ON SOME REVENUE MATTERS CniKFLY IN THE PROVINCE OF OUDH. BY LIEUT.-COL. I. F. MACANDREW, OFFICIATING COMMISSIONER OF SITAPUR. CALCUTTA: BoiMi5AY : TIIACKKK, VINING & CO. Lo.ndox : W. THACKEU & CO. 1876. CAL<;UTTA : PRINTF.D BY THACKER, SPINK it CO. * ^ • St-jck Annsx 5013233 PREFACE. In presenting tliis little book to the Revenue Officers of Northern India — for it is to them it is addressed rather than to the general public — I wish to say that my object is two-fold : first, to point out a real difference, not generally acknowledged, between the settlement of Oudh and that of the North- Western Provinces ; secondly, to place on record some experience relative to the assessment and collection of the land revenue, which I hope may be of use to those who may be charged with this very important duty in the future. In endeavouring to carry out the first of these objects I have said nothing of the system of the North-Western Provinces, as it is clearly laid down in the Directions to Revenue Officers, with which I presume the reader to be acquainted ; and I have confined myself to an account of that which in Oudh appears to me to differ, or in the nature of things should differ, from the system in the adjoin- ing larger Government. Matters, therefore, which are not touched upon I consider either are or may be the same in both. The remarks on assessment and collection are tinged, of course, with the peculiarities of the Oudh VI PREFACK. revenue system, and I have endeavoured to show where tliat system entails modifications unnecessary in the Nortli-Western Provinces ; but the general drift of" my remarks in the chapters referring to these subjects may, I hope, be honoured with some attention beyond the province of Oudh. They are intended for a wider application. I have to acknowledge the assistance I. have received in the collection of the information to be found in these chapters, and especially in that on rent, from the following gentlemen : Lieut.-Col. Clark, Settlement Offi^cer, Kheri. Capt. De Montmorency, some time Deputy Commis- sioner of KJieri. Mr. H. S. Boys, C.S., some time Superintendent, Encumbered Estates. Mr. J. Hooper, C.S., some time Assistant Commis- sioner of Siiapur. Mr, J. C. Williams, C.S., some time Assistant Settlement Officer of Kheri. I. F. MACANDRE W. r-^jK' TABLE OF CONTENTS. Introduction Chapter I.— Tenures • Section 1. Proprietary 2. Under-proprietary 3. Perpetual Lease 4. Farming Lease 5. Occupancy . 6. Service Chapter II.— Mutations „ III.— Surface, Climate, and Soils „ IV.— Crops . • „ v.— Rent Section 1. Money Rents Corn Rents 3. Mixed Rents Chapter VI.— Patwaris and their Papers „ VII. — Boundaries „ VIII.— Survey. • . . . „ IX. — Assessment ,,» X. — Collection APPENDIX (Forms 1 to 5) . Page. 7 15 15 24 40 41 42 45 47 51 57 60 60 68 78 . 91 . 9.S . 95 . 121 131—135 r*. '' ,s INTRODUCTION. The right to the land revenue in Oudh rests on the same basis of the common law of India as it does all over the country. This fundamental principle is affirmed in the preamble to Kegulation XXXI of 1803. Nevertheless, in the settlement of the land revenue in Oudh, the Govern- ment has departed from the principles which governed that work in the North- Western Provinces, and the devia- tion in practice has been perhaps still more marked. In Oudh there are to be found tenures of land and customs of rent which, if not peculiar to the province, have no- where been described by Government authority for the guidance of officers concerned, but which have been recog- nized by the courts in their decisions, and by the revenue officers in their assessment of the land. The Directions to Revenue Officers is still the text-book for the examina- tion of young officers in the province, though its principles have been so altered by numerous judicial decisions and by the circulars issued under the authority of the Foreign Department letter No. 12, dated 4th February 1856, which received the force of law from the Indian Council's Act of 1861, that the first part of it, the Directions to Settle- ment Officers, is virtually obsolete. Moreover, the assess- ment of the land revenue is drawing to a close, and there is now in the province much knowledge and experience regard- 8 INTRODUCTION. iiig t])at operation which will not he availahle when tlie next settlement comes to be made. This knowledge is not always to be found in settlement reports, which, formed perhaps somewhat too exclusively on the old models, deal rather with the relations of the people to the land, which will not have to be determined again, than with the iiscal relations of the people towards the Government which will have to be revised at the end of thirty years. Now the ancient common law of India declares that the State is entitled to a share of the produce of every acre of land in the country, but it nowhere declares the limit of the Government demand ; and immediately pre- vious to our rule, this was a matter of annual bargain between the Government and the people. After two' differ- ent experiences, in Bengal and Madras, came the settlement of the North-Western Provinces, and the Government, wdiile limiting its demand and fixing it for thirty years, at the same time declared that it had the right to engage, if not with whomsoever it pleased, at leas-t with either party when there were two interests on the land, and as the engagement for the revenue carried with it the right to all the profits left after the payment of the Government demand and such charges as might be imposed by the Government on behalf of third parties, we began to have the phrase " right to engage for the revenue " brought into use. But in Oudh, those who were found in possession at annexation were declared to be the proprietors, so far as the Government was concerned, and no one was allowed to arraign their title, unless he could show possession within twelve years before annexation. The much-discussed talukdari settlement was formed on this basis, the difference INTRODUCTION. 9 between men declared to be talukdars and other proprie- tors being this, that no one was allowed to question a talukdar's title on any ground at all. With the proprietors thus authoritatively and judicially declared the engagement for the revenue was made ; and hence, in Oudh, the pay- ment of the land revenue became an obligation contingent on a proprietary right in the soil, and not a privilege carrying proprietary rights with it. This distinction appears to me of vital importance ; for the Government of Oudh does not choose the person who becomes liable for the revenue, and is obliged to recognize and maintain all the rights decreed at the settlement, while in the North-West these were declared so as to suit the fiscal arrangements about to be made. It is therefore but reasonable, that in Oudh the proprietor should strictly abide by the settlement ; and, in addition to the rule " that the " revenue is always claimable from the person in possession " of the land it is assessed upon," the further rule should be enforced that " the whole of a proprietor's estate is " hypothecated for the revenue on each part of it, and he " cannot transfer his obligation to pay the revenue on any " particular part of it without the consent of the Govern- " ment thereto." The necessity for this becomes very clear whep we consider the case of an under-proprietor paying a rent less than the Government revenue on the lands which he holds (a very common case). The superior in this case has generally either acquired a very much larger estate on the condition that he should pay the revenue on the under-proprietary holding, or he has been paid in hard cash or a full equivalent for the right to hold the land at a fixed rent under him, the obligation for the revenue resting on him a,s before. 9 10 INTRODUCTION. It is quite true that the land is liable for the revenue in the last resort; but the tendency of a rule of law is to establish several rights and responsibility in land, and I hold that it is fair and proper, and the logical consequence of our settlement, that we should do all we can to main- tain the tenure as it was at annexation, and in such cases as those put, the proprietary right should be sequestrated or be broken up before the under-proprietary right is made liable under the ultimate common law. This position is, I am afraid, not generally understood even in the province of Oudh ; but the joint and several liability of the proprietor and the under-proprietor bears some analogy to the joint and separate liability of a coparcenary community. It is admitted every- where that, when the lands are distinct and held in severalty, the responsibility of the individual member of the coparcenary community is to be exhausted before the community is made to pay for what is not their fault ; and though the Government has never given up its right to hold the whole community resi^onsible in a pattidari estate, the old Regulations were full of the prin- ciple of several responsibility, and Act I of 1841 was enacted to give it clearness and precision. This Act has been repealed, but its provisions have been re-enacted in the Local Revenue Acts which have been passed to define the revenue law in the several Governments to which it applied. Nay more, in the Oudh Revenue Bill, in one under-proprietary tenure (sub-settlement), where there is a coparcenary community holding under a talukdar, the separate right of the co-sharers is recognized in conceding to them the right to partition, and there seems to be no reason, either logical or fiscal, why the same essential right INTRODUCTION. 11 should not he conceded to the other under-proprietors, tTie name of whom, as compared with sub-settlemeut holders, is legion. This right is, that, having paid their rent if there be any, they should not be held responsible for the revenue for which they did not engage until first all processes of recovery have been exhausted against the proprietor who has engaged to pay it, and who, upon the double condition of paying the revenue and maintaining these under-proprietary rights, has received an indefeasible title to his estate (Schedule I, Act I of 1869). I am aware that it has been held in some quarters that no under-proprietary right should in any case pay less rent to the proprietor than the Government revenue and cesses. But this principle is not a fact, first, because the law embodied in the schedule above quoted declares that the under-proprietors are to be maintained in the rights they formerly enjoyed, and the proprietors have uni- formly refused to increase the under-proprietary holdings, so as to leave the under-proprietors a profit equivalent to that which they are entitled under this law should they be called on to pay rent equal to the Government revenue and cesses. Secondly, because it is the interest of all parties to allow things to remain as they are, — the under-proprietors, because their light rents or no rents protect them from ejectment to a great extent ; the pro- prietor, because it is much easier for him to collect the same rental in lighter rents over a smaller under-pro- prietary area and in full rents from ordinary tenants over a larger area ; than in heavier rents over a larger under- proprietary area ; and in full rents from ordinary tenants over a smaller area ; and the Government, because what- ever makes it easier for the proprietor to recover his rent 12 INTRODUCTION. m'akcs it easier for the Deputy Commissioner to collect the revenue. At the time the earlier instructions for the guidance of Settlement Officers in Oudh were issued, the question of under-proprietary right was not as well under- stood as it is now. It was then a new question, and it presented many forms and aspects which only experience in working it out could discover, and the notorious facts that the courts found themselves in hundreds of cases oblio-ed to depart from the rule which heads this para- graph and decree under-proprietary tenures at a rent less than the Government revenue, and that lands are now so held under their decrees in every district in Oudh ought to be decisive of this question. That the settlement would have been more satisfactory had the claimants to talukdari villages been allowed to sue for them, on the basis of the better right under thQ twelve years law of limitation strictly applied, there is no doubt ; but the soil of Oudh was confiscated by conquest, and for political reasons the estates they held at annexa- tion were conferred upon the talukdars, and it is quite too late to question the policy now. But it is not too late to see that, within Lord Canning's settlement, we do justice to all concerned. Remembering then that the relations of proprietor and under-proprietor are those of persons having a joint and several property in the same land, and that unneces- sarily to enforce the joint responsibility for the default of one is to confiscate to that extent the several right of the other, I shall conclude with the following warning which I saw quoted the other day as the recent utterance of Sir Henry Maine : " Nobody is at liberty to attack " several property, and to say, at the same time, that he INTRODUCTION. 13 " values civilization. The history of the two is insepar- " able. Civilization is nothing more than a name for the " new order of the Aryan world dissolved, but perpetually " reconstituting itself under a vast variety of solvent " influences, of which indefinitely* the most powerful have " been those which have slowly, and in some parts of the " world much less perfectly, substituted several property " for collective ownership." * Sic iu orio^inal. ON SOME REVENUE MATTERS, CHIEFLY IN THE PROVINCE OF OUDH. CHAPTER I. TENURES. Tenures in Oudli may be divided into — 1. Proprietary . . . Hak-dla. 2. Under-propri etary . . . . . . Hah Matdhat. S. Perpetual Leases ... . . . Patta istamrari 4. Farming ditto . . . Mustajii'i. 5. Cultivating tenures Hah hashtkari. 6. Service, ditto . . . Chaharana. Section I.— PROPRIETARY TENURES. Proprietary tenures may be divided either according to the nature of the property, or according to the relation they may bear to the land revenue. According to the first they ar^e either 1. Talukdari. 2. Single zemindari. 3. Coparcenary. According to the second they are either 1. Revenue-free ... ... Jagir and mafi. 2. Malikana 3. Revenue-paying ... ... Malguzari. 4. Quit -rent Peshhash. ig llevenue matters in oudii. [ciiap. i. Talukdaiu Tenure, In the province of Oudh, has a different signification from what it bears in Bengal or in the North- Western Provinces. It is not necessary in Oudh that there should be superior and a dependent tenure to make the estate a taluka. Under a special Act (I of 18C9-), every person whose name was entered in a list, prepared by the Chief Commissioner under that Act, became a talukdar. The advantages gained by being enrolled in this golden book of Oudh were, first, an unquestionable title to his property ; second, the position of residuary proprietor, — that is, the Government revenue being paid and the profits of under- proprietors and other claimants to beneficial interest being fixed, all the rest, including the increased value of the property arising from the security of British rule, belongs • to the talukdar ; third, a special law of succession, gift, and bequest laid down in the Act already mentioned. The conditions upon which the talukdars hold their estates are — IsP. — Loyalty to the British Government. 2nd. — Payment of the Government revenue assessed upon their estates. ovd. — The maintenance of those holding under them in the rights they formerly enjoyed. c Single Zemindaei Tenure. This is the proprietorship of a single person, and is held under the general guarantee and obligations of the law ; lands held by single proprietors who are not talukdars being classed under this head. Their title is not protected by any special legislation, though it has been the custom in Oudh, in estates where there is a superior and inferior CHAP. I.] COPARCENARY TENURES. 