The Mahalwari system and its agrarian consequences till 1857

Abstract

The land revenue administration and management was an important branch of administration by which any government controlled and ruled the subjects of that country. It was the basic tool which controls the monetary and fiscal movement of the country and establishes a direct link between the government and subjects. Therefore, the British government of East India Company, after acquiring the Diwani rights of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1765, too paid greater attention and continuously attempting to establish a sound land revenue administration which ensured a fixed, regular and permanent source of income for the company. In that process, they introduced various land revenue settlement one after another in a series of experimentation. The Mahalwari system of land revenue settlement for estates of proprietary bodies was the final attempt in that process. Here, the settlement was directly made with the village or Mahal by the Settlement Officers, who fixed the rent with the consultation of Lambardar and the rent to be paid by the cultivating tenants. The system was known as Mauzawari in United Provinces, Malguzari in the Central Provinces, and village or mahali settlement in pre-independent Punjab. It was hybrid form of both the previous land settlement, i.e., Zamindari and Ryotwari. In all Mahalwari operated regions, the land revenue was revised periodically. Mahal simply defined as a fiscal unit, was a local area coincides with a large or forms a part of village or includes several parts of villages. In this system, Shijra and Khasra records were the foundational pillar and basis of all land revenue assessment. Initially, the Mahalwari system covered the most fertile tract of British India including Ganga-Jamuna Doab, major areas of Agra and Awadh Provinces, North Western Provinces, old Banares, the Ceded and Conquered districts and Later on it was extended to Central Provinces and the British Punjab.