The Summary Settlement undermined the position and authority of the Taluqdars. Find out the other information from the below-given options, which support undermining the position and authority of the Taluqdars under the summary settlement.
A. Taluqdars were not having any permanent stakes in land
B. British wanted to remove Taluqdars whenever possible
C. British wanted to settle the land with actual landowners
D. Revenue was fixed by the British
E. The Summary Settlement later helped Taluqdars
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A, B and C only
A. Taluqdars were not having any permanent stakes in land Correct. The Summary Settlement of 1856 was based on the assumption that the taluqdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land, who had won their hold over land through force and fraud.
B. British wanted to remove Taluqdars whenever possible Correct. The settlement proceeded to remove the taluqdars wherever possible. Their share of the villages of Awadh fell from 67 per cent before British rule to 38 per cent.
C. British wanted to settle the land with actual landowners Correct. British revenue officers believed that by removing the taluqdars they could settle the land with the actual owners of the soil, reduce the exploitation of peasants and increase the state’s revenue.
D. Revenue was fixed by the British Incorrect. This is not what undermined the taluqdars. They lost their position because they were removed from the land; the revenue the British fixed was a burden on the peasants, and large areas of Awadh were in fact heavily overassessed.
E. The Summary Settlement later helped Taluqdars Incorrect. The settlement hit the taluqdars hard: those of southern Awadh lost more than half of their villages, and neither taluqdars nor peasants had any reason to be happy with it.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.3 Firangi raj and the end of a world … The British land revenue policy further undermined the position and authority of the taluqdars. After annexation, the first British revenue settlement, known as the Summary Settlement of 1856, was based on the assumption that the taluqdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land: they had established their hold over land through force and fraud. The Summary Settlement proceeded to remove the taluqdars wherever possible. Figures show that in pre-British times, taluqdars had held 67 per cent of the total number of villages in Awadh; by the Summary Settlement this number had come down to 38 per cent. The taluqdars of southern Awadh were the hardest hit and some lost more than half of the total number of villages they had previously held. British land revenue officers believed that by removing taluqdars they would be able to settle the land with the actual owners of the soil and thus reduce the level of exploitation of peasants while increasing revenue returns for the state. But this did not happen in practice: revenue flows for the state increased but the burden of demand on the peasants did not decline.…” |