Get Complete Information on Land Revenue System of Akbar

It goes without saying that Sher Shah Sur was the forerunner of Akbar in the field of land revenue system. Sher Shah laid down the main principles which were followed later on in the time of Akbar. Sher Shah had fixed the state demand at one-third of the produce and made regulations for the equitable collection of land revenue. Sher Shah’s system was adopted by Akbar with th necessary alterations. Sher Shah’s regime was too short to stabilize the system. Akbar’s long region gave him ample opportunity to plan out, develop and perfect his system.

Early efforts were made under Khwaja Abdul Majid Khan and Mazaffar Turbati to reform the revenue system. Turbati appointed 10 Qanungoes to collect the data about land revenue matters. The Quanungoes made certain recommendations. However, those could not be adopted on account of the Uzbeg rebellion. In 1575, the Jagirs were abolished. The whole of the Empire at the time was divided into 182 Parganas and each Paragana was put under a Karori whose function was to collect revenue. These Karories turned out to be greedy and corrupt officers.

In 1582, Raja Todar Mai became the Diwan-i-Ashraf or Diwan-i-Chief. The whole of the Land Revenue system was thoroughly over-hauled. The prevailing system at that time was to fix assessments every year on the basis of the yield and prices. The result was that the demand of the state varied from year to year.

The collectors could not proceed with their work of collection of revenue until the officers fixed the rates to be charged. Todar Mai made a change in the existing system. He got an aggregate of the rates of collection for 10 years from 1570 to 1580 and one-third of them was taken as the basis of assessment.

The survey of Paimaish of the whole land was undertaken. Formerly, hempen-ropes were used to measure land. The difficulty with them was that they were liable to contract and expand and that resulted in faulty measurement. Todar Mai used a Jarib of bamboos which was joined together with iron-rings.

Land was divided into 4 classes. Polaj land was that land which was regularly cultivated and yielded revenue from year to year. Parauti land was that land which was occasionally left uncultivated so that it may regain its productive capacity during the interval. Chachhar land was that land which was left uncultivated for 3 or 4 years. Banjar land was that land which was left uncultivated for,, 5 or more years.

The Polaj and Parauti lands were divided into three grades, viz., good, middling and bad. The average of three was taken as the basis of the assessment. One-third of it was fixed as the share of the state. The system can be illustrated in this way. Suppose, the yield from land is as follows:

It is to noted that a different system was followed in the case of Banjar and Chachhar Lands, share of the state was not fixed at one-third. The share increased by progressive stages.

According to Lane-Poole, “There is no name in medieval history more renowned in India to the present day than that of Todar Mai and the reason is that nothing in Akbar’s reforms touched the welfare of the people than the great financial reconstruction of the revenue system.” Abul Fazl praises the Raja for his courage, bravery, loyalty, honesty and freedom from avarice. To quote him, “In fulness of courage.

absence of avarice……. In the performance of service, in diligence and in skill, he was a man who is

seldom seen or rather he was incomparable.” He was probably the best and the ablest officer in the service of Akbar.

Todar Mai fixed rates of converting revenue in kind into revenue in cash by taking an average of the actual prices for 10 years. The share of the state was fixed at one-third. It was not to fluctuate from year to year. The farmer was given the choice to pay either in cash or in kind. Cash rates were fixed by the states officers and they were different in the case of different crops. Rates of sugarcane and indigo were different from the rates for barely and wheat.

When the harvest season arrived, a staff of officers toured the villages to ascertain the exact area of land under cultivation with a view to preparing the crop-statement. The area of each crop in each holding was measured and the Bitikchi applied the prescribed rates and calculated the revenue from the cultivators.

The chief characteristic of Todar Mai Bandobast were that the state was to advance loans to the cultivators which could be paid in easy annual instalments, Remissions of revenue were granted in bad seasons. The revenue collectors were required to write officially annual reports about the work, character and integrity of their subordinates.

They were to see that cultivators were given a receipt for every payment made by them. A record of all the holding and liabilities of every cultivator was to be maintained. The collectors were to send reports of monthly returns to the royal treasury. Voluntary payments by cultivators were encouraged and the state force was employed only as a last resort. All the Paraganas, whether cultivated or not, were required to be measured. Accounts were to be kept in Persian and not in Hindi.

The system described above was known as the Zabti system. It was prevalent in Bihar, Allahabad, Lahore, Multan, Delhi, Agra, Oudh, Malwa and parts of Gujarat. Although the ideal administrative system was to be found in the Zabti system, there were other systems of assessment prevalent in various parts of the Mughal Empire.

The Ghalla Baksha system was the old Indian system of assessment by the division of crops. It prevailed in Thatta and in parts of Kabul and Kashmir. In the case of the Nasaq system, there was no intermediary between the farmer and the state.

According to Sir Jadunath Sarkar, “The collection of revenue was always the result of a struggle between the Ryot and the Sarkar and the arrears were seldom, if ever, cleared.” There were conflicts between the farmers and the collectors of revenue.

That was partly due to the fact that the Indian peasants were required to pay to a remote urban state from which they derived practically no benefit and about whose continuity they were sceptical. According to Sir J. N. Sarkar, the collectors of revenue get from the peasants under the name of never-to-be-extinguished arrears everything except their bare subsistence.

Revenue Staff

Reference may be made to the revenue officers of the Government. The Mughal Government did not give the right of collecting land-revenue to the highest bidders. It employed agencies for revenue collection. The Amil was assisted by Bitikchi, Potdar, Qanungo, Muqaddam and Patwari. The Amil had to perform many kinds of duties. He severely dealt with those who were rebellious even if that involved the land remaining uncultivated. He was required to ascertain the quality of the land actually under cultivation and reclaim the waste lands. He was to take security from the surveyors of land, assessors and other officials. He was to see that in measuring land, not even a Bigha was concealed or over-looked.

