CLASS-8

HISTORY

NOTES

CHAPTER- COLONIAL AGRARIAN POLICIES

CHANGES IN THE RURAL SETUP

Q-1 what was the condition of farmers before the British arrive in
India?

Ans- 1) before the British came to India the farmers used to pay a portion of
the produce from the land as tax.

2) In return their right to hold and cultivate that piece of land remained
intact.

3) Due to this system villages could produce enough food crops to fulfill the
needs of the people living there. Thus, the village became self-sufficient.

Q-2 what was the system of measuring land during the reign of Sher
Shah Suri?

Ans- 1) During the Sher Shah Suri period a system of patta or written record
to its owner was started.

2) According to this system revenue to be paid by farmers depended on the

fertility of the land.

3) Whenever natural disasters like drought or famine affected any region the
amount of revenue to be collected was reduced. Not only was this tax
exempted when the situation was too critical.

Q-3 what happened after the Battle of Buxar?

Ans- after the Battle of Buxar the EEIC got the Diwani of Bengal which
authorized the company to collect revenue from Bengal and be in charge of
civil administration. Thus, the company thought the best possible deal to
ensure maximum revenue thereby deriving maximum profit.

Q-4 Explain the colonial agrarian policies introduced by the British?

Ans- 1) it imposed collection of revenue in cash.

2) It forced thousands of villages to cultivate cash crops.

3) The company created two posts of deputy Diwani__ one for Bengal and
the other for Bihar.

4) For greater profits, the land revenue was now farmed out annually to the
highest bidder.

Q-5 Write about the ill-effects of the system introduced by the

Britishers?

Ans- 1) the villages those who produce only cash crops were now depended
on other villages for food supplies.

2) Tax collector was only interested in collecting tax rather than improving
the quality of land.

3) The poor peasants were exploited by the tax collector who forced the
peasants to leave their villages and most of them became landless.

4) Agricultural production declined.

Q-6 what was the condition of trade during the rule of the
Britishers?

Ans- 1) Trade and commerce also suffered a setback in Bengal.

2) The Indian goods were brought at very low rates from the workers and
sold at much higher prices.

3) The weavers of silk and the artisans were compelled to work under harsh
conditions. Thus the skill of workers got ruined under oppression.

Q-7 how did the system of planned revenue system came into being?

Ans- 1) The Famine of Bengal in 1770 clearly highlighted the plight of the
people.

2) It harmed the overall interests of the EEIC, as a trading company.

3) The officials of the EEIC soon realized that a systematic approach to land
revenue collection was needed to secure the maximum amount of revenue in
a timely and predictable.
MAJOR LAND REVENUE SETTLEMENTS

Q-8 Who introduced the system of Permanent Settlement?

Ans- The system of Permanent Settlement was introduced by Lord

Cornwallis in 1793.

Q-9 Write about the provisions of Permanent Settlement.

Ans- 1) Landowners or Zamindars acquired hereditary rights over land.

2) Farmers were reduced to the status of tenants and these tenants lost
the rights to use pastures and forest lands, irrigation canals and fishing
ponds.

3) Zamindars had to pay a fixed amount to the Britishers even during

adverse conditions such as floods and drought if these zamindars could not
pay the fixed amount than their land would be auctioned and if they were
left with extra amount after paying the tax that will be their profit.

4) The land revenue was fixed at roughly 50% of the total produce.

5) This revenue was fixed permanently for next 10 years.

Q-10 what were the advantages of the Permanent Settlement to the

company?

Ans- 1) The Company was able to create the class of zamindars as their ally
who acted as the intermediary between them and peasantry.

2) Under the new system the income of the EEIC from the land revenue was
secure, regular and stable. This helped the company to meet its expenses.

3) Zamindars were motivated to increase the agricultural production. As the

rate of revenue to be paid to the British was fixed they could keep the
surplus after paying their due to the company.

Q-11 what was the effect of Permanent Settlement on the peasants?

Ans- 1) zamindars extracted a large amount of tax from the peasants. They
even imposed illegal tax.

2) The peasants had to pay the revenue even after the crops failed.
3) The land was mortgaged in case the farmers could not pay the loans
taken from the moneylenders forcing them to migrate to cities.

4) Peasants were evicted from the land they had cultivated for generations.
This created a class of landless peasants.

Q-12 Who introduced Mahalwari Settlement?

Ans- Mahalwari Settlement was introduced in the modern- day Uttar Pradesh
certain parts of Madhya Pradesh and Punjab by Holt Mackenzie in 1822.

Q-13 what were the provisions laid in the Mahalwari Settlement?

Ans- 1) the term Mahal means a village according to Mackenzie the village
was a very important part of the system that needed to be preserved.

2) Under this system the unit of revenue settlement was the village or
mahal and the revenue demand was made collectively on the village.

3) The village headman or Labrador was responsible for collecting the

revenue and handing it over to the government.

Q-14 How was the Mahalwari system different from the Permanent
Settlement?

Ans- 1) The collector of the revenue that is the head of the village was to fix
the revenue on the basis of the type of land, total land under cultivation and
the customs and rights of different agricultural groups.

2) The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added up to

calculate the revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay.

3) The demand had to revise periodically and not fixed permanently.

4) However the conditions of the peasants remained bad as the head of the
village retained the right to extract revenue.

Q-15 Who introduced the Ryotwari Settlement?

Ans- the Ryotwari system was introduced in the Madras presidency by

Thomas Munro. So, it is also known as the Munro System.

Q-16 How did the Ryotwari Settlement came into being?

Ans- in South India there were no traditional zamindars and the land
actually belonged to the cultivators that is Ryots. Both Munro and Read
therefore felt that the land settlement must be made directly with the Riots.
Thus the system came to known as the Ryotwari system.

Q-17 what were the provisions of the Ryotwari system?

Ans- 1) the land revenue was not collected by the zamindari or Labrador but
was taken from the Riots or cultivators directly.

2) The cultivators became the landowners and there was no intermediary

for collecting the revenue.

3) The revenue was very high and collected rigidly.

4) The peasants had to pay even if their crops were destroyed the revenue
was revised and increased after every 20 or 30 years.

Q-18 what were the effects of the Ryotwari Settlement?

Ans- 1) the cultivators had to resort to the mercy of cruel moneylenders for
the payments of revenue.

2) In many villages the Riots fled away leaving their homes deserted.

3) The peasants were overburdened with heavy taxes. They often had to
take loan to pay the land revenue.

IMPACT OF COMMERCIALISATION OF AGRICULTURE

Q-19 How was the agriculture commercialized?

Ans- 1) Commercial crops were often cultivated at the cost of food crops
such as rice and wheat.

2) The planters usually took recourse to fraudulent contracts and oppression

thereby forcing the peasants to cultivate these crops.

3) While in the years of good harvest it benefitted the peasants to some

extent in the seasons of poor harvest the peasants suffered badly.

4) Most of the land was set aside for the nonfood crops the peasants did not
enough to eat.

5) Famine became a standing feature of the Indian subcontinent.