Land Tenure.—Owing to historical reasons, the system of land tenure is not uniform. In the Benares division, the land revenue was permanently fixed in 1795, on the same principles that had been previously adopted in Bengal; and there a special class of tenants, as well as the landlords, enjoy a privileged status. Throughout the rest of the province of Agra, temporary settle ments are in force, usually for a term of thirty years, the revenue being assessed at one-half of the "assets" or estimated rental value. The settlement is made with the landholders or zamindars, who are frequently a group of persons holding distinct shares in the land, and may be themselves petty cultivators. The priv ileged tenants are those possessing "occupancy" rights, de fined by statute. All other tenants are merely tenants-at-will. In Oudh, after the convulsion of the Mutiny, all rights in land were confiscated at a stroke, and the new system adopted was in the nature of grants to the talukdars, or great landlords, who were thus given a status that has no analogy in the rest of India. By sanad (or patent) and by legislation the talukdars were declared to possess permanent, heritable and transferable rights, with the special privilege of alienation, either in lifetime or by will, not withstanding the limits imposed by Hindu or Mohammedan law. In addition most of them follow the rule of primogeniture, while a power of entail has recently been granted. The estates of taluk dars extend over more than half the total area of Oudh. No "occupancy" rights based on continuous cultivation are recognized in Oudh, but any person admitted to the of land is entitled to hold it for seven years at the same rent, which may not be advanced by more than 61% at the end of the term.
Manufactures.—The principal manufactures are those of sugar, metal and coarse cotton cloth. Ornamental metal-work is made at Benares. Among the factories on the English model are the Elgin and Muir cotton mills at Cawnpore, the Cawnpore wool-mill, tanneries and leather factories, the Shahjahanpur rum distillery, and breweries at Mussoorie and Naini Tal. There are also iron and brass foundries, lac factories and oil mills.
The export trade is chiefly confined to agricultural produce. The principal staples include wheat, oilseeds, raw cotton, sugar, molasses, timber and forest produce, dry-stuffs, ghee and tobacco. The imports consist mainly of English piece-goods, metal-work, manufactured wares, salt and European goods. The chief centres of trade are Cawnpore, Allahabad, Agra, Mirzapur, Benares, Meerut and Moradabad.
Irrigation.—The Doab is intersected by canals drawn from the great rivers. The major productive works are the upper and lower Ganges, the eastern Jumna, and the Agra canals. The greatest work in the province, and one of the greatest irrigation works in the world, is the upper Ganges canal, which is taken from the river where it leaves the hills, some 2 m. above Hardwar. In the first 20 m. of its course this gigantic canal crosses four great torrents, which bring down immense volumes of water in the rainy season. The total length of the main canal is 213 m., navigable
throughout, and designed to irrigate 1,500,000 acres. The lower Ganges canal is taken from the river at Narora, 149 m. below Hardwar. After crossing four great drainage lines, it cuts int.:: the Cawnpore, and 7 m. lower down into the Etawah, branches of the upper Ganges canal. These branches are now below the point of intersection, part of the lower Ganges canal system. The irrigating capacity of this canal is 1,250,000 acres. A magnifi cent new canal has just been opened, to carry the waters of the Sarda over Oudh.
Railways.—The province is well supplied with railways. The main line of the East Indian traverses it from end to end, on both banks of the Ganges, connecting with Bengal on the one side and the Punjab on the other, and linking up with the G.I.P. line at Allahabad, Agra and Cawnpore. Besides this broad-gauge system, there is also a metre-gauge nexus (the Bengal and North-Western, with its associate, the Rohilkhand & Kumaun), which serves the whole of the submontane tract and projects into Bengal, while it also joins with the B.B.&C.I. at Muttra. The trade of the prov ince thus has access to the sea at Bombay, Calcutta and Karachi.
Administration.—The province is under the direction of a Governor, with an Executive Council and Ministers. There are seven secretarial departments, besides a board of revenue, which is the highest tribunal in rent and land revenue matters. The legis lative council is 118 strong. For ordinary business, the province is divided into 48 districts, each under a collector and magistrate, called also the deputy commissioner in Oudh and Kumaun ; while the districts are grouped into nine divisions under commissioners. The supreme judicial tribunals are the chartered high court at Allahabad with jurisdiction over the old Agra part of the province, and a chief court at Lucknow with jurisdiction over Oudh.
Population.—Out of the total census of 1931, no fewer than are Hindus, and only 7,434,058 are Mohammedans, or 84.6% and 54..9% respectively. Hindostani (or Urdu) and Hindi (Eastern and Western) are the chief languages.
History.—If the present limits be slightly extended in either direction so as to include Delhi and Patna, the United Provinces would contain the area on which almost the whole drama of Indian history has been played. Here lay the scene, known as Madhya Desa or "middle country," of the second period of Aryan colonization, when the two great epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, were probably composed, and when the religion of Brahmanism took form. Here Buddha was born, preached and died. Here arose the successive dynasties of Asoka, of the Guptas, and of Harshavardhana, which for a thousand years exercised imperial sway over the greater part of India. Here ruled the Mogul for his most brilliant period at Agra and at Fatehpur Sikri. Here finally, at the crisis of the Mutiny, British dominion was permanently established in India.