ECONOMY OF COLONIAL STATE- Land Reforms
1. Colonial Economy:
The British conquest of India resulted into a
transformation of the economy of the country. There was the transformation of
the prevalent economy into a colonial economy. Diwani rights of Bengal, Bihar
and Orissa gave the East India Company full control over the treasury of
Bengal. The Company's main concern now was how to increase the wealth of the
colonized India. India being an agricultural country the land-revenue constituted
the main source of income of the state. Thus the Company's officials busied
themselves in restructuring the system of land settlement for surplus
extraction. The English brought about a fundamental change in the land system.
2.
Motives behind the Land Reforms:
From the very beginning the colonial rulers
made important changes in the existing land-revenue system. Motives behind such
changes were very clear. These may be summed up as follows.
a. The primary object of the land reforms
introduced by the Company's authorities in India was to ensure regular flow of
a large amount of land-revenue into the public exchequer.
b. The reforms in the land-revenue system were
introduced at a time when the East India Company was under tremendous financial
pressure. It needed capital to run business in India. Since that money was not
coming from Britain the Company had to look for financial resources on their
own.
c. In a
situation like this the Company began to explore monetary sources in India.
Land-revenue being the principal source of income, reforms were introduced in
the land system to derive maximum revenue.
d. The British Parliament passed an Act in 1767
that required the Company to pay to the British treasury a huge amount of money
every year. In order to meet the demand the Company's government had to
restructure the revenue system by land reforms.
3. Revenue Experiments of Warren Hastings:
Clive and his immediate successors failed to
devise a permanent system of land-revenue in Bengal. Till the time of warren
Hastings land-revenue was collected by the company through the Indian officers
who were nominally under the authority of the Nawab of Bengal. It was Warren
Hastings who devised a new system of land revenue collection and
administration.
a. Ijaradari System or 5-Year Plan:
In Warren Hastings' time the Company introduced
a new system of revenue collection. The new system came to be known as the
ijaradari System. The new system was introduced in 1772 in Bengal and Bihar.
According to the Ijaradari system the right of collection of revenue was
auctioned. The person giving the highest bid was given the ijaradari right. But
the system failed as it benefited neither the Company nor the peasants.
b. The System of Yearly Auction:
In 1777 another experiment was tried by Warren
Hastings. Under the system land was farmed out annually. Under the new system
land was not given to the highest bidder, but to the traditional zamindars.
Warren Hastings made other experiments with the land-revenue, but failed to
devise a permanent one.
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(i) Who
devised a new system of land revenue system in 1772?
(a) Robert
Clive (b) Lord Dalhousie (c) Lord Bentinck (d) Warren Hastings
(ii) Who introduced the Ijaradari system in 1772?
(a) Robert
Clive (b) Lord Dalhousie (c) Lord Bentinck (d) Warren Hastings
(iii) Who formed the Amini Commission?
(a) Robert
Clive (b) Lord Dalhousie (c) Lord Bentinck (d) Warren Hastings
(iv) The Amini Commission was formed in the year
(a) 1775 (b) 1776 (c) 1777 (d) 1778