Assignment On the Permanent Settlement Act and its long-term
consequences.
COURSE: BPH101
SECTION:05
Submitted by
Jayed Bin Zaman
Student ID: 2531892
Submitted to
Mr. Sayed Abu Touab Shakir
[Link]: The governor general of the East India
Company, Lord Cornwallis introduced the permanent
settlement act in 1793 in Eastern India. This law expanded to
South India later after the [Link] under the contract, the
zamindars were admitted into the colonial state system as the
absolute proprietors of landed property in Bengal and the
British East India Company, aimed to stabilize Bengal's
revenue by making Zamindars (landlords) hereditary owners,
fixing land revenue permanently in exchange for regular
payments, and creating a loyal class of proprietors; however, it
failed to protect peasants, leading to increased peasant
burdens, neglect of land, and new forms of land tenure,
ultimately solidifying a class structure and revenue stream for
the British but creating widespread agricultural distress.
[Link] features of the Act: There are 5 key features of
the Permanent Settlement Act this are,
[Link] as Proprietors: Tax collectors Zamindars were
made permanent, hereditary owners of the land under their
jurisdiction.
[Link] Revenue: The revenue payable to the Company was
fixed forever (hence "Permanent"), with Zamindars paying 90%
to the government and keeping 10%.
[Link] Law: A harsh rule mandated that if Zamindars failed
to pay their revenue by sunset on the due date, their entire
estate would be sold by auction.
[Link] of Zamindars: They gained rights to transfer, sell, and
mortgage their land.
[Link] of Raiyats: The Act ignored peasants' rights, allowing
Zamindars to raise rents and evict tenants, creating a new
multi-tiered system.
3. Objective of the study: The objectives of this
assignment are to critically examine the Permanent Settlement
Act of 1793 and analyze its long-term consequences on
Bengal’s agrarian, social, and political structure. Specifically,
this assignment aims to:
§ To explain the origin and purpose of the Permanent
Settlement Act introduced by the British East India
Company.
§ To analyze the main features of the Permanent Settlement
system, including zamindari ownership, fixed land
revenue, and the Sunset Law.
§ To examine the changing role of zamindars under the
Permanent Settlement and their position within the
colonial administrative framework.
§ To assess the impact of the Permanent Settlement on
peasants, particularly in terms of land rights, rent burden,
eviction, and rural exploitation.
§ To evaluate the long-term economic consequences of the
Permanent Settlement, such as agricultural stagnation,
absentee landlordism, and commercialization of land.
§ To analyze the social and political consequences of the
Act, including class stratification, weakening of village
institutions, and peasant unrest.
[Link] Settlement Background:
§ During the Mughal period, in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha,
the land revenues were collected by the zamindars.
§ A Diwan was appointed to supervise the zamindars and
ensure that the zamindars were neither lax nor stringent.
§ Following the Battle of Buxar in 1762, the diwani right over
Bengal was awarded to the British East India Company.
§ The British East India Company’s officials were neither
trained nor had any knowledge of local laws. Thus, the
landlords were unsupervised and became corrupted.
§ The artisans were forced to sell their products at low rates
and peasants were forced to pay high taxes. Thus, the
Bengal economy fell into a deep crisis.
§ In 1770, there was a terrible famine in Bengal which killed
about ten million people.
§ British officials felt that investments in land should be
encouraged and the state of agriculture should be
improved.
§ Thus, after two decades, under Lord Cornwallis the
Permanent Settlement system was introduced in 1793
through the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793.
[Link] of Zamindars under the Act: Under the new
law, the status and responsibilities of Zamindars were
completely redefined. Their roles can be classified into four
primary areas:
1. Land Proprietors: Became permanent and absolute owners
of the land they controlled, with hereditary rights.
2. Revenue Collectors: Tasked with collecting a fixed revenue
from their tenants (raiyats) and paying a set portion
(10/11ths) to the government.
3. Tenants' Masters: Gained power to set rents, evict tenants,
and grant land deeds (pattas) and
4. Colonial Allies: Formed a loyal, intermediary class
supporting Company rule, often suppressing peasant
unrest.
[Link] Law: The Sunset Law was a harsh provision of
the British East India Company's Permanent Settlement (1793)
in Bengal This provision of the permanent settlement made
many zamindars paupers because their estates were consisted
of mostly taluks. The revenue sale law, what came to be known
as sunset law, frightened the zamindars most. Under this law,
land of the zamindars was liable to be sold if they failed to pay
government revenue punctually. Under the operation of the
Sunset Law greater part of the zamindari lands of Bengal were
sold through auction sales and their lands were transferred to
new hands
[Link] Settlement Act Impact:
Impact On Zamindars: Since the revenue to British was
fixed, they benefited from the increased production from the
land. The revenues were fixed high in the Permanent
Settlement system and thus the zamindars found it difficult to
settle. Their properties were confiscated by the British, in case
of payment failure. Zamindars often sublet their lands and
settled in cities. This created middlemen between the zamindar
and people. This resulted in Absentee Landlordism. The
zamindars also served as intermediaries for more political
aspects of Britishers.
