Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R) : Assertion (A) : The British Government introduced different land revenue system in different part of India. Reason (R) : It led to create different classes in Indian peasantry. Select the correct answer from the codes given below.
- (a)Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
- (b)Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
- (c)(A) is true but (R) is false
- (d)(A) is false but (R) is true
Correct — A, both statements are true and R correctly explains A. Assertion is true: the British imposed three principal land-revenue systems in different regions — the Permanent Settlement / Zamindari (1793, Bengal-Bihar-Odisha and parts of the north), the Ryotwari system (Madras and Bombay Presidencies) and the Mahalwari system (Ganga valley, North-Western Provinces, Punjab, parts of Central India). Reason is also true and directly explains the assertion's significance: because each system fixed the revenue on a different party, it produced distinct agrarian classes — a landlord (zamindar) class with tenants and sub-tenants below it under Zamindari, individual peasant-proprietors (ryots) under Ryotwari, and village co-sharing bodies under Mahalwari. Since the varied systems are precisely what created the differentiated, region-specific peasantry, R is the correct explanation of A, so (a) is the strongest option.
- (b)Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A) — Wrong — R is not an unrelated true fact; the different revenue systems are exactly what produced the different peasant classes, so R does explain A rather than merely co-occurring with it.
- (c)(A) is true but (R) is false — Wrong — R is true: the systems demonstrably created differentiated agrarian classes (zamindars, ryots, tenants, sub-tenants and landless labourers).
- (d)(A) is false but (R) is true — Wrong — A is true: the British verifiably used Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari settlements in different parts of India.
Land revenue was the colonial state's chief source of income, and the British trialled three main settlements: the Permanent/Zamindari Settlement (Cornwallis, 1793), the Ryotwari system (Thomas Munro and Alexander Read) and the Mahalwari system (Holt Mackenzie and R. M. Bird). Because each fixed the revenue-payer differently — a landlord, an individual ryot, or a village body — they reshaped rural society into distinct classes with different rights and burdens.
In an Assertion-Reason item, verify each part and then judge the link. Both parts are historically true here, and the differentiation of peasant classes is a direct outcome of the varied systems — so the answer is the strongest option (a), not the 'both true but unrelated' trap (b).
- Permanent Settlement (1793, Cornwallis) created a zamindar landlord class in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha
- Ryotwari (Munro/Read) settled revenue directly with individual cultivators (ryots) in Madras and Bombay
- Mahalwari (Mackenzie/Bird) settled revenue with the village or 'mahal' community in the North-Western Provinces
- The differing systems produced region-specific agrarian classes — landlords, tenants, peasant-proprietors and landless labourers
Three regionally different revenue systems each created a distinct peasant/landlord class, so R (different classes) is the correct explanation of A (different systems) — answer (a).
- Choosing (b) — treating R as a true-but-unrelated fact when it is actually the outcome of A
- Forgetting Mahalwari as the third system, or confusing which official introduced which settlement
UPPSC/UPSC frame this as Assertion-Reason, match-list or statements on the three land-revenue systems — link each to its region and architect (Cornwallis / Munro / Mackenzie).
Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the Lists: List I – Land system — I. Land allotted to big feudal landlords, II. Land allotted to revenue farmers or rent collectors, III. Land allotted to each peasant with the right to sublet, mortgage, transfer, gift or sell, IV. Revenue settlements made at village level. List II — A) Jagirdari System, B) Ryotwari System, C) Mahalwari System, D) Zamindari System. Codes:
- (a) I-A, II-C, III-B, IV-D
- (b) I-A, II-D, III-B, IV-C
- (c) I-C, II-D, III-A, IV-B
- (d) I-B, II-A, III-C, IV-D
Answer(b) I-A, II-D, III-B, IV-C
Same concept — it maps each land system (Zamindari, Ryotwari, Mahalwari, Jagirdari) to the class and land-holding pattern it created, exactly the 'different systems → different peasant classes' link this Assertion-Reason tests.
With reference to Ryotwari Settlement, consider the following statements: 1. The rent was paid directly by the peasants to the Government. 2. The Government gave Pattas to the Ryots. 3. The lands were surveyed and assessed before being taxed. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 1, 2 and 3
- (d) None
Answer(c) 1, 2 and 3
Same concept — it details how the Ryotwari system settled revenue directly with the individual ryot, illustrating one of the distinct peasant classes the British revenue systems created.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Ryotwari system of land revenue was chiefly associated with which presidencies?
- (a)Bengal and Bihar
- (b)Madras and Bombay
- (c)Punjab and the North-Western Provinces
- (d)Awadh and the Central Provinces
Answer(b) Madras and Bombay — where revenue was settled directly with the individual ryot.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Permanent Settlement of 1793, which created a zamindar landlord class in Bengal, was introduced by
- (a)Warren Hastings
- (b)Lord Cornwallis
- (c)Thomas Munro
- (d)Lord Wellesley
Answer(b) Lord Cornwallis — he fixed the land revenue permanently with the zamindars.