Indigo Cultivation
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Many poor farmers had been compelled to take up indigo cultivation when the British settlers were given the right to purchase and cultivate land in India. Many whites, therefore, either acquired land or advanced loans to poor farmers and pressured them to forsake the farming of food grains and other cash crops for indigo cultivation. Indigo export to Europe was lucrative for the British settlers who held a monopoly of this business. Within a few years, most of the fertile lands had undergone forcible indigo cultivation, resulting in a famine situation in Bengal. When the farmers declined to cultivate indigo, they were tortured, jailed and even killed.
1. The poor farmers in Bengal took up indigo cultivation because
(a) the government gave them subsidies for this purpose.
(b)In it was a money earning crop.
(c) they were forced to do so.
(d) this was the only crop that would grow in this region.
2. British settlers bought land in Bengal in order to
(a) cultivate indigo
(b) grow crops for the poor farmers
(c) own agricultural property
(d) settle down in India
3. Indigo export was profitable for the British settlers because
(a) labor was cheap.
(b) they had no competitors.
(c) the land was fertile.
(d) they could oppress the farmers.
Answers :-
1. (c): The statement that ‘Many poor farmers had been compelled to take up indigo cultivation’ gives the answer.
2. (a): Clearly, the fact is evident from the statement ‘Many whites cultivation.’
3. (b): It is mentioned in the passage that the British held a monopoly of indigo business and this indicates that they had no competitors.
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