According to Kumar (1998), the agrarian structure of regions with assured irrigation, such as river deltas, was characterised by a large proportion of:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → landless, often bonded, labourers from the lowest castes
Option (1) tenants who leased land from upper-caste owners — Incorrect. Tenants hold land on lease and farm it themselves. Kumar describes irrigated regions by the large number of workers who had no land to lease or own.
Option (2) landless, often bonded, labourers from the lowest castes — Correct. In irrigated river deltas, intensive cultivation needed a lot of labour. So these regions had a large proportion of landless labourers, often bonded workers from the lowest castes, which made them the most unequal.
Option (3) owner-cultivators from middle castes with small plots — Incorrect. Middle castes are usually among the dominant landowning groups of a region. Owner-cultivators with small plots of their own would make a fairly equal structure, and Kumar finds the most unequal one here.
Option (4) marginal farmers who owned small plots of land — Incorrect. Marginal farmers own a little land of their own. Kumar's point is that most workers in these regions owned no land and worked for others, often as bonded labour.
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