Question

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow: As British rule expanded from Bengal to other parts of India, new systems of revenue were imposed. The Permanent Settlement was rarely extended to any region beyond Bengal. Why was this so? One reason was that after Bengal’s agricultural prices rose, increasing the value of harvests produced, and enlarging the income of the Bengal administrators. Since the revenue demand was fixed under the Permanent Settlement, the colonial state could not claim any share of this enhanced income. Keen on expanding its financial resources, the colonial government had to think of ways to maximise its land revenue. So in territories annexed in the nineteenth century, temporary revenue settlements were made. There were other reasons too. When officials devise policies, their thinking is deeply shaped by economic theories they are familiar with. By the 1820s, the economist David Ricardo was a celebrated figure in England. Colonial officials had learnt Ricardo’s ideas during their college years. In Maharashtra when British officials set about formulating the terms of the early settlement in the 1820s, they operated according to these ideas. According to Ricardo’s ideas, a landowner should have a claim only to the “average rent” that prevailed at a given time. When the land yielded more than this “average rent,” the landowner had a surplus that the state needed to take. If tax was not levied, cultivators were likely to turn into renters, and their surplus income was unlikely to be productively invested in the improvement of the land. Many British officials in India thought that the history of Bengal confirmed Ricardo’s theory. According to the passage, the colonial government made temporary revenue settlements because:

• A. they wanted to enhance the income of the Bengal zamindars.
• B. they wanted to control the rising agricultural prices.
• C. they wanted to expand their financial resources.
• D. they wanted to decrease the value of harvest produce.

Hint:

In reading comprehension questions, always focus on the central idea of the passage. In this case, the expansion of financial resources was the government's main concern, making option (3) the correct answer.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

In the passage, the colonial government made temporary revenue settlements because they wanted to enhance their financial resources. This is clearly stated in the passage where it says that the colonial government had to think of ways to maximise its land revenue after the fixed revenue system under the Permanent Settlement did not allow them to benefit from the increased agricultural prices. This suggests that the government was aiming to expand its financial resources by adopting temporary revenue settlements in newly annexed territories.