Examine why Bernier was against the idea of crown ownership of land in Mughal India.
Bernier’s idea of Crown ownership in Mughal India:
(i) He believed in the virtues of Private Property.
(ii) He saw crown ownership of land as being harmful for both the state and the people.
(iii) Land holders could not pass on their land to their children
(iv) They were averse to long term investment expansion of production.
(v) The absence of Private property prevented the emergence of class of improving landlords.
(vi) It had led to uniform ruination of agriculture.
(vii) Excessive oppression of the peasantry and decline in the standard of living.
(viii) He warned that if European kings followed the Mughal model their kingdoms would be very far from being well cultivated and peopled.
(ix) It has led to impoverishment of the peasantry.
(x) There was no middle state in India.
(xi) He saw the Mughal Emperors as the “king of the Beggars and the Barbarians”.
(xii) He considered revenue as the rent because land revenue demands were often very high.
(ANY TWO)
