Exclusivities of Batten Land Settlement

Exclusivities of Batten Land Settlement

                Garhwal Land Settlements by J.H. Batten -3

                            British Administration in Garhwal   -25         

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History of British Rule/Administration over Kumaun and Garhwal (1815-1947) -41

            History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) -879

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                              By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)

             In Batten land settlement, the tax determination was conducted by visiting villages and assessing the reality. Representatives reached to villages, counted population, assessed the economic situation and wrote the details in English. Batten prepared rules and accordingly determined the revenues. Batten divided land into irrigated and non irrigated land and divided each land into three types. Then, he determined tax as per land productivity.

   Batten dpenned down details of Painkhanda, Badhan, Chandpur and Tallasalan ‘parganas’. He provided details in following way for villages (Pauri Garhwal, report page 56-57)-

Village site and conditions

Crops

Castes settled in the village

Trade by each community

Source of income

Developing or declining economy

Farmers and their numbers

After analyzing the above, Batten determined taxation.

   British authorities transferred Batten to Kumaon in 1839. Kanungo and Tehsildar completed the survey of balance region of British (Pauri Garhwal).  Batten wrote his comments and suggested tax with reasons on the notes of Kanungo or Tehsildar.

   Batten did not find the land disputes as were apprehensions by authorities.  The villagers of different villages settled their 70 % disputes among themselves. Batten office wrote those settlements separately. All villages (village chiefs) signed on the boundary settlements. Batten called those settlements as ‘ Ganv Halat’. Batten erected Stone Munyar for determining village boundaries in cases of disputes among different villages. Where there was no dispute no Munyar was erected.

     Batten analyzed the situation for villages become barren humanly and faunally. Some Villagers were leaving villages due to attack by wild animals as tiger, bear, and leopards. In other cases, villagers were leaving villages because of wild animals as deer families, rabbits, bears, boars, and birds were destroying crops and villagers could not do much. Such villagers were forced for migrating to other places and resulting barren villages. Many villages were becoming empty due to epidemics as choleras, etc.  (3, pages   520). There was a class of farmer ‘Paykasht’. That farmer class was roamers.   The social reasons were also responsible for villages becoming empty.  Those migration reasons were related to become out casted by the society. Due to terror too villagers used to migrate and making village empty. There were blind faiths regarding inauspiciousness in a region or land responsible for people not settling in a particular village or regions.

   Only a couple of old men were there in some villages. Either Gurkha took young girls and women or youth ran away from the villages leaving old people there.  In many villages, new generation was not taking birth due to infertile women or men. (3, page 521)

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti Mumbai, India, bckukreti@gmail.com 22/8/2016

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -880

*** 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)

XX   

References  

 1-Shiv Prasad Dabral ‘Charan’, Uttarakhand ka Itihas, Part -7 Garhwal par British -Shasan, part -1, page 177-78

2-Batten (editor), 1851, Official reports on Province of Kumaon

3-Batten, 1843, Report on the settlement of the district of Pauri Garhwal in the province of Kumaon 56.57

4- Atkinson, Himalayan Districts vol.3, pages 292

Xx

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;