17 right, always to look on the superior as the residuary pro- prietor, and therefore to take the engagement for the Government revenue from him. As regards succession, bequest, or gift, these tenures follow the law or custom of the caste, tribe, or religion to which the proprietor may belong. Coparcenary Tenures. These are usually divided into three main classes — 1. Zemindari. 2. Pattidari. 3. Bhayachara. Zemindari is where an estate is held in common, the Government revenue and other liabilities are first paid out of the rents, and the remainder is divided among the coparceners, according to their recorded shares. Some- times the coparcenary is an undivided Hindu family. In such case there is no division, but all get maintenance, and the family extraordinary expenses are paid from the com- mon fund administered by its head. ^ Fattidari is where all the land in an estate is divided, and each pattidar holds his share separately. The individual liabilities of the pattidars are regulated by their respective shares as recorded, not as actually held. It is not the custom in Oudh to re-arrange the liabilities to make them correspond with the holdings, or to redistribute the lands to make Ihem correspond with the shares. Native officers often try to do this in cases of partition, but it is contrary both to the customs of the people and the instructions given for the settlement. The true principle is to main- tain the status existing throughout the term of limitation should it have existed so long. 3 18 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. Imperfect 'pattidari is where some of the lands are held ill severalty and some in common, and the rents of the common lands go first towards the revenue and the other liabilities. Should there be any surplus, it is divided in proportion to the recorded shares ; should there be a deficit, it is made up by a proportional contribution from co-sharers. Bhyachara is where all the land comprising the estate is divided and is held in severalty, the liabilities of the co-sharers being assessed on the holdings. Though generally the assessment is levied on the holdings, it is not always - so done ; for instance, it is sometimes levied on the home- steads, sometimes on the ploughs, and it may be levied in any way agreed upon. Imperfect hhyacJiara is where part of the land is held in severalty in bhyachara tenure, and "part in common. In such tenures there is always a special village custom for determining the liabilities of the common land, and the rights of the co-sharers therein. But it would be a great mistake to suppose that these definitions will explain the constitution of the various coparcenary communities existing in the province, or even of the majority of them. It will more frequently happen that the constitution of the coparcenary may answer to none of these definitions, but rather partake of one or more of them. Not only will it be found that in some cases the component thoks and pattis have internally diflferent con- stitutions, but the direct constitution of a thok or patti may embrace more than one of these principles. It is common for an estate to be undivided except the sir; but it is also common for the sir to bear no relation whatever to the share either in area or value, and also for one CHAP. I.] COPARCENARY TENURES. 19 co-sharer to pay a different rate of rent from another on his sir lands without reference to the quality of the soil. An estate of this kind has been usually classed at settlement as zemindari, though it is manifestly either pattidari or bhyachara so far as the sir lands are concerned. Mortgages with special conditions attached will also be found greatly to alter the former nature of tenures, as, for example, the biswi mortgages of Faizabad and Sultanpur. Infinite varieties of tenure will be found to result from the opera- tion of these and other causes, which may have their origin in the superior influence or industry of the individual coparcener, or in his extravagance, carelessness, pious aliena- tions of his lands, or passion for planting groves. It would be unjust to tie down a property for all time to the strict definition of the Directions under such circumstances, and no Civil Court will do so with evidence of possession and the statute of limitation before it. Hence the great importance of ascertaining the real nature of the coparcenary tenure in an estJite before making any of those arrangements for it which the revenue officer is occasionally called upon to make, such as those incident to partition, to the transfer of a patti, or to can- celment of settlement whether prior to direct management or to farm. It was intended that all this should be made clear in the administration paper, and that this document should promptly explain the constitution of the village. But not only do these things alter and administration papers become obsolete, but there is reason to fear that this paper has not always been prepared with care and impartiality, and that in many cases it is anything but a trustworthy guide. It can only be held to bind those who have signed 20 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. it, and then it should have a presumption in its favor, and the onus of proving it wrong should rest with those who -question it. But in any of the important cases above referred to its provisions should be explained to the coparceners, and they should be asked if it really represents the constitution of the village at that then present time, and the revenue officer should proceed no further until this point has been cleared up. It. cannot be too strongly impressed upon every revenue officer that, before he passes any orders which alter the relations of the coparceners in an estate to Government, their landlord, or each other, he should accurately inform himself concerning those rela- tions, and have . a careful regard to them in any necessary interference. Revenue Free. At the time of the settlement of the province claims to hold land revenue-free were investigated, it being one of the principles laid down in the preamble to Regula- tion XXXI of 1803, that no land can be exempt from its liability to Government revenue unless such exemption has been sanctioned by the Government itself. The Go- vernment of India alone, therefore, has now power to declare land exempt from revenue demand. At the settle- ment, however, the claims were decided on the following principle. If the sanad of the British Government, or the Padshah of Delhi, or the Nawab of Oudh could be shown, the revenue was released in perpetuity. If not, posses- sion for three generations, or twenty years, gave a title to release for the life of the then incumbent. The revenue of lands set apart for religious or charitable endowments was released for so long as the said institutions are kept CHAP. I.] MALIKANA. 21 up. The revenue of lands held free, by way of pension for service done, was released for the life of the person in possession. In special cases, with the sanction of Govern- ment, the revenue of lands might be released for one or more lives. All other revenue-free lands were resumed either at once or at the regular settlement. Revenue-free lands are known as jagir and Tiidji. The jagir is generally a comparatively large estate, the mafi a comparatively small one. The difference between them is this. In mafi the presumption is that the mafidar is the proprietor, and on the resumption of the mafi, any one who asails his title has to prove his right. In jagir the presumption is that the proprietary right does not belong to the jagirdar, and the onus lies on him to prove his right in case of resump- tion. The revenue officer in such case would take enffaare- O O ments from the. actual occupants, unless the jagirdar made out a case to his satisfaction. Jagir is sometimes used to describe rent-free village service tenures. The word is not so used here at all. Such tenures are described under the head of chakarana. Revenue-free lands are all liable for the cesses, and to determine them they were assessed at the settlement. When resumed, the proprietor is entitled to hold them at the revenue assessed upon them at the time of the current settlement for the period it has to run. Maltkana. Malikana is of three kinds: — First, when there is a superior and an inferior right in the same estate, and the Government under Regulation VII of 1822 sets aside the superior and engages direct for the revenue with the inferior, an allowance of not less than ten per cent, on the revenue assessed is made to the superior, and is called malikana. Secondly, when Government cancels a settlement for 22 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I, arrears of rcveauc, preparatory to assuming direct manage- ment or farming it to a stranger, the law provides that the ejected proprietor shall receive a malikana which shall not be less than five per cent, on the revenue assessed. In both the above cases the malikana is the first charge on the rental, and has priority of the revenue itself; the reason being that this dispossession is the act of the Government for its own convenience. Thirdly, in some cases the proprietor of an estate has voluntarily made over the management to another person on condition of receiv- incf a certain fixed sum. as malikana. These tenures have been respected and upheld by our Courts, and decrees have been given for them. This description of malikana, however, is a claim on the rental next after the Govern- ment revenue only, and this because the Government was not a party to the transaction. It is nevertheless a pro- prietary and not an under-proprietary right, for the malik is the superior of the malguzar, and his position is to receive malikana from the malguzar, not to hold land under him and pay rent. Revenue Paying Tenures. Malguzari estates are held on the condition of payment of the Government revenue assessed upon them. The law is that, whatever arrangements may be made by the parties having interests in the land, the ultimate lien of the Government on the land is never lost ; and if the revenue is not paid, the Government, should it think necessary, may suspend the exercise of all beneficiary rights, or even sweep them entirely away, by the sale of the tenure free of all incumbrances not recorded at settlement, in order to satisfy the reveime demand. Nevertheless, so long as the CHAP. I.] QUIT-RENT. * 23 revenue demand is satisfied, it is not the policy of the Government to interfere in any way with the exercise of the right of property belonging to the individual. The whole of the estate for which a proprietor gives a kabuliat is hypothecated for the revenue assessed on each part of it so long as that settlement lasts, and the sale or mortgage of a part of it during the currency of the settlement does not relieve the vendor or the mortgacjor or his remainino; estate from liability for the revenue on the portion sold or mortgaged ; though, as the Government never loses its lien on the land itself, the sale or mortsjag-e creates a right of demand on the part of the Government against the vendee or mortgagee. The process by which the liability is transferred with the consent of the Government is termed mutation, or ddJckil khdrij; and under that heading, I shall have a caution to address to officers having to deal with such applications, which ai'e in my opinion far too lightly sanctioned. Quit-Rent. There appears, from the Financial Commissioner's Circular No. 28 of 18G9, to have been in the Faizabad district certain grants, originally revenue-free under the sanads of the Padshahs of Delhi or the Nawabs of Oudh, upon vjliich the Oudh officials had levied a ' j^eshkash' for their own benefit. Saadat Ali Khan, in his celebrated settle- ment of 1814, maintained these grants as they were, but swept the ' peshkash' into tlie royal treasury. At the investigation into revenue-free tenures some of these grants were maintained at the quit-rent for ever. They therefore form a separate class of proprietary tenures. I think also that the estate given to the Rajah of Kapur- thalla for his conduct during the mutiny war, and the 24 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDII. [CHAP. I. hereditary estates of the five loyal talukdars mentioned in the second Schedule to Act I of 1869, though talukas, come under this category, for these estates are assessed on exceptionally favorable terras and the revenue-demand thus fixed is perpetual. Section II.— UNDER-PROPRIETARY TENURES. Under-proprietary right, though by no means peculiar to Oudh, has been recognized and defined in this province with a precision that is not to be found elsewhere. In the North- West, the class whom we term under-proprietors were either admitted to direct engagements with the State, their superior being set aside by the process described under malikana, or they were recorded as cultivators with an heritable and non-transferable title at a rent fixed for the term of the settlement. The passing of Act X of 1859, however, made these rents liable to enhancement, and Act XVIII of 1873 has not altered their status in this respect except by defining more strictly the possible occasions of enhancement. In Oudh, these tenures have been decreed by the courts either rent-free, at a rent fixed in perpetuity, or at a rent proportional to the Government revenue : they are. heritable and transferable. The great diflference between proprietary and under- proprietary tenures is this : while the right of a proprietor in a malguzari estate depends on the discharge of his obligation towards the Government alone, that of an under-proprietor depends not only on the discharge of his obligation to pay rent to his superior, if such be an incident of his tenure which it generally is, but also on the discharge by the superior of his obligation to pay the Government revenue ; for, in the last resort, the under- CHAP. I.J UNDER-PROPRIETARY TENURES. 25 proprietary tenure is liable for the revenue wlietlier the incumbent has paid his rent or not. The essential feature of an under-proprietary tenure is that it is a tenure dependent on another tenure. The better known under-proprietary tenures in Oudh bear the following names : — 1 Sub- Settlement. 6 Birt. 2 Didari. 7 Shank alp. 3 Sir. 8 Dar. 4 Nankar. 9 Marwat. 5 Purwa bassana. 10 Daswant. 11 Biswi. The two first tenures are always founded upon former full proprietary right, and Nos. 3 and 4 generally so, though sometimes these names are applied to the interest of the under-proprietors in tenures Nos. 5 and 10, From No. 5 onwards, the rights are created by the superior pro- prietor, and in all cases, except true shankalp, which is a religious grant for value received in some shape or other. This will be apparent when we come to see what was the origin of these several tenures. The fact is worthy of note here, however, as showing on what a sound basis the native polity in the matter of land tenures is founded. I have observed, in the Qourse of my own experience, that where the under-tenure was based on former proprietary right, there was generally no sanad or patta for it, and, if there was a patta, it was given to mark a new arrange- ment about the rent, and not as an acknowledgment of former proprietary right. Such a document in the Nawabi would have been scorned. But in the case of a tenure given by the proprietor, a written title was added, though it might not alwaj's be forthcoming. 