Land revenue system

The British introduced different land revenue systems in different parts of the country. For instance, Permanent Settlement was introduced in Bengal and Ryotwari system was mainly introduced in South India. The Mahalwari system of land revenue was introduced in the Central provinces, North West Frontier Provinces, Agra, Punjab and the Gangetic valley.

In all these land revenue systems, the revenue was fixed at a very high rate. In Permanent settlement, the Company fixed the revenue so high that it became difficult for zamindars to pay revenues to the Company.  The settlement was oppressive for villagers as they had to pay high rent to the zamindars. Their rights on the land were maintained till they paid the revenues. To pay the high land revenues, they had to take loans from moneylenders at high interest rates.Cultivators failed to pay the high rent and thus were evicted from their lands which they had been cultivating since generations. In other land revenue systems too, most of the peasants were not able to pay teh revenues and hence lost their lands.