Who introduced the permanent settlement in Bengal ?
Lord Cornwallis
Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement — option 2.
What it was. Introduced in 1793 in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, with John Shore as its principal architect, the settlement recognised the zamindars as proprietors of the land and fixed the revenue they owed the Company in perpetuity. Ten-elevenths of the collection went to the state and one-eleventh was retained by the zamindar.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Year and place | 1793; Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, later Banaras and northern Madras |
| Revenue | Fixed for ever, and not to be raised however much the land yielded |
| Sunset clause | If the revenue was not paid by sunset on the appointed day, the estate was sold at auction |
| Effect on the peasant | The cultivator became a tenant at the zamindar’s will, with no security of tenure |
Why it was done. The Company wanted a predictable income that did not depend on the harvest, and it hoped that proprietors with a permanent stake would invest in improving their land, as English landlords were believed to do. The first aim was achieved; the second was not. Because the demand was fixed and heavy, and because the sunset clause was enforced ruthlessly, many old zamindar families were ruined in the first decades and their estates passed to Calcutta merchants and speculators, who rented them out through a chain of intermediaries rather than improving them.
The other systems, for contrast.
| System | Where | Settled with | Associated with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent Settlement | Bengal, Bihar, Orissa | Zamindar | Cornwallis, 1793 |
| Ryotwari | Madras, Bombay | Individual cultivator | Thomas Munro, Read |
| Mahalwari | North-Western Provinces, Punjab | Village or mahal | Holt Mackenzie, 1822 — which is why he appears as option 1 |
Warren Hastings, option 3, had earlier tried the farming system of five-yearly and then annual auctions of revenue collection — a failure that helped make the case for a permanent arrangement.
Hence, the answer is Lord Cornwallis.
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