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.
Which outcome do historians connect with the varied and flexible farming described in the teacher's notes?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A slow demographic growth despite periodic disruptions
Option (1) A steady fall in population, as famines undid the gains of good harvests — Incorrect. This is the reverse of what happened. Despite famines, India's population rose over the two centuries.
Option (2) A shift of most peasants from villages into growing towns — Incorrect. The outcome historians link to varied farming concerns the size of the whole population, which grew slowly.
Option (3) A slow demographic growth despite periodic disruptions — Correct. Varied and flexible farming led to <strong>a slow demographic growth</strong>, that is, a slow rise in population. Famines and epidemics in some years caused <strong>periodic disruptions but did not stop the rise</strong>.
Option (4) A population that stayed level, with famine losses matching good-year gains — Incorrect. A level population would mean no growth. Historians calculate a rise across the two centuries.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 An abundance of crops … |