Bird Instructions

  British Administration in Garhwal   -28       

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History of British Rule/Administration over Kumaun and Garhwal (1815-1947) -44

            History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) -882

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                              By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)

   Bird was the chief of land settlement for Agra province. Batten was reporting to Bird. Batten  followed  instructions from Bird too. Therefore, historians don’t blame solely to Batten for the flaws in Garhwal land Settlement.  (Dabral, page 184)

        Before starting land settlement, Bird studied agriculture status, income sources and possibilities, flaws in determining the tax, improvement opportunities for agriculture of the regions (Bhanu D, page 172).

       There were two types of farmers (Reports on Revenue Commission , Bengal, vol.1, page, 11) -

Khudkast – the owners in their agriculture activities

Paykast- Those perform agriculture activities for other land owners

   The main income of East India was land tax and the improvement was possible only when there is improvement in agriculture. There was need for offering security to famers that nobody would snatch their ownership on the land. Therefore, in 1819, British government instructed that there would be security for ownership of Khudkast and Paykast famers (Reports on Revenue Commission, Bengal, vol.1, page22) . Therefore, the records were made wherein the records of farm owners, stokeholds and their ‘rights’ were registered. Those records were called ‘Chapter of Rights’. ‘Chapter of Rights’ was also important for government dealing with the people smoothly (Bhanu, page 193). Bird suggested that it was better less income but the revenue collection should be regular and not irregular (Bhanu, page 172-173).

       There were apprehensions for lesser revenue collection from Garhwal. However, after completion of land settlement in Garhwal, the shortage was only for Rs. 572 from Garhwal (Dabral, pp-184). There was no delay in tax collection from Garhwal.

                Bird stressed on irrigation facilities for agriculture (Bhanu) . However, there was no mention of irrigation facilities in Garhwal in any report (Dabral).

      Bird reported his government that in the past periodical land settlements (3 or 5 years), the land lords bided for higher tax payment but in most cases, they did not pay tax as per bidding. Bird suggested that 20 % village land should be kept free for foddering for cattle. Bird suggested that government should not levy tax on such land in plains (Bhanu, pp178). In Garhwal, such land was abundant in each village. Therefore, in Garhwal case, Batten encouraged people for converting ‘parti’ land into farm land. Batten included barren land as the land of village. Bird instructed keeping records in Hindi.  Barring first two Trail’s settlements, the main statements in other settlements, the language was Hindi and only ‘Tafsil’ was in Urdu.

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Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti Mumbai, India, bckukreti@gmail.com 25/8/2016

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -883

*** History of British Rule/Administration over Kumaun, (Pauri, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli) Garhwal (1815-1947) to be continued in next chapter

(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

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References  

 1-Shiv Prasad Dabral ‘Charan’, Uttarakhand ka Itihas, Part -7 Garhwal par British -Shasan, part -1, page 183-185

2- Bhanu, Dharam,  History and administration of North West Provinces page 172. 173, 193, 178, 181

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History of British Rule, Administration , Policies, Revenue system,  over Garhwal, Kumaon, Uttarakhand ; History of British Rule , Administration , Policies Revenue system  over Pauri Garhwal, Udham Singh Nagar Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies ,Revenue system  over Chamoli Garhwal, Nainital Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies ,Revenue system  over Rudraprayag Garhwal, Almora Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies ,Revenue system  over Dehradun , Champawat Kumaon, Uttarakhand ; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies, ,Revenue system  over Bageshwar  Kumaon, Uttarakhand ;

History of British Rule, Administration, Policies, Revenue system over Haridwar, Pithoragarh Kumaon, Uttarakhand;