The revenue was to be collected in such a way that peasants were least troubled. The treasurer was required not to demand an extra coin from the peasant. The Amil was required to examine the registers maintained by the Patwaris, Muqaddams and Karkoons. He was required to report if anything exceptional affecting agriculture happened within his jurisdiction.

The Bitikchi occupied a status similar to that of the Amil. His duty was to supervise the work of the Qanungoes. He was required to be an efficient accountant and a good writer. He was to be well-acquainted with the customary laws of the areas within his jurisdiction. He was to maintain a register of all the engagements entered into by the peasents with the Government. He prepared detailed statements of arable and waste land and also of income and expenditure. He had to prepare every season abstracts of land revenue and also submit an annual rr port to the Central Government.

The Potdar or Khizandar received money from cultivators and issued receipts for all payment. The Qanungo was a Pargana Officer. He was acquainted with all rural cutoms and rites of the peasantry. ^[10] His salary varied from Rs. 20 to 25. According to Moreland, one rupee of the Mughal Period bought as much as seven rupees today.

Each Pargana was divided into many villages and each village had a Muqaddam or headman and a Patwari. The function of the Muqaddam was to help in the collection of revenue.

The revenue system of Akbar worked successfully and was responsible for improving the lot of the peasants. As the share of the state was fixed, the chances of fraud on the part of the Government servants were lessened. As the demand of the state was fixed .Government became sure of a fixed revenue. Peasants got the security of tenure and were saved from all types of exactions. Agriculture improved and the necessities of life became cheap. Akbar’s system with minor alternations continued to exist in the time of his successors.

According to Dr. R. P. Tripathi, although the assessments of Akbar were not severe, those were not light also. In spite of that, Akbar has been regarded as the father of the people for centuries. That is due to the fact that he gave the people of India a revenue system which was not only permanent but was also understood by the people. As the demand of the State was fixed, there was no occasion for any suspense or doubt. He also relieved peasants of a large number of petty and vaxatious taxes and cesses.

Akbar not only abolished Jizya, Zakat, and pilgrim taxes but also abolished taxes on sale of cattle, oxen, salt, markets, turbans, lodgings, hides, oil, blankets, weighing, purchase and sale of houses, permission to reap harvest, etc. He also stopped the charging of fees by Tahsildars, Daroghas, Treasurers and money-testers.

All these remissions must have brought relief to the people. Whenever there was famine or other natural calamity, the Government came to the rescue of the people. The peasants must have welcomed the policy of saving the cows, 4)ufTaIoes, camels and oxen and the maintaining of pastures. The peasants were saved from the caprices and whims of the Zamindars and Jagirdars.

Reference may be made to the reforms made by Akbar in the field of Sayurghals. It was considered to be the duty of the State to help the learned scholars, persons engaged in spiritual pursuits, the indigents, widows, decrepits and other respectable men who had no employment. Large areas of land had been given by the earlier rulers to such persons in the form of Madadimaash.

These persons prayed for the prosperity of the ruler and sometimes also actively worked for them. Mahmud Khilji of Malwa used to say that is was not possible to conquer Gujarat as it had one army for day and another for night. The Mughals also made similar grants of land. A separate Department of the State was entrusted with this work and it was presided over by the Sadr.

In the beginning of the reign of Akbar, the departments of the Sadr enjoyed a lot of descretion and the Sadr did whatever he pleased. When Shaikh Gadai was the Sadr, he took away jagirs from the Afghans and gave the same to his own favourites. When Shaikh Abdunnabi became the Sadr in 1565, he was asked to examine the question of Sayurghals and redistribute the same with the help of the Finance Mininster. To begin with, he confiscated many jagirs which were given to the Afghans and transferred them to the Crown lands. Later on, he gave large areas of lands in the form of waqfs, inams and idrarat.

In 1575, the Karoris were asked to make enquiries into the Sayurghals and not io recognise any grant unless the same was countersigned by the Sadr. The result was that all the grantees of land had to come to Agra for that purpose. There was a rush of work in the Department of Sadr and Abdunnabi did not do the work properly. He left the work of checking in the hands of his subordinates who were corrupt. The result was that many honest persons suffered.

An enquiry was made into the matter and it was found that the distribution of land had been made in a very haphazard manner. While many persons had large tracts of land, there were other deserving persons who had got nothing. Moreover, as a result of the mixing up of the Crown, jagirs and Sayurghal lands, there were constant quarrels between the officials and the holders of Sayurghals. Some persons held lands at different places by means of fraud.

Under the circumstances, Akbar ordered that lands for Sayurghal purposes should be set apart in every Pargana and no person should be allowed to have lands at different places. Abdunnabi was removed from his office. To reduce pressure at the centre, one Sadr was appointed for the Punjab and another for Gujarat.

Akbar himself examined the cases of the holders of Sayurghals. He personally fixed up the areas of land to be given to each grantee on the basis of the impression created by him when he met him. However, he was generous to old men. In 1580, when the empire was divided into many provinces, a Sadr was appointed for each province. At the centre, one Sadr- i-Sadur was appointed.

Akbar has been criticized for his Sayurghal Policy. It is pointed out that the object of Akbar was to destroy the power of the Sadr who had become very powerful. However, such a view seems to be baseless. The Sadr was appointed by the King and could be dismissed by him at any time.

Hence, there is no substance in the view that the object of Akbar’s policy were merely to weaken the power of Sadr. Moreover, Akbar gained nothing by his Sayurghal Policy. His object was merely to see that lands were distrbuted in such a way among the pious people that all the deserving people got something. Moreover, he also wanted to remove the quarrels between the holders of Sayurghals and the officials of The State.