Impact On Peasants: The cultivators found the Permanent
Settlement System very oppressive. They were reduced to the
mercy of zamindars. They often took loans from money lenders
to pay the tax and were in turn exploited by them. In case they
failed to pay the tax, they were evicted from the land they were
cultivating.
Impact on Company: The Permanent Settlement system of
1793 ensured regular income flow to the company. One of the
main aims of the Permanent Settlement Act 1793 was to
improve the state of agriculture and thereby productivity.
However, the zamindars were not interested in improving the
land and thus took no step for the same. By the first decade of
the nineteenth century, there was an increase in cultivation and
the prices in the market rose. However, this meant an increase
in income only for the zamindars and the company made no
profit because the revenue amount was fixed permanently.
[Link] Settlement Act long-term
consequences:
[Link] Consequences
1.1. Ruin of the Peasantry: Zamindars had to pay a fixed high
land revenue to the Company every year regardless of harvest
quality or economic conditions. To meet this demand, they
squeezed the actual cultivators (ryots) extracting exorbitant
rents. Peasants unable to pay rising rents fell into chronic debt
with moneylenders leading to a cycle of poverty and bondage.
There was no incentive for zamindars to invest in land
improvement (like irrigation or tools) because the revenue
demand was fixed. Their goal was simply rent collection,
leading to agricultural stagnation.
1.2. Emergence of Absentee Landlordism & Sub-
infeudation: Many traditional zamindars unable to meet the
fixed demand had their estates auctioned off. They were often
replaced by urban based merchants and bureaucrats (absentee
landlords) with no connection to the land or its people. A
complex chain of sub-infeudation developed with multiple
layers of intermediaries (like jotedars) between the zamindar
and the peasant each extracting a share further burdening the
cultivator.
1.3. Commercialization of Land: Land became a transferable
commodity that could be bought and sold at auctions. This
broke down traditional community-based landholding systems
and made land a speculative asset rather than a source of
livelihood.
1.4. Famine Vulnerability: The rigid revenue system and lack
of investment made the region more vulnerable to famines. The
revenue demand continued even during droughts stripping
peasants of any surplus or savings. The Great Bengal Famine
of 1770 predated the act but highlighted the dangers of
inflexible extraction a pattern the Permanent Settlement
institutionalized.
2. Social and Political Consequences:
2.1. Creation a New "Landlord Aristocracy": The British
created a class of loyal intermediaries the zamindars who
became the political base of colonial rule in the countryside.
Their interests were aligned with the stability of British rule not
the welfare of the peasants.
2.2. Destruction of Traditional Village Structure: The act
dismantled the older more communal systems of land
management and replaced them with a rigid individual property
rights model centered on the zamindar. This eroded village
autonomy.
2.3. Social Stratification and Conflict: It entrenched a
hierarchical society with the zamindar at the top and the
peasant at the bottom. This led to persistent social tension and
frequent peasant revolts throughout the 19th and early 20th
centuries.
2.4. Stunted Bourgeois Development: Capital accumulated
by zamindars was typically spent on lavish consumption or
buying more land a status symbol rather than being invested in
industry or agricultural improvement. This diverted potential
capital from productive enterprise.
[Link] and Long-Term Legacy:
3.1. Administrative Convenience for the British: For the
Company it was a success in the short term. It ensured a fixed
predictable revenue stream reduced the cost of revenue
collection delegated to zamindars and created a stable class of
allies.
[Link]: In conclusion, the Permanent Settlement Act
was a short-sighted policy that prioritized immediate stable
revenue for the British administration over the long-term socio-
economic. It created a system of land tenure that was
inequitable and inefficient, leaving a legacy of complex land
ownership. The high and inflexible revenue demand along with
the harsh Sunset Law led to absentee landlordism exploitation
of cultivators and agricultural stagnation. In the long run the
Permanent Settlement strengthened colonial control but
created deep social inequality and lasting agrarian distress in
Bengal.
[Link]:
Permanent Settlement Wikipedia.
[Link]
BANGLAPEDIA National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh the PS act.
[Link]
The Permanent Settlement and its effects in Bengal Financial
Express [Link]
Resources... Read more at:Vajiram and ravi
Majumdar, R. C. (Ed.). (1960). The History and Culture of the Indian
People. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
[Link]
Permanent Settlement & British State in India .He London School of
Economics and Political Science [Link]
Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of
Modern India. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
[Link]
Guha, Ranajit. (1963). A Rule of Property for Bengal: An Essay on the
Idea of Permanent Settlement. Paris: Mouton & Co
[Link]
An Essay on the Idea of Permanent Settlement - Google
Books[Link]
Permanent Settlement Act of 1793 DIU university.
[Link]
