Question

Malik Ambar brought revolutionary changes in the agrarian and revenue structure of the Nizam Shahi kingdom. In this context which of the following provisions are correct?

(A) Malik Ambar abolished the farming of land revenue collection

(B) He initiated a system of glance-survey (nazar-pahani)

(C) Under nazar-pahani land was divided into baghat and nabud

(D) The maximum rate of land revenue was decide between 1/4 and 2/3 of the produce on different classes of soil

Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:

1. (A), (B) and (C) only
2. (B), (C) and (D) only
3. (A), (B) and (D) only
4. (A), (C) and (D) only

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : (A), (B) and (D) only

• Malik Ambar, an African slave turned warrior, is an unusual one. Sold and bought several times by slave dealers during his youth, fate brought him miles away from his home in Ethiopia to India.
• In India, not only did Ambar get his freedom back, but he also rose up the social ladder, got an army, vast estates, and founded a city that today goes by the name ‘Aurangabad’.

Some of his land revenue policies include:- 

• Malik Ambar's system did not provide scope for revenue farmers. He tried to establish direct contact, through the hereditary village officials, with the peasants.  Shivaji also followed Malik Ambar and not only totally did away with the practice of farming out land but he also curtailed greatly the powers of the local hereditary revenue officials (deshmukhs, patils etc).
• During his reign, he introduced a system of glance survey. Besides, he also controlled revenue-free and hereditary lands.
•  The revenue demand under Malik Amber ranged between 1/4 to 2/3 of the produce.  Shivaji, however, abolished all the illegal cesses and increased the revenue demand to 40 percent. The state maintained vast machinery of revenue officials for the assessment and collection of revenue.
• Malik Ambar claimed 2/5th of the produce as static share in kind which, when converted into cash demand amounted to 1/3 of the total value of the crop.  
• Therefore, options (A), (B) and (D) are correct.      

• Born in 1548 in southern Ethiopia’s Khambata region, Ambar is believed to have been associated with the Oromo tribe, an ethnic group that now represents over 35 per cent of the country’s population. He was known by the name of ‘Chapu’ until he fell into the hands of slave dealers. 
• Talking about option (C), we do not find any mention that land was divided into Baghat and Nabut.
• Hence, option (C) is not correct.