Rent and poverty in Western Uttar Pradesh: The Official Inquiry of 1888–89

Abstract

The enquiry into rural poverty undertaken in 1888-89 in what is now Uttar Pradesh is very difficult to obtain, although it was printed at the time and placed before parliament in London. It has information on many aspects like food eaten, cloth worn etc., but in this paper only information about rent and debt from the three West U.P. destricts of Mathura, Etah and Etawa is analysed and presented. It shows that it was the heavy revenue demand which largely pushed up the rents imposed by landlords on peasants.