Who Introduced the Mahalwari System?

The Mahalwari system was devised and introduced by an Englishman named Holt Mackenzie in the year 1822. It was later revised and implemented on a large scale under the administration of Lord William Bentinck in 1833.

It was primarily introduced in the North-Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (which covers modern-day Uttar Pradesh), parts of Central India, and the Punjab region.

• What is a Mahal?: In British revenue records, a 'mahal' was a revenue estate, which could be a single village or a group of villages.
• The Assessment: Instead of blindly fixing a permanent tax (like the Permanent Settlement in Bengal), the British sent collectors to inspect the land, measure the fields, and record the customs of the village. The estimated revenue of each plot was added up to calculate the total tax that the entire 'mahal' (village) had to pay.
• The Tax Collector: Instead of giving the power to a powerful Zamindar, the responsibility of collecting the tax from the farmers and paying it to the Company was given to the Village Headman (Mukhiya).
• Revision: The tax demand was not fixed forever; it was designed to be revised periodically.