Consider the following statements: 1. In the 19th century, peasants in various parts of India rose in revolt against moneylenders and grain dealers. 2. In May 1875, at village Supa in Poona District in the Bombay Deccan, peasants attacked shopkeepers, burnt the bahi khatas (account books), looted grain shops and set fire to the houses of Sahukars. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. Both statements come almost word for word from the standard school treatment of the Deccan riots, and both are accurate. On the first, nineteenth-century India saw repeated risings of cultivators not against the State directly but against the moneylender and the grain dealer who stood between them and it — the Deccan in 1875 is the best documented, and the same pattern shows in the indigo disturbances of Bengal in 1859-60 and in the agrarian unrest of the eastern districts. On the second, the outbreak began on 12 May 1875 at Supa, a large village and market centre in Poona district where many shopkeepers and moneylenders lived. Ryots from the surrounding countryside gathered, demanded the bahi khatas and the debt bonds, burnt them, looted grain shops and in some cases set fire to the houses of sahukars. The revolt spread from Poona to Ahmednagar and over the next two months across about 6,500 square kilometres and more than thirty villages, and 951 people were arrested before the countryside was brought under control.
- (a)1 only — Accepts the general pattern but rejects the Supa account, which is the best attested episode of it — the District Magistrate of Poona was writing to the Police Commissioner about it within four days.
- (b)2 only — Accepts Supa but denies that such revolts were widespread in the nineteenth century. They were: the Deccan riots are described in the sources as one instance of a recurring kind.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects both, though the second statement is a near-quotation of the standard account and the first is the sentence that introduces it.
The ryotwari settlement of the Bombay Deccan collected revenue in cash directly from the cultivator, and revised the demand at each survey. When the American Civil War ended in 1865 the cotton boom that had lifted Deccan prices collapsed, exports fell away, and the revenue demand was raised in the settlements of the early 1870s just as incomes fell. Cultivators borrowed from the sahukar, who was both moneylender and trader, and the bonds they signed were written in a language and a script they could not check. The riots were an attack on those bonds rather than on persons: the crowds went for the account books first.
Both statements in this item are drawn from the same page of the standard account, so the question rewards having read the passage rather than a summary of it. The details that carry marks are the ones a paraphrase usually loses — the village name Supa, the district Poona, the month May 1875, and above all the object of the attack, which is the bahi khata rather than the person of the moneylender. The aftermath is worth holding too: the Deccan Riots Commission was appointed and reported in 1878, and the Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act of 1879 followed, limiting what a creditor could recover and giving courts power to reopen old accounts. Note the printed stem's May 1875, which is right; the outbreak is dated 12 May 1875.
- The revolt began on 12 May 1875 at Supa, a large village and market centre in Poona (present-day Pune) district.
- Ryots demanded the bahi khatas and debt bonds, burnt them, looted grain shops and set fire to the houses of some sahukars.
- It spread from Poona to Ahmednagar and over two months covered about 6,500 square kilometres and more than thirty villages; 951 people were arrested.
- A sahukar was someone who acted as both moneylender and trader.
- The Deccan Riots Commission was appointed to inquire, and the Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act, 1879 followed.
The target throughout was the written bond rather than the person — which is what the second statement of the question describes.
- Placing Supa in a district other than Poona, or moving the outbreak to a different year; it is May 1875.
- Describing the riots as directed against the colonial revenue officials; the immediate target was the moneylender and his account books.
- Assuming the Deccan Riots Commission inquired everywhere; it confined itself largely to the affected districts.
As a two-statement item on what happened at Supa, as a question on the Commission or the 1879 Act, or as a cause-and-effect item linking the cotton slump to the revolt.
Which of the following statements about the Deccan Riots Commission is/are correct? 1. The Commission did not hold enquiries in the districts which were not affected. 2. The Commission did record the statements of ryots, sahukars and eye-witnesses. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
The official inquiry into the same revolt. Its testimony from ryots, sahukars and eye-witnesses is where much of what we know about Supa comes from, including the District Magistrate's report of 16 May 1875.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Deccan riots of 1875 began at which one of the following places?
- (a)Supa, in Poona district
- (b)Bardoli, in Surat district
- (c)Kheda, in Gujarat
- (d)Sirsi, in Karnataka
Answer(a) Supa, in Poona district — a market village where many shopkeepers and moneylenders lived.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following legislative measures followed the Deccan riots of 1875?
- (a)The Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885
- (b)The Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act, 1879
- (c)The Champaran Agrarian Act, 1918
- (d)The Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900
Answer(b) The Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act, 1879 — passed after the Deccan Riots Commission reported.