Read the passage and answer the questions:
The Permanent Settlement had come into operation in 1793. The East India Company had fixed the revenue that each zamindar had to pay. The estates of those who failed to pay were to be auctioned to recover the revenue. The contract was made with the zamindars of Bengal, in order to securing rights of property and permanently fixing the rates of revenue demand. Company intended to look forward to a regular flow of revenue, while entrepreneurs could feel sure of earning a profit from their investment. Officials hoped, it would lead to the emergence of a class of yeomen farmers and rich landowners who would have the capital and enterprise to improve agriculture. Nurtured by the British, this class would also be loyal to the Company. Contract was made through the auction and the estates were sold to the highest bidder. Charles Cornwallis was the Governor General of Bengal when the settlement was introduced.
Permanent Settlement was a settlement through which __________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Revenue demand of the British East India Company was permanently fixed.
Option (1) Revenue was directly settled with the ryots. — Incorrect. Settling the revenue directly with the ryot was the ryotwari system, introduced later in the Bombay Deccan. Under the Permanent Settlement the revenue was settled with the zamindars.
Option (2) Zamindars were fixed. — Incorrect. The settlement did not fix who the zamindars would be. The estate of a zamindar who failed to pay was auctioned to recover the revenue and went to the highest bidder.
Option (3) Zamindari were fixed. — Incorrect. The zamindaris did not stay with the same holders either: over 75 per cent of the zamindaris changed hands after the Permanent Settlement.
Option (4) Revenue demand of the British East India Company was permanently fixed. — Correct. The rajas and taluqdars of Bengal, now classified as zamindars, had to pay a revenue demand that was fixed in perpetuity.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.2 The problem of unpaid revenue … The problem, however, lay in identifying individuals who could both improve agriculture and contract to pay the fixed revenue to the state. After a prolonged debate amongst Company officials, the Permanent Settlement was made with the rajas and taluqdars of Bengal. They were now classified as zamindars, and they had to pay the revenue demand that was fixed in perpetuity. In terms of this definition, the zamindar was not a landowner in the village, but a revenue Collector of the state.… 1.2 The problem of unpaid revenue … The estates of the Burdwan raj were not the only ones sold during the closing years of the eighteenth century. Over 75 per cent of the zamindaris changed hands after the Permanent Settlement.… 3.2 A new revenue system … Unlike the Bengal system, the revenue was directly settled with the ryot. The average income from different types of soil was estimated, the revenue-paying capacity of the ryot was assessed and a proportion of it fixed as the share of the state.…” |