ब्रिटिशांनी लागू केलेल्या कोणत्या जमीन महसूल पद्धतीमध्ये जमिनीची मालकी शेतकऱ्यांकडेच होती आणि ते थेट सरकारला कर भरत असत?

The correct answer is Option B (Ryotwari System).

Key Points:
• Ryotwari Land Tenure System: Devised by Captain Alexander Read (experimentally in Baramahal in 1792) and institutionalized by Sir Thomas Munro (Governor of Madras in 1820), the Ryotwari system established a direct settlement between the British colonial state and the individual cultivator (*Ryot*).
• Direct Peasant Proprietorship: Under this system, there were no feudal intermediaries or zamindars; the individual peasant (*Ryot*) was recognized as the proprietor of the land holding (*Patta*) with rights to sublet, mortgage, or transfer it, provided he paid the assessed land revenue directly to the government.
• Geographical Coverage & Bombay Presidency: Covering the largest area—nearly 51% of British India—it operated across the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, Assam, and Coorg. In Maharashtra (Bombay Deccan), it was introduced under Governor Mountstuart Elphinstone, R. K. Pringle, and later refined by Wingate and Goldsmid.
• Distractor Analysis: Under Lord Cornwallis's Permanent Settlement / Zamindari System (1793, 19% area), landlords owned the land; under Holt Mackenzie's Mahalwari System (1822, 30% area), revenue settlement was made collectively with the village community (*Mahal*).
• Key Takeaway: Under the Ryotwari system, land ownership rested directly with the peasant cultivators (Ryots) who paid land revenue directly to the government.