He abolished feudalism and gave ownership of the lands to the cultivators of the land.
Direct Revenue Collection in kind: under the older feudal system, the Mughal State delegated feudal lords to collect revenue from the producers (farmers). The feudal lords exploited the people. There was no direct contact of the State with the people. The State did not interfere with the feudal lands as long as it got its revenue. The feudal lords were autocratic and did not care about the people or productivity. Banda Singh Bahadar abolished feudalism and gave ownership of the lands to the cultivators of the land. The Sikh State then collected revenue directly from the producers without any middleman. The producers had more to themselves, and were empowered to improve their productivity and output. The Sikh State got more revenue from rising prosperity.
Epistocracy: governance by experts, rule of the learned. Sikh governance model can be compared to Plato’s epistocracy – governance by experts. The governance of First Sikh Kingdom of Banda Singh Bahadar was based on epistocracy. The Khalsa were Sikh equivalents of this. It was governance of experts and rule of the learned. It was meritocracy. Sikh rule was not democratic. Khalsa are trained in benevolence, philosophy, political thought, religion, history, and governance. Analogy can be made with Plato’s epistocrats and Chinese Mandarin bureaucrats.
Implemented Direct Democracy: Decisions on matters of local relevance were taken via a form of direct democracy called Sarbat Khalsa (see chapter on Sarbat Khalsa). All Sikhs who were impacted would gather together. They would deliberate on the issues. Decisions were taken via consensus.
Justice for the people: the First Sikh Kingdom was “relentlessness in his punishment of tyrannical officials”. Sikh Kingdom upheld ‘individual liberty’. Modern enlightened Western Nations and democracies do not. Prof. Ganda Singh writes about Banda Singh Bahadar:
"His justice was expeditious and he sometimes went to the extent of relentlessness in his punishment of tyrannical officials. The rank and position of the offender never influenced his spirit of justice and his summary method of dealing with criminal cases made him a terror to the tribe of petty functionaries. In his zeal for the emancipation of the persecuted and down-trodden, he earned the blessings of the poor and the destitute whose cries had not been heard by anyone for centuries past."
(Prof. Ganda Singh, 'Life of Banda Singh Bahadar, based on contemporary and original records', p. 251)
Lower taxes: The Sikh State got more revenue from rising prosperity. Persian sources such as Ibratnama quote Sikh Kingdom took 20% of the produce in kind as taxes as compared to 40-50% taxes under Mughal Empire. Even with lower taxes, there was more money available for the Sikh Kingdom. (Prof. Ganda Singh, 'Life of Banda Singh Bahadar, based on contemporary and original records', p. 251)
