the permanent settlement was introduced in india in 1793.
the permanent settlement was introduced in india in 1793.
when was the permanent settlement introduced in india?
1793
in 1793, the new governor-general, lord cornwallis, promulgated the permanent settlement of land revenues in the presidency, the first socio-economic regulation in colonial india. by the terms of the settlement rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars and they were asked to collect the rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the company. it was named "permanent" because it fixed the land tax in perpetuity in return for landed property rights for zamindars; it simultaneously defined the nature of land ownership in the presidency, and gave individuals and families separate property rights in occupied land. since the revenue was fixed in perpetuity, it was fixed at a high level, which in bengal amounted to £3 million at 1789–90 prices. according to the permanent settlement if the zamindars failed to pay the revenue on time, the zmaindari right would be taken from them. according to one estimate, this was 20% higher than the revenue demand before 1757. over the next century, partly as a result of land surveys, court rulings, and property sales, the change was given practical dimension. an influence on the development of this revenue policy were the economic theories then current, which regarded agriculture as the engine of economic development, and consequently stressed the fixing of revenue demands in order to encourage growth. the expectation behind the permanent settlement was that knowledge of a fixed government demand would encourage the zamindars to increase both their average outcrop and the land under cultivation, since they would be able to retain the profits from the increased output; in addition, it was envisaged that land itself would become a marketable form of property that could be purchased, sold, or mortgaged. a feature of this economic rationale was the additional expectation that the zamindars, recognising their own best interest, would not make unreasonable demands on the peasantry.
company rule in india
in 1786, the east india company court of directors first proposed a permanent settlement for bengal, changing the policy then being followed by calcutta, which was attempting to increase taxation of "zamindars". between 1786 and 1790, the new governor-general lord cornwallis and sir john shore (later governor-general) entered a heated debate over whether or not to introduce a permanent settlement with the "zamindars". shore argued that the native "zamindars" would not trust the permanent settlement to be permanent and that it would take time before they realised it was genuine.
permanent settlement