RAS question
Akbar's revenue minister who devised the Todar Mal Bandobast (Dahsala system) was:
Correct answer: (A) Raja Todar Mal.
Raja Todar Mal was Akbar's revenue minister who devised the Todar Mal Bandobast, also called the Dahsala or zabt system.
Explanation
Raja Todar Mal is the answer because the system is tied to his role as Akbar's revenue minister, not merely to a court title. He devised the Dahsala system in 1580, assessing revenue from the average produce and prices of the preceding ten years and measuring land with the jarib chain. NCERT, Our Pasts-II, Chapter 4: The Mughal Empire gives the same core point: Todar Mal carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and cultivated areas over a ten-year period, divided territory into revenue circles, and set crop-wise revenue rates. That is why Dahsala or zabt became the standard Mughal revenue arrangement where administrators could survey land and maintain careful accounts.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Raja Man Singh was an important Mughal noble, but the question asks for Akbar's revenue minister linked with the ten-year revenue settlement, and that role is identified with Todar Mal.
- (C) Abul Fazl is not the named revenue minister in this context; NCERT, Our Pasts-II, Chapter 4: The Mughal Empire attributes the revenue survey and zabt arrangement to Todar Mal.
- (D) Raja Birbal belonged to Akbar's court, but the Dahsala or zabt revenue system was devised by Todar Mal, not by Birbal.
Concept
This tests Mughal administrative history, especially Akbar's land-revenue reforms. It recurs in RAS because revenue settlement, land measurement and crop-wise assessment are standard markers of medieval Indian statecraft.