Land Revenue and Colonial Governance: State Formation and Rural Transformation in Bengal and Madras

The relationship between land revenue systems and colonial governance in Bengal and Madras, highlighting their role in state formation and rural transformation under British rule. It explores how the Permanent Settlement in Bengal and the Ryotwari system in Madras became key instruments for consolidating colonial authority, restructuring agrarian relations, and expanding administrative control. The study analyses the ways these revenue arrangements altered patterns of landownership, weakened older customary rights, and integrated rural society into a wider colonial economy. In Bengal, the creation of a zamindari-based system strengthened intermediary interests, while in Madras direct settlement with cultivators reshaped the state-peasant relationship. Despite their structural differences, both systems facilitated extraction, surveillance, and political domination, producing deep social and economic changes in the countryside. That land revenue policy was central not only to colonial governance but also to the transformation of rural society in southern and eastern India.