Which of the following statements are correct?

(A) Moneylenders were called ‘dikus’.
(B) Zamindars hired the Santhals to reclaim land.
(C) Santhals were merchants.
(D) Land of the Santhals was demarcated as ‘Damin-i-koh’.
(E) Santhals charged heavy land revenue from dikus moneylenders.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

(A), (B) and (D) only

The correct answer is Option (3) - (A), (B) and (D) only

The correct statements are:

(A) Moneylenders were called ‘dikus’.
(B) Zamindars hired the Santhals to reclaim land.
(D) Land of the Santhals was demarcated as ‘Damin-i-koh’.

The Santhals had begun to come into Bengal around the 1780s. Zamindars hired them to reclaim land and expand cultivation (STATEMENT B), and British officials invited them to settle in the Jangal Mahals. Having failed to subdue the Paharias and transform them into settled agriculturists, the British turned to the Santhals.

The Santhals were given land and persuaded to settle in the foothills of Rajmahal. By 1832 a large area of land was demarcated as Damin-i-Koh. This was declared to be the land of the Santhals (STATEMENT D). They were to live within it, practise plough agriculture, and become settled peasants. The land grant to the Santhals stipulated that at least one-tenth of the area was to be cleared and cultivated within the first ten years.

The Santhals gave up their earlier life of mobility and settled down, cultivating a range of commercial crops for the market, and dealing with traders and moneylenders.

The Santhals, however, soon found that the land they had brought under cultivation was slipping away from their hands. The state was levying heavy taxes on the land that the Santhals had cleared, moneylenders (dikus) (STATEMENT A) were charging them high rates of interest and taking over the land when debts remained unpaid, and zamindars were asserting control over the Damin area.

 Incorrect statements with correction:

(C) Santhals were not merchants. They were tribal people who settled in the Rajmahal hills and practised agriculture.

(E) Dikus charged heavy land revenue from the Santhals, not Santhals charged heavy land revenue from dikus moneylenders.