The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c22.45

v4.c22.45

The result of the period of experiment which covered the first half of Akbar’s reign was to provide a workable revenue system for northern India; but the system was not applied to the outlying portions of the empire, each of which was treated as the local circumstances required. The standard, or “regulation”, system may be described as follows. The basis of the state’s claim on the peasant was still one-third of the produce, but the actual demand was made in the form of a sum of money, varying with the locality and with the crop, on each unit of area sown in each season. The bulk of northern India was assigned, and the detailed conduct of assessment and collection was in the hands of the assignees, who, however, were bound by the sanctioned schedules of assessment rates. The area reserved for the treasury was divided into circles, each in charge of a *karorī* or collector, who was under the orders of the provincial *dīwān*, himself responsible, at first to the viceroy, but afterwards directly to the Revenue Ministry. The collector was required to deal with established cultivation strictly in accordance with the regulation system; but he was under constant pressure to increase the revenue yielded by his circle by the two traditional processes, extension of cultivation and improvement in the class of crops; and, in order to attain these objects, he was allowed a considerable degree of latitude. Thus he was authorised to reduce the standard rates on the more remunerative crops, when this was necessary in order to secure an increase in the area under them; he could make temporary reductions in the schedules of rates in case of land which had gone out of cultivation, so as to stimulate its reclamation; for extension of tillage in waste land he could agree to almost whatever terms the peasants offered; and when the village headmen exerted themselves successfully with this object, he could allow them a substantial commission by way of reward. When the assessments fell due, the peasants were encouraged to bring their revenue personally to the local treasury, though collecting agents were also employed in the villages; and, speaking generally, it may be said that the distinctive feature of the system was the direct relationship which it established between the collector and the individual peasant, who was to be treated as an independent unit, encouraged to increase production, and assisted with loans for that purpose, but held firmly to the engagements into which he had entered.