ABSTRACT
The Permanent Settlement has so far overshadowed the other reforms of Lord Cornwallis that it is seldom realized that the Cornwallis Code formed the foundation of all subsequent British administration in Bengal, and that the Permanent Settlement formed but a small portion of those reforms. The historian, has seldom attempted to analyse the actual effects of the Permanent Settlement; the ultimate effects are stated to be: firstly, the creation of a body of landlords whose interests are materially bound up with the welfare of the land; and, secondly, an increase in the actual prosperity of Bengal. The views of the independent talukdars on the Permanent Settlement cannot be judged from the evidence to hand. In 1797, in the whole of the permanently settled area, estates with a revenue of Rs. 29,00,000, or 11%, of the total revenue, were ordered for sale, and of these more than half were actually sold.
