ABSTRACT
Land was classified in a rather artificial manner according to the depth and type of soil and the revenue fixed for the district was then apportioned to the individual fields arithmetically, on the basis of area and class. Throughout Indian history the land revenue has been the biggest single factor in the economic life of the country and the impact of the British or any other government must be largely determined by its revenue policy. This chapter considers the incidence of the revenue and its effect on the people under the Company and the Crown. When the East India Company took over the administration of that province they found no existing machinery for revision of the revenue settlements and no available and accurate information as to what revenue had in fact been collected in the past. The revenue fixed was beyond the capacity of the people to pay; arrears accumulated on a great scale; and many cultivators fled.
