A small cultivator in a Mughal village finds his share of the revenue demand rising, though his land is unchanged. Which practice of the village mandal was principally blamed for this?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Underassessing his own lands and shifting the extra revenue burden to smaller cultivators
Option (1) Demanding the whole revenue in cash from smaller cultivators before the harvest — Incorrect. Paying in cash or in kind was a matter of revenue rules. The charge against the mandals concerned how the burden was shared out.
Option (2) Charging the smaller cultivators for entertaining revenue officials who visited the village — Incorrect. The cost of entertaining visiting revenue officials was met from the panchayat's common pool of contributions made by individuals; the charge against the mandals concerned the revenue on their own lands.
Option (3) Shifting the cost of community welfare, such as tiding over floods, onto smaller cultivators — Incorrect. Community welfare expenses such as tiding over natural calamities were paid from the panchayat's common fund; the mandals were accused of underassessing their own lands to pass the burden on.
Option (4) Underassessing his own lands and shifting the extra revenue burden to smaller cultivators — Correct. The mandals were accused of <strong>underassessing the revenue on their own lands</strong>. The extra burden then fell on the <strong>smaller cultivator</strong>, which explains the rising demand.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.2 Panchayats and headmen … |