Introduction:
The history
of mankind is intimately associated with land relationship.
The role of the State had been the most controlling factor in
augmenting the land resources. In agrarian economy the land is
the principal source of government revenue and also the major
occupation of the people for subsistence. it holds true even today in modern
India. The level of
Indian economy is largely decided by the status of land.
Frederic
Engels in his
classical treaties on 'Origin of Family, Private Property and
State', discussed how the land relations activated the social
transformation. Individual rights on holding /
inheritance of land is a major event of social history.
The kind and, the ruling elite were dependent on income from
land and so controlled the entire land holding, either
directly or indirectly. sometimes the land disputes led to
war on a local or regional scale.
Institutions
framed rules for systematic distribution of lands.
Institutional framework had been differnet on temporal and regional
scale. Technology also played a key role in devising
modalities for prospective utilization of land initiating
cascading effect for social and economic transformation.
Significance of Land:
Land is a
fixed asset on the surface of the erth. It can neither be enlarged
nor reduced under natural conditions. But the land surface,
when subject to human use, may be deteriorated. The
deterioration lf land may lead to many maladies, including
abandonment of its use for prospective agriculture and other
functional uses. Being a fixed asset land deserves regulations
for optimum utilisation.
The
pressure on land is ever increasing. The population explosion
in the later half of the twentieth century has caused several
constraints for the utilisation of lands. The experts
are recommending appropriate policies for scientific use of
lands. For framework of such policies we require relevant
information on lands, which are usually available from land
records and other sources.
Importance of Land
Records:
Land
records are of great importance. Land information from the
basis for assignment and settlement of land titles, which are
subject to legal scrutiny. The holding of land is controlled
by statutory laws by the state at a given point of time. The
access to land is determined by ownership patterns, based not
only on statutory laws, but also on customary laws in many
cases. india
has a long tradition of customary laws in diverse regions of
the country. The land tenure systems were different in
different historicl periods, as the form of
institutions changed in the historical context. The land
tenure systems laws in many cases. India has a long
tradition of customary laws in diverse regions of the country.
The land tenure systems were different in different historical
periods, as the form of institutions changed in the historical
context. The land tenure systems also differed from region to
region. This holds true even today due to prevalent diversity
of the country like India.
The
importance of land records was recognized even in the past, as
it is today. The state largely depended on land revenues for
administrative, military and other necessary expenditure. In a
democratic polity there have been more stress in evolving
a comprehensive system for land management. At various stages
of history the level of technology played a significant role
in devising the modalities for land records.
History of Land Records:
Pre-British India:
We have
little understanding on land records and tenure system prior
to Muslim rule in India. The land
belonged to "King" and the property rights of individuals were
not specified. Vincent Smith observed, "The native law of
India has
ordinarily recognized agricultural land as being crown
property". (Smith, 1924) The observation by Vincent Smith was
also contested. The ARthasashtra (Kautilya) has evidence of the
cultivator being able to sell and alienate his land But it
also states of the right of the king to replace him in his
holding if he fails to pay the rent. This is like a double
ownership, as prevalent in British India. In many cases the land
also belonged to the community or headman of the village.
Muslim
'rule' in India continued
from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century. Exception for a
few decisions concerning the giving of land as gifts to
relatives, generals, or artists, the State's fundamental
interest was with assessing, measuring, and collecting the
Sovereign's share of the revenue generated from agricultural
production. As long as this revenue was collected without much
trouble most, though certainly not all, aspects of village
life were left to local elites, traditions, and culture. The
village had more autonomy in the Mughal period than in the British
Raj. The
British historian W.H. Moreland defines it as "administrative
Philanthropy". (Moreland, 1929).
During the
rule of Muslim the kind used to collect tax from the land, but
the propriety was vested to the peasant, the tiller of land.
"The King's right to levy tax was justified by the fact that
he gave his subjects protection: there is no suggestion here
of the king's right to eject the peasant from his holding; the
peasant's right is based on the same basis as the merchant's
right to merchandise; as the payment of a tax did not
interfere with the proprietary rights of a merchant, similarly
the peasant did not lose his right over holding because he
paid a tax." (Quereshi, 1956).
This
attitude of the Muslim ruler towards the holding by the
peasant was natural, as the Muslim legal system recognized
that the cultivator was the owner of the land. The ownership
of the land by the peasant was such an established principle
in Muslim law that hitherto it had never been questioned.
