RAS question
Todar Mal is associated with which revenue reform under Akbar?
Correct answer: (D) Zabt and Dahsala system.
Raja Todar Mal is associated with Akbar's Zabt system and its Dahsala revenue settlement, also called Todar Mal's bandobast.
Explanation
Under Akbar, the Dahsala system was instituted in 1580 after revenue officials gathered information on actual produce, local prices and productivity. It calculated the average produce of different crops and the average prices over the previous ten years. One-third of the average produce was treated as the state share, but the demand was fixed in cash by converting that share through the ten-year price schedule. The linked system of measurement and assessment was called Zabt. Raja Todar Mal is associated with the Zabt system, which is sometimes called Todar Mal's bandobast. Land continuity also mattered: regularly cultivated land was polaj, fallow land parati, land fallow for two to three years chachar, and longer-fallow land banjar.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Nasaq was a rough calculation based on earlier payments and crop inspection, not the measured Zabt-Dahsala settlement associated with Todar Mal.
- (B) Kankut referred to estimation or appraisement, whereas Todar Mal is linked with the Zabt measurement system and Dahsala settlement.
- (C) Ijara was not the measured Zabt-Dahsala settlement; Akbar-era revenue administration links Todar Mal specifically with Zabt and Dahsala.
Concept
This tests Mughal land-revenue administration under Akbar, especially the difference between methods of assessment. It recurs in RAS because revenue settlements connect medieval polity, agrarian economy and administrative terminology.