Short Answer TypeExplain the impact of American Civil War of 1861 on Indian peasants.
The impact of American Civil War of 1861 on Indian peasants:
(i) When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, a wave of panic spread through cotton circles in Britain.
(ii) As cotton prices soared, export merchants in Bombay were keen to secure as much cotton as possible to meet the British demand. So they gave advances to urban sahukars who in turn extended credit to those rural moneylenders who promised to secure the produce. When there is a boom in the market, credit flows easily for those who give out loans feel secure about recovering their money.
(iii) The ryots in the Deccan villages suddenly found access to seemingly limitless credit.
(iv) They were being given Rs 100 as advance for every acre they planted with cotton. Sahukars were more than willing to extend long-term loans.
(v) While the American crisis continued, cotton production in the Bombay Deccan expanded. Some rich peasants did gain, but for the large majority, cotton expansion meant heavier debt.
When Gandhiji returned to India in 1915 he observed a few changes in India. Mention any two such changes.
”The annexation of Awadh displaced not just the Nawab but also dispossessed the taluqdars of the region, causing break down of an entire social order.” Critically examine the statement.
”Some scholars see partition as a culmination of communal politics.” Examine the statement.
On the given political outline map of India five important places of the Revolt of 1857 have been marked as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Identify them and write their names on the lines drawn near them.
Long Answer TypeRead the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follows:
The Malabar Coast (Present-day Kerala)
Here is an excerpt from Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, composed by an anonymous Greek sailor (c. first century CE):
They (i.e. traders from abroad) send large ships to these market-towns on account of the great quantity and bulk of pepper and malabathrum (possibly cinnamon, produced in these regions). There are imported here, in the first place, a great quantity of coin; topaz … antimony (a mineral used as a colouring substance), coral, crude glass, copper, tin, lead … There is exported pepper, which is produced in quantity in only one region near these markets
… Besides this there are exported great quantities of fine pearls, ivory, silk cloth, … transparent stones of all kinds, diamonds and sapphires, and tortoise shell.
Archaeological evidence of a bead-making industry, using precious and semi-precious stones, has been found in Kodumanal (Tamil Nadu). It is likely that local traders brought the stones mentioned in the Periplus from sites such as these to the coastal ports.
(1) Explain the importance of Malabar Coast.
(2) How did the exchange of goods take? Explain with example.
(3) Explain the working of the bead making industry.
(4) Who used these land and river routes?
OR
The importance of boundaries
The Manusmrti is one of the best-known legal texts of early India, written in Sanskrit and compiled between c. second century BCE and c. second century CE. This is what the text advises the king to do: Seeing that in the world controversies constantly arise due to the ignorance of boundaries, he should … have … concealed boundary markers buried – stones, bones, cow’s hair, chaff, ashes, potsherds, dried cow dung, bricks, coal, pebbles and sand. He should also have other similar substances that would not decay in the soil buried as hidden markers at the intersection of boundaries.
(1) Why did the controversies of boundaries arise? Explain.
(2) Suggest the ways to solve the boundary problems.
(3) Explain with example any such problem being faced by India today.
How were the Panchayats formed during sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Explain their functions and authorities.
OR
Explain the origin, consolidation and the role of Zamindar in the villages. Were they an exploitative class?
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