The land revenue reform of Sher Shah is a permanent monument of his genius. Sher Shah had seen the working of the revenue system in his father's jagir in Bihar, so he was aware of the shortcomings of this system. On his coronation he introduced the system on which he worked in detail at Sasaram and Khawaspur Tanda. The components of his land revenue reform were as follows-
1. Measurement of agriculture lands
Sher Shah fixed the land revenue on the basis of measurement of fields. He got the measurement of the state's cultivable land under the supervision of Ahmad Khan. Probably the measurement was not done in Multan province because it was a border area and Sher Shah had left this area due to security reasons.
2. New Metering System
Sher Shah used the same measure of Zarib for the measurement of land in the entire state. It was based on the Jarib Ghaz-i-Sikandari which was of 32 units, Jarib had 60 yards. A jarib was called a bigha (60 x 60). He also made rules for rewarding efficient revenue officers.
3. Division of land into three categories
Sher Shah divided the land into three categories for the determination of Malgujari-best, medium and worst. The average of the production of these three categories was taken and 1/3rd of it was fixed as revenue. For this, Sher Shah made a list of 'Rai' or crop rates. On the basis of this, revenue was fixed for different crops. This was such an important task that even Akbar accepted Sher Shah's 'Rai'.
4. Encashment of Revenue
Farmers were free to pay in crop or cash as per their convenience, although the government preferred cash payment. Sher Shah encouraged the farmers to pay the land revenue in cash as far as possible. Revenue on perishable products like vegetables was taken only in cash.
5. Patta (title deed) and Qabuliat (deed of agreement')
Sher Shah gave land Pattas to the farmers in which the area, condition, type and revenue of the land were recorded. He also obtained the Qabuliat of revenue from the farmers. His principle was that farmers should be treated liberally while fixing land revenue but not liberally in collection.
6. Jaribana and Mahasilana tax
Sher Shah fixed the tax to end the corruption of the revenue officers. The farmer had to pay 'Jaribana' land measurement fee and 'Mahasilana' tax collector's fee which ranged from 2.5% to 5% of the total produce. Apart from this, no revenue officer could take any kind of perquisite from the farmer.
7. Security of Farming
Sher Shah took special care of the security of farming. Abbas Khan writes that the army had special orders not to harm the fields. If any soldier harmed the fields, Sher Shah punished the guilty soldier severely and the farmer was compensated.
8. Social Security measures during disaster
Sher Shah also worked for the protection of farmers. He used to collect 2.5% additional tax from the farmers on the total revenue. It was taken in the form of grain only and this grain was kept safe in godowns so that farmers could be helped during natural calamities.
Shortcoming
But this system also had many defects-the process of average production was defective and the tax burden on the middle and low lands was high. Apart from land revenue, the tax burden on the farmer had increased due to the imposition of Jaribana, 'Mahasilana' etc. Due to the annual settlement, the farmers were inconvenienced. Due to the difference in the prices of grains in different mandis, the farmer used to suffer losses. Even after taking all precautions, Sher Shah could not eliminate corruption from the revenue department. The jagirdari system was still in vogue, so the farmers of jagir areas did not get the benefit of revenue reform.
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