THE CHANGING AGRARIAN RELATIONS 21
and economic considerations of England and the needs of the company in India.
They resulted in the "scientific exploitation of India".11 In other words by introducing zamindari system in Andhra the company, in the beginning, was only concerned with extorting the maximum amount of revenue with the minimum expenditure.12 Sunil Sen says that "In the eighteenth century the Government hardly pursued any development-oriented policy, and the overriding object was the security of the land revenue. Through out the nineteenth century the experiments undertaken by the ruling class in land tenure policy were largely determined by revenue considerations"13. As a result the zamindari system collapsed.14 A number of zamindars failed to pay their peshcush and were always in arrears or in debts with high rate of interest ranging from 12 to 24 percent. They also squeezed ryots to pay their own peshcush15 (apart from other reasons). Thus several estates were sold or auctioned and there were none to purchase in places like Rajahmundary16 because of the overassessment which led to zamindari revolts. Moreover the default of zamindars in paying tribute led to heavy losses to the Government.17
By this time, the ryotwari system was introduced in several places and experiments were being made with it. But the result (or condition) was not much different from that of the zamindari system because its aim too was only to maximise revenues. Under ryotwari, the Government tried to "extend state control into every corner of agricultural life59.18 It had no restrictions on its own powers of enhancing land revenue19 and thus it was a more profitable system than the zamindari system and the interests and rights of the state could be safeguarded even better under the ryotwari.20 Even the default of a ryot or a few ryots was not at all a loss to the Government. Though it aimed at "emancipation of the petty farmers from the control of the intermediate ones'921 the ryots in those areas suffered due to the high pitch of revenue assessment. In 1802 even Munro himself raised the revenue assessment over its previous year and he calculated that the revenues of the state would be more under the ryotwari than under the zamindari system,22 and that is why he wanted the power of regulating assessment and collection to be in the hands of the Government in order to maximise revenue collections.22 The authorities were highly pleased with the gradual increase of revenue which rose from £ 402, 637 to £ 606, 909, or an increase of 50 per cent within seven years.24 The assessment under the ryotwari, during the early years, was so high that in most of the ryotwari areas including the Ceded districts and Chittoor Pollams (after the revolt of Poligars) a reduction of revenue was recommended.26 Munro, like Cockburn of North Arcot district raised the revenue assessment in order to make it uneconomical to the poligars26 and force them under such conditions to revolt against the British and then to take it as a cause to eliminate them.27 The fall in prices of paddy the monetisation of the economy,28