RAS question
Alauddin Khalji's market reforms included:
Correct answer: (D) Fixed prices for essential goods, market controllers (shahna-i-mandi), and intelligence network.
Alauddin Khalji's market reforms included fixed prices for essential commodities, a market controller called the shahna-i-mandi, and an intelligence network of barids and secret spies.
Explanation
Alauddin Khalji's reforms were not a narrow tax or military measure; they were systematic market-control regulations shaped by administrative and military needs. University of Calicut School of Distance Education, History of Medieval India says he fixed the prices of commodities from grain to cloth, slaves and cattle, and appointed a controller of the market, along with barids, or intelligence officers, and munhiyan, or secret spies, to enforce the system. The correct option therefore mentions fixed prices, shahna-i-mandi and an intelligence network. The reason behind the controls was practical: after the Mongol siege of Delhi, Alauddin wanted to maintain a large army without exhausting the treasury, and low, stable prices helped reduce the cost of sustaining that army.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Tax reform alone is too narrow because the described measures extended to urban markets through price fixation, market control and enforcement officers.
- (B) Religious reform is not supported because the reforms were administrative and military market controls.
- (C) Military need was an important motive, but the reform itself was not only military; it operated through fixed prices, market controllers and intelligence checks.
Concept
This tests Delhi Sultanate administration, especially Alauddin Khalji's economic and market regulations. It recurs in RAS because it links medieval statecraft, revenue pressure, army maintenance and urban control in one standard Sultanate theme.