Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Under the zamindari system, the cultivators faced immense misery and social tension.
Reason (R): The main interest of the zamindars was only to collect rent, regardless of the economic condition of the cultivators.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
Assertion (A): Under the zamindari system, the cultivators faced immense misery and social tension. — True. The cultivators under the zamindari system lived in misery.
Reason (R): The main interest of the zamindars was only to collect rent, regardless of the economic condition of the cultivators. — True. The zamindars cared only about collecting rent.
Why R explains A?
The zamindars took their rent even when the cultivators were in a bad state. They did nothing to improve farming. This pressure for rent is what caused the misery and social tension among the cultivators.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.3 Agricultural Sector … Particularly, under the zamindari system which was implemented in the then Bengal Presidency comprising parts of India’s present-day eastern states, the profit accruing out of the agriculture sector went to the zamindars instead of the cultivators. However, a considerable number of zamindars, and not just the colonial government, did nothing to improve the condition of agriculture. The main interest of the zamindars was only to collect rent regardless of the economic condition of the cultivators; this caused immense misery and social tension among the latter. …” |