In what way did the Permanent Settlement affect the peasants ? Discuss.

Impact of the Permanent Settlement (1793) on Indian Peasants:

Introduced by Lord Cornwallis in Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha, the Permanent Settlement (Istamarari / Zamindari System) severely undermined the traditional rights and livelihood of Indian peasants:

• 1. Demotion from Landowners to Dispossession & Tenants-at-Will:
  • Centuries-old hereditary occupancy rights of the tillers were dismantled; Zamindars were declared absolute proprietary owners of the soil, reducing millions of peasants to vulnerable tenants-at-will.
• 2. Extortionate Rent and Feudal Abwabs (Illegal Cesses):
  • While the British demand from Zamindars was fixed permanently ($10/11 ext{ths}$ to Company, $1/11 ext{th}$ to Zamindar), no legal limit was placed on the rent Zamindars could extract from peasants, leading to exorbitant rents and illegal feudal cesses (Abwabs).
• 3. Sub-Infeudation and Absentee Landlordism:
  • Creation of a multi-tiered hierarchy of parasitic rent-collecting intermediaries (Patnidari system) who lived in luxury in Calcutta, while rural peasants were trapped in permanent moneylender debt.
• 4. Arbitrary Eviction and Agricultural Stagnation: Inability to pay rent led to immediate eviction, eliminating any incentive for peasants to invest in land improvement.