Consider the following statements about the Bengal countryside at the time of the Permanent Settlement : 1. The zamindars' troops were disbanded. 2. Within the villages, the power of jotedars was more effective than that of zamindars. 3. The East India Company made a rule that the property of women would not be taken over. 4. Adhiyars were sharecroppers on the land owned by bargadars. Which of the statements given above are correct ?

The Permanent Settlement of 1793 significantly altered the Bengal countryside. To consolidate authority, the East India Company disbanded the zamindars' troops and restricted their local judicial powers [1]. While zamindars were the legal revenue collectors, jotedars (rich peasants) often held more effective power within villages, controlling local trade and money-lending, and actively subverting the zamindar's authority [2]. Additionally, the Company established a rule that the property of women would not be taken over to prevent the total collapse of estates; for instance, the Maharani of Burdwan's property was protected during auctions. Statement 4 is incorrect because adhiyars (sharecroppers) worked the land of jotedars, not bargadars; 'bargadar' is simply another term for a sharecropper in Bengal, making the statement logically flawed as it suggests one sharecropper worked for another [2].

Sources

1. [1] History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 17: Effects of British Rule > 17.2 Land Tenures: Permanent Settlement and Ryotwari Settlement > p. 266
2. [2] https://ia601408.us.archive.org/9/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.150182/2015.150182.Change-In-Bengal-Agrarian-Society-C1760-1850_text.pdf