The power of Jotedars was more effective within the village than that of zamindars because:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Jotedars were located in villages and exercised direct control over a considerable section of poor villagers.
Option (1) Jotedars were physically more strong and collaborated with the village people. — Incorrect. Their power had nothing to do with physical strength. It came from land, trade and moneylending: they exercised immense power over the poorer cultivators rather than working with them as equals.
Option (2) Jotedars were located in villages and exercised direct control over a considerable section of poor villagers. — Correct. Within the villages, the power of jotedars was more effective than that of zamindars. 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.
Option (3) Jotedars had a close relationship with the officials of the English East India Company. — Incorrect. The jotedars’ strength lay inside the village, in the land they held and the cultivators who depended on them, not in links with Company officials.
Option (4) Jotedars had a close relationship with the Nawabs. — Incorrect. The jotedars were rich peasants whose hold over the village came from the land they held and their presence in it; the Nawabs do not come into it.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 The rise of the jotedars … By the early nineteenth century, jotedars had acquired vast areas of land – sometimes as much as several thousand acres. They 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. Within the villages, the power of jotedars was more effective than that of zamindars. 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, mobilised ryots who were dependent on them, and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the zamindar.…” |