Lord Cornwallis' Permanent Settlement - General Knowledge of Modern India: The reign of Lord Cornwallis will always be remembered for his administrative reforms. Instead of paying more attention to the expansion of the empire, he paid special attention to internal reforms. He got a lot of success in bringing fairness and firmness in the Company's administration. He made many reforms related to the company's service, revenue system, justice and trade. The permanent settlement made by him in the field of revenue system holds an important place in the history of British rule.
Lord Cornwallis' Permanent Settlement
The most important reform of Cornwallis was to manage the revenue system and its collection. Till now the company used to collect rent on the basis of annual contract. The land was given to the highest bidder. This caused problems to both the company and the farmer. Lord Cornwallis implemented the permanent system in 1793 AD. On the basis of permanent settlement, the landlords were made the owners of the land. As long as the zamindars used to pay fixed rent to the government, their rights on the land remained secure. In case of non-payment of rent, they could be deprived of their rights. The farmers had no relation with the government. By giving a practical form to the permanent settlement, Cornwallis wanted to create a powerful class of landlords in India who would look after the interests of the British. By fixing the amount of rent, the British officials were also freed from the hassle of collecting rent every year.
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Landlords Benefited From Permanent Settlement
The landlords benefited the most from the Permanent Settlement. They became the real owners of the land and their right was hereditary. This class started helping to strengthen the roots of the British Empire in India. On the other hand, due to the permanent ownership of the land, they started taking interest in the work of agricultural development, due to which the production started increasing. Due to the increase in production, the landlords started getting more profit. The company also started getting a fixed income every year. Freed from the hassle of setting and collecting rent again and again, he focused his attention on increasing the administrative capacity. Along with this, money started being saved by not appointing employees to collect rent. The company benefited greatly due to the development of industries and increase in production.
Bad Consequences Of Permanent Settlement
On the other hand, many bad consequences also came out of the permanent settlement. In the Permanent Settlement there was an agreement between the Zamindars and the Company and the peasants were left at the mercy of the Zamindars. The landlords started exploiting the farmers mercilessly. Forced labor, gifts and gifts were taken from the farmers. The farmers had no rights on the land, they only worked on the land. Due to this new system, the farmers kept getting poorer day by day. The poor farmers did not have any legal protection to protect their rights. The gap between economic exploitation and social inequality in the society kept on increasing. The landlords became rich by exploiting the farmers and the poverty of the farmers kept on increasing.
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