History · Historical Method and Historiography
UGC NET June 2020 History
Passage
The Timariots, governors and revenue contractors on their part reason in this manner. Why should the neglected state of this land create uneasiness in our minds? And why should we expend our money and time to render it fruitful? We may be deprived of it in a single moment, and our exertions would benefit neither ourselves nor our children. Let us draw from the soil all the money we can, though the peasant should starve or abscond, and we should leave it, when commanded to quit, a dreary wilderness.
On the basis of the above observation, which of the following historians has argued that the Mughal system of transfer of jagirs led to the exploitation of the peasantry that in turn created a 'crisis' in the Mughal empire?
AIrfan Habib ✓ Correct
BSatish Chandra
CJ.F. Richards
DM. Athar Ali
Correct answer: (A) Irfan Habib — Irfan Habib argued this, so the answer is Irfan Habib.
Explanation
★Irfan Habib argued this, so the answer is Irfan Habib.
★The eminent historian Irfan Habib drew on observations like Bernier's.
★He argued that the Mughal system of transfer of jagirs led to the exploitation of the peasantry.
★This exploitation in turn created a crisis in the Mughal empire.
★His thesis on the agrarian crisis is set out in his work on the agrarian system of Mughal India.
★So the historian who made this argument was Irfan Habib.
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