The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c4.s8.103

c4.s8.103

89. Bellary was part of the Ceded Districts and was administered from 1800-7 by Thomas Munro. As mentioned earlier, it was here that Munro seemed outraged by the fact that 35% of the total cultivated land was still being assigned for various local purposes, and expressed his determination to reduce it to as low as 5% of the total revenue of the Ceded Districts. Munro at that time also advocated the imposition of an income-tax of about 15% on all those (revenue assignees, as well as merchants, artisans, labourers and the rest) who did not pay land revenue. The Madras Government accepted his recommendation and this tax, under various names, (*Veesabuddy*, *Mohtarpha*, etc.) was imposed not only in the Ceded Districts but also in many other districts of the Madras Presidency.