ABSTRACT
Government accepted the proposals of the Board and recommended to the Government of India that the Capitalist Rules of 1879 and the Sagar Island Rules of 1897 should be suspended, and that the necessary grant for reclamation should be made. The history of the development of the rules in each area is separately recounted. The history of Sundarbans development does not furnish an example of continuity of purpose in abolishing defective systems. The adoption of the Raiyatwari system was far more than a decision to deal directly with the cultivator instead of through middlemen or chains of middlemen. The elements of such a system were contained in the Small Capitalist Rules of 1879. In accordance with the orders of Government a notification was issued in November 1904 suspending the operation of the Capitalist Rules of 1879 and the Sagar Island Rules of 1897, and the work of drafting rules for the revised system commenced.
