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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Discuss the working of Zamindari System under the Mughal rulers. Also describe the role played by the Zamindars in the agrarian economy of Mughal India.

  • UPSC 2018
  • Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century

The zamindar was arguably the single most ubiquitous intermediary figure in Mughal India's agrarian order, present in some form in virtually every part of the empire under regionally varying names — deshmukh, patil, nayak, and others.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • The Legal Nature of Zamindari Right
  • Fiscal Mechanics: Nankar, Malikana, and Regional Variants
  • Zamindari and Talluqa: Two Kinds of Villages
  • The Working Relationship with the Mughal State
  • The Role of Zamindars in the Agrarian Economy: A Constructive Dimension
  • The Role of Zamindars: An Extractive and Oppressive Dimension
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion

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