What term was used for 'Revenue Collector' in the land revenue system of the Mughal Empire?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Amil-Guzar
Option (1) Diwan — Incorrect. The office (daftar) of the diwan was responsible for supervising the fiscal system of the whole empire. The diwan headed the revenue administration; he was not the official who collected the revenue from the cultivators.
Option (2) Jama — Incorrect. Jama was not an official at all. It was the amount of revenue assessed, as opposed to hasil, the amount collected.
Option (3) Amil-Guzar — Correct. The amil-guzar was the revenue collector. In his list of the amil-guzar’s duties, Akbar decreed that he should strive to make cultivators pay in cash, while the option of payment in kind was also to be kept open.
Option (4) Amin — Incorrect. The amin was an official responsible for ensuring that imperial regulations were carried out in the provinces, not the collector of revenue.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| – | 23-05 S1* | – | 14-06 S1 | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2026-27): “6. Land Revenue System … Revenue from the land was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire. It was therefore vital for the state to create an administrative apparatus to ensure control over agricultural production, and to fix and collect revenue from across the length and breadth of the rapidly expanding empire. This apparatus included the office (daftar) of the diwan who was responsible for supervising the fiscal system of the empire. Thus revenue officials and record keepers penetrated the agricultural domain and became a decisive agent in shaping agrarian relations.… 6. Land Revenue System … The Mughal state tried to first acquire specific information about the extent of the agricultural lands in the empire and what these lands produced before fixing the burden of taxes on people. The land revenue arrangements consisted of two stages – first, assessment and then actual collection. The jama was the amount assessed, as opposed to hasil, the amount collected. In his list of duties of the amil-guzar or revenue collector, Akbar decreed that while he should strive to make cultivators pay in cash, the option of payment in kind was also to be kept open.… Amin was an official responsible for ensuring that imperial regulations were carried out in the provinces.” |