Explain Zamindari System.

The Zamindari System was a land revenue system implemented by the British colonial administration in India during the 18th and 19th centuries. Under this system, the British East India Company and later the British Crown granted large landholdings, known as zamindaris, to privileged intermediaries, called zamindars, in exchange for collecting land revenue from peasant cultivators.

Zamindars, often members of the local aristocracy or influential elites, acted as intermediaries between the colonial state and peasant communities. They were granted hereditary rights to collect land revenue within their zamindari estates, which could encompass multiple villages or even entire districts. In return, zamindars were required to remit a fixed portion of the revenue to the colonial authorities.

The Zamindari System entrenched feudalistic landownership patterns, where zamindars wielded significant power and authority over the peasant cultivators who worked the land. Zamindars often engaged in exploitative practices, such as arbitrary taxation, rent extraction, and coercion, which exacerbated rural poverty and agrarian distress.

The Zamindari System was marked by widespread landlessness, indebtedness, and social inequalities, contributing to agrarian unrest and peasant uprisings against colonial oppression. The system was eventually abolished in independent India through land reforms aimed at redistributing land to landless peasants and empowering rural communities.