The Ryotwari experiment in land revenue was started by
- A.Henry Dundas
- B.Alexander Reed
- C.David Ricardo
- D.Mountstuart Elphinstone
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Alexander Reed. Captain Alexander Read (the name is also spelt Reed) began the Ryotwari experiment in 1792 in the Baramahal region, which the Company had taken from Tipu Sultan, with Thomas Munro as one of his assistants.
Under the Ryotwari system the government settled the land revenue directly with each cultivator, the ryot, who was recognised as the holder of the land, with no zamindar in between. The demand was fixed for a period and then revised, and it was often very heavy. Munro, who later became Governor of Madras, extended the system across the Madras Presidency from 1820, and it was also adopted in the Bombay Presidency.
A is wrong: Henry Dundas was a British politician who headed the Board of Control that oversaw the Company in London. C is wrong: David Ricardo was an English economist whose theory of rent influenced later revenue thinking, but he never ran a settlement in India. D is wrong: Mountstuart Elphinstone, as Governor of Bombay, helped extend Ryotwari there, but he did not start the experiment.
Exam tip: Permanent Settlement 1793 = Cornwallis; Ryotwari = Read and Munro (Baramahal 1792); Mahalwari = Holt Mackenzie.
Practice Questions
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