's revenue did not increase. As a result, the British
government was deprived of the benefit of increased revenue.

 The Miserable Condition of the Rural Economy: After being convinced of the rights
and income of the zamindari, the zamindars left the village and settled in the town,
leaving the responsibility to the naib gomastas. As a result, a kind of stagnation can be
noticed in rural life. Due to this the economic condition of the village is getting worse
day by day.

 Sunset Act: As the Sunset Act, zamindars had to be paid rent by sunset on a certain date.
Due to the strictness of this provision, many large zamindari were wiped out. Many
zamindars lost their zamindari due to non-payment of rent on time.

 The Miserable Condition of Muslims: The Muslims of Bengal suffered the most.
Gradually the responsibilities of the revenue and administration department passed from
them to the English collectors.

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 Destruction of industry and commerce: By recruiting money in land, there is a
possibility of earning income without any effort. Industry and commerce are abandoned
in the hope of gaining wealth and status by investing money in land. As a result, many
lower caste people, ordinary people who owned a lot of money by doing business with
the company, bought zamindari and became preoccupied with the status of aristocracy.
As a result, the possibility of developing indigenous capital and indigenous industries
was destroyed.

 Faria-Dalal- Amin to Zamindar: The effect of this system is that weavers, oilmen,
Amins and speculators have the opportunity to suddenly become zamindars. Those who
had never had a drop of respect before Such as Ganga Gobind Singh, Manik Chand, Kant
Babu, Darpanarayan Tagore, they were basically zamindars from the English bania.
Jairam Tagore of the Tagore family of Calcutta was the Amin of 24 Parganas.
Daneshananda Nityananda, the zamindar of Murshidabad, was a weaver in his early life.

 Social Rebellion: The oppression of the zamindars to the peasants was unimaginable.
This led to mass discontent in the social sphere. Numerous peasant revolts began. That
ended with horrible bleeding.

 Formation of Zamindar Sangha: After the peasants organized revolts against the
zamindars, the zamindars formed zamindar sanghas through communication with each
other to suppress it.

 Tangle of cases: Since the establishment of the Calcutta High Court in 1862, there were
14 lakh cases a year in India, of which 5 lakh were in Bengal.

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 Reasons for Failure of the Permanent Settlement Act
The implementation of permanent settlement has resulted in more disadvantages than benefits in
the society. It created the feudalism at the top and serfdom at the bottom. The permanent
settlement was later canceled due to the inconvenience caused to the society.

1. The permanent settlement did not determine the exact revenue on the land due to lack of
survey. Therefore, the lands affected by the wealthy revenue were sold at auction under
the sunset law as they could not pay the revenue on time. During the permanent
settlement there were six large zamindari in Bengal such as Zamindari of Burdwan,
Zamindari of Natore, Zamindari of Dinajpur, Zamindari of Nadia, Zamindari of Birbhum
and Zamindari of Bishnupur. Within the first seven years of the permanent settlement, all
the zamindari except Burdwan was sold at auction under the Sunset Act.

2. According to the system the zamindars improved. The zamindars living in the city
distributed the responsibility of zamindari under the Naib-Gomstar severed. The direct
relationship with the peasants and zamindars were torned. The peasants were oppressed.

3. The zamindars were the owner of the land and the ryots were the tenants. So the ryots lost
their land. And the tenancy law was slowly disappearing.

4. Zamindars cultivated cash crops on agricultural land for economic development. As a

result, agriculture expanded in Bengal but did not improve.

5. The main reason is Lord Cornwallis formulated the permanent settlement in Bengal on
the basis of the social system of England. So it didn’t succeed in Bengal.

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 Conclusion
Although the Permanent Settlement Act was introduced in the land revenue reform of Bengal, it
had more detrimental aspects. Since it was modeled on the social system of England, its
implementation in Bengal failed.

References
 Islam, S. BANGLADESHER ITIHAS (20th ed.). Nawroz Kitabistan. Retrieve from: Click
Here

 Priyadarshini, S. Provisions of the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793. History Discussion.

Retrieve from: Click Here
 Permanent Settlement, The. (n.d.). In Banglapedia. Retrieve from: Click Here

 Permanent Settlement. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieve from: Click Here

 Permanent Settlement - What is the purpose? Implementation and results. In Pipilika.

Retrieve from: Click Here

 Quinquennial Settlement. (n.d.). In Banglapedia. Retrieve from: Click Here

 Reasons for the failure of Permanent Settlement. (2015, March 03). Career Ride. Retrieve
from: Click Here

 Sarkar, B. H. History 1st Paper (History of Bangladesh and South Asia: 1857-1910). (4th
ed). Hasan Book House.

 Warren Hastings. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieve from: Click Here

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