Land Revenue Policies And Commercialisation of

Agriculture
The British East company after gaining Diwani-ship of Bengal primarily worked to enlarge the
company’s revenue which was reflected in their policy and settlement. There were mainly three
land revene policy :
Permanent settlement : it was initiated by Lord Cornwalis and implemented in Bengal,
Bihar,Orissa etc. It was a provision of Cornwalis Code. Here Cornwalis termed zamindars as the
real owners of land and tax rate was fixed. The zamindars got 1/9 th part of tax while the government
received 8/9th. If the zamindat was unable to pay tax ,he was deprived of his zamindari. Under this
policy both zamindars and peasants suffered.
Ryotwari : This method was introduced by Sir Thomas Munro in 1820 based on the method
introduced by Alexander Read in 1792 and implemented in Bombay and Madras presidencies. The
peasants were the owners of the land and were responsible to give tax. The tax rate were 50% for
dryland and 60% for wetland. The taxes were paid in cash. The msjor fault in this system was
excessive taxation.
Mahalwari : This method was introduced by Holt Mackenzie under the guidance of Lord Hastings
in 1822 in Central province, Punjab , Gangetic valley etc. It was a mixture of zamindari and
ryotwari method. Here the land wass divided into ‘mahal’, which contains one or more villages.
The tax was levied on each Mahal. Peasants gave their share of tax to the village headman. This is
method was broke down due to increasing state demand and rigid working system . Then in 1833
Lord William Bentick. The state share of tax was 66% of rental value. It was agreed upon 20-30
years.
The land revenue policies resulted in rural indebtedness and famines. Due to heavy taxes, the
peasants had to borrow money from rural money lenders. When they failed to pay they were ill-
treated by moneylenders. In order to make money peasants started to cultivate cash crops instead
of food crops. It resulted in famines. Most of the lanlords became rich while the peasants became
poor.
Commercialisation of Agriculture : The commercialization of Indian agriculture was done
primarily to feed British industries. The farmers started to grow commercial crops which were
highly demanded in International market and raw materials for British manufacturing goods.
The peasants were forced to cultivate commercial crops due to the excessive land revenue imposed
by British. The unified national market , colonial subjugation, better means of transportation,
British policy of one way free trade, monetisation of land revenue payments, expansion and
enlargement of International market etc.. where the main factors which led to commercialization.
The negative impacts were more than positive impacts. Commercialization led to increased
inequality, increased the miseries of Indian peasants, impacted national market, it assisted
industrial revolution in Britain and led to regional specialisation of crops. It linked Indian
economy with global economy. The worst effect of commercialisation took place when peasants
were opprressed in the hands of British in Indigo revolt of 1859.