Given below are some statements. Read them carefully and choose the correct statement (s) from the given options.

Statement 1:  In introducing the Permanent Settlement, British officials hoped to resolve the problems they had been facing since the conquest of Bengal.

Statement 2:  Permanent Settlement was introduced in Bengal in 1773.

Only Statement 1 is correct.

In introducing the Permanent Settlement in 1793, 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.