RAS question
The Ryotwari System was introduced primarily in:
Correct answer: (B) Madras and Bombay.
The Ryotwari System was introduced primarily in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, where land revenue was collected directly from cultivators or ryots.
Explanation
The answer is Madras and Bombay because the Ryotwari System was designed to keep intermediaries out of revenue collection and deal directly with the cultivator. Its main application was Madras under Thomas Munro and Bombay under Mountstuart Elphinstone. The National Institute of Open Schooling, History Lesson 17: Economic Effects of British Colonialism places the system in the Madras Presidency and later in the Bombay Presidency, with revenue ultimately assessed individually on each cultivator or ryot. That is the key distinction tested here: Ryotwari was not a zamindar-based or village-community settlement, but a direct cultivator settlement.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Central Provinces does not fit because the question data links it with the Mahalwari pattern, not the direct cultivator-based Ryotwari settlement.
- (C) Bengal and Bihar are associated here with the Permanent Settlement, whereas NIOS separately places Ryotwari in Madras and Bombay.
- (D) Punjab and NWFP are wrong because the question data identifies Punjab with a modified settlement, not the Ryotwari arrangement used mainly in Madras and Bombay.
Concept
This tests British land revenue settlements in modern Indian history, especially the regional mapping of Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari and Mahalwari. RAS repeats this theme because revenue systems shaped colonial administration and agrarian society.