The Mughals organised that land
revenue system following the footholds of Sher Shah Sur. They found the principal
structure of agrarian base well established. The Mughals during the
reign of Emperor Akbar, the great Mughal, moderately
revised and integrated the system for efficient land revenue
collection. They understood that in a dominant agrarian
economy the organization of land administration would be more
effective. The Mughals introduced the systems of
sharing, appraisement and measurement. Emperor Akbar considered such
agrarian reforms as important task for his own reasons. The
Mughal empire
during his reign was expanding and he had to maintain large
number of officers for military and administration. Akbar introduced the
Mansabdari
system and tied the system, with land revenue collections. He
was compelled to initite, reforms in administration
and land revenue system, otherwise the conditions threatened
to be more chaotic.
Akbar's mission was
fulfilled by his trusted officers like Raja Todarmal and Muzaffar Khan who effected a major
change in the system of revenue collection. Raja Todarmal was
instrumental in survey. A compendium of land records was
prepared through collection of data from the field and entered
in a register. It was really a beginning of systematic land
records in India for which the
British also owe to the Mughals. The dahshala or 10 year revenue system
(Census) was the contribution of RAja Todarmal, who along with Diwan Shah Mansur divided the
Mughal empire
into 12 provinces, each administered by a governor and a Diwan. On the basis
of land survey Raja Todarmal prepared the maps showing
different holdings and assessed rents, which probably were the
first cadastral maps in India. In 1571 he
introduced the rational revenue assessment based on intimately
surveyed land holdings. It was a revolutionary task in the
context of technological level, then prevalent in
India. The
contribution was no less worthy in the historical context,
when at the same period Mercator in 1969 published his
world map, using conformal projection in his chart showing
'waxing latitudes'. Mercator was endowed with
expanding horizon of scientific knowledge in Europe in the late
16th century, where Raja Todarmal had many hurdles.
The Mughals applied new
techniques for land survey. Firstly, they adopted standard
units of measurement. A yard, called a Gaz, was introduced consisting of
forty one digits. A bigha was measured as equal to an
area sixty yards square. The reform was not only confined in
adopting a new scale, but in standardizing the existing ones.
The old practice of measuring length with a rope was replaced
with bamboo poles. Because the rope used to shrink when it
came in contact with moisture. Instead 'Bamboo rods joined
together with iron rings were used which were less affected by
moisture'. (Abu-L-Fazl (Ed.Beveridge),1939).
The Mughals under the
leadership of Raja Todarmal, the revenue and finance
minister of Akbar, also instituted the
classification of lands for assessment of revenues. The
assessment of rent varied for different types of land.
Basically the length of the period of cultivation was
considered for a land classification. Where a land had been
continuously cultivated, it was classified as Polaj land. When it
was left uncultivated for a short period to regain fertility
it was defined as parauti. When a land was not
cultivated for a stretch of three to four years, it was
categorized as Chachar. The wastelands, abandoned
for cultivation for many years, were called the Banjar. The land
revenue was highest for the Polaj lands, as the yields were
usually high from such lands. The parauti land when cultivated was
charged the same revenue that of Polaj land. The Mughals encouraged the conversion
of wastelands into cultivated lands. The Banjar lands, when brought under
cultivation, used to pay nominal taxes in the initial years.
The Chachar
land was treated similarly like the Banjar land. The Mughals were keen to
expand cultivated area and extended special concessions to the
cultivators for bringing new areas under cultivation. The new
areas were shown separately in the statements submitted to the
higher authorities. The authorities were vigilant to expand
the cultivated land, in no case the cultivated land should be
permitted for degradation into chachar and Banjar lands. The land policy of
Akbar was
peasant's friendly. He introduced the quality assessemnt to ensure
enhanced land revenue for his expanding empire. But in no case
he overburdened the cultivators. The officers were given farman to protect the
crops and interest of the peasants. The peasant society in
pre-British India had more
autonomy and was adored with respect and admiration.
British India:
The British
domination over Indian land started in the seventeenth century
and by the end of that century the British rule extended over
large areas with the fall of Mughal empire, defeat of the
Marathas and subjugation of local powers. The British
inherited the institutional form of agrarian system from the
Mughals. The
British superimposed a system over the existing pattern in
tune with British customs and laws relating land. Broadly
three principal types of land revenue system were introduced
in British
India. The basic characteristic of each system was
the attempt to incorporate elements of the preceding agrarian
structure. The interaction of colonial policy and existing
systems produced widely different local results and hybrid
forms. it is
interesting to note that the techniques used in land surveying
in many parts of India even today
remain substantially unchanged since their introduction by
Raja Todarmal
during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Different
land revenue systems were introduced in various part of
British India, as the British annexed different parts of
India in various
periods. Let us have an intropection into three broad land
revenue systems introduced by the British. These land revenue
systems are 1. Zamindari System, 2. Rywotari System and
3. Mahalwari
System.
