N.K.

Bagrodia Public School, Dwarka

Class: VIII Sub: History
Solved Assignment – (Ruling the Countryside)

Answer the following questions:

Q1. How did the company become the Diwan? What were the benefits that
the company had as a Diwan?

Ans 1. On 12 August 1765, Robert Clive, on behalf of East India Company,

accepted the Diwani of Bengal from the then Mughal ruler.With the
appointment as the Diwan, the Company became the chief financial
Administrator of Bengal. The company could now administer the land and
revenue resources of Bengal and could utilize the revenue to meet the
expenses of the Company. The Company now had the liberty to trade in all
the goods it wanted to.

Q2. What were the problem that the Permanent Settlement encounter with?
Ans2.
The Permanent Settlement, however, created problems these were:-
1) Company officials soon discovered that the zamindars were in fact not investing in the
improvement of land. The revenue that had been fixed was so high that the zamindars
found it difficult to pay. Anyone who failed to pay the revenue lost his zamindari.
Numerous zamindaris were sold off at auctions organised by the Company.
2) By the first decade of the nineteenth century the situation changed there is an
increase in the income of the zamindars but no gain for the Company since it could
not increase a revenue demand that had been fixed permanently
3) Even then the zamindars did not have an interest in improving the land. Some had lost
their lands in the earlier years of the settlement; others now saw the possibility of
earning without the trouble and risk of investment.
Q3. Write a short note on Munro System
The Munro System:
 1. In the British territories in the south, a new system was devised which was
known as Ryotwar or Ryotwari.
2. Ryotwari was intiated by Captain Alexander Read and Thomas Munro. This
system was extended all over the south India.
3. In this system, ryots were directly involved for the collection of revenue and
it was fixed after the proper assessment of individual land.
4. British officials were appointed to collect the revenue and used coarcive
methods for revenue collection.

Q4. What problems did the planters found with Nij cultivation?
ANS. The Problem with Nij Cultivation:
1. This cultivation needed fertile and big lands and it was difficult to get big areas as they
were already highly populated. for this, they had to evict population which led to
conflicts.
2. Nij cultivation on a large scale required many ploughs and bullocks, investing on
purchase and maintenance of ploughs was a big problem. At the same time of its
cultivation, the cultivation of rice also took place, that is why ploughs were not available
on rent too.
3. Availability of labour was also a problem as peasants were engaged in rice cultivation at
the same time.

Q5. The crop mainly cultivated in St Domingue, an Caribbean island

was.................
Ans 5. INDIGO
Q6. What were the two main systems of Indigo Cultivation? Explain Nij
Cultivation?
ANS.

1. There were two main systems of Indigo cultivation: Nij and Ryoti.
2. In Nij system, the planter produced indigo in lands that he directly
controlled or rented from zamindars.
3. In Ryoti system, the planters forced the ryots to sign a contract an agreement
(satta).
 4. Those who signed the contract got cash advances from planters at low rates
of interest to produce indigo.
5. The peasants got very low price for the indigo they produced and the cycle
of loans never ended.
6. After an indigo harvest, the land could not be sown with rice which the
peasants preferred as Indigo production reduced the fertility of soil.

Q7. Define:
(a) Plantation (b) Bigha (c) Mahal
Mahal – In British revenue records mahal is a revenue estate which may be a village or a group
of villages.
Plantation – A large farm operated by a planter employing various forms of forced labour.
Plantations are associated with the production of coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, tea and
cotton.
Bigha – A unit of measurement of land. Before British rule, the size of this area varied. In
Bengal the British standardised it to about one-third of an acre.

Q8. Why did France abolished slavery from Caribbean islands?

ANS. In the eighteenth century, French planters produced indigo and sugar in the French
colony of St Domingue in the Caribbean islands. The African slaves who worked on the
plantations rose in rebellion in 1791, burning the plantations and killing their rich
planters. In 1792 France abolished slavery in the French colonies.

Q9. The British East India Company become the Diwan of

a) Bihar b) Mumbai c) Calcutta d)
Pondicherry
ANS. BIHAR
Q10. The Governor-General that introduced Permanent Settlement was
a) Warren Hastings b) Lord Cornwallis
 c) Thomas Munro d) Robert Clive
ANS. LORD CORNWALLIS
Q11. Ryotwari System was introduced by
a) Colebrook b) Robert Clive c) Warren Hastings d) Thomas
Munro
ANS. Thomas Munro
Q12. The most common colour used by the weavers in kalamkari and morris
was
a) Red b )black c) Green d) blue
ANS. BLUE