How did the cotton boom of the 1860s first affect the ryots in the Deccan villages?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → They suddenly found access to seemingly limitless credit.
Option (1) They suddenly found access to seemingly limitless credit. — Correct. With the American Civil War cutting off supplies, Britain wanted Indian cotton. Export merchants and sahukars now offered ryots seemingly limitless credit, with advances for cotton and long-term loans.
Option (2) The moneylenders refused to give them any loans. — Incorrect. Moneylenders refused loans only after the boom ended, around 1865. They then lost confidence in the ryots' capacity to repay.
Option (3) The government lowered the revenue demand on their land. — Incorrect. The revenue demand was not lowered. In the next settlement it was raised dramatically, just when credit was drying up.
Option (4) They were forced to give up cotton for food crops. — Incorrect. The boom did the opposite. Easy credit made ryots plant more cotton, and cotton production in the Bombay Deccan expanded.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.4 Then came the cotton boom … “While the American crisis continued, cotton production in the Bombay Deccan expanded.” |