The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c22.62

v4.c22.62

The other abuse was oppression of the weaker peasants by the village headmen, who had to distribute the amount of the assessment over individuals. The method of distribution in each village was determined by local custom, but manipulation was always possible in practice, and the Ministry suspected, again not unreasonably, that headmen were favouring themselves and their friends, to the prejudice of the peasants outside their circle. Records of the early British period show that something of the sort was in fact an inevitable incident of the system, not in all villages, but in some: the extent of the evil at any particular period cannot be determined with precision; but its existence has to be borne in mind in any attempt to estimate the relative advantages of the different systems of assessment. In actual practice, direct dealing with individuals was probably on the whole favourable to the weaker peasants, and unpopular with the stronger, who could be made to pay their full share; village assessment was doubtless an equitable system where a village consisted of a homogeneous body of peasants, but where cliques or factions existed, the weak sometimes had to pay for the strong.