Ryotwari System

The Ryotwari system, often known as the Munro System, was a land revenue method in British India. It permitted the government to directly connect with individual farmers or ‘ryots’ for revenue collection. This system, introduced by Thomas Munro, provided freedom to peasants to acquire or relinquish land for cultivation. However, it led to a significant tax burden and consequently, severe impoverishment of the farming community. In this article, you will know about meaning and definition of Ryotwari system, it’s history and impact in Madras and Bombay. To explore more interesting UPSC Modern Indian History topics of GS Paper – 1 like What is Ryotwari system of NCERT Class 8, check out other articles and IAS Notes of IASToppers.   

Table of Content

• What is Ryotwari system?
• History of Ryotwari System
  • Adoption of Ryotwari in Madras
  • Ryotwari System after 1820
  • Reforms in Ryotwari System
• Effects of the Ryotwari System in Madras
• The Ryotwari Settlement in Bombay
• Effects of Ryotwari System in Madras and Bombay
• Conclusion
• FAQs on Ryotwari system

What is Ryotwari system?

• The ryotwari system, also known as Munro System, was a land revenue system in British India introduced by Thomas Munro.
• The ryotwari system allowed the government to deal directly with the cultivator (‘ryot’) for revenue collection and gave the peasant freedom to cede or acquire new land for cultivation.
• The Ryotwari model functioned by imposing land revenue directly on ryots (individual cultivators who actually worked the land).
• The Ryotwari system was practiced for roughly half a decade and showed similarities with the revenue model followed by the Mughals.
• It was employed in certain regions of India, marking one of the three key methods used for agricultural land revenue collection.

History of Ryotwari System

• Lord Cornwallis’ initial attempt to implement the Permanent Settlement system in Bengal was expected to establish across all British territories. However, the British officials soon noticed certain drawbacks.
• During this time, they were also exploring alternative methods to levy and collect land tax of this system.
•  In 1792, Thomas Munro and Alexander Read were assigned to manage a newly won region of Madras. Both openly opposed any middlemen or intermediaries between the farmers and the government.
• They advocated for a direct interaction between the farmer (or “raiyat”) and the state for settling land-related revenue.
• The main belief in the administrative divisions of the East India Company during that period was the Utilitarian doctrine, which recommended maximizing the amount of ‘net produce’ to be collected as revenue.
• It was possible to determine the ‘net produce’ if the farmer’s production expenses were clear. Revenue officers could determine the net produce by subtracting the production cost from the total produce.
• However, this required a large revenue administration system extending to the village level to engage with every farmer individually.

Adoption of Ryotwari in Madras

• By 1820, after testing various other land revenue models, the Madras authorities implemented the ryotwari system.
  • Munro’s appointment as the governor general of Madras signalled this shift.
• Thus, ryotwari system was first introduced in Madras.
• Munro strongly supported this system, stating that it was indigenous to India and was ideally suited for Indian conditions.
• The main incentive for its adoption was its potential to generate higher revenue than any other system, given there were no intermediaries like zamindars sharing the agricultural surplus.
• Moreover, it allowed for the periodically revision of land-revenue demand after 20-30 years.
• The Madras government was short for funds and thus found this system particularly appealing.
• Taking advantage of the removal of the Permanent Settlement, the temporary ryotwari system was implemented.

Ryotwari System after 1820

• After 1820, ryotwari was extended to most of the Madras Presidency, though its implementation was different from what Munro originally envisioned.
• Munro’s idea of ryotwari revolved around field assessments, giving farmers the freedom to cultivate or give up any particular field. Such a system relied on the government performing an in-depth survey of each field.
• However, after 1820, the system changed. Some of the key features of Ryotwari System after 1820 were as follows:
  • It was implemented in many districts that had never undergone such surveys.
  • Precise land area cultivated by a peasant, or its yield, was unclear.
  • Taxation was often determined randomly, typically based on prior years’ payments. This was referred to as the ‘putcut’ assessment.

Reforms in Ryotwari System

• Technically, the ryotwari system allowed farmers to give up any field. However, this led to a decrease in tax revenue, compelling government officials to force farmers to retain (and pay for) lands they didn’t wish to cultivate.
• Since cultivation wasn’t voluntary, revenue collection was challenging, often resulting in harsh methods to enforce payment through Madras Torture Commission in 1854.
• This led to the introduction of certain reforms like a scientific survey of the land, lowering the tax burden, and eliminating the use of violent methods for revenue collection.

Effects of the Ryotwari System in Madras

• The Ryotwari System implemented in Madras had a bad impact on the local economy.
• It led to severe poorness of the farming community, who lacked the resources to cultivate new lands.
• Heavy taxation created a negative impact on the land market, causing a significant decline in land values.
• In the first half of the 19^th century, land in most Madras districts was worthless, as becoming a landowner meant the new owner would have to pay the high land revenue.
• After paying it, he would have no income from the land, and thus no one would purchase land from him.

The Ryotwari Settlement in Bombay

• In Bombay, the Ryotwari System began in Gujarat, where the British initially collected land revenue through traditional local officials, namely the Desais and Patel.
• The revenue collected was insufficient, prompting the British to directly tax the peasants from 1815-14.
• The conquest of the Peshwa’s territory in 1818 saw the introduction of the Madras-style Ryotwari system, supervised by Munro’s disciple Elphinstone.
• The system soon revealed the same flaws seen in Madras, especially as Collectors pushed to accelerate revenue generation.
• A land measurement initiative was launched under the guidance of an official named Pringle, he followed English economist Ricardo’s rent theory. The theory’s application was largely irrelevant to Indian circumstances, and Pringle’s calculations, full of mistakes, resulted in high assessments.
• A revised system, devised by Wingate and Goldsmid, replaced Pringle’s. This system avoided aimed to moderate the tax demand to manageable levels. The taxation of each plot was based on its soil and location.
• The change had a positive effect on farming; the cultivation area grew as the new system was introduced.

Effects of Ryotwari System in Madras and Bombay

• The Ryotwari System’s impact is different from the Permanent Settlement’s outcome, where only a handful of large zamindars held significant influence over the peasant.
• In Ryotwari System, in many areas, the actual cultivating peasants were recorded on paper as the occupants or ‘ryots’, and thus giving them legal ownership. 
• However, there was a significant burden of tax, which was so oppressive that numerous peasants wished to renounce their land ownership but were restricted from doing so.
• The system allowed non-cultivating landlords to claim ownership of particular land while the real farming work was done by their tenants, employees, or bonded laborers.
• The unrestricted landholding rule was particularly noticeable in regions like Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu) where some ‘ryots’ controlled thousands of acres.
• Wealth and status disparities among ryots were there due to the absence of a landholding limit.
• However, money-lenders and other non-cultivators were not much interested in acquiring lands because of the heavy taxes. Thus, despite the tax burden, small peasants didn’t fear being dispossessed by money-lenders or landlords.
• A modified ryotwari system, adopted in Bombay post-1836 and Madras after 1858, alleviated the land revenue pressure to some extent and provided land a sellable value.
• The system’s adjustment created an expectation of profit from land ownership as the state wouldn’t consume all the earnings as tax.
• This change prompted money-lenders to confiscate the lands of indebted peasants, leading to their eviction or reduction to tenant status.
• This transformation caused considerable social unrest and led to a significant rural rebellion in the Bombay Deccan in 1875.

Conclusion

Ryotwari system, though it initially seemed to favor peasants by offering them direct land ownership, ultimately led to a substantial burden due to heavy taxation. Over time, it influenced significant changes in landholding patterns, affecting the agrarian economy and social fabric of rural India.

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