Editing Content :: Admin Scraper

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Northwest, including parts of Kashmir. Till the mid-19thcentury, this empire resisted both Mughal remnants and later British expansion. Administering India Administration under the Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate introduced a political system centred on the sultan, who possessed absolute authority as the political and military head, and whose duties, according to contemporary chronicles, included “defending the territories of Islam against possible aggression,” “collecting fees and taxes” and “keeping in touch with public affairs and the condition of the people by personal contact.” The sultan was however assisted by a council of ministers who were in charge of the various departments of the Sultanate. One instrument of the administration was the iqta system, in which territories were assigned to nobles (iqtadars) to collect taxes which, minus expenses, were supposed to go to the Sultan’s treasury; they were needed, in particular, to maintain the army. The system created a network of local administrators loyal to the central authority, but their posts were not hereditary. While taxes were levied on trade at every stage, the burden fell most heavily on the peasantry, and some contemporary accounts report considerable cruelty in extracting revenue from the land. The Mughal administrative framework Aiming at greater control and efficiency, Akbar reorganised his administrative machinery. The Diwan took care of the finances, a l while the Mir Bakhshi looked after military matters and the i Khan-i-Saman was in charge of public works, trade, industry l P and agriculture, besides the royal household. The Sadr was s a P d responsible for justice, religious and educational matters. Such e I ministers were assigned to each of the empire’s twelve provinces f i o a (subahs), which were further subdivided, with effective checks t s e R and balances enforced between the government officials. At the a – village level, traditional structures of self-governance continued T 2 more or less undisturbed. 53 Reprint 2026-27