Rentier
Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Colonialism and the Countryside"
Meaning
A rentier is a person who lives on rent from property and does not work or invest to make that property produce more. In the early 19th century, British officials followed the ideas of David Ricardo. They feared that if landowners got more than an average rent, they would become idle rentiers. They believed Bengal's zamindars had already become rentiers under the Permanent Settlement. So they chose a different system in the territories they took over later.
Example
When the Bombay Deccan came under the Company, officials did not create zamindars there. From 1818 they brought in the ryotwari settlement, dealing directly with the cultivator. This was partly to avoid creating a new rentier class.
Don't confuse with
- Jotedar: a rich peasant of North Bengal. Jotedars lived in the village and actively controlled trade, moneylending and sharecroppers there. They were not distant, idle rent-receivers.
Related concepts
- David Ricardo
- Ricardian theory of rent
- Bombay Deccan
- Thomas Munro
- Ryotwari system
- Temporary settlement
- Mahalwari system
- Malguzar
- Deccan famine of 1832-34
- Peasant indebtedness