The Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji (r. 1296-1316) implemented a series of major fiscal, land and agrarian reforms in northern India.
He imposed a 50% kharaj tax on the agricultural produce, and ordered his ministry to collect the revenue directly from the peasants by eliminating the intermediary village chiefs.
Besides ensuring sufficient revenues for the royal treasury, the objective of these reforms was to subjugate the powerful chiefs and nobles who could challenge Alauddin's authority.
According to chronicler Ziauddin Barani, he also asked his advisers for reforms to subjugate the Hindus whose wealth was a "source of rebellion and disaffection" like the nobility.
[8] He also viewed the haughtiness as well as direct and indirect resistance of the traditional Hindu village heads, who controlled the countryside and agricultural production, as the main impediment in his rule.
[9] He sought to reduce the power of his Hindu population and according to Barani, he asked "the wise men to supply some rules and regulations for grinding down the Hindus, and for depriving them of that wealth and property which fosters disaffection and rebellion.
He says that though Barani lends a communal colour to Jalaluddin's complaint against their behaviour, it was clear that the Hindu middle-class was well-off and not inclined to servility.
He confiscated a large number of lands that had earlier been held as private property (milk), and re-designated them as part of the crown territory.
He also annulled several land grants, including those awarded to religious or charitable organizations (waqf) and those exempt from service obligations (inam).
In the fertile regions near Delhi, the government preferred taking revenue in kind: the grain collected as a result was taken to the state granaries.
The peasants were not allowed to take the surplus grain to their homes, and were compelled to sell it in the market or to the transporters at a low price.
[18] Alauddin's administration changed this convention, and determined the revenue amount based on the area under cultivation and the produce per biswa.
[18] This practice of determining the revenue amount based on the land area was known to the Hindu kings and was followed in southern India during Alauddin's time.
[22] The amount demanded by the Hindu rulers ranged from one-sixth to one-third of the agricultural produce, depending on the situation of the kingdom.
The cultivators were required to pay half of the agricultural produce as a tax: this was the maximum amount allowed by the Hanafi school of Islam, which was dominant in Delhi at that time.
[26] Historian Kishori Saran Lal believes that while the Hindus suffered most from these reforms (as they dominated the agriculture), the others - including noblemen, traders, and cultivators - were also negatively impacted.
These reforms were limited to certain crown-governed territories, which included parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Malwa.
[29] A large number of officials were recruited for implementing the new laws: tribute demanders, revenue collectors, government agents, accountants, auditors, clerks, and office managers.
To address this problem, Alauddin created a new department called Divan-i-Mustakhraj, which was responsible for investigating and realizing the arrears from the revenue collectors.
[36] Barani mentions that it was impossible for the revenue officials to take bribes from Hindus and Muslims, or to obtain money dishonestly in any other way.
[37] Alauddin's practice of appropriating four-fifths of the spoils of war from the soldiers continued until the reign of Firuz Shah Tughluq, who switched back to the traditional demand of one-fifth share (khums).