In north Indian villages, which among the following is a practice where exchange of produce, goods, and services happen without the use of money, based on the caste system and customary practices?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Jajmani system
Option (4) Jajmani system — Correct. The jajmani system is a non-market exchange system of the village: families of different castes give their produce, goods and services to one another by custom and caste, not by buying and selling with money. Such systems existed in many villages and regions even in the pre-colonial period.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.1 Sociological Perspectives on Markets … While colonialism certainly brought about major economic transformations, for example due to the demand that land revenue be paid in cash, recent historical research has shown that much of India’s economy was already extensively monetised (trade was carried out using money) in the late pre-colonial period. And while various kinds of non-market exchange systems (such as the ‘jajmani system’) did exist in many villages and regions, even during the precolonial period villages were incorporated into wider networks of exchange through which agricultural products and other goods circulated (Bayly 1983, Stein and Subrahmanyam 1996).…” |