Permanent Settlement in the context of "Zamindari system"

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⭐ Core Definition: Permanent Settlement

The Permanent Settlement, also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, was an agreement between the East India Company and landlords of Bengal to fix revenues to be raised from land. It had far-reaching consequences for both agricultural methods and productivity in the entire British Empire and the political realities of the Indian countryside. It was concluded in 1793 by the Company administration headed by Charles, Earl Cornwallis. It formed one part of a larger body of legislation that later came to be called the Cornwallis Code. The Cornwallis Code of 1793 divided the East India Company's service personnel into three branches: revenue, judicial, and commercial. Revenues were collected by zamindars, native Indians who were treated as landowners. This division created an Indian landed class that supported British authority.

The Permanent Settlement was introduced first in Bengal and Bihar and later in Varanasi and also the northern districts of Madras. The system eventually spread all over northern India by a series of regulations dated 1 May 1793. These regulations remained in place until the Charter Act 1833. The other two systems prevalent in India were the Ryotwari System and the Mahalwari System.

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👉 Permanent Settlement in the context of Zamindari system

A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a zamindari (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; zamindar is the Persian for landowner. During the British Raj, the British began using it as a local synonym for "estate". Subsequently, it was widely and loosely used for any substantial landed magnates in the British India. Zamindars as a class were equivalent to lords and barons; in some cases, they were independent sovereign princes. Similarly, their holdings were typically hereditary and came with the right to collect taxes on behalf of imperial courts or for military purposes. This continued in states like Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal even after independence until the abolition of zamindari in 1950.

During the Mughal Empire, as well as the British rule, zamindars were the land-owning nobility of the Indian subcontinent and formed the ruling class. Emperor Akbar granted them mansabs and their ancestral domains were treated as jagirs. Most of the big zamindars belonged to the Hindu high-caste, usually Brahmin, Rajput, Bhumihar or Kayastha. During the colonial era, the Permanent Settlement consolidated what became known as the zamindari system. The British rewarded supportive zamindars by recognising them as princes. Many of the region's princely states were pre-colonial zamindar holdings elevated to a greater protocol. The British also reduced the land holdings of many pre-colonial princely states and chieftaincies, demoting their status to noble zamindars from previously higher ranks of royalty. During the period of British colonial rule in India, many wealthy and influential zamindars were bestowed with noble and royal titles such as Maharaja, Raja/Rai, Babu, Rai sahib, Rai Bahadur, Nawab and Khan.

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Permanent Settlement in the context of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined Franco-American force at the siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. Cornwallis later served as a civil and military governor in Ireland, where he helped to bring about the Act of Union; and in India, where he helped to enact the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement.

Born into an aristocratic family and educated at Eton College and the University of Cambridge, Cornwallis joined the British Army in 1757, seeing action in the Seven Years' War. Upon his father's death in 1762 he succeeded to his peerage and entered the House of Lords. From 1766 to 1805 he was colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot. Cornwallis next saw military action in 1776 in the American War of Independence. Active in the advance forces of many campaigns, in 1780 he inflicted a major defeat on the Continental Army at the Battle of Camden. He also commanded British forces in the March 1781 Pyrrhic victory at Guilford Court House. Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown in October 1781 after an extended campaign through the Southern colonies, marked by disagreements between him and his superior, Sir Henry Clinton.

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Permanent Settlement in the context of Chak (village)

Chak, a Punjabi word, is the land revenue settlement/assessment circle marking a contiguous block of land. The word Chak comes from Chakar referring to a wheel in Punjabi, specifically a wheel associated with a water well. Historically there was one water well allotted per village and every village number allotted as per water-well wheel. Now the individual chak circles have come to be associated with the name of the village founded within the revenue circle. Chak circles are based on the British Raj era revenue collection system. To enhance the government revenue during the British Raj, new canals were built to bring the barani (rainfed) areas under cultivation by introducing the irrigation to the bangar (upland) areas of Punjab region. Block of contiguous land irrigated by the specific Rajwaha (artificial water channel) were given a unique chak number each. The migrant farmers were brought in to settle those newly irrigated areas around the core of new villages [which started out as dhanis]. Those new villages were called by the same name as their corresponding irrigation circle chak number. The government left it to those residents to give "chaks" a proper village name later. In due time, the term "chak" became synonymous with the term "village". In Punjab, the Chaks were the Punjab Canal Colonies which were given a number. Earlier their equivalent subdivisions used to be the Subah or Taraf, Pargana or Mahal, Mauza or Pir system, which was replaced by the administrative divisions of India after the partition of India in 1947, though the Chak as name of villages still continues in the former Punjab Canal Colonies.

Chaks are found mainly in the bagar tract on the tri-junction of Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab region. Chak, the administrative revenue assessment circle or division, is also called the Chakla, which is not to be confused with the other types of Chaklas.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Zamindari system ← Zamindar ← Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis ← Chak (village)
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Contract → East India Company → Cornwallis in India → Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis → Cornwallis Code → Zamindar → Bihar → Varanasi district → Madras Presidency → Charter Act 1833 → Ryotwari → Mahalwari →