MAHALWARI SYSTEM// BRITISH SYSTEM OF REVENUE COLLECTION IN INDIA// HISTORY TUTORIAL// Class 8

INTRODUCTION TO THE MAHALWARI SYSTEM: This system of revenue collection was introduced in India by Holt Mackenzie, a British official in India, in 1822. This system covered the states of Punjab, Awadh and Agra, parts of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. For this new system of revenue collection, the land was inspected and measured to estimate the revenue of each plot. The settlement for revenue collection was made between two parties. One party was the British government while the other party was the landlord who also claimed to be the head of all the families in the village. At that time the entire village community or groups of villages were known as mahal. FEATURES OF THE MAHALWARI SYSTEM: So, under the Mahalwari System, the revenue settlement was made with the entire village or mahal. The head of the village collected the revenue and gave it to the British officials. The entire land of the village was measured at the time of fixing the revenue. The revenue was not permanent. It could be revised after every 20 to 30 years. The Mahalwari System was different from the Permanent Settlement in the sense that , in this system, the British government did not have the risk of facing any loss. In the Permanent Settlement System, the British could not increase the land revenue, but in the Mahalwari System, the government could revise the same. For the British government, this system was an improvement over the Permanent Settlement. CONCLUSION: The Mahalwari System got rid of the middlemen between the British government and the village community. It brought about improvement in the irrigation system in the land. However, the benefits of the Mahalwari System were basically enjoyed by the British government in India. All the systems of Revenue Collections adopted by the British affected the poor peasants in India. They were basically excluded from any control over their land. This led to grievances amongst the people of the rural society. The link to my video on the Ijardari System:    • Ijardari System// Bid System// Revenue Col...   The link to my video on the Permanent Settlement System    • Permanent Settlement of Bengal// Zamindari...   The link to my video on the Ryotwari System:    • Ryotwari System// British System of Revenu...