RAS question
Alauddin Khilji fixed the land revenue at what fraction of the produce?
Correct answer: (C) One-half (50%).
Alauddin Khalji fixed the land revenue on cultivation at about one-half, or 50 per cent, of the peasant's produce.
Explanation
Under Alauddin Khalji, the assessment and collection of land revenue were brought under direct state control instead of being left to local chieftains. NCERT states that his administrators measured the land, kept careful accounts, and imposed a cultivation tax of about 50 per cent of the peasant's produce. Therefore, the correct share is one-half of the produce, not a lower share. This was part of a wider tightening of control over the countryside: house tax and cattle tax were also imposed, while the privileges and grants of the rural aristocracy were abolished. The key point is both the scale of the demand and its centralisation: the Sultanate state, not local chieftains, fixed and collected this heavy revenue share.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) One-fourth (25 per cent) is too low, because NCERT places the cultivation tax at about 50 per cent of the peasant's produce.
- (B) Two-thirds (66 per cent) overstates the demand; the land revenue was one-half of the produce, not two-thirds.
- (D) One-third (33 per cent) does not match the stated assessment, because the cultivation tax was about 50 per cent of the produce.
Concept
This question tests the Delhi Sultanate's agrarian administration, especially Alauddin Khalji's state-controlled land-revenue system. It recurs in RAS because medieval fiscal reforms connect land measurement, tax collection, control over local chieftains, political authority, military needs, and rural society.