Question

Who introduced the Theory of Agricultural Crisis for the decline of the Mughal empire?
1. Irfan Habib
2. Athar Ali
3. Satish Chandra
4. Bipan Chandra

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 1 : Irfan Habib

The correct answer is Irfan Habib.

• Irfan Habib:
  • He was an Indian Historian whose main area of specialization was medieval Indian history
  • The second major theory of the Aligarh School was built by Irfan Habib in his Agrarian System of Mughal Empire(1963). 
  • He tried to work out the causes of the decline of the Mughal Empire in a class framework that does not stop simply at identifying the classes but extends to identify the Mughal state as the protective arm of the exploiting class.
  • He illustrates the basic nature of the Mughal land revenue demand.
  • Habib implicitly highlights a number of social contradictions in the society controlled and managed by the Mughal Empire.
• The basic features of this 'Agrarian Crisis' as propounded by Irfan Habib are:
  • High rate of demand built-in the zabt system.
  • The increasing gap between the actual hasil and the expected JAMA.
  • Rotation of jagirs, pressurizing the peasants, and ruination of agriculture.
  • Ruination and flight of peasantry from the jagirs, which affected the zamindars also as they were closely linked to the Village Community.
  • Breakout of agrarian revolts which were manifestations of peasant discontent.

• Athar Ali
  • He was an Indian Historian whose main area of specialization was medieval Indian history.
  • Athar was known to hold a strong stance against Hindu and Islamic extremism.
  • He was a professor at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Medieval History at his Alma mater, Aligarh Muslim
  • He wrote extensively on the Mughal Empire, comparative history of Islamic Empires, implications of secularism, and early modern societies from Spain to Indonesia.
  • Athar Ali demonstrated how the quantitative data obtained from them could tell the reader the internal processes of the Mughal polity.
• Satish Chandra
  • Satish Chandra was an Indian Historian whose main area of specialization was medieval Indian history.
  • He was a Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
  • He was the Secretary and President of the Indian History Congress.
  • He was an associated director of research at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme as well as an executive board member at the International Congress of Historical Sciences, both in Paris.
• Bipan Chandra
  • Bipan Chandra was an Indian historian, specializing in the economic and politic of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
  • He wrote several books, including The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism.
  • Chandra was a sectional president and then the general president of the Indian History Congress in 1985.
  • In his retirement years, he was appointed as a national research professor in 2007.