INSIGHT UPSC QUIZ

• In 1580, Akbar instituted a new system called the dahsala. Under this system, the average produce of different crops as well as the average prices prevailing over the last ten year were calculated. One third of the average produce was the state share. The slate demand was, however, stated in cash. This was done by converting the state share into money on the basis of a schedule of avberage prices over the past ten years. Thus, the produce of a bigha of land under share was given in manunds. But on the basis of average prices, the state demand was fixed in rupees per bigha.
• There were number of advantages of this system. As soon as the area sown by the peasant had been measured by means of the bamboos linked with iron rings, the peasants as well as the state knew what the dues were the peasant was given remission in the land revenue if crops failed on account of drought, floods, etc. The system of measurement and the assessment based upon it is called the zabti system.
• Akbar introduced this system in the area from Lahore to Allahabad, and in Malwa and Gujarat. The dahsala wsystem was a further development of the zabti system. A number of other systems of assessment were also followed under Akbar. The most common and, perhaps, the oldest was called batai or ghalla-bakhshi. In this system, the produce was divided between the peasants and the state in fixed proportion. The crop was divided after it had been thrashed, or when it had been cut and tied in stacks, or while it was standing in the field.
• A third system which was widely used in Akbar’s time was nasaQ. It seems that it meant a rough calculation of the amount payable by the peasant on the basis of what he had been paying in the past. Itis also called kankut. Land which remained under cultivation almost every year was called polaj. When it remained uncultivated it was called parati (fellow). Parati land paid at the full (polaj) rate when it was cultivated. Land which had been fallow for two to three years was called chachar, and if longer than that, banjar.
• The dahsala was not a ten-year settlment. Nor was it a permanent one, the state retaining the right to modify it. However, with some changes, Akbar’s settlement remained the basis of the land revenue system of the Mughal empire till the end of the seventeenth century. The zabti system is associated with Raja Todar Mal and is sometimes called Todar mal’s bandobast. Todar Mal was a brilliant revenue officer who had first served under Sher Shah. But he was only one of a team of brilliantrevenue officials who came to the forefront under Akbar.

Thus, Option B is Correct.