4 J 2g revenue matteiis in oudii. [chap. i. Sub- Settlement Is a tenure created by us, for it did not exist under native rule. It is the residuary proprietary right in a village, hamlet, or chak, subject to a rent proportional to the Government revenue. The proportion is not invariable. It was established as the nearest thing which would combine the certainty of a tenure under English rule with the status of a former proprietor leasing a village under a talukdar. But under native rule, the people, in whose favor this tenure has been erected, had no right to a lease of the village. The settlements of the Government with the proprietors, and of the talukdars with the under-proprie- tors, were annual, and if they could not come to terms, the superior ejected the inferior and assumed direct manage- ment. If this was done amicably and peaceably, the person ejected, whether proprietor or under-proprietor, enjoyed certain lands for his maintenance either rent-free or at a peppercorn rent, which lands were known by the name of sir or nankar. Under such a Government as that of the Nawabi every institution in the country was modi- fied by force, and we find cases, especially in Eastern Oudh, where the under-proprietors had completely the upper hand, and the talukdar was nothing but ijriinus inter pares, a mere representative of the common dignity. But, as a rule, the force was on the side of the talukdar, and he had acquired an ascendancy, even over those under-proprietors whose estates had come into his taluka, which made them, as far as the lease was concerned, the creatures of his will ; and their going into court to acquire a right, which would reduce him to the position of a person entitled to a quit- rent, but excluded from all personal management of and interference with the village, became a measure which the CHAP. I.] SUB-SETTLEMENT. 27 talukdars resented with all the means in their power. The idea of the talukdars was that the under-proprietors were to get what they held in the Nawabi and nothing more : their contention was that the under-proprietors had never held such a right as sub-settlement, which was certainly true, and they bitterly resented this invasion of their rights guaranteed by Her Majesty's Government. There can be no doubt that the rights of an under-proprietor, in talukas generally under native rule, was measured by the amount of beneficial interest he enjoyed when dispossessed of the village. Had we been content to record this sir and nankar as an under-proprietary right, and to lea.ve the lease an open question, we should have acted much more wisely than we have done ; for, as it is, the sub-settlement holders are fairly on the road to ruin. The sale of their rights is a mere question of time, and when the sale does come, the most that can be retained for them, will be a right of occupancy in their sir lands, instead of a full under-proprietary right therein with the rent fixed for the term of a settlement at a proportion to the Government revenue assessed upon the land. But we did not do so. The proceedings of the Courts became so hostile to the talukdars, that they appealed to the Government, and Act XXVI of 1866 was passed. Its failure is notorious as a practical measure ; for while the holders of sub-settlements are gradually going to the wall, the landlord does not get his rent, nor the Government its ■revenue. The position, that sub-settlements or anj^thing really .resembling them existed in the Nawabi, being abandoned, the contention of the advocates of the tenure amounts to J 28 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I, this. If it be true, as I assert it is, that, under native rule, neither proprietors nor under-proprietors had any right to engage for or manage the village, but that the superior could always collect the rents directly if he pleased and was strong enough ; then, " if we give the proprietor a " perpetual title instead of the lease we found him in " possession of, and fix his payments for thirty years, it is " but fair to do the same for the under-proprietor also. " One class of Her Majesty's subjects should not alone " benefit from her rule." To this there is a two-fold answer : first, we may not, because Lord Canning's settlement barred the creation in talukas, without the consent of the talukdar, of any under-proprietary or occupancy tenure not then existing ; and, while sub-settlement is a tenvu'e of the former kind, the estates in which they are claimed are nearly always talukas ; secondly, we ought not, because, though it was expedient to create the proprietary right of the man who paid revenue to the State, it was not expedient to create a new under-proprietary right in the shape of a sub-settlement in favor of the man who paid rent to a private person. The first of these positions will be gener- ally admitted ; on the second it is necessary to say a few words. Experience has clearly shown that, Avhere a village has been sub-settled, the under-proprietors do not, as a general rule, get on with the talukdar, and unless they are very good managers, or hold the village on unusually favorable terms, they can hardly avoid falling into the talukdar's debt in a bad season ; for the case mentioned in para. 9 of the Schedule to Act XXVI of 1866 is the ordinary one, in which the liabilities of the sub-settlement holders are 85 per cent, of the gross rental, for they have to pay the CHAP. I.] DIDARI. 29 chaukidar, the patwaii, and the village expenses, amounting to not less than ten per cent, of the gross rental of the village, in addition to the 75 per cent, laid down in the paragraph quoted. In such a case, as the sub-settlement holders are ordinarily a coparcenary body without capital or with very little, it is not the interest of the talukdar to press them htird at first. The law allows him three years wherein to bring a suit for arrears and three years more wherein to execute it, and if this is properly worked by a man anxious above everything to destroy the tenure, it becomes almost impossible for the Court ultimately to refuse sanction to its sale, and then who in such a position to buy it as the talukdar ? Didari. Didari is a certain amount of land rent-free, and lias always, I believe, its origin in former proprietorship. When pressed by the Nazims under the later native rule, the pro- prietors often found they could not get on, and voluntarily sought the protection of some neighbouring talukdar, who then took the management of the estate and- what- ever profit he could get out of it, and the smaller and former proprietor took a piece of land varying according to the property he made over. This was rent-free for ever, as the rest of the estate was chargeable with the revenue upon this portion, and in Eastern Oudh the tenure is called didari. It is more commonly known by that name in Faizabad, Sultanpur, and Gonda. A con- sideration of the conditions of this tenure shows how necessary it is in Oudh to hold by the principle that no man can relieve himself of his obligation to pay the revenue without the consent of Government except by the J 30 REVKNUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. surrender of his whole estate. If he could do so in a ease like this, he could confiscate one-half of the tenure the maintenance of whicli is the condition on which he holds his estate under his sanad, and Lord Canning's letters of the 10th and 19th October 1859 made unquestionable law by Act I of 1869. It is manifestly unjust to appl}" strictly the principle that the holder of the land must pay the revenue assessed upon it, where under-proprietary tenures prevail. SfR. Sir, as found and decreed in Oudh, is an under-proprie- tary right, and has its origin both in former proprietorship and in the act of the superior proprietor. It is also the term applied to the land held in cultivating occupancy by a proprietor. If it is cultivated by the hands of the pro- prietor or by his hired servants using his bullocks and ploughs, it is called khudkdsht or nijjot, if it is let to a tenant, such tenant is termed sldhmi, not asschni, the name applied to tenants generally. These terms are also used with respect to the sir of an under-proprietor. Sir, so far as I know, always pays rent, but it is a low one. When- ever I have found sir rent-free, part of the released rent was a nankar deduction. Sir is emphatically what a pro- prietor or under-proprietor was allowed to hold for his own subsistence when he did not hold the lease of the villa^fe or estate. In coparcenary communities, whether proprie- tary or under-proprietary, the sir frequently bears no proportion or relation to the shares, and though the law. of the North-Western Provinces, as laid down in the Directions and Regulation VII of 1822, permitted the re^ adjustment of these sir holdings so as to bring them into harmony with the shares, it has never been the CHAP. l] NANKAR. 31 practice in Oudli, where the maintenance of the separate possession within the term of Umitation has been the sheet anchor of the settlement of the province. The law which permitted the contrary practice (Clause 2, Sec- tion XII, Regulation VII of 1822) has now been repealed by Act XVI of 1874. The safe rule is always to maintain the possession in severalty, by whatever name it may be called, which has lasted throughout the term of limitation. If the possession in severalty has not lasted so long, the administration paper should be consulted, and if the dis- putants were consenting parties to that document, they would be bound by its provisions. In addition to the provisions of the Government letters of the 10th and 19th October 1859, which provide for the maintenance of all rights held under talukdars at the annexation of the province or within what has been fixed as the limitation, which letters are law under Act I of 1869, sir is one of those under-proprietary rights for the maintenance of which, when its origin is former proprietorship, there is a special law (Clause 10, Schedule to Act XXVI of 1866). Nankar. Nankar was originally a deduction from the revenue of a village or estate allowed by the Government for managing it. In the time of Akbar Padshah, his dewan, Todar Mai, made a regular assessment of the whole empire founded on an estimate of the produce, and he fixed a certain portion of it as the demand of the State ; but when the Moghal Empire went to pieces, the Mahomedan princes who succeeded were not satisfied with this. They claimed the whole kacha nikasi, and allowed a deduction. J *32 REVICNUE MATTKRS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. which was called iiankar. The kacha iiikasi was not tlie gross rental of the village, but the rental as entered in the jamabandi. Thus the sir lands were not entered at their real value, but at the peppercorn rent at which they were held when the proprietors did not engage for the village, and all the other lands held at favored (riayatti) rents in the same way. The people thus had a large share of the profits when the villages were held direct, and they would have required it for the nankar was very small. There is extant a genuine copy of Nawab Saadat Ali Khan's assessment of the parganah of Bareli, and the jama is Rs. 1,92,430, while the nankar is only Rs. 4,522. It is plainly impossible that those holding proprietary rights of all kinds in this parganah. could have existed on so small a share of the profits. In talukas nankar generally took the shape of some revenue-free villages, but in single villages it was usually a cash deduction from the revenue. As nankar was small, it was not unfreqviently retained by former proprietor on the incorporation of his village with the taluka, and becoming then a deduction from the rent of his sir lands, those lands, or a portion of them, some- times appear rent-free, and the fact of the under-proprietor enjoying nankar at all is apt to be lost sight of. The name of nankar is also sometimes applied to a right in land created by a talukdar in favor of men who founded hamlets and settled cultivators on lands either waste, or hitherto cultivated without irrigation or manure by non-resident cultivators. In such case it is a right con- ceded in return for the increased rental, which the talukdar received in consequence of the settlement. There are other kinds of nankar, known as isvii and tanhhai, in the province, but they come rather under the categoiy of I. CHAP. I.] PURWA BASSANA. 33 revenue-free holdings, they have all been long ago finally disposed of, and were certainly not under-proprietary rights, PURWA BaSSaNA. This is the first of the tenures created by a superior in favor of a man in lieu of value received. Purwas are known by other names, such as khera, 'mazra, or ddkhili. They are hamlets founded on certain lands in a larger village or mauzah, and they have not a separate number and hadbast character of their own. The land on which they are founded is either waste or cultivated in an inferior manner, and they are usually settled by persons with some influence among the cultivators they bring, and with sufficient capital to make them the necessary advances. It was common, under the native system, for the superior in such cases to lease the lands forming the purwa to the founder, and in case he would not take it on the terms offered in any year, he was secured his under- proprietary right of sir or nankar or both, as is shown by the following copy of a sanad for a purwa in Rai Bareli : — " Sanad granted by Thakar Ramdin to Jowahir to the " following effect : — Do you found a katra after the name of " Bhagwan Bakhsh in Mauzah Deopur,and populate it, build " your own house therein, and be assured that I have written " off the zemindari of the same to you. Whoever comes " and settles in it, do you remit his forced labour (begar). " So long as you wish you may hold pakka (lease of the " village), and when it is made kacha (direct collection " from the cultivators) you may enjoy 10 bigahs naidvar, *'and 15 bigahs sir, assessed at one rupee eight annas, 5 34 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [chap, T. " and in addition take 10 bigahs charri (grazing land). "Dated Kuar Badi Panchmi Sambat 1901 (1252 Fasli)." Signed by Debidin Mutsadi. " Who says the sanat^ is correct. " Further 3 bigahs are given you for a grove that you " may rest quiet in your mind. " Detail of Sir. Name of Field. Mati Mati, 2nd Gurliaa Beyas Manie Massi Area. Bigahs. Biswas. 3 2 10 2 10 2 10 3 10 1 Total Detail of Nankai\ Aintha Naitha Mati Mati, 2nd Total 15 Bigahs. Biswas. 4 3 1 10 1 10 10 This shows very clearly the nature of the under-pro- prietary tenures, the object of which was land improve- ment. The talukdar in return for his concession obtained a great increase to the rental of his estate, and the sanad clearly provides for the interest of the purwa foun- der in case they cannot come to terms about the rent. A consideration of the terms of this sanad, which really describes the ordinary nature of under-proprietary right under whatever name it may be known, will show what L CHAP. I.] BIRT. 35 an interference with the constitution of that village it would be to decree the purwa founder a sub-settlement. If a man cannot sec that, he is incapable of taking an impartial view of anything. This tenure, besides being an under-proprietary right by the Government letters in the 1st Schedule to Act I of 18G9, is specially protected by para. 11 of the Schedule to Act XXVI of 1866. BiRT. Birt prevails chiefly in the districts of Gondah, Baraich and Faizabad. It is an under-proprietary right created by a talukdar in return for money paid. Rent was paid for it, but it was a low rent, and the rent was understood to be fixed, though no doubt it was raised sometimes by the pressure of the talukdar. Still it is always found at a rent favorable as compared with non-proprietary holdings. Another kind of birt is described in the Oudh record of rights Circular, No. 2 of 1861, as having its origin in a lease for clearing jungle land. This is dasivant under another name, and will be described under that heading. The following is a copy of a birt patta : — " Birt patta dated Sawan Sudhi 8th 1238 Fasli. Patta *' written by Rajah Shri Kishn Parshad Singh. I have " given Tulsi Ram Misr a birt. He is to get (continuousl}^) *' mauzah Garmeapur, tank, groves, dih, parjah, anjuri, biswa, "bonclha. He is to get (continuously) the zemindari hak, " whether the village be pakka or kacha. He is to take " possession in confidence. Rupees 701 have been taken. " Witness Banki Singh' Sangam Misr. Written by Bhawani " Baksh Mutsaddi. N. B.