Q. Consider the following statements regarding the Ijaradari system:

1. Mughal started the Ijaradari system.
2. Ijaradars were “revenue farmers” who agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money.

Which of the above is / are correct?
Answer: Only 2
Notes: Rather than relying upon the officers of the state, all three regimes (Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad) contracted with revenue-farmers for the collection of revenue. The practice of Ijaradari, thoroughly disapproved of by the Mughals, spread all over India in the eighteenth century. Their impact on the countryside differed considerably. The state depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans. It sold the right to collect tax to the highest bidders. These “revenue farmers” (ijaradars) agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money. Local bankers guaranteed the payment of this contracted amount to the state.