Read the passage given below and answer.
From the Fifth Report
Referring to the condition of zamindars and the auction of lands, the Fifth Report stated: The revenue was not realised with punctuality, and lands to a considerable extent were periodically exposed to sale by auction. In the native year 1203, corresponding with 1796-97, the land advertised for sale comprehended a jumma or assessment of sicca rupees 28,70,061, the extent of land actually sold bore a jumma or assessment of 14,18,756, and the amount of purchase money sicca rupees 17,90,416. In 1204, corresponding with 1797-98, the land advertised was for sicca rupees 26,66,191, the quantity sold was for sicca rupees 22,74,076, and the purchase money sicca rupees 21,47,580. Among the defaulters were some of the oldest families of the country. Such were the rajahs of Nuddea, Rajeshaye, Bishenpore (all districts of Bengal),... and others, the dismemberment of whose estates at the end of each succeeding year, threatened them with poverty and ruin, and in some instances presented difficulties to the revenue officers, in their efforts to preserve undiminished the amount of public assessment.
The British East India Company had issued a decree that property of _____ would not be taken over, even in the case of non-payment of revenue.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Women
The Company had decreed that the property of women would not be taken over, so the Raja of Burdwan first transferred some of his zamindari to his mother to save it from auction.
Note: The passage of this question is the source ‘From the Fifth Report’ in the NCERT chapter ‘Colonialism and the Countryside’, but this question and most of the others on it come from the text round it, on the zamindars and the Permanent Settlement. A source in the chapter brings the whole section with it, so read the pages on both sides of every source.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.5 The zamindars resist … The authority of the zamindars in rural areas, however, did not collapse. Faced with an exorbitantly high revenue demand and possible auction of their estates, they devised ways of surviving the pressures. New contexts produced new strategies. Fictitious sale was one such strategy. It involved a series of manoeuvres. The Raja of Burdwan, for instance, first transferred some of his zamindari to his mother, since the Company had decreed that the property of women would not be taken over.…” |