The shaping of land revenue policy in Madras Presidency

Abstract

There were a number of systems of settlements in Madras Presidency when the East India Company assumed administrative charges at the end of the eighteenth century. The Company government did not know which system was suitable and should be adopted for the whole of the Presidency. It initiated permanent settlement in 1802 in some areas, and found it unsuitable to be applied to other regions. Thus, it began a series of experiments in different districts in order to find a suitable system of settlement. These revenue experiments finally led the Company government to adopt the ryotwari system in many regions. It is these revenue experiments that the present article examines in relation to Chittoor district, and brings out the factors responsible for changing government policies during the period of experiments. The study shows how the settlements made with different types of landlords led to the formation of separate groups in rural areas and, in turn, planted the seeds of factional politics in the later period in the present Rayalseema region, which roughly coincides with the erstwhile ceded districts. It also throws light on the policy of discrimination against the cultivators, which led to a deterioration in the conditions of these people.