Mughal Administration

Akbar introduced major changes in administration Akbars theory of state

Features
Mughals imported certain foreign elements into their administrative system
Perso-Arabic system in the Indian setting.

Based on the military system: Mansabs Centralized despotism Blend of religion and politics existed Paper administration: growth of official records Aim: police duties and revenue collection System of public corporations Administration of justice largely left to local administration Villages and small towns enjoyed parochial self-government rather than local autonomy. They had no political freedom

Personnel Administration
All civil servants were enrolled in the army as mansabdars
Although no military obligation was always incumbant on the mansabdar

Principle of hierarchy and job classification can be seen Recruitment: entirely in kings hand Transfer: king had the final say Pay: Each grade had a pay out of which one had to also maintain a troop. Jagir system was also prevelant. Despite job classification an officer could be at any time entrusted with a new duty; all offices were inter-changeable Doctrine of escheat: jagir and mansab were not hereditary. The property escheated to the crown on the death of the mansabdar/jagirdar. <later made hereditary>

Personnel Administration
Worked on the maxim: career open to talent Appointment: rested with the emperor Qualification: no hard and fast rule No rules of promotion

Provincial Administration
Provincial admin was a miniature of the central admin Divided the empire into 15 subahs
Incharge: subedar Number of Subahs increased later Subedar concentrated in his hands the civil and military powers of the province Subedars court was the highest court of appeal in the subah He was transferred every 3-4 years

Subedar and Diwan had almost similar status in a subah.

This led to conflicts and violation of the principle of unity of command

Sadar, ulema, qazi, fauzdar etc Provincial Bakshi was incharge of the military establishment Kotwal was incharge of police in big towns The central govt maintained a regulating chain of communication between itself and the provincial governments.

Local Administration
Subah divided into sarkars. Sarkars divided into Paraganas. Paraganas into villages. District governed by a shiqdar or a faujdar Amalguzar: head of revenue administration (aka Krori)
Revenue collectors were under orders not to oppress the cultivators while collecting the state demands

Other officers
Bitikchi: record keeper of land revenue Khazandar: treasury officer

Sarkar divided into paraganas (tehsils)

Tehsils had a batch of subordinate officers Shiqdar, amil, fotdar and qanungo

Each tehsil had about 12 villages Villages were the lowest units of administration
Mughals gave legal sanction to the panchayats Patwari and Chaukidar

Law and Order Administration

The king and PM primarily responsible for maintaining peace Provincial level: Faujdar. Below him kotwal. Villages neglected

Judicial Administration
Emperor was the fountainhead of justice and highest appeal lay to him Sadr-i-Sudur decided important civil cases especially of a religious character Chief Qazi (Qazi-ul-Quzat) was the highest judicial officer Main judicial funcationaries
Mufti: expounded the law Qzai: investigated the evidence Miradi: delivered the judgement

Miradi acted as a counterpoise to the Qazis influence

 No definite codes of law existed Quran and Hadis were major sources of law Officers were expected to know Hindu customs while dealing with cases concerning them Qazis court had civil and criminal jurisdication Criminal law is uniform irrespective of the religion

Revenue Administration
It adhered to the old practices, procedures and traditions of the country Revenue Dept under Wazir/Diwan Diwans also at the provincial level Krori at local level to collect revenue Mughal state was essentially a revenue collecting state. Bitikchi
Land records and deeds First time?

Mansabdari System
No division between civil and military functions of the state The mansabdari system determined the rank, pay-scale and the position of the imperial officer in the royal court in respect of other government officers

Evaluation of the Mansabdari System

Merits
A systematic and progressive system to reorganise the army within the fold of despotic monarchy First such system in India Improvement over the system of tribal chieftainship and feudalism Offices were not hereditary Every mansabdar was held personally responsible to the monarch
This eliminated all chances of dis-affection and revolts by the military officers

 Demerits
This system did not give birth to a national army
About 2/3rd of the mansabdars were either foreigners or the immediate descendents of the foreign immigrants

Non-regimentation of the army Hesitation on the part of the imperial govt to recruit all the soldiers of the mansabdars No uniform rules were prescribed for systematic training of the soldiers The nature and the quality of the war weapons borne by them differed from contingent to contingent

Provincial and Local

Centre Subah - Subedar Sarkar - Fauzdar Pargana - Shiqdar Village

Communication and Intelligence

Waqaya Nafis
Posted newswriters and spies all over the province

Aspects of Secularism
Hindus were given high mansabs Hindu customs were followed in cases related to them

Welfare
Revenue collectors were under orders not to oppress the cultivators while collecting the state demands Panchayats had some powers for local taxation
Responsibility for social development

Centralised Despotism
For
The state was based on a military system with the mansabdars responsible to the emperor No division between civil and military power gave immense power to the officials

Against
Some elements of decentralisation Mughals had given a legal sanction to the panchayati raj

Legacy of MA for Indian Admin

Provincial administration
Akbar was the first to develop an elaborate system of Provincial Administration Provinces had an administrative structure that was miniature of the imperial administration Similar to modern day states?

Kotwals
The system of Kotwals was inherited by the British in modified form and helped in the development of the modern police system Kotwal was primarily a police chief who combined in his office the functions of a municipal commissioner as well Municipal Commissioner

Revenue administration
Todar mals bandobast Revenue officers continue to this day in some modified form: eg patwari Division of provinces/districts.

Conclusions
The monarchy, though benevolent, was backward in its outlook. Elements of democracy were conspicuous by their absence. It contained no element of self-criticism and endogenous reforms Through their administration they installed an element of homogeneity in the governance of the country A useful element introduced by them was of compiling and codifying all the records. Although it was a muslim state, no discrimination was made in the selection of personnel