Thomas Munro gradually extended the Ryotwari system all over south India because

Thomas Munro gradually extended the Ryotwari system all over south India because Correct Answer There were no traditional Zamindars in the South. 

The correct answer is Option 3.

Important Points

  • Since there were no traditional zamindars in south India, the settlement had to be made directly with the cultivators (ryots) who had tilled the land for generations. Hence, Thomas Munro gradually extended the Ryotwari system all over south India 

Key Points

Ryotwari system

  • The factors varied from farm to farm and region to region in both parts of India.
  • Moreover, they are not a convincing argument for decentralization of the land revenue system in the South.
  • Ryotwari was tried first on a small scale by Captain Alexander Read in some of the areas that were taken over by the Company after the wars with Tipu Sultan.
  • Subsequently developed by Thomas Munro, this system was gradually extended all over south India.
  • Read and Munro felt that in the south there were no traditional zamindars.
  • The settlement, they argued, had to be made directly with the cultivators (ryots) who had tilled the land for generations.
  • Their fields had to be carefully and separately surveyed before the revenue assessment was made.
  • Munro thought that the British should act as paternal father figures protecting the ryots under their charge.

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