Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

History

Chapter

Modern India: Colonialism and the Countryside

Question:

Which of the following term does NOT refer to the rich ryots?

Options:

Jotedars

Mandals

Haoladars

Bargadars

Correct Answer:

Bargadars

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (4) → Bargadars

The term 'Bargadars' was used to refer to the sharecroppers or adhiyars and not the jotedars.

The jotedars controlled local trade as well as moneylending, exercising immense power over the poorer cultivators of the region. A large part of their land was cultivated through sharecroppers (adhiyars or bargadars) who brought their own ploughs, laboured in the field, and handed over half the produce to the jotedars after the harvest.

Rich peasants in Bengal were referred to as Jotedars. They controlled local trade as well as moneylending, exercising immense power over the poorer cultivators of the region. Unlike zamindars who often lived in urban areas, jotedars were located in the villages and exercised direct control over a considerable section of poor villagers. They fiercely resisted efforts by zamindars to increase the jama of the village, prevented zamindari officials from executing their duties, mobilized ryots who were dependent on them, and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the zamindar. In some places they were called haoladars, elsewhere they were known as gantidars or mandals.