— On the top is the sign manual "of the Rajah." This is by no means such a precise document as the one quoted for the purwa, for though it states that the birtea ) A 3G REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. is to liavc the zemindari luik when out of managing possession it does not detail what that right is. It is however precisely of the same nature, and it shows that the tenure is really a partial sale of the proprietary right. Shankalp. Shankalp is in some parts much the same as birt, an under-proprietary right bought with money, but true shankalp is a rent-free religious gift known as bishnprit (for the love of God) or kushast (from kusha the sacred grass of the Hindus, which was given unto the hand of the Brahmin). In the Oudh record of rights Circular, No. 2 of 1861, para. 26, it is stated that the bought shankalp can be redeemed at any time by the grantor on payment of the original purchase-money. I exceedingly doubt this. It is manifestly unjust, for these holdings, as a rule, were greatly improved, the original grant being generally poorly culti- vated land, and this would be still more conspicuous when the tenure come under English rule. I think that the fact that any arrangement is unjust raises a strong presumption against its being a genuine Hindu custom regarding land- ed property, and the tendency of Hindu polity is to stereotype arrangement of this kind once made. These bought shankalps are only found where birt prevails, and I think they were birts made to Brahmins who called them shankalps, because greater sanctity attached to that name, and the tenures were less likely to be interfered with by violence. Their being found in the Faizabad district in the hands of Chamars may be accounted for by their sale, as there would be no sanctity in the eyes of their original Brahmin holders which should prevent it. The religious shankalp, so far as I know, was one of the most res- pected of under-proprietary rights. The primary meaning L CHAP. I.] MARWAT. 37 of the word shankalp is vow, and its secondary meaning is alms. The gift was usually made on occasions of sorrow and rejoicing, such as bereavement, marriage, or the birth of a son. It was only made to a Brahmin. It was heritable, and was freely mortgaged. It was never resumed, and it was considered unlucky for one to lapse for want of heirs. It is the only under-proprietary riglit of which I have knowledge that no equivalent has been given for, unless the prayers and blessings of the Brahmin be considered one. It has been decreed at the settlement as an under-proprietary right, and is generally small and rent-free. Dar. This tenure is confined I believe to the parganah of Patti Dalippur in the Pratabgarh district, and is similar to birt. It is a purchased tenure in a patch of land or chak, and is obtainable by all classes. It is never found to extend to entire villages. The real and primary meaning of the word dar is obscure, but it is said to be a corruption of zemindari. The extent of this tenure is very trifling, said to be only 403 acres, and it is mentioned here solely to show that under-proprietary rights may here and there exist under local names which would escape general obser- vation, and that the real test of them is their origin combined with the existence of a present decided beneficiary interest. Marwat. Marwat is an under-proprietary right, granted to the family of a man slain in battle for the talukdar. It generally pays a low rent, and is never resumed. No doubt some two generations or so afterwards the talukdar himself, pressed by the Naziin, might raise the marwatti's rent, but it would 38 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDU. [CHAP. I. be still a low one easy to be distinguished from the assamiwar holdings. I have known a whole village held on a marwat tenure, but, as a rule, the holdings are small. Daswant. Daswanfc is an under-proprietary right derived from a jungle-clearing lease (hanhatta), and the term is in use chiefly in Gondah and Baraich. The terms of the lease were usually as follows: — For five years the land was rent-free; in the sixth year, the tenant paid one-sixth of the produce ; in the seventh, one-fifth ; in the eighth, one-fourth ; in the ninth, one-third ; and in the tenth, one-half, the full rent. Henceforward the clearer was entitled to hold at that rent so long as the land was pakka ; but if the landlord held kacha, the clearer was entitled to have one-tenth of the produce, which in practice came to mean one-tenth of the land rent-free, in under- proprietary right. This tenure, like the* others, was liable to encroachment in the shape of an assessment of rent, but that would be low in any case. The tenure is however known in other districts by such names as birt, sir, and nankar. I take the law on this subject to be that, if the person claiming an under-proprietary Tight based on a clearing of the jungle could show that he or his ancestors really had cleared the land, and that he held it at a favored {riayatti) rent, the presumption was that he held an under-proprietary right ; but if his rent was an ordinary one, the presumption was against him ; and if he could get anything in consi- deration of the clearing, in the absence of positive con- tract, it could be only under Section 22 of the Rent Act, V k CHAP. I.] BISWI. 39 Biswi. Biswi is a mortgage by a proprietor to a cultivator of the latter's holding for a sum of money paid down. Generally a low rent was reserved, and this rent was called parm- sdna ; which is the difference between the full rent and the interest on the money. The parmsana was not unfre- quently less than the Government jama for which the mortgagor was liable. Sometimes the biswi was rent-free. Naturally, with such an origin, these tenures were very small, and having been created by coparceners with but small shares, they became very troublesome, as it was not possible to collect the revenue from the zemin- dars when their rents were gone. It is this consideration which places the tenure under the class of under-pro- prietary rights. It is a tenure dependent on another tenure ; and the settlement having been made with the zemindars there 'is nothing else for it, though it differs from aU other under-proprietary rights in being liable to redemption. But I am of opinion that a mistake was made at the settlement in regard of these tenures. It would have been far better to have treated them as simple mortgages, and where the zemindars were insolvent or likely to become so, to have applied Section 10, Regu- lation, VII of 1822, and taken the engagement for the Government revenue direct from the biswidars. I believe this tenure is confined to Faizabad and Sultan- pur. In all these tenures it will be observed that the Govern- ment revenue is payable by the superior. The under- proprictor pays rent recoverable under the Rent Act, 40 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. Section III.— PERPETUAL LEASES. These tenures are a creation of the Oudh Administration. They were supposed to be the result of agreements regis- tered under Section 32G or 327 of Act VIII of 1859 I believe, but at any rate judicial decrees were given for them, and they stand on that foundation now. They were intended as a compromise in cases where a claim to sub-settlement was not made out, and they differ in two particulars from that tenure : 1st. — Though heritable they are not transferable; 2nd. — The rent is not fixed on any principle, but arbitrarily at the pleasure of the Court. I have seen a case in which the rent, after being once fixed, has been subsequently twice raised on the petition of the talukdar. The creation of this tenure was a great administrative mistake, and shows how inferior is the work of amateurs to the spontaneous growth resulting from the necessities of the people. Difficulties very soon arose. Some of these perpetual lessees fell into arrears of rent, and their landlords, having got decrees against them, claimed to eject them at the end of fifteen days vmder Section 41 of the Rent Act. Of course this would have defeated the whole object of the creation of the tenure, and the Judicial Commissioner ruled that they were not tenants under the Rent Act. This erecte(J, them into quasi under-proprietors. But when an under-pro- prietor falls into arrears of rent, the only way in which at present a decree for the arrears can be execut- ed, is to proceed against the tenure, and these perpetual leases were not transferable. The Chief Commissioner, however, has ruled that they can be held in sequestration, or sold in execution of a decree for rent. The present position of these perpetual lessees would therefore seem CHAP. I.] FARMING LEASES. 41 to be that of under-proprietors without the right of private transfer. There is no doubt that their existence is dependent on the dischai'ge of his obligations to the State by the talukdar. Section IV,— FARMING LEASES. Farming leases appear to me to be of three kinds: First: — When an estate is sold for arrears of revenue, and no one will bid on account of over-assessment, the Deputy Commissioner is obliged to buy in the estate on behalf of Government and let it to a farmer for what it will fetch. This tenure, common in Bengal, where the rigidity of the settlement law prevents re-assessment of the estate, is practically unknown, and should remain so in Oudh, because the Government will always permit a revision of the assessment upon proper cause being shown. Second : — When an estate is in arrears of revenue, and it has been determined to cancel the settlement and farm the estate for a term of years, or when an under-proprietary estate has against it an unsatisfied decree for rent, and the manaecement havinsf been made over to the Deputy Commissioner under Sec- tion 125 of the Rent Act, that officer determines upon sequestration, it is carried out under the provisions of Sec- tion 4, Regulation IX of 1825. In this case the position of the farmer as regards the state is as follows : His tenure is neither heritable nor transferable by his private act, and it is determined by his death or if he falls into arrears, in which case the lease may be disposed of and the arrears recovered in the manner provided in Section 18, Regulation XXVII of 1803, Third :— When, in the execution of a civil decree, the court farms an estate u.nder Section 243, or the Deputy Commissioner does so under Section 244 of 6 42 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. Act VIII of 1859; or when, in the execution of a decree for rent in an under-proprietary estate, tlie court, under Section 125 of the Rent Act, itself exercises the power given to it under Section 243 of Act VIII of 1859, and leases the land to a stranger ; or when a private person farms a portion of his estate to one who is not a cultivator, the farmer is in the position of a tenant with a lease only, and can be ejected or proceeded against for arrears of rent under the provisions of the Rent Act alone. In all the above cases, the farmer, as respects those below him, is a landlord, and entitled to all the rights of one under the Rent Act. Section V.— CULTIVATING TENURES. Cultivating tenures are of two kinds : — -first, with a right of occupancy ; secondly, at will. Occupancy Tenures. There are four kinds of occupancy tenures in Oudh. First : — Those which may have been decreed by a Civil Court. Under Lord Canning's settlement, finally declared by Act I of 1869, all holding under the talukdars were to be maintained in the rights they heretofore enjoyed ; and though it has been decided after enquiry, and has been affirmed by the courts, that mere prescription does not create a right of occupancy in Oudh, yet this by no means declares that such a tenure may not exist founded on some actual contract or legal recognition. In the Foreign Department letter No. 302, dated 6th October 1864, Lord Lawrence laid it down that " no , declaration of the non- existence of cultivating rights is of any validity," and he directed that all such claims were to be *' investigated and tried on their merits." Under these instructions, ( ». CHAP. l] OCCUPANCY TENURES. 43 claims have been heard and in some instances decreed, and I presume that, as a rule, the decree specifies the rent which the tenant has to pay : should the court have omit- ted to do so, the rent would naturally be fixed under the provisions of the Rent Act. Secondly : — There is the tenure decreed under Section 5 of the Rent Act, the nature of which is fully defined in the Act. Thirdly : — There is the right of occupancy in their sir lands similar to that of the Rent Act, reserved by the Judicial Commissioner in favor of judgment-debtors whose estates have been sold in execution of decrees of court. Fourthly : — By the Chief Commissioner's Revenue Circular, 16 of 1874, in villages given by Government to persons without a legal right to them, a right of occupancy, at rents fixed for the term of the settlement, has been created in favor of resi- dents in the village who have cultivated therein since the re-occupation of the province in 1858, and at rents fixed for five years in favor of tenants resident in the villao-e who are not of such long standing. It may be observed that, though the tenure in the first class may, and in the fourth class does, differ from the second and third in the matter of the rent reserved to the landlord, yet in all four classes the tenure is held on condition of payment of the rent fixed upon it, and, if such rent is not paid, the tenant is liable to ejectment under the provisions of Section 41 of the Rent Act. On the promulgation of Circular 16 of 1874, a question arose whether such a right could be recorded in favor of persons paying corn rents. It was contended that, as the rent in such case was entirely dependent on the cultivation, if the landlord's power of ejectment was * taken away, there was no security whatever for the culti- 44 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. ration of the land, or if to avoid this the condition of cultivation was made an incident of the tenure, for the adequate cultivation of the land. After some correspond- ence it became evident that a money rent was a necessaiy condition of a right of occupancy, and it was ordered that when the tenant was holding at a corn rent and refused to commute it into a cash rent, the rent was to be fixed in cash and put into the patta, and the tenant can commute at any time by giving three months' notice before the end of the Fasli year. Should the tenant not cultivate with due diligence, the landlord may apply to the Collector, who, if satisfied that the husbandry has been bad, will be authorized to compel the tenant to commute or to vacate the land. Tenures-at-Will. Tenants -at-will cannot hold against the will of the land- lord, provided the latter proceeds against them as laid down in the Rent Act. The landlord cannot raise their rent with- out their consent, but he can eject them by a notice to quit at the proper season of the year. It is competent to the tenant to contest such notice by a suit within a given time on the grounds laid down in Section 37 of the Rent Act, or that he has not been compensated for improvements in manner provided in Sections 22 to 26 of the Act, and the courts are directed, by Rent Act Ruling II, to accept a prima facie case of right as sufficient to cancel the notice and uphold the possession of the tenant, throwing on the landlord the onus of bringing _ a suit to declare what the tenant's right may be. CHAP. I.] SERVICE TENURES. 45 Section VI.