Question

Give an account of the problem faced by the Munro System of fixing Revenue.

Answer 1

Hint: The Munro System of fixing revenue, also known as Ryotwari System was a revenue collection system introduced in the Deccan in the 1820s by a person of defence background without any background of revenue.

Complete Step by Step Answer: The Ryotwari System was introduced in the Deccan in the 1820s. It was drafted by Thomas Munro. He was an army officer and statement in the East India Company. In this settlement, there was no role of interlopers such as Taluqdars or Zamindars. The government directly settled the revenue with the peasant or the ryot. The quality of land on which the crop is to be grown, the crop to be grown as well as the revenue paying capacity of the Ryot was assessed and then revenue was fixed.
However, unlike the permanent settlement introduced in Bengal, this revenue settlement wasn't fixed and was to be revised every thirty years. This was done so that if prices of crops were to be increased in the market the government could claim their share in the increased profit. The oppressive nature of the revolt, combined with the oppression from the moneylenders and sahukars led to the outbreak of the Deccan Riots in 1875.
The first major problem of the revenue system was that the initial revenue demands were very high. There was gross over assessment in a lot of places and the peasants were unable to meet such high demands. Secondly, due to high demands by the government officials and exploitation by the hands of the Moneylenders the peasants were folding it extremely difficult to survive, therefore a lot of them fled from their homes and migrated to new areas.

Note: The Munro System of fixing Revenue estimated revenue based on the potential of the soil and not the actual produce of the land.