Matrix event in agrarian structure refers to
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Farmer suicides
Option (1) Farmer suicides — Correct. Farmers’ suicides have become ‘matrix events’, that is, a range of factors coalesce together to form an event. The changed pattern of landholdings, the shift to cash crops, costly inputs, the withdrawal of the state from support to agriculture and debt all come together in the farmer’s distress.
Note: The paragraph that calls farmers’ suicides ‘matrix events’ was there in the chapter ‘Change and Development in Rural Society’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This portion has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its box on farmers’ suicides are still there.
NCERT (2025-26): “Farmers’ suicides The spate of farmers’ suicides that has been occurring in different parts of the country since 1997–98 can be linked to the ‘agrarian distress’ caused by structural changes in agriculture and changes in economic and agricultural policies. These include: the changed pattern of landholdings; changing cropping patterns, especially due to shift to cash crops; liberalisation policies that have exposed Indian agriculture to the forces of globalisation; heavy dependence on high-cost inputs; withdrawal of the State from agricultural extension activities to be replaced by multinational seed and fertiliser companies; decline in state support for agriculture; and individualisation of agricultural operations.…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Farmers’ suicides … While farmers in India for centuries have periodically faced distress due to drought, crop failures, or debt, the phenomenon of farmers’ suicides appears to be new. Sociologists have attempted to explain this phenomenon by looking at the structural and social changes that have been occurring in agriculture and agrarian society. Such suicides have become ‘matrix events’, that is, a range of factors coalesce together to form an event.…” |