— SERVICE TENURES. Under the Native Government, there were several here- ditary officers who were paid by assignments of land revenue-free. Of these the only one now remaining is the kanungo, and his office is not so distinctly hereditary as it was, for the orders in respect of this officer exact qualifi- cations which I am afraid but few possess. The cases in which the kanungos are still paid in revenue-free lands have all been disposed of, and cannot come before revenue officers except for resumption. All newly-appointed kanun- gos are paid in cash, a mode of payment which gives the district officer far more authority and control. In the village communities, it is customary to pay the carpenter, the blacksmith, the washerman, the priest, &c., with assign- ments of land rent-free or at a low rent, in addition to the small quantity of grain each assami gives them in recompense for their services. These persons, however, can be looked upon as nothing but tenants at the will of zemindars : there is no special legal protection for them, and if the community dispenses with their services, they mu&t surrender their advantages. The chaukidar alone is an exception. Under the Chief Commissioner's Circular, 16 of 1862, para. 13, where a village chaukidar was found to be remunerated by rent-free land or land held at a low rent, the Settlement Officer was directed to record the holding and the terms on which it was held as an incident in the tenure of the village, but he was not to set aside any land for him in addition, and former orders Avere modified • accordingly. This land cannot be resumed at the will of the landlord, unless and until the chaukidar is dismissed by order of the Deputy Commissioner, who alone has power to do so. In such case, as the tenure is a service 46 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. I. one, I apprehend that the chaukidar, if dispossessed at once, would be entitled to compensation for the crop in the ground, or he might hold until the rabi harvest ; but in that case he would have to pay rent to the landlord for the time that he was not chaukidar. In respect of any land not recorded in the settlement papers, the chaukidar is on the footing of an ordinary tenant ; but if the land is held as wages, and the landlord should eject him, the rules and the landlord's kabuliat provide that the Deputy Commis- sioner may collect the cess at the rate of six per cent, on the revenue and pay the chaukidar in cash. CHAP. II.] MUTATIONS. 47 CHAPTER II. MUTATIONS. The mutation of a name in the malguzari register, if it means anything, implies that the Collector is henceforward to collect the revenue from the person whose name is sub- stituted for that of the person formerly liable. By the people it is looked upon as a regular and legal transfer of the property, and even in a legal point of view it gives the person whose name is entered all the advantages of possession as it is supposed to be the record of an existing fact. The law, which was enacted in Section 21, Reofula- tion VIII of 1800, and re-enacted in Regulation XLII of 1803, and is stated in paras. 187 and 192 of the Directions to Collectors, which is law in Oudh, affirms that mutation must follow transfer, and para. 200 does not seem to leave the Collector any discretion in the matter.- I apprehend that if a mutation had been made in the malguzari register, and the old malguzar had lost possession of the land, should the Collector still demand the revenue from the old mal- guzar, the Civil Court would protect him from it on appli- cation. This law was originally made for Bengal, where a most rigid law of sale obtains in default of payment of the revenue, and to that state of affairs it is suited ; but it is not suited to such a revenue system as is in force in the province of Oudh. The following case not very long ago occurred in my own experience. A coparcenary community had mortgaged a chak of their village, on which chak a separate assess- 48 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDII. [CHAP. II. meufc was made by the Settlement Officer, though it was under one engagement with the village for the revenue. The zemindars, feeling they could not redeem the chak, and indeed not intending to do so, neglected it, and it fell out of cultivation. They did not pay the mortgagee, who sued on his bond, got a decree, and sold the chak in execution, and the auction- purchaser got a mutation of the chak made in his own name in the malguzari register. On going into the affairs of his purchase, however, the auction-purchaser found the rental of the chak would not pay the revenue assessed upon it, and he applied for a revision of jama, which was refused, as the assessment was a perfectly fair one at the time it was made. It appeared to me however, that the Government would have lost its revenue had the auction-purchaser proved a man of straw. I was told in this case by superior authority, that the Deputy Commis- sioner did wrong in making this mutation, that in the mal- a;uzari recrister mutation should be made of lambardars only, and that the mutation should only have been made in the village khewat which would have left the joint res- ponsibility in tact. This is, no doubt, what w as intended in the Directions, but it is very far from disposing Jof the difficulties of the case in the North-Western Provinces, as far as I can see, and still less in Oudh. The m.utation in the khewat transfers the jama as well as the land, and is as binding individually among the parties entered in it as the malguzari register is between the whole community and the Government; and as the auction-purchaser was not,] and, as a rule, is not a man of straw, he had no redress against the fraud of the zemindars : he was equally .liable for the jama within the community as without it,'though the CHIP. II.] MUTATIONS. 49 Government was protected from loss had he been a man of straw. But how if the zemindar had been a talukdar, the owner of a hundred villages, and no khewat in which to make mutation ? It cannot be contended that he is not free to sell one, and under the compulsory law of mutation the Deputy Commissioner must make the mutation and free the talukdar from his liability. But supposing this village was the didari of a former zemindar and rent-free, and the purchaser was a man of straw, who, his work being done, disappeared ; the talukdar would have got rid of his obli- gation to pay the revenue on it, and the Deputy Commis- sioner would come down on the under-proprietor and prac- tically confiscate half his property. I put an extreme case to make it more clear, but this objection applies to every bit of sir or other under-proj)rietary right held at a rent less than the Government revenue assessed upon it. But the fact is that mutations of the liability for the revenue of parts of villages are made not unfrequently in the malguzari register, and, as a general rule, it is for the interest of Government that they should be made, A pattidar mortgages his patti to a stranger, who is a man of substance, and gives him posssession. The community, though not yet driven to part with their land, are not flourish- ing, and the stranger will only take the patti on condition of a mutation. He is not going to make himself jointly and severally liable for the revenue on all the other shares, I say in such a case, and every revenue officer knows how common it is, the interests of all parties ai"e best consulted by making the mutation. All these difficulties are disposed of by giviog practical application to the great principle stated in the introduction " that the owner of an estate pay- " iDg revenue to Government cannot relieve himself of the 7 50 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. II. " obligation to pay the revenue on any part of it without " the consent of Government, unless by parting with the " whole property." To give practical application to this, a mutation in the malguzari register must not be " the decla- ration of an existing fact, " but a high act of discretion on the part of the Deputy Commissioner subject to appeal to the judgment of his revenue wsuperiors. csAP. iil] surface, climate, and soils. 51 CHAPTER III. surface, climate, and soils. The surface of Oudh is level, the whole province being in the alluvial plain of the Ganges and the Gogra with their tribu- taries. Here and there it gently undulates but very slightly, and the chief differences of surface are between the low land bordering the large rivers, called tarai, gaiijar, kddir, manjha, and kaeh in different parts of the province, and the land above the high bank of the rivers called hangar, and in some place hhur. The province, as a whole, is well cultivated and beautifully wooded. Mango groves predo- minate, but in some parts, especially Pratabgarh, the mhowa is very common, and pakar, gular, pipal, jaman, and tamarind are found everywhere, besides many other trees in lesser numbers. Bamboos are rather scarce : they are, I believe, capricious about the soil they grow in, but still there are quite enough scattered over the province to show that, with a little pains, much more might be made of this most useful and beautiful tree. There is not a twentieth part of what there might be of land under that useful and profitable tree the babul. Water is abundant everywhere, and, as a rule, near the surface. In many parts the kacha well stands for years, and in those parts the cultivation is generally of a high class. Between the lines of the principal rivers, that is, between the Gogra and the Gumti, the Gumti and the Sai, and the Sai and the Ganges, there are lines of jhils which are largely used for irrigation. The water of these jhils is not considered so good for irrigation purposes as that fi'oni 52 KEVENUE MATTEIIS IN OUDH. [CHAP. 111. wells ; but it has not to be raised so far, and the increased quantity makes it sought for, the rather that in the jhil region the wells will not stand unless built of something or other, and where they are used, they are usually con- structed of rough segmental burnt bricks without any mor- tar. Regular masonry wells for purposes of irrigation, though far from being unknown, are not common, but they are increasing. Neverthless, Oudh is one of the best watered provinces of India, and the south-eastern half of the province has a more than ordinary proportion of irri- gated land. The climate of Oudh is healthy, and one of the best in the plains of India. It has a hot season, a rainy season, and a cold season. The hot season commences in the south of Oudh towards the end of March, and lasts until the rains begin generally from the 20th to the 30th June. The early half of this is not unpleasant, but the month before the rains is oppressively hot. The rains in Oudh are more constant, showery, and seldom come down in such continued torrents as elsewhere, and the breaks are plea- saiiter there being more wind than across the Ganges. The close of the rains is the most unhealthy period of the year. In some parts of the province, notably in the terai lands, there is much fever at this season. The cold weather, from the middle of October to March, is almost a perfect climate. Bright sunshine, clear crisp air, and a cold sufficient to stimulate without causing any suffering make camp life at this season delightful. It never feels too cold as in the Panjab, noris there the rain that often falls in that province at this season. The cold weather rain in Oudh seldom lasts more than three da3^s, and the weather is deliciously cold after it. Tlie people of the country, CEIAP. III.] SURFACE, CLIMATE, AND SOILS. 53 when adequately fed, show a fine physique ; but the popu- lation is so great that there is a large proportion of underfed among them. The soils at the settlement were virtually divided by official instructions into matiar, domat, and hliur. Matiar was supposed to be a clayey soil, bhur a sandy soil, and domat a mixture of the two in varying proportions. Real matiar, such as is found in the susrar lands of Azimaarh and Ghazipur, is not common in Oudh, and the name is often given to a stiff" low-lying soil, which, in eastern Oudh, is called hijar. This is rice soil, though sometimes a second crop, generally gram, is sown in it. Bhur is a name applied to all sandy soils, from those little better than sandhills, in which only Diot will grow, to soils hardly to be distin- guished from domat, and when irrigated bearing very fine crops. The soil, however, most distinctively bhur, yields as a rule hdjra and barley, and is generally dependent for its moisture on the rains and dews of heaven alone. This kind of soil requires frequent rest. It is half the time fallow, and the breadth of it cultivated in a given year depends so much on circumstances that very careful consi- deration of them is necessary to the assessing ofiicer. In my experience it is generally in this class of soil that assessments break down in bangar villacjes. The best land in Oudh goes by the name of domat, but of this soil there are great varieties. In south-eastern Oudh as a rule it is irrigated, but not so in the north. The rains, however, in the north are perhaps steadier, the lands being nearer to the hills, nevertheless the produce is cer- tainly lighter to the acre. This soil is more extensively distributed than any other, and it is easily cultivated and may be relied on to produce a fair average succession of r>4 UEVENUK MATTKUS \S OUDH. [CHAP. III. crops. It is mifiuestionabiy the easiest lor the assessing officer to (leal with, au Money rents (Jamai). 5. 6. 7. Nijkari. Batai. Kankut. J iCorn rents (Ghallai). 8. Darkatti. ) 9. 0. Thahrai. Nakshi. > Mixed rents (Jamai). Section I.— MONEY RENTS. Fixed rent. — Fixed rent may be of three kinds ; 1st, rent fixed by decree of court for ever; 2nd, rent fixed by decree of court for the term of the settlement ; 3rd, rent fixed by decree of court for five years. The first kind of rent is applicable to under-proprietary rights alone. The second is applicable to under-proprietary rights, and also to some of the rights of occupancy created under the Chief Commissioner's Revenue Circular No. 16 oV 1874, with the diSerence in the last mentioned case that the rent is fixed by the act of Government in virtue of its proprietary right and not by decree of court. The third kind is applicable to other rights of occupancy. There is one other temporarily fixed rent, namely, ' parmsana,' which is the rent reserved in the ' biswi ' tenure, under which heading it will be found described. It of course ceases, or rather merges, in the full rent on the redemption CHAP, v.] MONEY RENTS. 61 of the ' biswi ' mortgage by the zemindar mortgagor. All fixed rents are more or less favored rents (riayatti), they are not the full rent of the land, and it is a principle of assessment that they are liable to enhancement for the purpose of fixing the Government demand. Ordinary money rent. — Ordinary money rent is money rent which is a matter of bargain between landlord and tenant. It is influenced partly by custom, partly by competition, partly by the pressure of population on the land, and partly by the will and influence of the parties to the transaction. It may be held to represent the land- lord's share of the produce adjusted for an average of years and seasons by those who know most about it. Where these rents prevail they seldom vary on old, good, inlying lands.