Under which one of the following systems of assessment, the British Government collected revenue directly from the farmers?

Under the British colonial administration, the Ryotwari system was specifically designed to establish a direct relationship between the government and the individual cultivators, known as 'ryots' [2]. Introduced by Thomas Munro and Alexander Reed in 1820, primarily in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, this system bypassed intermediaries like Zamindars [4]. In the Ryotwari settlement, the peasants were recognized as the owners of the land as long as they paid the revenue directly to the state. This contrasted sharply with the Zamindari system (Permanent Settlement), where the British collected revenue through a class of hereditary landlords who acted as intermediaries [4]. While the Mahalwari system involved village-level settlements, the Ryotwari system remained the primary method for direct assessment and collection from individual farmers [t2]. Options like Annawari and Desaiwari refer to regional assessment methods or local officials rather than the primary British revenue systems.

Sources

1. [2] Indian Economy, Vivek Singh (7th ed. 2023-24) > Chapter 5: Land Reforms > Ryotwari Settlement: > p. 191
2. [4] http://indianculture.gov.in/digital-district-repository/district-repository/colonial-systems-land-revenue-mahalwari-ryotwari