Gurukul district, a fiefdom of landlords who levied tax on use of car and gramophones, in Uttar Pradesh

From the archive record

This is the countryside of Gurukul district in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Less than six decades back this district was a fiefdom of landlords who levied their own taxes. Among them was a tax called Motor Runa and another called gramophoney. First levied to the use of cars and second for those who listened to on gramophones. The two curious instances cited in the UP zamindari committee's report of 1952 to plead powerfully for the abolition of landlordism. Today Gorakhpur is divided into three districts with the fourth likely to emerge soon. Zamindari has gone and the second Green Revolution has transformed the district from a malaria-infested flood prone swamp into one of UPs agriculturally prosperous districts. This footage is part of the broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films Ind