* They are more fluctuating on new outlying lands. More subject* to climatic influences. Nevertheless, they are the surest and most reliable data from which to value lands for the purposes of assessment, and the Settlement Officer is fortunate who finds them to work upon. These rents, when once settled, even in outlying lands, change with difficulty, and usually last for some years. Katti is an ordinary true money rent. The tenant can raise whatever crop he likes as in the two former > cases without reference to his rent, but it is essentially a tentative rent, and appears to me to be an endeavour by the landlord to turn corn into money rent. It is a feature * It is curious that this is also true at home. I was told by one of the leading farmers in Banffshire that the rent of such lands in that country and Aberdeen had not varied for 70 years ; and by one of the leading farmers of Morayshire, where good farming began earlier, they had not there varied for 100 years. Xet in no part of Great Britain has farming improved more than in these counties. The improvement has all been in the outlying and waste lands. G2 EEVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. V. of it that cither party, though bound by it for the year agreed upon, may revert to corn rent at its close. It is low in proportion to corn rent as would be expected, but thoucrh tenants sometimes stick to it for several ffood years, a bad one frightens them, and they are apt to revert to corn rent. This rent, so far as I know, is pecuKar to the parganahs liable to the fluvial action of the Chauka and Ghagra rivers in Kheri, Rent is not, I believe, known by that name on similar lands in Sitapur. Zabti. — This word is not in use in this province so far as I know. The rents which I describe under this name are called ' jamai ; ' but that word means any cash rent and is not sufficiently distinctive, so I have adopted this word, which I find in the Directions to Settlement Officers (App. XIII-C) to signify a peculiar class of rent. Zabti is a special rent paid on a special crop, but only paid when that crop is grown. The special crops are usually sugarcane, tobacco, potatoes, poppy, turmeric, and vege- tables. There is a fixed rate for each in the village which does not vary, but the rate for none of them is the same, and it is only paid when that particular crop is cultivated. Nijhari. — In the Directions this word is used to mean the corn rent paid l^y the cultivating proprietor when he does not grow a zabti crop. In the Kheri District how- ever the word is used to signify the money rent paid by a tenant under the same circumstances. If he pays a corn rent it is called batai. Nijkari means the alternative rent paid with the zabti, and is not used except on lands where the latter rent is paid in some years. There is no doubt a rotation of zabti, and nijkari or batai, but I cannot say what it is, nor do I believe it is even ordinarily adhered to, as the growth of zabti crops depends largely CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. on the caste of the cultivators, the capital they have at command, and the price of the article to be raised. It is evident that to draw data for assessment from such rents as these requires great care and the average of a consi- derable number of years. To assess on rent rates formed from them on the area of a single year would most probably end in a break down, unless it was pitched so low as to do manifest injustice to Government. Section II.— CORN RENTS. Batai. — Batai is the actual division of the garnered crop between landlord and tenant. It is a common form of rent in the province, and has customs connected with it of a complicated character and varying in different estates. I here only pretend to give some of them. The rate of division is generally expressed as a half, a third, or a fourth to the landlord, but these rates are far from indi- cating the real shares. There are numerous wages, expenses, and dues deducted from balances which are left at certain stages of the process, and then added to the shares of either landlord or tenant as the case may be, and some are given to outsiders. The following is a list of these as far as I know : No. Name of deduction. Amount of deduction. To whom given. What the deduction is, 1 Bisar ... One-fortieth ... Chaukidar. The allowance to the chau- kidar or goreit for watching the crojjs. It is sometimes left standing in the field for the man to cut himself ; sometimes, however, it is given at the threshrug- floor, and then it is a seer in the maund. 64 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP, V. No. Name of deduction, Amount of deduction. To whom given. What the deduction is. Loni Lahna or Parja or Dabi. Charwa Kiir Shaina. About one-thir- teenth of what is left when the bisar is not cut to about one-seven- teenth when it is. Varies, it is so much per plough. Varies from 2 to 4 seers per maund on the grain threshed out. Varies from 5J to 75 seers per maund on the balance after deducting the charwa. Usually 1 seer per maund on the united shares. The rea- pers. Black- smith, Carijenter, Dhobi.Cha- mar, Nau. Tenant or herd if he employs one. Tenant. Landlord Each reaper places the ears he has cut in a heap and the assami counts them by handfuls, giving each seventeenth handful to the reaper. Sometimes it is done by estimate. If the assami and his family reap- ed, they get their share. The higher rate is given in Elheri, the lower in Sitapur. These dues are paid in un- threshed ears of grain, and do not appear in the ac- count of the batai. These three are deducted from the divisible produce before the grain is threshed out. After that process comes The herd's wages. The cal- culation on the grain threshed out is not uniform as will appear in the ex- amples. It is sometimes calculated on the united shares of the landlord and tenant after all the deduc- tions have been made, and sometimes on them at an earlier stage. The i:)loughman's wages. The rest of the remark on charwa ajoplies to kur also. This allowance is not al- ways given. In Parganah Gondlamau no case of it was found. The wages of the crop- watcher, the man ^placed by the landlord to prevent its removal until the rent is paid. In Parganah Gond- lamau the following cus- tom is said to prevail. \Vhere the field is large, not less than an acre or so, the tenant cuts a biswa, the whole grain of which he keeps. In lieu of this he pays 5 kacha seers after the batai to the shaina. Then it does not appear in the threshing-floor account. CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. 65 No, Name of deduction. Amount of deduction. To whom given. What the deduction is. 10 11 Patwari Tolai Dharrah Pai Tappa ... Khorak amla. Anjuri ... Ditto A half seer per maund on the united shares. Ditto Half the tolai... Same as tolai . . . Same as pai ... Varies, about 3 seers in 5 maunds. Landlord The wages of the village accountant. Sometimes the iiatwari collects this himself, but generally it is credited. Ditto ... This is supposed to be the wages of the man who weighs out the corn, but sometimes it becomes a mere perquisite, and there is another charge for weigh- ing as in Specimens Nos. 3 and 4. In Specimens Nos. 1 and 2 this is 1 seer per maund. Ditto . . . This is for the hire of scales and weights. Ditto ... A pure perquisite. Ditto ... A charge for scaling the crop when threished out and before weighing. Landlord's A perquisite of the land- agent, lord's agent. Sometimes landlord sometimes tenant. Means as much grain as can be held in the i\7o hands. It is sometimes thrrwn more than once ^>n the landlord's heap, but in Gondlamau the followiug account of it is given : Before the weighing begins, the cultivator takes out of the whole heap a basketful of grain which he distri- butes on the threshing- floor in several small heaps, usually seven, eight, or nine. One of these is for himself, and one for his special god ; these two are as large as all the rest put together. He puts one for the particular mahant, fakir, or bhat who receives fees from the village, one for the mali, one for the pasi, and one for the dihiwal, who lights the fire at the holi. 66 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. V. No. Name of deduction. 14 Kathri Amount of deduction. To wliom given. What the deduction is. Varies Half to landlord and half to tenant. 15 Tari A quarter to a half seer per maund. Tenant. The remainder of what is separated from the main heap. In the examples, Nos. 3 and .5, given, it is the remainder after the deduc- tions have taken place, but in Gondlamau it is describ- ed as follows : — When the grain is about to be threshed, the tenant selects some of the finest ears for seed. These are kept in ear till seed time, and are called h'uidra. But there is always some grain left in the threshed ears and chaff which is called hhulan. Of course it is the tenant's business to make this as much as possible, and his efforts are to a certain extent winked at. Besides this the tenant takes a certain portion of the threshed out grain, and ostentatiously hides it under some chaff — this is called nakol. This portion, the bhulan and the bisara, form the kathri. The patwari then makes an estimate of this, always favorable to the tenant, and deducts the charwa therefrom, for the charwa is included in the kathri where this custom prevails, and half of the remainder is assigned to the fandlord. The tenant then pays this assignment from his own heap of grain to the land- lord and takes all the kathri. Is connected with the word ' taxai,' and means what is below underneath. It is the grain that is left on the floor at the weighing and swept up. Only re- ported to me from Parga- nah Gondlamau. CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. 67 These deductions are probably far from exhaustive, though they are all that I have been able to hear of. They are not all in use in the same village, as the following specimen batais will show : — SPECIMEN No. 1. Agarhazurg Estate. Parganah Bhur. District Kheri. Half and half batai. Mds. Seers. 'total outturn 20 Deduct Loni nder ... 1 20 Remai 18 20 Charwa at 2 seers per maund on last re- mainder 37 Remainder 17 23 Kur at 6^ seers on last remainder ... 2 281 14 341 Expenses at 4 seers per maund, viz. ; Seers. Shaina at 1 seer per maund on last re- mainder ... 14| Patwari ditto ditto ... 14| Tolai ditto ditto ... 14| Village expenses ... 15i Landlord 1 191 United shares 13 15 Cultivator. d. Mds. Seers. Mds, . Seers Share ... 6 27^ Share ... 6 271 Loni ... 1 20 Expenses 1 191 Charwa ... 37 Kur ... 2 28i Real share . . . Mds. Seers. 8 7 Real share ... 11 33 Landlord ,.8 7 Tenant .. 11 33 Total ... 20 68 EEVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. V. SPECIMEN No. 2. Agarhazurg. Estate. Parganah Blmr, District Kheri. One-tliird to the landlord with 4 seers charwa. Mds. Seers. Total outturn ... ... 20 Loni Remainder ... 1 20 18 20 Charwa 4 seers on last remainder Remainder ... 1 34 16 26 Kur at 6^ seers on last remainder ... 2 24 14 2 Expenses at 4 seers on last remainder : Seers. Shaina at 1 seer ditto . 14 Patwra-i ditto .. . 14 Tolai ditto .. . 14 Village expen< ses United shares . 14 LancUoi 1 16 12 26 Tenant. 'd. Mds. Srs. Ch. Mds. Srs. Ch. Share ... 8 17 4 Share ... 4 8 12 Loni ... 1 20 Expenses ... 1 16 Charwa ... 1 Kiir ... 2 34 24 Real share ... 5 r 24 12 Real share ... 14 15 4 Mds Srs. Ch. Landlord ... ... ... 5 24 12 Tenant Total ... 14 15 4 ... 20 CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. 69 SPECIMEN No. 3. Agarhazurg Estate. Pargana Bhur. District Kheri. One-third to the landlord with 4 seers charwa. Mds. Seers. Total outturn ... ... ... 20 Deduct Loni ... ... ... 1 20 Weigh out by guess : — Landlord's share Tenant's ditto United shares Kurat7|^ on united share 18 20 Charwa at 4 ditto 10 Mds. Srs. 12 8 18 Expense as detailed Seers. 12 12 12 6 6 6 Patwdri at 1 seer on united shares Shainah at 1 seer ditto Village expenses at 1 seer ditto Darrah at | seer ditto Tolai at ^ seer ditto Tappah at i seer ditto Total expenses Weighman Actually paid Thic* remainder is called the kathri, and is divided, two-thirds to the tenant and one-third to the landlord. The final shares are : 1 14 6 16 38 Remainder ... 1 22 Landlord. Mds. Srs. Share ... 4 Expenses 1 14 Kathri ... 20| Share Km- Loni Charwa Kathri Total Tenant. Mds. Srs. ... 8 ... 2 10 ... 1 20 1 8 ... 41^ Actual Division. Mds. Srs. Landlord ... 5 34§ Tenant .. 13 39^ Weighman ... G Total ... 5 34f Grand Total 20 0^ ... 13 39^ 70 EEVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [chap. V. SPECIMEN No. 4. Agarbazurg Estate. Parganah Bhur. District Kheri. One-half to landlord with 2 seers charwa. Mds. Seers. Total outturn ... ..• ... 20 Loni ... ... ... ... 1 20 United shares Share ... Kur 1\ seers oji the united shares Charwa 2 seers ditto Share Shaina 1 seer on the united shares PatwAri ditto ... Village expenses ditto Tolai \ seer ditto Durrah ditto ditto Tappah ditto ditto Eemainder ... 18 20 Mds. Srs. Chks. ... 13 28 Weighman Tenant. Mds. 1 , 6 I Srs. Chks. 34 1 . 2 18 8 . 27 n 39 8 Landlord. Mds .. 6 . Srs. Chks. 34 3U .. 13 5^ .. 13 5^ .. 13 5^ .. 6 10 .. 6 10 .. 6 10 Q 13 6 14 10 ... 18 20 Share ... Expenses. Total ... Landlord. Md. Sr. Ch. ... 6 34 1 19 14 8 13 14 Share Loni ... Kur ... Charwa Tenant. Md. Sr. Ch. 6 34 1 20 2 18 8 27 Total ... 11 19 Actual division. Md. Sr. Ch. Landlord 8 13 14 Tenant 11 19 8 Weio;hmanO G 10 Grand Total 20 In this batai the weighman has hit it oflP so exactly that I should have suspected its being a genuine one but that lie has taken some slight liberty in the calculation of the charges on the united shares. CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. SPECIMEN No.. 5. Raipur Estate Parganah Haiderahad. District Kheri, One-half to the landlord with 2 seers charwa. • Mds. Srs. Total produce ... 21 Measure out — Landlord's share Tenant's share ... Mds. Seera. ... 9 ... 9 — 18 Remainder . . . 8 Deduct — Patwari 1 seer per maund on the united Srs. shares ... 11 Village expenses ditto ... 18 Tolai 1 ditto ..-. ... 9 Khordk Anila ^ ditto ... H Pai 1 ditto ... 4i Charwa ... 36 Remainder .. 2 10 30 This remainder is called the kathri, and is divided equally between the landlord and the tenant. Their final shares stand thus : — Landlord. I'enant. Mds. Seers. Mds. Seers. Share ... 9 Share 9 Expenses 1 14 Charwa 36 Half kathri 15 Half kathri 11 Total ... 10 29 Total Mds. Seers. 10 11 Total of landlord ... ... 10 29 Ditto tenant Gran ... 10 11 1 Total ... 21 72 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. V. SPECIMEN No. 6. Mauzah Gondlamau. Parganah Gondlamau. District Sitapur. Debi Gureria's batai. This was an actual batai made before the officer wbo reported it. It is a one-balf batai with viHage expenses, calculated at 2^ seers, and bisar at 1 seer per maund on the united shares as first weighed, charwa at 2 seers on the total united shares, and hak zemindari at 5 seers on the tenant's share of the total united shares, plus his calculated share of the kathri. The batai was as follows : — There was no bisdra, and the bhulan was estimated at 10 seers. The tenant then set aside the nakd estimated at 20 seers, and the anjuri at 4 seers. Mds. Seers. Then was weighed landlord's share ... 2 30 Ditto tenant ... ... • ... 2 30 United shares as first weighed On this was calculated and weighed out — Village expenses at 2|- seers Bisar ditto 1 seer These were taken by those entitled to them. The remainder was then weighed. Landlord's share ... ... ... 7 Tenant's share ... ., ... 7 5 20 12| H 18 Second weitjhment of united shares ... 14 Total united shares ... ... 5 34 There remained the tari, which was estimated at 3 seers. There was the kathri, which amounted to Mds. Seers. Bhulan ... ... ... 10 Nakd ... ... ... 20 Kathri .. 30 CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. 73 The Charwa, which in this batai comes out of the katliri, was then calculated on the total united shares. It comes to a little less than 12 seers, but was fixed at that. The account then stood for the kathri Mds. Seers. Charwa-,.. ... ... ... 12 Landlord's share ... ... ... 9 Tenant's share ... ... ... 9 Total kathri ... 30 Nine seers were then taken from the tenant's heap by weigh- ment and put on the landlord's. The tenant took the whole kathri. The tenant's share then stood by the account — First weighment Second ditto Half kathri by account Total On this the hak zemindari was calculated. The odd six seers were not assessed, and 15 seers was fixed as the amount. The 15 seers were placed from the tenant's heap on to the landlord's. The final account then stood — Mds. Seers. Landlord's total weighed out share ... 2 37 First deduction from tenant katliri ... 9 Second ditto ditto hak zemindari ... 15 Mds. Seers. 2 30 7 9 3 *6 3 21 Tenant's weighed out share Legs deducted for landlord Tari Kathri Village expenses Bisar Anjur Ids. Seers. 2 37 24 2 13 3 ... 30 3 G 121 .... 5i ... )tal 4 Grand Tc 7 9 10 74 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. V. SPECIMEN No. 7. Mauzah Pati Neiodda. Parganah Gondlamau. District Sitapur. Dhanrinjna chamar's batai made in a similar way to the last Vfith village expenses 2 seers per maund. Mds. Seers, Landlord got ... ... ... 