22 SOCIAL SCIENTIST rigidity in collections, uncertainty of assessment29 and absence of reductions in revenue assessments also added to the sufferings of the ryots30. Thus in both the areas a new layer of exploiters was superimposed on top of the old. As a result, the first three decades of the nineteenth century were characterised by a series of peasant uprisings. The violent and rapid introduction of capitalist elements into the agrarian economy of India were the chief causes of these revolts31 As late as in 1836 Bishop Heber expressed that "no native prince demands the rent which we do."32 PERMANENT ZAMINDARl SETTLEMENT 1802-1805 Now we come to the actual details of those settlements in Andhra. It was in 1784 that the Company was directed to establish in Bengal permanent rules by which the tributes, rents, services of the zamindars, poligars and Rajas and other native holders "should be in future rendered and paid to the United Company."33 By this time while the servants of the Company were massing fortunes by hook or by crook, the Company itself was facing financial bankruptcy and applied for a loan of £ 1400,000.34 The annual engagements made by Hastings had deprived the Company of an assured income. The Company was hard pressed for investments for the purchase of goods.35 India had to be compelled to pay for her exports. The court of Directors directed that a settlement should be made with the zamindars for a period of ten years in the first instance with a view to making it permanent.36 Cornwallis also thought "It is for the interest of the State that landed property should fall into the hands of the most frugal and thrifty class of people, who will improve their lands and protect the ryots and thereby promote the general prosperity of the country."37 He believed that if the upper classes were prosperous, all other classes would benefit. Having seen the English landlords bringing about agricultural improvements, "he supposed that he could develop the Indian landlord who would be English in character and loyal towards the British Government in India."38 It was this way of thinking that persuaded him to adopt the zamindari system in Bengal, "whereby the local tax collectors become a landbolding class and in return for the land they would assure a permanent revenue to the Government and have a surplus with which to improve and develop their holdings."39 The lawyers of that day believed that the system actually obtaining in England was not only the ancient system of the country but that it was semi-sacred."40 Its main architects were English aristocrats and their aristocratic prejudices determined its basic features. The right of private property was sought to be conferred on the zamindar, who was no more than a tax collector and usurped authority during the disintegration of the Mughal empire. The zamindar was invested with the right to collect rent as well as to regulate occupancy of all other tenures. The right belonging to the state was now conferred on individuals. The state^ however, could transfer