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The ryotwari (or ryotwary) tenure related to land revenue imposed on an individual or community owning an estate and occupied a position analogous to that of a landlord. The assessment was known as "zamindari". [11] The land revenue was imposed on individuals who are the actual occupants, and the assessment was known as "ryotwari".
The Ryotwari system is associated with the name of Thomas Munro, who was appointed Governor of Madras in May 1820. [4] Subsequently, the Ryotwari system was extended to the Bombay area. [5] Munro gradually reduced the rate of taxation from one half to one third of the gross produce, even then an excessive tax. [6]
A zamindar [a] in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a zamindari (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; zamindar is the Persian for landowner. During the British Raj, the British began using it as a local synonym for "estate ...
In 1945-46, there were 20,945,456 acres (84,763.25 km 2) of Zamindari estates which yielded a revenue of 97,83,167 Rupees and 58,904,798 acres (238,379.26 km 2) of ryotwari lands which yielded a revenue of Rs. 7,26,65,330.
Once British policy in the mid-19th century changed to one of reform and intervention in custom, the zamindars were vocal in their opposition. The Permanent Settlement had the features that state demand was fixed at 89% of the rent and 11% was to be retained by the zamindar.
The changes, which included the introduction of the ryotwari system and other attempts to maximize revenue, deprived village headmen and other higher-status people of their role as revenue collectors and position as landholders, while also impacting on lower-status cultivators by depleting their crops and leaving them impoverished.
After the collapse of the Mughals, the British East India Company held sway over much of South Asia. [10] The colonial power wanted the revenue system "to be simple in its principle and uniform in its operation," but the zamindari system was so ingrained that even the early British rulers, from the grant of Dewani (1765) to the Permanent Settlement (1793), dared not challenge it fundamentally.
The code contained significant provisions governing, policing and judicial and civil administration. Its best known provision was the Permanent Settlement [1] (or the zamindari system), which established a revenue collection scheme that lasted until the 20th century.