Consider the following statements about agriculture in India before and during British rule:
(A) The French traveller Bernier described seventeenth-century Bengal as richer than Egypt.
(B) Under colonial rule, agriculture saw some growth in absolute terms because the total area under cultivation expanded.
(C) The zamindari system was implemented in the then Bombay Presidency.
(D) Despite some progress in irrigation, agriculture was starved of investment in terracing, flood-control, drainage and desalinisation of soil.
(E) Low levels of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and wide use of fertilisers lowered agricultural productivity.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → (A), (B) and (D) only
(A) The French traveller Bernier described seventeenth-century Bengal as richer than Egypt. — Correct. Bernier believed Bengal was richer than Egypt.
(B) Under colonial rule, agriculture saw some growth in absolute terms because the total area under cultivation expanded. — Correct. Growth came from the expansion of the area under cultivation, while productivity stayed low.
(C) The zamindari system was implemented in the then Bombay Presidency. — Incorrect. It was implemented in the Bengal Presidency.
(D) Despite some progress in irrigation, agriculture was starved of investment in terracing, flood-control, drainage and desalinisation of soil. — Correct. Agriculture was starved of investment in these.
(E) Low levels of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and wide use of fertilisers lowered agricultural productivity. — Incorrect. Fertiliser use was negligible, not wide.
Note: One statement here came from a traveller’s account quoted in a side box. Quotations in boxes are worth a careful read.
NCERT (2026-27): “Box 1.2: Agriculture During Pre-British India The French traveller, Bernier, described seventeenth century Bengal in the following way: ‘The knowledge I have acquired of Bengal in two visits inclines me to believe that it is richer than Egypt. …” “1.3 Agricultural Sector India’s economy under the British colonial rule remained fundamentally agrarian — about 85 per cent of the country’s population lived mostly in villages and derived livelihood directly or indirectly from agriculture (See Box 1.2). However, despite being the occupation of such a large population, the agricultural sector continued to experience stagnation and, not infrequently, unusual deterioration. Agricultural productivity became low though, in absolute terms, the sector experienced some growth due to the expansion of the aggregate area under cultivation. This stagnation in the agricultural sector was caused mainly because of the various systems of land settlement that were introduced by the colonial government. Particularly, under the zamindari system which was implemented in the then Bengal Presidency comprising parts of India’s present-day eastern states, the profit accruing out of the agriculture sector went to the zamindars instead of the cultivators. However, a considerable number of zamindars, and not just the colonial government, did nothing to improve the condition of agriculture. The main interest of the zamindars was only to collect rent regardless of the economic condition of the cultivators; this caused immense misery and social tension among the latter. To a very great extent, the terms of the revenue settlement were also responsible for the zamindars adopting such an attitude; dates for depositing specified sums of revenue were fixed, failing which the zamindars were to lose their rights. Besides this, low levels of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and negligible use of fertilisers, all added up to aggravate the plight of the farmers and contributed to the dismal level of agricultural productivity. …” “… Despite some progress made in irrigation, India’s agriculture was starved of investment in terracing, flood-control, drainage and desalinisation of soil. …” |