Within India's agrarian structure "matrix event" is a term associated with:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Farmers suicides
Option (1) Farmers suicides — Correct. Farmers have faced drought, crop failure and debt for centuries, but farmers’ suicides appear to be a new phenomenon. Sociologists explain them through the structural changes in agriculture: such suicides have become ‘matrix events’, that is, a range of factors coalesce together to form an event — rising costs of production, unstable markets, heavy borrowing for costly inputs and the loss of a crop.
Option (4) Farmer debt — Incorrect. Debt is one of the factors that come together; farmers borrow heavily to invest in expensive inputs and then cannot bear the burden. The term ‘matrix event’ is used for the suicide that results when debt combines with crop loss, rising costs and unstable prices.
Note: The paragraph that calls farmers’ suicides ‘matrix events’, in the chapter ‘Change and Development in Rural Society’, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. It has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its box on farmers’ suicides are still there.
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “While farmers in India for centuries have periodically faced distress due to drought, crop failures, or debt, the phenomenon of farmers’ suicides appears to be new. Sociologists have attempted to explain this phenomenon by looking at the structural and social changes that have been occurring in agriculture and agrarian society. Such suicides have become ‘matrix events’, that is, a range of factors coalesce together to form an event. Many of the farmers who have committed suicides were marginal farmers who were attempting to increase their productivity, primarily by practising green revolution methods. However, undertaking such production meant facing several risks: the cost of production has increased tremendously due to a decrease in agricultural subsidies, the markets are not stable, and many farmers borrow heavily in order to invest in expensive inputs and improve their production.…” |