THE COMPANY SARKAR’S EXPERIMENTATION WITH LAND TENURE AND LAND REVENUE SYSTEMS RESULTING IN THE INDIAN REBELLION OF 1857

Abstract

This article examines the historical context of British East India Company’s (commonly known as Company Sarkar) introduced land tenure and revenue systems in British India. In addition, it also unpacks the background of each tenure and revenue systems. Apart from it, the article shows the effects upon the stakeholders – the Company or Company Sarkar, Landlords, and Peasants. This article assesses land tenure systems such as Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari Settlement, and the Mahalwari Settlement. The article also exposes how the Company over the period through these settlement-controlled politics secured its economic interests in the form of revenues and taxes. It also spotlights how these tenures passed the phases of trial and error and caused major social and economic upheavals in the subcontinent. The Permanent Settlement created a new class of landlords to replace the old class with the assumption that investment in the land has to take place. However, Ryotwari Settlement enhanced the British officers’ interaction with the rural population. The Mahalwari Settlement caused the peasants to mortgage their lands to moneylenders, and the Company confiscated their lands due to perpetual failure in paying the rent and arrears. This situation was one of the push factors for the peasants to join the 1857 rebellion.