In the Mughal period, there were more reforms in the field of land revenue system. There were two main reasons behind this. First, due to the reforms of the Sultanate period, the shortcomings were well known. Now it was easy to think of a way to get rid of them. Second, the Afghan ruler Sher Shah had shown the way by making a new effort in this context. There were no reforms in the land revenue system during the reign of Babur and Humayun. After many experiments, Muzaffar Khan again became the finance minister in 1570 during the time of Akbar. He started the system of measurement of land every year, assessment of yield and information about the situation of prices in the local market. The arrangement made on these was 'Jabti Harsala'. Ain-i-Dahsala was built in 1580 AD. The Ain-i-Dahsala the ten-year land revenue settlement or Zabti system, which became famous after its founder Todar Mal, came into vogue in 1582. It was also known as the Raiyytwari system because it was directly related to the farmers. Initially this system was introduced in eight provinces of the empire, Allahabad, Agra, Awadh, Ajmer, Malwa, Delhi, Lahore and Multan.
Raja Todar mal's land revenue system had a comprehensive process in which there were five steps for permanent settlement of the agrarian problem to the complete satisfaction of the farmers as well as the state-
Measurement of Land: First Step
As a national policy, under this system, a single method of measurement of land was adopted for the whole country. The village was adopted as a standard administrative unit for this purpose. In the beginning, the exact territorial boundary of a village and the different types of land falling under its dimensions were determined. The exact area of cultivable land with each farmer owner was determined. The gaz or yard known as Sultan Sikandar Lodi for the purpose of measurement, which was 41 digits or 33 inches in length, came into use at the national level, and the 32 digit was used at the time of Sher Shah was removed from circulation. Earlier, 'Jarib' made of rope was used to measure the land, but it could not give an accurate measurement due to the difference in temperature and the use of less and less force in pulling it. This practice was also abolished and in its place a new 'jarib' of bamboo, whose thin strips were tightly tied to iron rings, was used. The standard unit of area was considered to be 'bigha', a bigha having 60 yards or 3600 square yards.
Land Classification: Second Step
After the measurement of land comes the second stage of classification which was based on the cultivation of the land and its continuity. These were the four classifications on the basis of continuty- Polaj, Parauti, Chachar and Banjar. Polaj was the land in which two crops were grown in a year. A Parauti was one that was left empty after two crops for about a year so that it could become fertile again. Chachar is the land which was infertile or a crop could hardly be grown in it in three to four years, banjar land was the land which was completely infertile and it was absolutely difficult to cultivate. The above three categories were also further divided into three categories-good, average and poor on the basis of their fertility so that no injustice could be done to the farmers while paying the land revenue.
Land Revenue Assessment: Third Step
Land revenue was collected at the tehsil or pargana level and crop production was assessed on the basis of bigha for all categories of land. In this way the per bigha production of each main crop was worked out at the pargana level on the basis of the average production of ten years. To begin with, detailed schedules were prepared on the basis of available information from 1570-71 to 1580-81. Abul Fazl has written that in preparing these lists the actual facts and figures have been accepted from the period from 1575-76 to 1580-81, while the information from 1570-71 to 1574-75 is based on the loyal officers attached to the investigation. were compiled on. Good crops were assessed each year and the year with the bountiful harvest was accepted. One-third of the produce per bigha of average crop produced on different categories of land was fixed as state demand. The farmer used to pay this land revenue for ten years without any change. In the meantime, the government system used to calculate the exact production of each crop in each category of farm land year after year at pargana or tehsil level, so that after the end of the next ten years, a revised list of products and government demands could be presented. Could
Monetization(Encashment) and minimization of revenue demand: Fourth Step
After assessing the land revenue presented, it was converted into cash at the regional level with the help of price lists of various food crops. For this purpose, the entire empire was divided into several regions, known as 'Dastur'. The distribution of these regions was done keeping in mind the unchangeable climate, social facts and farmers, in such a way that the prices of food crops remained stable for decades. Do not fluctuate beyond reasonable limits. The average price for each food crop in each 'dastur' was worked out after taking into account the price of the previous ten years. The same method was followed in preparing the list of products and prices, the difference was that the list of products was prepared at the Pargana level and the list of prices was prepared at the Dastur level. Usually there were many tehsils in a Dastur. But there were some cases where there were one or more dasturs in a tehsil but this happened only when the prices of food crops increased wildly due to unusual geographical facts or other facts.
Collection of Land Revenue: Fifth Step
Akbar had made a commendable arrangement for land revenue collection. He had divided the province into sarkars or districts and the districts into tehsils or parganas for the purpose of revenue collection. As we know, at the district level, the effective officer related to revenue establishment was amil or amalguzar, while at Tehsil level, the officer related to this work was called Amil. Numerous Patwaris, Kanungos, Revenue Collectors, Treasurers, Clerks etc. were involved in this revenue related establishment. 'Dastur-ul-Amal' or general code of conduct was given by the government at Tehsil level, in which the method of payment of land revenue was explained. Each farmer was given a patta or rukka and had to sign a confession or agreement; According to this agreement, he used to pay his revenue. Patta was considered to be a very important legal document that detailed the smallest details of the ownership of the farmer's land and could be transferred from generation to generation. The land revenue was payable twice a year in kind or in cash i.e. after harvesting of rabi and kharif crops respectively. In times of drought or famine, land revenue was waived and apart from this, adequate relief was also given to the farmers. To meet the difficulties 'Takawi' loans were also given.
Ain-i-Dahsala was implemented in the central part of the empire during the time of Akbar. It could not be implemented everywhere. The distribution system continued in Sindh, Kabul, Kandahar and Kashmir. The Nask (Kankoot) system continued in Bengal, Gujarat and Kathiawar. Jahangir also tried to implement Dahsala Management in Bengal and Gujarat. At the time of Shah Jahan, during the second Subedari of Aurangzeb in the south, a lot of reforms were done in relation to land revenue by Murshid Quli Khan. From the time of Jahangir, due to administrative laxity, shortcomings were visible. From the time of Shah Jahan, the monopoly practice started gaining momentum. At the time of Shah Jahan, 70 percent of the land was allotted in Jagirs. By the time of Aurangzeb, the Mughal land revenue system had become extremely flawed. This only major source of income of the state reached the verge of drying up. The state reached a state of bankruptcy. It became difficult to pay the salaries of the soldiers. There was a shortage of jagirs. More than one rival started fighting for possession of the jagirs. The whole land revenue system got disturbed. It also contributed to the downfall of the Mughal Empire. The landlords exploited the farmers a lot. There was no one now to try to increase facilities for the expansion of agriculture.
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