Education or School Tax in Beckett Settlement

 Characteristics of Beckett Settlement in Garhwal -9

                            British Administration in Garhwal   -43       

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History of British Rule/Administration over Kumaun and Garhwal (1815-1947) -60

            History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) -897

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                              By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)

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     In Garhwal Kingdoms and Gurkha Rules, the state did not have any responsibility for education.  Pundits used to teach mostly Brahmins boys privately at temple or own courtyard. Same system was there at initial British rule in Garhwal.

  In July 1854, President of Board of Control of English east of India Charles Wood sent a circular about education. The said order is called Wood Dispatch’. Wood sent a dispatch to Governor General Dalhousie about education and recommended –

1-An education department to be set up in each province

2- Universities to be set up based on London University model in big cities as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

3- At least one school to be opened in each district

4-Affiliated schools to be given grant as aid

5-The government should always support women education

6- There should be arrangement for local languages teaching for Indian natives  

7- There should be systematic system of education from primary to universities

(Wood Dispatch, 1854)

     There were two school inspectors and two assistant school inspectors for North West Provinces. The head quarter for second school inspector was in Meerut and inspector used to sit in Delhi office. The said inspector used to inspect the government schools of Delhi, Meerut, Ruhelkhand and Kumaon (Bhanu).

 Beckett levied another additional tax for 3% of  land tax as ‘Vidyalay dey’ for education promotion. By additional revenue, government opened 58 schools.

 There were following types of schools –

Tehsil Madarsa- Primary school

Halkabandi Madarsa- Lower primary schools

Mausami or seasonal Madarsa – The teachers and student used to reach different places as Kedarnath, Mana, Gammali in summer and in winter at different places (Beckett) as Ukhimath, Joshimath and Chamoli.

                        Tax installments

  British government fixed tax payment time for different installments. The owners used to pay tax to Padhan and Padhan used to deposit to Patwari or Tehsildar.  Many times, if a land owner was unable for paying tax, Padhan used to deposit tax on behalf of land owner. Later on Padhan used to collect tax from land owner.  If land owner was unable to pay tax (paid by Padhan on his behalf) Padhan was authorized to go to court for collection. There used to auction of defaulter owners and money launderers used to auction in such cases.

  Beckett wrote that in past few years, out of 3116 land owners, only 251 cases of land auction or land donation were reported. (Atkinson, page 300)

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Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti Mumbai, India, bckukreti@gmail.com 11/9/2016

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -898

*** History of British Rule/Administration over British Garhwal (Pauri, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli1815-1947) 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-198-199

2- Atkinson, Himalayan districts vol.3, 300

3- Bhanu Dharma, History and administration of North West provinces page 367-68

4- Beckett, Garhwal Settlement report pages 30-31

5-Wood Dispatch 1854

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;