Who among the following British officials was responsible for the introduction of the Ryotwari System of land revenue settlement in the Madras Presidency?

💡 Solution & Explanation

Sir Thomas Munro instituted the Ryotwari System within the Madras Presidency to establish a direct fiscal relationship between the colonial government and individual cultivators, bypassing intermediary landlords. Lord Cornwallis, by contrast, is permanently linked with the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, which empowered zamindars as landowners. Under the Ryotwari arrangement, revenue rates were periodically reassessed, which often resulted in heavy financial burdens on the peasantry during times of crop failure.