Volume 1

Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman].

  • William Henry Sleeman
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in fact, we might almost as well attempt to map the waves of the ocean as field-map the face of any considerable area in any part of Indiad If there be any truth in my conclusions, our government has acted unwisely in going, as it has generally done, into [one or other of] the two extremes, in its settlement of the land revenue. In the Zamindari settlement of Bengal, it conferred the hereditary right of property over areas larger than English counties on individuals, and left the immediate cultivators mere tenants-at-will.' These individuals felt no interest in promoting the comfort and welfare of the village communi- ties, or conciliating the affections of the cultivators, whom they never saw or wished to see; and they let out the village, or other subdivision of their estates, to second parties quite as little interested, who again let them out to others, so that the system of rack-renting went on over the whole area of the immense possession. This was a system “ more honoured in the breach than in the observance ” ; ' In recent years this task of “ mapping the waves of the ocean”' has been attempted. Every periodical settlement of the land revenue in Northern India since 1833 has been accompanied by the preparation of detailed village maps, showing each field, even the tiniest, a few yards square, with a separate number. In many cases these maps were roughly constructed under non-professional supervision, but in many districts they have been prepared by the cadastral branch of the Survey Department. The difficulty mentioned by the author has been severely felt, and it constantly happens that beautiful maps become useless in four or five years. Efforts are made to insert annual corrections in copies of the maps through the agency of the village accountants, and the “ kanungos,” or officers who supervise them, but the task is an enormous one, and only partial success is attained. In addition to the maps, records of great bulk are annually prepared which give the most minute details about every holding and each field. ^ The Permanent Settlement of Bengal was effected under the orders of Lord Cornwallis in 1793, and was soon after extended to the pro- vince of Benares, now included in the North-Western Provinces. Illusory provisions were made to protect the rights of tenants, but nothing at all effectual was done till Act X of 1859 w'as passed, wdiich has been largely modified by later legislation.
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