From Diwani to Colonial Land Revenue
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The East India Company acquired the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1765 after the Battle of Buxar and the Treaty of Allahabad.
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Diwani rights gave the Company control over the collection of land revenue and civil administration.
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Land revenue became the central fiscal foundation of Company rule because agriculture formed the economic base of rural India.
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The principal colonial objective was to extract the maximum possible revenue from land, with limited concern for the productive capacity or welfare of cultivators.
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The British progressively experimented with different arrangements involving:
- intermediaries such as zamindars;
- direct settlement with cultivators;
- village or mahal communities;
- hereditary revenue collectors and taluqdars.
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These arrangements differed in the unit of settlement and the person responsible for paying revenue, but their common fiscal orientation placed heavy pressure on agriculture.