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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

After 1757 there grew up a State of Bengal which was a “sponsored state” as well as a “plundered state”. Comment.

  • UPSC 1999
  • European Penetration into India

Bengal's post-Plassey condition is best understood not as two separate characterizations but as one integrated system: the Company sponsored the outward form of Nawabi sovereignty precisely so that it could plunder the substance of Bengal's wealth more efficiently than outright annexation would have allowed.

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What the full answer covers

  • Bengal as a "Sponsored State"
  • Bengal as a "Plundered State"
  • The Two Faces as One System

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