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548
the village head. The quarter was generally allowed if the recipient was admittedly a zamindar, the tenth if he was only a low-caste muqaddam.
The Government, therefore, never in theory took less than one-quarter ^the servants' share amounting to nearly one-third, of the gross produce, the cultivator's share to about the same, and the Government share to oneIn practice, Governthird, minus either a quarter 'or a tenth ofthat third. ment revenue was paid almost everywhere in money, and in that case the
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qdnlingo used to send in an estimate of the gross value of the proprietor's share of the produce. This was taken as the Government demand, and a fixed sum, not varying with the demand, and known as dehi nankar, was struck off from it as the zamindar's share. If the demand appeared intolerably heavy, it was sometimes reduced at the instance of the zamindar by addition to his nankar allowance. It is very difficult to say what proportion the money revenue bore to the gross produce ; but under a vigorous nSzim it could rarely have been less than a fourth. The people were left the barest means of subsistence.
The actual demand between 1200 Fasli and annexation varied considerThe assessment was made by parganas, and I have only been able to ascertain its amount over the whole district for 1839 A.D., when the strong arm of Darshan Singh collected Rs. 13,43,043, or a rate of about ably.
Rs. 494 per square mile. This was the highest figure ever attained four years later, in 1845, the revenue over the whole district was over eleven lacs, or Rs. 415 the square mile.
and
little
In many other years I have obtained the assessment for the majority of the parganas, and have selected the following as conveying the best idea of the actual rates levied
In 1808 A.D., the land tax over an area of 1,879 square miles was at the rate of Rs. 302 the square mile. In 1811 A.D., over an area of 2,026 square miles, the demand was Rs. 326 to the square mile. In 1816 A.D., the revenue from the whole district, excepting the parganas Digsar, Pah^rapur, and Utraula, was at the rate of only Rs. 265 per square mile ; this is the lightest demand since 1800 AD. In 1837 A.D., the revenue over the whole district, excepting Gonda and Pah^rapur, amounted to seven and a half lacs, or a rate of about Rs. 355 the square mile.
The general result of my enquiries on this head is, that in the sixty years which preceded annexation, the revenue gradually rose from Rs. 300 to about Rs. 425 per square mile, a result due rather to extension of cultivation, particularly in the north, than to any great change in the value of money.
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At annexation experienced native officials were sent to each pargana to report, for every village separately, the area under cultivation, the nature of the crops, the system of rent, and the number of ploughs, houses, and wells.
