In 1797, under a clause of which one of the following settlements, Raj

In 1797, under a clause of which one of the following settlements, Raja of Burdwan’s estate was auctioned when he failed to pay the revenue to the East India Company?

Taluqdari
Ryotwari
Permanent
Mahalwari
This question was previously asked in
UPSC Geoscientist – 2020
The correct answer is Permanent. The auction of the Raja of Burdwan’s estate in 1797 occurred under the provisions of the Permanent Settlement.
– The Permanent Settlement was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 in Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha. It fixed the land revenue demand in perpetuity and recognized Zamindars as the owners of the land.
– A strict ‘Sunset Clause’ was part of the Permanent Settlement, which mandated that revenue payments had to be made by a specified date (sunset). Failure to pay led to the auction of the Zamindar’s estate. The case of the Raja of Burdwan is a famous example of this clause being enforced.
– Ryotwari Settlement was introduced in parts of Madras and Bombay presidencies, where revenue was settled directly with the cultivators (Ryots).
– Mahalwari Settlement was introduced in parts of the North-Western Provinces, Punjab, etc., where revenue was settled with the village community or a group of villages (Mahal).
– Taluqdari is a system where Taluqdars collected revenue over an area, sometimes linked to other settlements but not the primary settlement under which the Burdwan auction took place.