Why in news? Philip Meadows Taylor gains importance as Taylor Manzil(Taylor’s banglow) needs protection

Highlights:

• Taylor’s Manzil is a magnificent Bungalow on the top of a hill range around Surpur
• The highlight of the construction is, when any door of the building is closed or opened all the doors begin to shake.

About Meadows Taylor

• Taylor was an administrator in British India and a novelist, made notable contributions to public knowledge of South India.
• The appointment of Talyor in Surpur in 1841 as a political agent of Nizam of Hyderabad restored stability through an efficient and pro-people administration until Raja Venkatappa Nayak ascended the throne.

Initiatives

• Taylor took many measures to improve the administration, especially in the areas of revenue, police, education, judiciary and agriculture.
• He built many tanks across Surpur region under Nayak’s control that covered parts of present-day Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir and Raichur districts and provided irrigation facilities to the farmer resulted in paddy cultivation at large tracts of land in the area.
• He introduced and encouraged cotton cultivation in the region. Raichur, later, became Asia’s second-largest cotton market his encouragement for cotton cultivation in the region.
• He started many schools and offered help to people who were hit by drought.
• Taylor was popular with his people-friendly administration that he was fondly called “Mahadev Baba” by local people.