A teacher shows her class a line graph prepared by economic historians. It traces the number of people living in India from 1600 to 1800. The line dips in some years, which she marks as years of famine and epidemic. Beside the graph she pins notes on Mughal villages: most fields gave two harvests a year, many regions grew a large variety of grains, and peasants grew cotton, sugarcane and oilseeds for sale beside their food crops. She asks the class to connect the two.
The teacher asks the class to link the notes to the graph. Which conclusion do economic historians draw about India's population over the two centuries shown?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Varied and flexible forms of agricultural production led to a slow demographic growth.
Option (1) Varied and flexible forms of agricultural production led to a slow demographic growth. — Correct. Two harvests a year and a wide range of crops made farming varied and flexible. Historians see <strong>a slow demographic growth</strong> as one important outcome of this.
Option (2) Varied and flexible forms of agricultural production led to a rapid demographic growth. — Incorrect. The link to varied farming is right, but historians describe the growth as <strong>slow</strong>. The dips for famine and epidemic kept the rise gradual.
Option (3) Famines and epidemics reversed the early growth, so the population fell overall. — Incorrect. Famines and epidemics caused only periodic disruptions. <strong>The population still increased</strong> over the two centuries.
Option (4) The spread of cash crops cut food output and kept the population steady. — Incorrect. Peasants grew cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane beside their food crops. Over these two centuries the population <strong>rose</strong>.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 An abundance of crops … |