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.
Which of the following was NOT the intention of the British East India Company for the Permanent Settlement?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → To fix the Company’s property rights.
Option (1) To fix the Company’s property rights. — Incorrect statement. The rights of property that the settlement set out to secure were those of the zamindars who held the estates, not the Company’s own. What the Company wanted was a fixed and regular revenue.
Option (2) To ensure regular flow of revenue. — Correct statement. With the revenue demand permanently fixed, the Company could look forward to a regular flow of revenue.
Option (3) To secure loyalty of the rich Indian people. — Correct statement. Officials hoped that the new class of rich landowners, nurtured by the British, would also be loyal to the Company.
Option (4) To benefit landowners capital and enterprise and to improve agriculture. — Correct statement. Officials hoped for a class of yeomen farmers and rich landowners who would have the capital and enterprise to improve agriculture.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.2 The problem of unpaid revenue … In introducing the Permanent Settlement, British officials hoped to resolve the problems they had been facing since the conquest of Bengal. By the 1770s, the rural economy in Bengal was in crisis, with recurrent famines and declining agricultural output. Officials felt that agriculture, trade and the revenue resources of the state could all be developed by encouraging investment in agriculture. This could be done by securing rights of property and permanently fixing the rates of revenue demand. If the revenue demand of the state was permanently fixed, then the Company could look forward to a regular flow of revenue, while entrepreneurs could feel sure of earning a profit from their investment, since the state would not siphon it off by increasing its claim. The process, officials hoped, 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. 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.…” |