UPSC Mains Question & Answer GS1

Q. "British vision of India had no single coherent set of ideas. On the contrary, the ideas were shot through with contradictions and inconsistencies. Discuss. (IAS-Mains 2008, 150 words)

Ans. In order to extract maximum revenue from the peasants, the British resorted to various forms or land settlements. In 1772, Warren Hastings gave the responsibility for the collection of land revenue to the contractors and started the practice of auctioning the right to collect land revenue to the highest bidder for five years. Lord Cornwallis modified the above arrangement and introduced the permanent settlement in 1793, according to which the Zamindars were vested with proprietory rights over the land and were made responsible for the collection of land revenue. This system began in Bengal and Bihar, and later extended to Orissa. Varanasi and Northern Madras.

Ryotwari System (1820) was introduced in Malabar, Coimbatore, Madras and Madurai. This system was extended to Maharashtra, East Bengal, parts of Assam and Coorg. Rights, of land were vested in the ryot or tiller of the soil. Mahalwari system (1822) was introduced ill the Gangetic Valley, theNorth-West provinces, parts of central India and Punjab. The revenue was determined on the basis of assessment of the produce of a Mahal.

Similarly, industrial policy had many ideas and they were contradictory among themselves. Earlier British policies plundered the wealth from India without investing their own capital but later they invested in railways, mines and bagans. There were differences in imposing custom duties on Indian articles like cotton fabrics and handicrafts.