Floud Commission

Floud Commission a land revenue commission established by the government of Bengal in 1938. ak fazlul huq, a leader of the nikhil banga praja samiti (est. 1929), and subsequently the leader of the krishak praja party (est.1935) was committed to the abolition of the zamindari system and restoring the rights of peasants. This was one of the major items of the KPP 21-point manifesto for the general elections of 1937. The Congress and the muslim league were also highly sympathetic to the peasantry. However, this sympathy was politically grounded on the fact that the peasant vote would be the deciding factor in the ensuing general elections in which the peasant section of voters constituted the absolute majority.

After the elections, AK Fazlul Huq formed a coalition government with the support of the Muslim League and some other parliamentary groups. He was under pressure to take necessary measures to abolish the permanent settlement. To this end, a commission headed by Sir Francis Floud was formed to look into problems of the land revenue administration. In particular, the commission was to examine the question of the abolition of the zamindari system. The commission submitted its recommendations on 2 March 1940. Among its recommendations were the abolition of the Permanent Settlement and the end of rent receiving interests of all forms. It was observed that agrarian conditions had so changed since the introduction of the Permanent Settlement that the system had lost its utility and viability. This recommendation was strongly supported by the Administrative Inquiry Committee of 1944. But the government could do little towards implementing the recommendations of the Floud Commission. The main obstacles were political instability, the Great famine of 1943, communal unrest, and the politics of partitioning India. Under these constraints, successive governments led by Fazlul Huq, khwaja nazimuddin, and huseyn shaheed suhrawardy kept the Floud Commission Report in abeyance, though all these governments favoured the end of the zamindari system. The Permanent Settlement or Zamindari System was formally brought to an end in 1951 by the east bengal state acquisition and tenancy act, 1950. [Sirajul Islam] [Islam, Sirajul  Chief Editor, Banglapedia]