ResearchNext International Multidisciplinary Journal

British land revenue policies introduced in nineteenth-century India fundamentally transformed agrarian structures and profoundly affected the livelihood of the peasantry. This paper examines the impact of the Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari, and Mahalwari systems on Indian peasants by situating these policies within precolonial land tenure arrangements and regional variations. It argues that colonial revenue reforms, while claiming administrative efficiency and fiscal stability, institutionalized new forms of exploitation through fixed revenue demands, intermediary dominance, frequent reassessments, and commodification of land. These systems intensified peasant indebtedness, dispossession, and vulnerability to market fluctuations while eroding customary rights over commons and communal resources. Drawing on comparative regional analysis, the study highlights how differing administrative practices produced uneven outcomes across Bengal, Madras, Bombay, the United Provinces, and Punjab. The paper further explores mechanisms of extraction such as taxation burdens, mortgage debt, and restricted access to common lands, which collectively reshaped rural social hierarchies and limited peasant mobility. The findings suggest that British land revenue policies played a decisive role in restructuring agrarian relations, embedding long-term inequalities, and shaping patterns of rural distress that continue to influence contemporary agrarian issues in India.