Ryotwari System

Under the Ryotwari tenure, the individual holder was directly responsible to the state for the payment of land revenue. This form of tenure was first introduced in Madras in 1872 and later in Bombay, Berar, and Central India. The Ryot was at liberty to enjoy permanent rights over land and to sublet it so long as he paid the land revenue to the government.

In order to stop the tyranny and exploitation by Zamindars and to restore tiller’s right over the land, measures were taken for the abolition of intermediaries after independence. The Zamindari Abolition Acts were passed in different states of the country between 1948 and 1955. As a consequence, over 260,000 Zamindars were abolished.

Due to several loopholes in the Zamindari Abolition Act, the land could not be transferred to the actual tillers and the landless agricultural labourers. In certain parts of the country, the intermediaries are yet to be abolished, i.e. water rights in Bhagalpur (Bihar), Jotdari in Meghalaya, Communided in Goa, Trust Estate (Zamindari of religious institutions) in Odisha, and Devasthan Enam in Maharashtra.