RAS question
Alauddin Khilji's market control system (Diwan-i-Riyasat) involved:
Correct answer: (B) Fixing prices of essential commodities, registering merchants, and appointing market inspectors.
Alauddin Khalji's market-control system fixed the prices of essential commodities, registered merchants, and enforced compliance through market officials and inspectors.
Explanation
Alauddin Khalji's market regulations were not a simple tax measure; they were a state-run price-control system linked to his need to maintain a large standing army at low cost. The NIOS lesson states that he lowered and fixed the prices of daily-use commodities and set up separate Delhi markets for grain, cloth, and horses, slaves, and cattle. Implementation was supervised through Shahna-i-Mandi, with support from intelligence reporting and secret spies. Merchants were registered, hoarding was banned, and compliance was monitored by munhiyans. This is why the option combining fixed prices, merchant registration, and market inspection captures the system best.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Taxing merchants alone misses the core of the system, which fixed prices, organised separate markets, registered merchants, and used officials and spies to enforce compliance.
- (C) A free trade policy is the opposite of Alauddin Khalji's approach, because the state fixed prices and punished violations of market orders.
- (D) The system did not ban all trade; it regulated trade through designated markets for grain, cloth, horses, slaves, and cattle.
Concept
This tests Delhi Sultanate administrative and economic policy, especially how Alauddin Khalji used market regulation to support military needs. It recurs in RAS because medieval administration questions often ask candidates to connect institutions with their practical purpose.