NCERT Solutions Class 8 Social Science Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

Let’s recall

1. Match the following:

ryot - village

mahal- peasant

nij- cultivation on ryot’s lands

ryoti- cultivation on planter’s own land

Answer:

ryot – peasant

mahal- village

nij- cultivation on planter’s own land

ryoti- cultivation on ryot’s lands

2. Fill in the blanks:

(a) Growers of woad in Europe saw indigo as a crop which would provide competition to their earnings.

(b) The demand for indigo increased in late eighteenth- century Britain because of expansion of cotton production and industrialisation.

(c) The international demand for indigo was affected by the discovery of synthetic dyes.

(d) The Champaran movement was against the plight of the indigo cultivators there.

Let’s discuss

3. Describe the main features of the Permanent Settlement.

Answer:

(i)The East India Company introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793. 

(ii)By the terms of the settlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognized as zamindars.

(iii)They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company. 

(iv)The amount to be paid was fixed permanently and it was not to be increased ever in future.

(v)The purpose of fixing the amount was to ensure a regular flow of revenue into the Company’s coffers and at the same time, to encourage the zamindars to invest in improving the land.

(vi)Since the revenue demand of the state would not be increased, the zamindars paid the Company only the fixed revenue and kept the surplus production from the land.

4. How was the mahalwari system different from the Permanent Settlement?

Answer:

5. Give two problems which arose with the new Munro system of fixing revenue.

Answer:

The two problems which arose with the new Munro system of fixing revenue were:

(i)Driven by the desire to increase the income from land, revenue officials fixed too high a revenue demand.

6. Why were ryots reluctant to grow indigo?

Answer:

(i)The ryots were reluctant to grow indigo because the planters paid a very low price for the indigo produce.

(ii)With their meager income, the ryots failed to even recover his cost; earning a profit was a really difficult task. This meant that the ryots struggled always to pay back their loans.

(iii)The indigo planters forced the peasants to cultivate indigo on the most fertile parts of their land, but the peasants wanted to grow rice on the best soils.

(iv)The reason was that after an indigo harvest, the land could not be used for the rice cultivation.

7. What were the circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production in Bengal?

Answer:

(i)In March 1859, thousands of ryots in Bengal refused to grow indigo and attacked indigo factories with weapons.

(ii)They attacked the gomasthas (agents of planters) and swore they would no longer take advances to sow indigo.