2 13| Tenant got Village expenses and bisar Anjuri Total 2 3 101 2^ 291 The tari in this case was 11 seers. The kathri was appraised at 10 seers nakd and 5 seers bhulan. SPECIMEN No. 8. Mauzah Gondlamau Uidss. Parganah Gondlamau. District Sitapur. Ldlta Singh's batai. No hak zemindari was taken, the tenant got 2 seers charwa, and the village expenses were 2\ seers, bisar as usual. Mds. Seers. Landlord got ... ... ... 6 35 Tenant got ... ... ... 7 30 Village expenses and bisar ... ... 35f Anjuri ... ... ... f^ Total ... 15 26| The tari in this was 10 seers. The kathri was appraised at 1 maund nakd, 1 maund and 1 seers bhulan, and 1 5 seers bisara. Total kathri 2 maunds 25 seers. CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. 75 SPECIMEN No. 9, Purwa Harhiharpur. Mauzah Dharauli. Farganah Gondlamau. District Sitapur. Ldlla Dliobi's batai. One share to the landlord and two to the tenant. No hak zemindari or charwa; village expenses- 2^ seers per maund on the united shares. Bisar is as usual. Mds. Seers. Landlord's share ... ... ... 1 17 Tenant's share ... ... ... 3 5;^ Village expenses and bisar ... ... 12 Anjuri ... ... ... 3 4 37| The tari was 1| seers. In the kathri no nakd or bisara was allowed: the bhulan was estimated at 10 seers, and being so small nothing was taken from his heap on account of the land- lord's kathri. SPECIMEN No. 10. Mauzah Buhra Khera Parganah Misrikh. District Sitapur. Debi Brahmin's batai. Kur 1^ seers per maund, and charwa 2 seers on the united shares. The village expenses were on the united shares plus the kur. Mds. Seers. Landlord got ... ... ... 17 17^ Tenant got ... ... ... 25 25 Village expenses ... ... ... 3 5 Anjuri ... ... ... 10 46 17i The kathri was 8 maunds, and the assdmi got 1 maund 35 seers remitted in the appraisement of it. The landlord took half the village expenses in addition to what is put down to him, so that his real share was 19 maunds. In parts of Kheri and Sitapur, there is a custom known as ' dolakh,' which was a device to cheat the Government under the native system of annual assessments, and con- 76 EEVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. V; siderably affected batai rents. It was discovered in some Government villages in which the patwaris had used it to cheat the tahsildar, and the system was fully disclosed in a trial of one of the Sarbarakars of the encumbered estates for embezzlement. Dolakli means two weighments, and appears to be derived from dOy two, and laklina, to weigh or ascertain. In the case disclosed, it was worked as follows : — An addition of 1^ seers was added to the bottom of the dharrah or weight of 15 seers. The grain was weighed first with the false weight and this alone was shown to the Government officer, but when his back was turned, the addition was removed from the dharrah, and the grain was weighed with the true weight. The difference was then divided between the landlord and the tenant as shown in Specimen No. 5, but the following items were omitted from the accounfc in question, and were embezzled by the Sarbarakar. Khorak Shaina. Charwa. Pai. Kathri. The khorak shaina was a charge of 5 seers per tenant, which was deducted from each tenant's share. In conse- quence of this, the shares were shown thus : — Mds. Seers. Landlord ... ... ... 10 5 Tenant ... ... ... 9-0 "Weighed false by dolakh ... ... 19 5 while under the true weight the division would have been — Mds. Seers. Landlord ... ... ... 11 30 Tenant ... ... ... 9 10 * Total ... 21 CHAP, v.] CORN RENTS. 77 It was the greed of the Sarbarakar which caused his detection. He appropriated the whole difference 1 maund 35 seers. Had he given the tenants their 10 seers of the dolakh, he would probably have escaped detection. In some villages subject to fluvial action, the waters overspread the land and generate weeds and strong coarse grs^sses in baneful luxuriance. There the cultivation is constantly changing, and the rate of batai changes with it after the fashion of nakshi rents to be hereafter described. In one such village these causes necessitate a change of cultivation on the average every fourth year. New land is then broken and the rate becomes. First year, one-twelfth. Second year, one-sixth. Third year, one-third. After this when it is abandoned, a new area is taken up in lieu thereof at one-twelfth. In another village there were three rates — one-half, two-fifths, and one-third. A tenant in this village, holding at one-half batai and changing his land, paid one-third for the first year, and one-half thenceforward until he changed again. One holding at two-fifths, changing his land, paid one-third the first year, and two-fifths thenceforward until he changed again. But in the case of a tenant holding at one-third, no change was made in the rate of batai when the land was changed. These examples are sufficient to show the great variety there is in batai rents, not only in the same parganah but in the same estate and even village. Moreover the mere rate of batai expresses a very different real share in different villages and to different tenants in the same village as will be seen by comparing Specimen No. G with 78 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. V. Specimen No. 8. No hak zemindari was taken from the high caste man. Kankut. Kankut is also a corn rent, but instead of being a division of the actual crop, the outturn is estimated while the crop is on the ground by experts, some short time before it is ripe, but when it has pretty well declajred itself The additions and deductions are made as in batai and in similar variety, but all the calculations are made on the estimated outturn, and the landlord's share alone is weighed out according to the result. There is a money due called 'merhi,' taken to pay for the kut moharrirs at the rate of 5 annas per cent., on the value of the gross estimated produce after deducting the loni. This mode of educing the rent is better than batai, as it removes the temptation to much cheating. The advantages of corn rents are certainty of collec- tion, and that they do not press hard on the tenants in bad years : their disadvantages are that they afford much opportunity for fraud, require expensive establishments to collect them, throw a large quantity of grain on the landlord's hands when the demand upon him is for money, and encourage slovenly cultivation. Still they are the rents best suited to backward lands or to tracts subject to fluvial action, but they are only suitable as the basis for an assessment when they are taken on the average of a number of years. Section III— MIXED RENTS. The rents so called by me are really corn rents, though paid in money. They appear to be transition rents adopted on the part of the landlords, because they relieve CHAP, v.] THAHRAI, 79 them of some of the trouble of administering corn-rented lands pure and simple, and by the tenants, because the terms are generally more favorable. There are three kinds known to me in Oudh as already observed. Darkatti. This is the landlord's kankut valued at the harvest price of the threshing-floor after all the adjustments have been made, and is consequently a harvest rent and is payable in money at this valuation. In some parts, however, the landlord gets somewhat more than this by custom. Instead of taking the village prices he calculates at one and sometimes even two panseris less for the rupee, and the darkatti is made on this basis. To give an example, a barley crop is appraised at two maunds for the' landlord's share including village expenses, barley selling at one per maund. By the ordinary rule, the rent would be Es. 2. But suppose the landlord calculates at one panseri less or 35 seers to the rupee, his rent in that case would be Rs. 2-4-6 for his two jnaunds. If the bazaar rate was very low, he might deduct two panseris and make his calculation at 30 seers the rupee, and in that case he would get Rs. 2-10-8 as his rent. This arrangement prevails in the parganahs farther from the markets, and no doubt is intended to rectify the consequences of a glut in the market at harvest time. In two estates of these parganahs also, which are more inlying and nearer markets, the ordinary custom prevails, with an addition in the one case of three annas in the rupee, and in the other of one to two annas for village expenses. Thahrai. This . is also a harvest rent. It is an appraisement of the landlord's share of the crop in money at each harvest, 80 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDII. [CHAP. V. and it is said that on the payment of this sum the tenant is authorized to remove the crop. I suspect, however, that in practice the tenant can hardly pay his rent until he has sold some of his grain and the payment would necessarily be deferred as a general rule. It is stated that where villages are let in lease, this mode of adjusting rent is not uncommon between the lessee and the cultivating tenant in some parts of the Kheri District. It is a fair and sensible mode of procedure, and where they are on friendly terms works well. Nakshi. This rent is only found in the Parganahs of Kheri north of the Ul river, and has peculiar features of its own. It is a harvest rent fixed at a money rate per bigah, sometimes on the quality of the soil, but more generally on the time the land has been under cultivation. In the lands where nakshi rents prevail, which are mainly the low lands adjoining the larger rivers, it is customary after cropping the land for several years to abandon it and allow it to recover strength by lying fallow for years together. When the land is again cultivated after this interval, 'it is termed new land, and pays a lower rate the first year, a higher rate the second year, and the full rate the third. These three rates form the ordinary variations of nakshi rates in the same village. But all nakshi rents vary in reality, if the crop is less than a fair average one, and, as the rates are fixed, it is the area which alters, as will be shown by the following example. Supposing 100 bigahs were cultivated, and the nakshi rate on them was Rs. 2, but at harvest the outturn was found to be that of a three- quarter instead of a full crop, the rate would only be charged on 75 instead of 100 bigahs, and the rent be CHAP, v.] NAKSHI. 81 Rs. 150 instead of Rs. 200. The true rate of rent in that case is Re. 1-8 and not Rs. 2 a bigah. In the Parganah of Khairigarh, which lies next to Nipal, there is a further custom of deducting an allowance, sometimes dobisiui sometimes chauhiswi, and known under the name of ' chut.' In other words on6-tenth or one-fifth of the cultivated area is never charged with rent at all. To the remainder of the area the nakshi rate is applied, but subject to the rectification at harvest already described. As Khairigarh is peculiarly liable to have its assamis seduced over the frontier by the Nipalese, who offer them all kinds of temptations to settle, the custom of chut has no doubt arisen to counteract these temptations. A native is far more susceptible of a deduction of this kind than if it was given him in the shape of a lower rate of rent. It will be evident from this description that mixed rents cannot be blindly taken for a single year to make rent rates for purposes of assessment. All three kinds are dependent on the harvest outturn for their figure, and consequently it is only an average of a sufiicient number of years that can be relied upon. Moreover, it is necessary besides, in the nak.shi rent villages, to add the area struck out at harvest to find the true rent paid in each year, and in the Khairigarh Parganah to include the chut also within that area. Nevertheless, properly and judiciously used, these rents will form the basis of a successful assessment, but it will not be done by going into the villages, inquiring what the rates are, and taking their average to api)ly to the measured areas of the year of survey. 11 82 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. VI. CHAPTER VI. PATWARIS AND THEIR PAPERS. The patwaris of Oudh have been very little interfered with, and as a body they are very incompetent. Their appointment in the first instance rests with the proprietors, and in talukas the Deputy Commissioner is debarred from interference so long as the talukdar furnishes correct papers. This is practically no condition at all, for the pat- wari is really only required to furnish a jamabandi for money-rented villages. Under present orders, he has no papers to furnish in a grain-rented village. He is sup- posed besides to maintain a regular day-book and ledger of the village transactions, but there is no adequate machinery to see that it is done. In villages not in talu- kas, the Deputy Commissioner has to be satisfied of the competence of a patwari on his nomination by the zemin- dars, and the patwari is supposed to read Hindi fluently, and write it legibly in the Nagri character, to know the simple rules of arithmetic, and to be acquainted with the duties of a patwari as laid down in the Chief Commissioner's orders ; but there is no certainty as to either the pay or position of these men, so the District Oj6S.cers are reluctant to enforce these orders, or rather .to try to do so, for it, is not at all certain they could enforce them if they tried. The great obstacle to the reform of the patwari is the existence of the talukdari system as established in Oudh. The talukdars look upon the patwaris as their servants, and they have been encouraged to think so, and they resent any independence on their part. Yet there is no difficulty in showing that the position is both inexpedient and unfair. In corn-rented villages, as the specimens of batai rent CHAP. VI.] PATWAlllS AND THEIR PAPERS. 83 divisions will show, the takikdars get one seer in the maund after deducting the allowances for cultivation on account of patwaris, and in money-rented villages they levy, over and above the rent, a half anna in the rupee, or roughly one anna in the rupee on the revenue, a sum larger than the six per cent, which, under the conditions of their kabuliats, they are obliged to pay on this account if the Government chooses to demand it. They do not keep competent pat- waris, nor do they pay them regularly and properly. So far for the unfairness of the present system. As to the inex- pedience of it, there is little room for doubt. The patwtiri is the man who is supposed to keep the accounts of both landlord and tenant, and of the lambardars and co-sharers among themselves. There are usually no records what- ever beyond his. Under the native system, he was an hereditary officer and himself collected the dues set aside for his remuneration, and he was in a more independent position than he is now ; for in the tui-bulent days of the Nawabi, talukdars were not in a position to coerce their patwaris to the detriment of their tenantry. But now the talukdar has got the Government to consider the pat- wari his servant ; he pays him so far as he is paid; he can get the Deputy Commissioner to dismiss him by a mere re- quest to that effect ; and, though I scout the idea of a general falsification of the patwari's accounts, I am not prepared to say that he may not serve his patron in that way in the case of an obnoxious individual, or for a single year to defraud the Government. Rent-suits are decided on the ipse dixit of the patwari for the most part, as there is no other evidence forthcoming in nine cases out of ten ; for pattas and kabuliats are rare, and there is nothing else but the patwaris' papers. No doubt a ledger supported on the one 84 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDII. [CHAP. VI, hand by a jamabandi, and on the other by a regularly kept day-book, is a very trustworthy record ; but though this has been prescribed since 1859, and order after order has been issued on the subject, the books are neither generally nor properly kept, partly on account of the inefficiency of the patwaris themselves, and partly because there is not an adequate establishment to supervise them. In my opinion, the patwari should be a local officer sup- ported by the land, perfectly independent of all parties in the village, appointed and dismissed by the Deputy Com- missioner, and paid at specified intervals by the tahsildar. There is no objection to a son succeeding his father on condition of fitness, good behaviour, and the punctual submission of the papers, but all three should be rigidly exacted. The patwari is the back-bone of the revenue administration, and besides his payment, independence, and qualification, there are two things further necessary ; his charge must be in a ringfence, and he must live in it, and he must keep a gomashta, so that if one of them be called to court or to the tahsildar, the other may be in his circle attending to its business. The papers that it is requisite the patwari should keep up in the Province of Oudh, are (1) jamabandi,* (2) roznamcha, (3) bahi khata, (4) milan khasrah, (o) khewat. It is not necessary to keep up a bahi khata for corn rents, nor a khewat for a village belonging to one man where there are no under-proprietary holdings in coparcenary, but in such cases the rest, and in all other cases the whole five are required. * In the case of corn-rents this paper is more properly called a fard hatai, or a fard kankut, but there is advantage in using only one word. CHAP. VI.] PATWARIS AND THEIR PAPERS. 