The Sunset Law in British India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sunset Law in British India, also known as Revenue Sale Act of 1793, is an integral part of the laws related to the permanent settlement of Bengal. According to 14th regulation of 1793, the zamindars who would fail to pay the revenue to the East India Company would lose their estate to the company. The company would later sell the estate to another zamindar at a public auction. This Act is also known as Cornwallis Code which turned the lands of the estate into the zamindar's personal property.[1]

Background[]

According to Mughal rule, The land was owned by the state and the raiyats or tenants enjoyed customary rights. The zamindars were merely agents or representatives appointed by the state to collect rent or taxes from the raiyats. The relationship between zamindars as tax collecting agents and raiyats as inheritors of land was replaced by a new relationship.[2] As a result, the zamindars gained absolute ownership of the land and the raiyats became their tenants. In addition to this huge benefit, zamindars got a special benefit of paying taxes to the government at a fixed rate. Increasing the revenue demand on zamindars prescribed by the Permanent Settlement Act was permanently prohibited by the government.[3]

In 1793, the East India Trading Company signed an agreement with landlords, the Zamindars and Talukdars, of Bengal. The agreement made the landlords the owners of all land in Bengal and fixed a revenue amount that was to be paid to the colonial administration by the landlords. The landlords were given the right to charge whatever rent they wanted to the tenant as they had no protection under the agreement.[4] The previous Mughal government made Zamindars the collectors of taxes and the managers of the land but the land was owned by hereditarily by peasants.[5]

The Talukdars served under the Zamindars but these act made them independent landlords. This provision bankrupted many Zamindars as most of their holdings were managed by the Talukdars.[4] The purpose of the revenue generating was to send the surplus to the United Kingdom.[6]

History[]

In 1793, the Revenue Sale Law was passed which altered the Permanent Settlement. The change made it impossible for Zamindar to claim relief from taxes due to natural disasters such as flooding or drought. It also created a provision that allowed the colonial administration to sell of the property of Zamindars who defaulted on the payment of taxes.[7]

Bengal is a riverine low land territory that experiences seasonal floods and draughts. Bengal had an economy dependent on agriculture which was heavily dependent on the weather. It was not uncommon for harvest to fail and Zamindars to be short on their revenue. By 1799, nearly half of all properties of Zamindars had change of ownership.[7] In addition to the property the title of the landlords was also sold in the auctions.[8]

Zamindars who lost their property in auctions sometimes refused hand over the property to new owners and resisted changes. There were legal cases in court over the ownership of these properties. Law and order deteriorated in the Bengal province. The law was amended through Regulation 7 of 1799 which now made auctions of the property of Zamindars who defaulted on texes yearly events not monthly.[7][9] There was tension and conflict between the new landlords, who bought the title in auction, and the peasants, known as Raiyats, who were supported by the dispossessed Zamindars.[10]

Impact of this act[]

The colonial government enacted a strict law against these two privileges: the acquisition of land by landlords at no cost and the determination of permanent government revenue claims. The Act stipulated that zamindars could never make any claim for loss of revenue due to natural calamities like floods, droughts, etc. and the government would ensure arrears of revenue by selling zamindari at public auction. In a seasonal climate-dependent agricultural economy like in Bengal, such a law inevitably creates extreme hardship among landowners, as floods and droughts have destroyed crops and destroyed livestock, leaving the economy temporarily paralyzed. As a result, it would be uncertain for the zamindars to pay the due revenue on time.

The Revenue Sales Act was enacted in 1793, despite strong[11] protests from the zamindars]. Within seven years of the enactment of the law, almost half of the zamindars lost their ownership of the lands. The zamindars of large areas were particularly affected by this law. Within a decade of the law coming into force, the zamindars of Rajshahi, Nadia, , Dinajpur, Rajnagar, Laskarpur and the greater Burdwan region were divided and their lands passed into the hands of new landlords. Medium and small zamindars were always approached for fear that the Revenue Sale Act could destroy them in any month of the year. In this law, the rule of paying tax in twelve installments or points, i.e. monthly, was prevalent. There was a provision to sell the zamindari at public auction at the end of the month if any installment failed to be paid on time. The provision of sale of land to the zamindars who failed to pay taxes was so strictly and ruthlessly enforced that it was as irresistible and inevitable as the sunset and the sun of many great zamindar dynasties would fall and the sun would set. And that is why people call this law The Sunset Law.[12]

In 1799, the government was forced to amend the Revenue Sales Act due to social unrest and conflict, deteriorating law and order situation, and, above all, uncertainty in the collection of government revenue. Under Regulation 7 of 1799, the process of selling the land of those who failed to pay tax at the end of the month was abolished and a new system of sale at auction was introduced at the end of the year.

Legacy[]

By the mid 19th century the population of Bengal had increased and along with that revenue had also increased. There was no increase in revenue to be collected from the Zamindars per the Permanent Settlement agreement and as a result the auctioning of properties of Zamindars who had defaulted on payment to the colonial administration declined.[13][14]

References[]

  1. ^ Islam, Sirajul. "Revenue Sale Law, 1793". Banglapedia.
  2. ^ ebookbou.edu.bd/Books/Text/OS/SSC/ssc_2603/Unit-10.pdf
  3. ^ https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/ncert-notes-permanent-settlement-of-bengal/
  4. ^ a b Islam, Sirajul. "Permanent Settlement, The". en.banglapedia.org. Banglapedia. Retrieved 2021-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Islam, Sirajul. "Revenue Sale Law, 1793". en.banglapedia.org. Banglapedia. Retrieved 2021-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Nur Alam, Md. "Agrarian Relations in Bengal: Ancient to British Period" (PDF). Bangladesh Economic Association.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ a b c Islam, Sirajul. "Revenue Sale Law, 1793". en.banglapedia.org. Banglapedia. Retrieved 2021-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Woodman, Joseph Vere (1888). Digest of Indian Law Cases: High Court Reports, 1862-86, and Privy Council Reports of Appeals from India, 1836-1886.
  9. ^ Resettlement (India) (1858), Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Select Committee on Colonization and (1858). Fourth Report from the Select Committee on Colonization and Settlement (India); Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence and Appendix: Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be Printed, 23 July 1858. p. 247.
  10. ^ Field, Charles Dickenson (1885). Landholding, and the Relation of Landlord and Tenant: In Various Countries. Thacker, Spink and Company. pp. 669–670.
  11. ^ Das, Binod Sankar (1984). Changing Profile of the Frontier Bengal, 1751-1833. Mittal Publications. p. 48.
  12. ^ en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Revenue_Sale_Law,_1793
  13. ^ "Permanent Settlement, The - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  14. ^ "Revenue Sale Law, 1793 - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
Retrieved from ""