Vol. 6 · pages 31–35

16 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES neighbouring village, while certain portions and certain rights are possessed by the different craftsmen or artisans of the village, such as the schoolmaster, the washerman, the barber, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the watchman, the village accountant, etc. who have each a right to a certain portion set aside for certain recognized expenses of the village, and for defraying its hospitality towards strangers [1. cf. 1830, L. 398, 399, 405, 406, 529.] These village communities are little republics, having nearly everything that they want within themselves, and almost independent of any foreign relations. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down : revolution succeads revolution. Hindoo, Pathan, Mogul, Maratha, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn, but the village communities remain the same. In times of trouble they arm and fortify themselves; [2. cf. 1832 Commons’ Rev. Committee, p. 29.] It is difficult to state the proportion of the produce of the village paid to the Government: the authorities know little of the precise property of any of the proprietors; it is not the interest or the wish of the village that the Government should scrutinize and know their possessions, therefore if any one of the brotherhood fails to pay his proportion, that is a matter for the villagers at large to settle, and they will often come forward to pay it for him, but these are all private arrangements kept to themselves : and the Moceadim has no power from the Government to enforce this assessment, what each man in the village has to pay is an internal arrangement, which it is desirable for the Government not to interfere in, the villagers settling among themselves what each has to pay, the total assessment being calculated after enquiry into the state of prosperity in the village : what it has hitherto paid : what it is capable of paying : the state of the village lands, and what assessment they ought to bear with reference to the produce. [3. cf. 1830 L. 401, 402, 404, 528, 583, 584.] Surveys of considerable expense have been made by the Government : a minute account taken of the state of the land in each village, the fields examined in the presence of surveying officers with all the assistance they can procure, not only from their own servants, but from the village communities, the people themselves interested, and also the ryots and people of the

17ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY neighbouring villages who are invited to attend. The exact limits of the village are put down, and even the details of land within the village, the productions, the houses, fruit-bearing trees, and son on : the assessment is grounded upon these particulars [1. cf. 1831 C. 3492.] III. The Ryotwar System The peculiar principle of the third sort of assessment termed Ryotwar is to fix a maximum of assessment upon all the lands of the country [2. cf. 1831 C. 45, 65.] The money rent of each individual oultivator for the fields in his occupation is defined with as much permanency as possible, the aggregate of such rents making the total assessment, which varies each year with the increase or decrease of cultivation. Another main principle of the Ryotwar system is to protect the rights of all ryots or cultivators, as they now exist in every village, from infringement: and to prevent all encroachment upon those rights [3 cf. 1831. C. 5156 :] Thus, in the Ryotwar system, the details of the interest of the respective Ryots are known completely, and not at all in the zemindary system; and the former effectually does what the latter proposes to do, but never has done, and never can do, that is, fix an assessment upon all lands in the country. Under the Ryotwar system, the assessment goes from land to the aggregate : it respects property of every class, that of the largest landholder, and that of the smallest: it measures and assess every portion of an estate, and thus facilitates the transfer of landed property, as the first question when taken into market is—What is the amount of public demand upon the land ? [4 cf. 1831 C. 4565, 4567, 4568.] The Ryotwar Settlement is applicable in every state of things : where there are proprietors it may be concluded with farmers or cultivators : it may be equally made for the largest or for the smallest quantity of land, for millions of acres or for only a few. The owner of a single field may make his terms directly with the Government, and turn to his cultivation, knowing that he cannot be called on to pay more than a certain sum : for although the assessment under this system varies according to the value of the land, difference of soil, population, situation, and other localities : and although inferior land, paying a lower assessment, becomes