85 In cash-rented villages, the jamabandi is the rent-roll as agreed upon between landlord and tenant, or settled by decrees of court. It is required to show the rent payable by the tenant and is due for the current year, which com- mences on the 1st July, on the 15th October. I believe however, that the opinion of the courts as to the honesty and independence of the patwaris is shown by their refusing to accept the entry of an enhanced rent in the jamabandi as evidence of the consent of the tenant required by the Rent Act. There is, however, another use of the jamabandi, which is to show what the land actually yielded for purposes of assessment when a new settlement comes to be made, and for this purpose it would be more valuable to show the actual collections than the actual demand. The subjoined form of jamabandi shows both these things, and is as simple as possible. Column 7 would be blank when the paper was filed, and would be filled up from the bahi khata at the end of the year. Jamabandi of M P District- for 128 F. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 No. Caste of assami. • Name of assami. Khasrah No. of field. . Area in standard bigahs. Rent. Collection. < Even in cash-rented villages, there are often some few outlying paikasht fields, or fields liable to inundation, which pay corn rents. These it is convenient to have valued in cash by the patwari and entered in the jama- bandi. If the village be partly corn-rented, the latter area being considerable, it should have separate jamabandis for each, for reasons that will be apparent when he come 8G llliVEN'UE MATTKRS TN OUDH. [CHAP. VI. to treat of a corn-rented jamabandi. All the jarnabaudls here suggested are arranged according to the caste of the assamis, because this best shows the differential average of rent. In column 2, however, the zemindars, under-pro- prietors, or occupancy tenants should be entered separately from the other men of their own caste, being distinguished by the words sii', mdtahat, and kasthkari under the caste name, so as to show these particular holdings. For corn rents, the jamabandi cannot be annual without much compilation, as the rents are harvest rents, the he- want being classed with the kharif as one harvest. As these rents cannot be known until harvest time, to show them in one large form with the cash rents, not only requires a calculation to unite the kharif and i-abi, but necessarily delays the cash jamabandi to the end of the year in all villages where both kinds of rent are found. It is quite clear that the patwari must keep a record of each batai and kankut, and if he has to show the whole in one jama- bandi, he must compile them, in which much extra labor is involved. Moreover, the people have a great dislike to enter the same land twice in the jammabandi, and conse- quently when there is a dofasli crop, they only enter the area on which it is grown once in the kharif paper. Yet it is beyond all question that if this area be omitted, the rabi crops will appear to be grown on a much smaller area than is really the case, and both the crop-yield and the crop-rate per acre will be higher than the truth. If the jamabandi be a harvest one, they must enter it, or a crop would appear without an area, which would at once attract attention. On the other hand, the sum of the areas shown in the harvest jamabandis would not be the true total area, and means must be devised to get rid of this CHAP. YI.] PATWARTS AND THEIR PAPERS. 87 error, which, however, must be shown to give the true crop- yield and the true crop-rate per acre. This may he done by entering the Avord ' dofasli ' opposite every field in the jamabandi for the rabi in which there was a dofasli crop. It would then be in the power of the compiler to use the extra area or leave it out as he had to show the averao-e yield per acre of any given crop, or the total yield in the year of the land. If there is error either waj^ there is this difference. In the one case, it is known to the compil- ing officer, and he can do with it what he pleases, and in the other it is unknown to him and may vitiate all his conclusions. For these reasons, and on the ground of sim- plicity, accuracy, and ease of supervision, I think corn- rent jamabandis should be prepared for each harvest, and be due in December and June of each year for the preceding kharif and rabi. The form I suggested should be as follows : — Jamabandi of M P District- for 128 F. 1 2 3 4. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 ' 1 QQ 2 =4H O u s o o p. o o . OQ o Hi c3 a m ,■» d fcc^ o t4 It S 2 o o ^ O ^ M < o H 1-5 v-l t> P^ There is sometimes a difficulty in filling up columns 4, 5, and 7 of this jamabandi where the rents arc batai. This is owing to its being the practice of the tenant to put all his grain of one kind into one heap without reference to the field or fields it came from, and then they not only sow 88 REVENUE MATTERS IN OUDH. [CHAP. VI. utdr crops in the same field, but they perhaps sow half a field with one crop and half with another. In these cases, columns 4 and 5 must be left blank, until the system be improved and the grain be threshed and weighed field by field. So with regard to column 7 a glance at the batais given will show that, in some cases, the total produce can only be found by a system of adding together a number of small items in every batai. In Specimens 3, 5, and 6, though the totals are given at the heading of the two former, they really are not known, as the batais commence with a guess that so much is the proper united shares, and they are weighed out accordingly, the balance being even- tually divided under the name of kathri after the calcula- tions for deductions have been made. In such cases it would be very laborious to ascertain the total produce, and column 7 would be blank. By improved arrangements generally, however, these difficulties can in time I believe be overcome. In kankut there should be no such difficulty, as I see no reason why the appraisement should not be made even now field by field, and of course it is the total produce that is estimated. In villages where the rent is darkatti, the second form given will do, if column 10 be headed ' darkat,' and column 11 'rent.' The darkat is sometimes I believe a rate per bigah, and sometimes a price per maund. If the for- mer, the darkat of column 10 will have to be applied to the area, column 5, and if the latter, to the landlord's real share, column 9, to give the rent. Where the rent is thah- rai, the second form will also apply, for this, too, is a har- vest rent, and as it is usually a rate per bigah, it will appear in column 10 as 'thahrai rate,' and be applied to 'column 5 to give the rent, column 11. CHAP. VI.] PATWARIS AND THEIR PAPERS. 89 For nakshi rents, however, a form of jamabandi pecu- liar to itself is required. The following I would suggest for this purpose : — Jamahandi of M P District for 128 J^. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Area IN Standakd Bigahs. 'C , o Deduct ^ g MS O S 02 «f-( O a> a > 0) O ^ a > 4^ ci r^ 3 -*3 ^ S c3 ^ m .jia -U o c« s H ^ o ;zi o o <^ H H « p^ rt The rent is found by multiplying columns 9 and 10, but it is plain, when this form is compared with the des- cription of nakshi rents, that the division of column 11 by column 5 is what gives the true rate of rent for the field. Nakshi lands are, however, as has been already explained, subject to great changes of cultivation, and they pay differ- ent rents according as the land is broken up for the first or second year : in the third they pay the full rent. Column 10 of the jamabandi would of itself show which year the field was to be classed in, but, to make it more conspicuous, it is desirable to place the words 'first year' or 'second year' in the column of remarks. The roznumcha (day-book) is a daily record of every village transaction, and is the source whence the account of each individual is made up. In some shape or other, this record is and must be kept, or the village could not get on ; but to make it a really trustworthy record, it should be kept day by day in a bound book, with numbered pages, 12 90 REVENUE MATTERS IN^ OUDH. [CHAP. VI. in which every entry with its date should closely follow the preceding one. The bahi khata (ledger) requires no remarks, nor does the khewat (register of proprietary mutations) the form of which is found in the Directions. The melan khasrah is intended to record the annual changes in the cultivation, and it is essential to the proper revenue administration of a village. The form in the Directions is not a convenient one, and I hear it is proposed to substitute for it in the North- Western Provinces an annual khasrah to be prepared by the patwari. This would be an immense improvement, but it is not at all certain that the means for carrying through so ambitious a scheme will be forthcoming. In case they should not, I suggest, as a smaller measure, the following : — M elan Khasrah of M P District /or 128 F. 2 3 s ai 03 cS =*-! ew O O (D o ■*o pi eg O ^ 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cultivation at close of last year. Fallow during- the year. New culti- vation du- ring' the year. u u o .Q g PI ps PI PI ,a 4d eS ce c3 c3 c3 e3 ^ M ,=i >-i M k CHAP. X.] COLLECTION OF REVENUE. 129 out of the estate until the profits of the under-proprietors, when charged with the full revenue assesse'd by the Govern- ment, equal those which they formerly enjoyed under a lower rate of rent. The remainder of the property should then be sold ; and, if it covered the arrears as in nineteen cases out of twenty it would, and as it ought to do if the Deputy Commissioner knows his business, a direct settlement might be made with the former under-proprietors, and their lands become new mahals. If the arrears were not covered by the sale of the land left after making these new estates, the balance should be recovered from the former under- proprietors, under the orders of the revenue authorities as may seem fair and equitable. It is impossible to say in proportion to their holdings, or indeed to lay down any hard and fast rule, for a proprietor just before breaking up might alienate his lands to his relatives or friends for the purpose of fraud. On the other hand, the protection of those under-proprietary rights recorded at settlement alone may be very unjust, as the defaulting proprietor may have received the full value for those subsequently created, and the pro- tected may hold under a legal but very less equitable title. In this matter the Government may safely rely on the discretion of their revenue officers on the spot controlled by tjieir official superiors. Justice would be done, and the people would show no misgivings. In this short chapter I have not attempted to speak of the general mode of collecting the revenue, which is explained in the Directions far more lucidly than I can do it. I have confined myself to remarks on those points in the collection in Oudh for which the Directions do not seem to provide, or where the Oudh Rent Act can be shown to be inadequate or cumbrous in procedure. 17 132 TALUKDARl Hadhast No. MaucaJi Area. Bigahs. No. Classified & Cultivated I KacMana Cultivable, productive II Bijar „ not productive ... III Domat, irri. Sites IV „ unirri. Roada» V Bliur, irri. ' Tanks Groves YI „ unirri. Nalas and ravines Assamis.' Barren Chapparbaud Paikasht ...■ DETAIl Area an Zabti. NiJ Year. 1 • Area. Rent. Bate. Area. B 1281 F. 1282 „ 1283 „ 1281 „ 128.5 „ 1286 „ 1287 „ 1288 ,, 1289 „ 1?.W.. 5 &s "SS i^ <§ . -9. s ;' ; a (C ft. 1. 1 ■d s 1 J 1 |- 5^ i! o : . ■3 . Iz; s 1 ■3 •= 1 .. 1 1 1 — '- S • ■< fl 3 d s -s ^ 13 §• a s O P 5 fS ^5 .a ^ tl I t > 1 n 1 ' ■ ■ ■7 cj !s; a s r^ 2 1 ^ S 3 > •t « "* CI y cc CS H o 1 . a 1 s 5 1 1 <4 Rs. A«. P. 50 per ceut. Proposed Ditto Rcnt-tree Ditto Cultivuljle. productive Total Ceases 2J per cent. Jama as per kabuliat 1 1 1 3 1 < 1 1 &'■'■'■'■'■ I -a t 1 » 1 i 1 1 1 •c « -a ^ 1 1 ' 1 , ^ ^ :■ 1 « 1 1 1 1 1 1 » 1 n a £ f* - s 3 > !> -sS > ;> " = 5&> « j; S > > ; : J ■^ c 3 ^ 3 f 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 o 1 I I & I » a g g o g> I a I I. I I" ^ I I ^ ~| ^ i I I ' ' ' s' ! >• ° j° " r' -" ;'' ;" -" r is S ~T" r' ^ I ^ I ^ I ^ J H KJ !2; s APPKNDIX. No. 2. S UB-SETTLEMENT. Former jama, Rs. oil. Bigahs. Wells. No. Names of Purwahs Bazaars, ice. Packa Kacha Irrigation. Bigahs. From wells „ tanks No. Police. - Pay. Chaukidar Goreit J FOE ASSESSMENT. ■I lientalfor ten years. KAEI. \ Batai. Total. ent. Rate. Area. Rent. Rate. Area. Rent. r Rate. 1 -s T ALU KD Alii Hadbast No. Mau'^ali Area. Bigahs. No. Classified S Cultivated Cultivable productive ,, not productive ... Sites Koads I II III Kachiana Clayey soil Sandy soil Assamis Tanks Groves Nalas and ravines Bai'ren • Chapparband ... Paikasht DETAI First Year op Cultiv. Area cultivated. Rate. Nominal Rent. Are. Years. Chut. 1281 F. 1282,,... 1283 „... 1284 „ 1285 „ Second Year of Cultiva 1281 F. 1282 „. I ^ is ^ if I ^ I \ s ^ I 1 '~ I I I I » * "^ I II": I 1 1 [ 1 1 1 1 < ■ E 1 -ti 1 1 1 (S 1281 F J 1282 , 1283 , 1281 1285 -5 H S 1 1 ., 1 1 2 i Underprop. Mafi Belag^ni Chakrana Total to O 1 i i 1 o 1 i 1 ^ 1 1 — 1 1 1 ^ 1 1 ; : 1 : : It S S " 3 tf s w 1 1 w .^ w ►ti ^ S ^ s 9 ?■ ? & 1 1 s = § ^ t> P 1 . p j » { i- » " 1 ego g f ss B M "Pffj? ■2 'S s -■?■§ = S " £;3 g. 1 , ■ :?:: s i 1 s £■ • 8 : : 1 • Cultivated Cultivable productive not productive .. I ■ 1^ • 1 g S3 1 a K « r ' l| 1> 1 Kachidna Clayey soil Sandy Boil 1 1 gl H 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 " ^ ? 1 a \. y APl'lfNDlX. No. 4. Former jama , Rf^. oil. Bigahs. Wells. No. Names of Purwahs, Bazaars, &o. ... t Packa. drinking „ irrigation Kacha No. Police. Pay. Chaukidar •Goreit L FOR ASSESSMENT. i.TION. Nakshi Rents. I. DEDUCTED. • Area to which rate applied. Real rent. True rent rate. At harvest. Total. Average of the five years. « • Area col. 2. Rent col. y. Rate col. 10, rioN. ^-.. . s. ypi*rxDix. ■ \ Wo. 5. FIRST CLASS VILLAGE. lI.Miist Nil. . Mauznh PATTWARl Former jamn. Its. Area. Bigabs. No. Classifled Soil. EigahB. Wells. No. Namefl of Purwaha, liazoars, ic. Cultivated Cultivable, productive I II III IV V VI Goind Bijar Doamat, irri. „ nnirri. ... Bbur, irri. Paoka Eacha . Sites ... Irrigation. Bigahs. Roads Tanks Grovcj From wells „ tanks N.ilas and ravines Assamis. No. Police. Pay. Barren Chapparband ... Poikasht Chaukidar Goreit DETAIL FOR ASSESSMENT. At Fixed Rent Rates. Proposed. Rent-fhke. Soil. Area. Rate. Rent Rate. Rent. Class. Soil. Area. Rate. Rent. I II 111 IV V VI Under prop. Mdfi ... BelagAni Groves... Cbarri... Chakrdna Total ... ToTil, ... Remarks on Kmt-free Tenuresf. 60 per cent. Rent-paying ... Ditto Rent-free Ditto Cultivable, productive Ceases 2i per cei Proposed jama • Rnmt-h «/i..,ci»;; Ihr. inwm fur Jcmithig from tlir fixed rata, and for msemig the rent-free and cultleMr pmliictive laml. m. m ucw'.;-^,';,; 000 075 410 1