Zamindari System:
The Zamindari system was
introduced in early British period. The Permanent settlement
Act was passed in 1793 and initially introduced in Bengal. The system
was also found in large parts of Northern India (except Avdh, Agra, Jaipur and Jodhpur), Bihar and Orissa. The system
was introduced to ensure the revenue receipt of the british colonial
power, where a Zamindar was declared the
proprietor of land on condition of fixed revenue payments to
the British regime. The peasants were turned into tenant
farmers and deprived of the land title including other rights
and privileges enjoyed during the Mughal period. The Zamindars collected
the rents of land through different intermediate collectors.
As a result of such practice there had been creation of
multilevel ranks of collector under the Zamindar. The peasantry was
subject to deprivation of his share in produce from land and
relegated to abject poverty. This revenue system accounted for
57 per cent of cultivated area in the country. The Floud commission,
inquiring the reasons of the Great Bengal Famine in 1943,
recommended the abolition of intermediaries on land interest
to the British Government.
Rywotari System:
The Rywotari system was
introduced in Madras Presidency in 1792 and in Bombay
Presidency in 1817-18. This system recognized the proprietary
right of the peasant on land and resembled the revenue system
of the Mughal
to a great extent. The system covered nearly all the southern
states and many western states of India
including the erstwhile Central Province (i.e. Madhya
Pradesh). Even the princely states of Jaipur and Jodhpur had this category of
revenue system, as it existed during the Mughal period. However, the
pockets of Zamindri prevailed within the
Rywotari
regions, particularly in the princely states and the areas
governed by the feudal lords. The Rywotari system covered nearly 38
per cent of the cultivated area in India.
Mahalwari System:
The Mahalwari system was
introduced between 1840 and 1850. In this system the entire
village constituted revenue settlement as collective unit. The
peasants paid the revenue share of whole village in proportion
accoding to
their individual holdings. The system covered the erstwhile
Punjab, parts of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, and the
princely stated of Avdh and Agra in Uttar Pradesh. The
System was not extensive and included only 5 per cent of the
cultivated land in India.
Of the
three systems the Rywotari resembled the Mughal revenue
system, wherein the proprietary rights of the cultivators had
been recognized. This system is considered to be most
convenient and appropriate instrument for social development.
However, the British legislation institutionalised the transfer of
land and created the abse of land-market, which was
almost absent in the Mughal period. The legislation
enacted during 1850s in Rywotari and Mahalwari areas enabled
moneylenders to recover debts from the mortagaged land holdings. It
caused serious impact on transfer of land from the holding of
cultivator to non-cultivator. "As a result, rural society in
Rywotari and
Mahalwari areas
was polarised
into landlords and rich peasants versus tenants and
agricultural labourers, and the distribution of
land became highly unequal". (The Royal Commission on
Agriculture, 1924-25).
An
interesting study has been made on agricultural growth rate
relating to types of tenure system prevailing in vrious states. The
study reveals that the former Rywotari and Mahalwari areas of Southern and
Western India have achieved higher rates of agricultural
growth than the former Zamindari areas of Northern and
Eastern
India. However, the exception is the state of
West
Bengal. West bengal has surpassed all the
states in all categories of land tenure system except
Punjab.
This has been possible in implementing land reforms with the
pro-active role of Panchayats. In Punjab higher
growth rate has been the outcome of Green Revolution. The
following table will show the results.
|
Typology of States by Tenure System
and Agricultural Growth Rate |
|
Tenure System / State
Zamindari (57 Per cent) |
Average Annual Growth Rate
(Percent) |
|
|
Uttar Pradesh (Except Avdh &
Agra) |
1.9 |
|
|
Bihar |
1.5 |
|
|
Orissa |
2.6 |
|
|
West Bengal |
4.4 |
|
|
Rajasthan |
1.1 |
|
|
Andhra Pradesh |
---- |
|
|
Rywotari (38 Per cent) |
. |
|
|
Karnataka |
2.7 |
|
|
Gujarat |
2.0 |
|
|
Tamiln Nadu |
1.6 |
|
|
Kerala |
0.7 |
|
|
Maharashtra |
2.7 |
|
|
Madhya Pradesh (60 Per cent area)
|
1.6 |
|
|
Andhra Pradesh (except Telangana) |
2.7 |
|
|
Assam |
0.4 |
|
|
Rajasthan(only Jaipur & Jodhpur) |
---- |
|
|
Mahalwari (5 Per cent) |
---- |
|
|
Rajasthan(only Jaipur & Jodhpur) |
---- |
|
|
Punjab |
4.5 |
|
|
Haryana |
2.4 |
|
|
Madhya Pradesh (40 Per cent) |
1.6 |
|
|
Orissa ( 9 per cent ) |
---- |
|
|
Uttar Pradesh (only Avdh &
Agra) |
---- |
|
|
All India |
2.1 |
|