JAGTIV · Previous Year Questions

UPPSC

HISTORY · 2016

Previous Year Question

Sir Thomas Munro was Governor of Madras during years

A.

1820–1827 AD

B.

1819–1826 AD

C.

1822–1829 AD

D.

1818–1824 AD

Correct Answer: A

Detailed Solution

Sir Thomas Munro was the Governor of Madras from 1820 to 1827 CE.

Thomas Munro was one of the prominent British administrators of the East India Company. He became the Governor of the Madras Presidency in 1820 and remained in office until his death in 1827. The official history of Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan also records his tenure as 1820–27.

Munro's name is particularly associated with the Ryotwari Settlement. He had already been involved in the early development of this system, and after he became Governor, its wider implementation in Madras was carried forward in 1820.

Under the Ryotwari system, land-revenue settlement was generally made directly with the individual cultivator or ryot instead of through a zamindar. The cultivator was treated as the occupant of the land but was required to pay the assessed land revenue to the government.

Munro also worked on matters relating to judicial and local administration along with revenue administration. His official records preserved in the British Library contain his papers and minutes relating to revenue, judicial, military and political departments during 1820–27.

While serving as Governor of Madras, he died of cholera in the Pattikonda region of present-day Andhra Pradesh on 6 July 1827. The official Kurnool district account also identifies him as Governor of the Madras Presidency from 1820 to 1827.

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