A History of Assam c21.15

c21.15

In regard to the revenue administration, it was thought inadvisable to make any radical change until the ultimate destiny of the country had been settled. The only important alteration adopted was the imposition of a poll-tax of three rupees per pāik in lieu of the old liability to personal service for three or four months in the year. The duty of collecting this tax was entrusted to the old staff of khel officials, but the pāiks of the different khels had become so scattered during the recent disturbances that this method of realizing the Government dues was found most tedious and uncertain, and the amounts which were eventually paid into the treasury were ridiculously small. The method of collection was therefore changed from a personal, to a territorial, basis. The whole area of a district was parcelled out into blocks called mauzas* or mahāls, and the dues realizable from all persons resident in a given *mauza* were collected by the officer in charge of it, who was variously known as the *mauzādār*, *bishayā*, *chaudhuri*, *kāgoti* or *pātgiri*. The poll-tax was soon abandoned in favour of a regular assessment of the land, based on actual measurement. To carry out the arrangements which these changes involved, Captains Mathie, Rutherford and Bogle were appointed "Principal Assistants," or Collectors, of Darrang, Nowgong and Kāmrup. The cultivated area was divided into *basti*, or homestead; *rupit*, or land on which the transplanted rice called *sāli* is grown; *bāo-toli*, or land growing *bāo* rice; and *faringati*, or land growing dry crops, such as mustard, and *āhu* rice.* For a time, the homestead lands were assessed at so much a house, the amount varying in Kāmrup from Rs. 3 to Re. 1-8-0 according to the circumstances of the occupants. The *rupit* lands in the same district were originally assessed at one rupee per *pura*, the *bāo-toli* at twelve annas, and the *faringati* at four annas. These rates were gradually raised, and in 1848 they had reached Re. 1-4-0 per *pura* for *rupit*, and one rupee for all other kinds of land, including *basti*.