Since the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in northern India, there has been a gradual change in the field of land revenue administration. It starts with the Iqta system. According to Muslim ideology, the land was divided into sulhi, usri and khiraji. 'Sulhi' was not there in India. The Usri land was theoretically meant for Muslim farmers. A land tax called Kharaz was collected from Khiraji land. There was no uniformity in the administration of land revenue due to frequent dynastic changes, but there was constant change in it. Before the time of Allauddin Khilji, there was no significant change in the land revenue system, it continued in its old form by the old people.
Alauddin
Alauddin was the first sultan who increased the intervention of the central government in the villages. His objectives behind the land revenue reforms were –
1. To increase the income of the state
2. Breaking the power of rebellion by economically paralyzing people
3. To the expenses of the army, revenue was to be increased
4. To make such arrangements that the burden of the rich does not fall on the poor
For this he made some laws –
1. The person who cultivates, on the basis of size and yield per biswa, pay half the yield as tax
2. All the people of the village should pay tax at the same rate
3. Khut, Muqaddam and Choudhary also pay their full tax like an ordinary farmer (Balahar)
Allauddin completed his plan in three phases.
First step
Firstly he canceled all the land grants. Milak, Inam, Waqf and converted all the lands into Khalis land and started paying cash salary to the officers. However, a limited amount of grants continued.
Second step
After this he got the land measured and fixed the revenue on the actual income of the land. The revenue privileges of mediators i.e. khots, muqaddam and chaudhry were abolished hukuke khoti (obtained from the state) and kismet khoti (obtained from the peasants).
Third step
The tax was levied on the basis of average production and was increased to fifty percent.
Through these laws, for the first time the direct relationship of the government with the farmers was established. Government servants now reached from village to village. These were the muhssil (the collector of the tribute), the amil (the tax collector), the gumashta (the representative), the musarrif (the account checker), the ohda darane dafatir (the head of the office), and the navisinda (the clerk). They functioned at the district level but had access to the villages. Agriculture is no longer profitable for the farmers. This rent system was very anti-farmers. Fifty percent of the land revenue and the burden of chari tax(grazing tax), ghari, jizya was going to break the back of the farmer. After the death of Alauddin, there has never been such a strictness again.
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq took the middle path(rashme-miyan) in the reorganization of the governance system. He restored the privileges and allowances of the Khuts. Taxed the farmers only so that they should not become 'beggars' because in that situation they would stop farming. He canceled the rule of measuring land (Hukme Masahat) and yield per biswa. In its place, the system of division was restored as before. In this, more justice was done to the farmers. Whatever crop was grown, it was distributed. If the crop failed, then like the farmer, the state would also suffer. Regarding the tax, Barani wrote that: The Sultan ordered that the tax should not be increased by more than one tenth or eleventh part at a time. He returned the old rights of 'haq-i-khoti' to the intermediate zamindars, especially the muqaddams and khots, made their fields and pastures tax-free, but did not give them the right of 'kismat-i-khoti'.
Muhammad bin Tughlaq
During the time of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the revolt started as soon as the tax increased, the famine made the situation more terrible. In later years the Sultan tried to normalize agriculture. His attempt to cultivate the barren land failed. Ibn Battuta wrote that during the years of famine, the Sultan ordered to dig wells outside the capital and cultivate there. For this he also gave seeds and money to the farmers. Barani has written that 'Diwan-i-Amir Kohi' for the advancement of agriculture. (Agriculture Department) was formed. The state spent seventy lakh tankas in two years. The barren could not be cultivated. He also arranged an agricultural loan called Sondhar for the farmers.
Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq
Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq gained much fame by reforming the land revenue policy. During that time there was an increase in agriculture, an increase in the means of irrigation and a decrease in the price of food grains. The farmers were unable to repay the takabi which was distributed by the earlier Sultan. Firoz waived the entire takabi and made the farmers happy. Loan registers were destroyed. Wazir Khan Jahan Maqbool was very intelligent even though he was not educated. He completely organized the revenue department.
Afif wrote that the income of the state was considered. Khwaja Husamuddin Junaid was entrusted with the task of gathering its details. The task was difficult. It took six years. After inspecting all the provinces, he found the income there. Ultimately the income of the entire state was found to be six crore seventy five lakh tanka. Firoz Shah increased the number of jagirs. This later became detrimental to the farmers. It was his policy to give huge jagirs in lieu of salary. Afif has written that jagirs were given liberally for career. The system of contracting was implemented in revenue which is not beneficial for the farmers. Firoz Shah Tughlaq built canals. A detailed description about the canals is given in taarikh-i- Mubarakshahi. The main canal was built at the expense of the government. Small canals or narrow branches that led to the fields were built through jagirdars at the expense of the cultivators. An irrigation was used for this. Irrigation tax (haq-i-shurb) was fixed at 1/10 of the total yield. Annual income of two lakhs tanka started coming from the canals.
Firoz Shah abolished 24 tax (abwabs). These were in addition to the land revenue. These were applicable at the local level to everyone whether they were cultivators or not. Traders and people engaged in domestic industries were also in their grip. The waiver of these taxes brought great relief to the people.
The entire land revenue administration was under the control of the Wazir. A naib vizier was there to assist him. Mustaufi-i-Mumalik (Auditor General) and Mushrif-i-Mumalik (collector of taxes for the entire state), both of them were subordinate to the Wazir. There were also many Gumashtas, Sirhangs, Navisands, Amil was a prominent officer at the district level. Patwari was a hereditary functionary living in the village. Cash payment was always painful for the farmer. For this he was forced to sell his crop at a cheap price during the harvesting season. He also had to take a loan from Seth Sahukar. The economic exploitation of moneylenders on farmers and other villagers continued. This increased rural indebtedness and poverty. This was a great tragedy of the medieval rural economy.
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