18 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES liable when sufficiently improved to pay the higher assessment, there is nevertheless, a maximum for the best land beyond which all produce is for the benefit of the landholder, and there are remissions in cases of urgent distress. [1. cf. 1832 C.R. P. No. 20.] Another advantage which the Ryotwar system possesses over the Zemindary is in the creation of a great body of independent proprietors, instead of a few who are proprietors only in name : and there is an advantage for the great mass of the people, but in the case of the Zamindary they accumulate for the benefit of the few, while in the Ryotwar system there is also tendency in a considerable degree to the accumulation of capital. [2. cf. 1831 C. 4577, 4578, 4579.] Such was and is the system of land revenue in India under the regime of the East India Company. A critical estimation of the system we will reserve for the future. The next important head of revenue is the Opium revenue. The opium revenue yielded next in amount to the land revenue and was levied in two different ways : (1) “ By an exclusive system of cultivation and sale carried on by the Government in Bengal.” (2) “ By a high export duty levied in Bombay on opium grown in the native states of Malwa and shipped from Bombay.” By Regulation VI of 1799 section 3, poppy cultivation was prohibited in Bengal, and in the North-West Provinces by Regulation XLI of 1803 Section 2. “Annual engagements are entered into by the Government with the Ryots in certain selected districts, to sow a certain quantity of land with the white poppy, under a system of pecuniary advances, the produce to be delivered in the form of opium to the Government at a fixed rate........The total net receipts from the opium monopoly in Bengal amounted in 1856 to 2,767,136.” The revenue derived from transit of opium has a pretty little history : prior to 1831 the British used to buy the opium from the native states (to keep a strict monopoly of the article) through the Resident and hammer it out at Bombay or at Calcutta. But to prevent the large smuggling into the Portuguese Settlements the

19ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY monopoly policy was given up in favour of the transit duties recovered by way of “passes” at a specified rate to cover the transportation cost to Bombay. The transit duty was at first fixed at Rs. 175 per chest of 140 lbs. each. This process showed a diminution in the returns, consequently the rate was reduced to Rs. 125 per chest. The conquest of Sindh closed the additional gate of smuggling the opium into the Portuguese territories : consequently it was hoped and rightly that a higher transit duty would give added return as the change in the direction of the trade was impossible. So in 1843 October, the rate was increased to Rs. 200 per chest, in 1845 to Rs. 300 per chest and in 1847 to Rs. 400 per chest. III. The Salt Tax Salt is obtained in India in different ways and is taxed in different ways in different parts of the country. It is obtained either by boiling sea water as in Bengal, or by solar evaporation as in Bombay and Madras or from natural resources such as the salt mines in Punjab and the salt lakes in Rajputana. In Bengal the Company had a salt monopoly. It was manufactured by the natives who contracted to deliver ail manufactured salt to the Government at a fixed low price. The Government then sold this quantity of salt at six different agencies, Hidgelee, Tumlook, Chittagong, Hiracan, Cuttack, Balasore and Khoredah, at a price which was composed of the actual cost plus the additional amount equivalent to the duty levied on imported salt. As a result of this “the average retail price to the consumer” amounted to about a penny per pound. The private manufacture of salt was also allowed at Calcutta under a system of excise only equal in amount to the import duty. But on the recommendation of the select committee of the House of Commons in 1836, there was introduced the system of fixed prices, and open warehouses, at which the sales, instead of being as before periodical “were constantly going on.” In Madras, salt was manufactured on behalf of the Government and was sold for internal consumption. The duty on imported foreign salt was lowered from Rs. 3 per pound to equal the difference between the cost price and the sale price of the article.

20 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES In Bombay the salt manufacture was handed over to the individuals under the system of an excise duty equivalent to the import duty on the article. The salt mines of Punjab were worked by the Government and the salt was sold on the spot. The North-West Provinces depended upon the Lower Provinces of Bengal, the Sambhur Salt lake in Rajputana and parts of western India for their supply of salt. The duties were so arranged that the salt from all parts when it reached the North-West Provinces tended to be equal in price. IV. Customs There were innumerable transit or inland duties levied at every town and on every road in the shape of tolls. But they were abolished in Bengal by Act 14 of 1836 : in Bombay by Act 1 of 1838 : and in Madras by Act 6, of 1844 : and uniform system of customs was established all through British India. The evil effects of these inland transit duties will be discussed later on. There remained two sources of customs revenue : (1) The sea customs on exports and imports, the former on salt and indigo. (2) The land customs levied mainly on articles crossing the frontier lines between the native and British territories. V. Besides the salt and opium monopolies the East India Company had the tobacco monopolies as another source of revenue. VI. Abkarree or revenue obtained from the sale of monopolies to sell spirits and liquors. Licences were sold to the highest bidder who contracted to sell at his own price, the hours of business and the location of the shop being regulated by the Government. VII. The Wheel-tax was levied upon hackneys, carts, buggys, etc. VIII. The “Sayer duties” was a collective name for unclassified taxes. In different parts of the country it included different taxes. Once it included the irregular collections made by native revenue officers. In Madras it included the transit duties, in Bengal the pilgrim tax was included under this head. In the Deccan “this source of revenue” was “divided into two great heads the first denominated mohturfa, which embraces taxes on shops, trades,