Aspirant Academy

History

Key Points at a Glance

Revenue and Administrative Systems, Changing Patterns

Paper I · Unit 1 Section 1 of 15 0 PYQs 41 min
Topic Preview Subject Inventory

Public Section Preview

Key Points at a Glance

  1. Tripartite Land System

    • Jagir — assigned to nobles for military service
    • Khalisa — crown land under direct state management
    • Bhom — hereditary village land held by Bhomia Rajputs
    • All three categories served distinct political and fiscal functions

  2. Rekh and Hasil Revenue System

    • Rekh was the standard revenue assessment unit in Marwar
    • Each village was assessed a fixed rekh value based on area, soil, and crops
    • Hasil was the actual revenue collected
    • The gap between rekh and hasil measured administrative efficiency

  3. Mughal Revenue Influence

    • Akbar's Dahsala system (1580 CE) — 10-year average of yields
    • Adapted in Rajputana across states under Mughal suzerainty
    • Zabt crop measurement introduced in eastern Rajasthan (Amber/Jaipur)
    • Todar Mal implemented these in the Ajmer Subah

  4. Begar — Feudal Exploitation

    • Forced unpaid labour extracted from lower-caste cultivators and tribals
    • Extracted by jagirdars for agriculture, porterage, and domestic service
    • Most exploitative feature of Rajasthan's feudal revenue system
    • Direct cause of Bijolia (1897), Begun (1921), and Eki (1921) agitations

  5. Administrative Hierarchy

    • Diwan — chief minister and revenue head
    • Faujdar — district military-administrative chief
    • Hakim — sub-district officer
    • Patwari — village revenue recorder
    • Chaudhary — village headman

  6. Colonel James Tod's Documentation

    • Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (2 vols., 1829 and 1832)
    • First systematic documentation of Rajput revenue customs and jagirdari tenures
    • Tod served as Political Agent for Western Rajputana (1818–22)
    • Indispensable primary source for RPSC exams

  7. British Settlement Operations

    • Formal Settlement Operations introduced from the 1870s onward
    • Replaced customary assessment with written surveys
    • Marwar's first regular settlement by A.P. Nicholson (1891–95)
    • Modelled on procedures from British India's North-Western Provinces

  8. Kotwal — Urban Administrator

    • Urban administrative and law enforcement officer in Rajput-era capitals
    • Responsible for policing, weights-and-measures regulation
    • Collected tax on haat (market) transactions
    • Urban counterpart of the Faujdar

  9. Post-Independence Land Reforms

    • Rajasthan Land Reforms and Resumption of Jagirs Act, 1952 — abolished 16,000+ jagirs
    • Cultivators received occupancy rights (statutory tenants) directly under state
    • Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 created uniform framework across all areas
    • Marwar Revenue and Tenancy Act, 1949 was the precursor legislation

  10. Nazrana and Bhent — Para-Fiscal Extractions

    • Nazrana — lump sum gift paid by a new jagirdar to the ruling chief
    • Bhent — obligatory ceremonial gifts on festivals and special occasions
    • These were para-fiscal extractions beyond the formal revenue system
    • Distinguished Rajput revenue from pure Mughal-style revenue farming

  11. Todar Mal's Land Classification

    • Implemented zabti/dahsala system in the Subah of Ajmer
    • Classified land into four categories for revenue purposes
    • Polaj (annually cultivated), Parauti (periodically fallow)
    • Chachar (three-year fallow), Banjar (uncultivated waste)

  12. Paik System in Mewar

    • Paik — hereditary village guard and administrative duties
    • Assigned to lower-ranking community members in Mewar
    • Compensated with small land grants in exchange for service
    • A micro-level variant of the jagir principle at village level

  13. 2026 Historic Town Renamings

    • Rajasthan government renamed two historic administrative towns in March 2026
    • Kaman (Bharatpur) renamed to Kamvan
    • Jahazpur (Bhilwara) renamed to Yagyapur
    • Restores medieval administrative toponyms validated by epigraphic evidence