British Administration

Mahalwari Settlement

In 1833, the Mahalwari settlement was introduced in the Punjab, the Central Provinces and parts of North Western Provinces. Under this system the basic unit of revenue settlement was the village or the Mahal. As the village lands belonged jointly to the village community, the responsibility of paying the revenue rested with the entire Mahal or the village community. So the entire land of the village was measured at the time of fixing the revenue.

Though the Mahalwari system eliminated middlemen between the government and the village community and brought about improvement in irrigation facility, yet its benefit was largely enjoyed by the government.

British Policy towards Indian Handicrafts

The European companies began arriving on the Indian soil from
16th century. During this period, they were constantly engaged in fierce competition to establish their supremacy and monopoly over Indian trade. Not surprisingly, therefore, initial objective of the English East India Company was to have flourishing trade with India. Later, this objective was enlarged to acquire a monopoly over this trade and obtain its entire profit. Although the trade monopoly thus acquired by the Company in India was ended by the Charter Act of 1833, yet the British Policy of exploiting the resources of India continued unabated. In this respect, the nature of the British rule was different from the earlier rulers.

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