British administration

Story hook

It is 22 March 1793. Lord Cornwallis signs the Permanent Settlement of Bengal — promising fixed revenue forever if zamindars can deliver it by the "sunset" of the day on which dues fall. Within 20 years, ~half of Bengal's zamindari estates have changed hands via foreclosure auction. A new urban-banker-zamindar class emerges. The peasant cultivator becomes a tenant-at-will.

Two decades later, Thomas Munro in Madras + Holt Mackenzie + William Bentinck in the northwest construct alternatives: Ryotwari (peasant proprietor) and Mahalwari (village-collective). Three radically different revenue systems will divide British India into three agrarian regimes for the next 150 years — shaping caste, class, and Congress politics right into 1947.

For UPSC, this trio is the most-tested triangulation in Modern History.

Why this matters for UPSC

For UPSC:

• Prelims: Permanent Settlement 1793 (Cornwallis, Bengal- Bihar-Orissa); Ryotwari (Munro, Madras + Bombay); Mahalwari (Holt Mackenzie + Bentinck, NWP + Punjab + parts of CP); share + cycle of revision; "Sunset Clause".
• Mains GS-I: Long-term consequences — zamindar rise + peasant pauperisation + revolt patterns + Partition geography.
• Interview: Why did Bengal lag economically post-1947 while Punjab + Tamil Nadu prospered?