UGC NET History Practice Question

From the free UGC NET History Mock Test 5 — Unit 5: Administration & Economy unit-wise mock test — real question, real answer, real explanation.

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Under the Delhi Sultanate, the Iqta system functioned primarily as a mechanism for:

Distributing land revenue rights to military officers in lieu of salary and maintaining state troops ✓

Transferring private land ownership to peasant communities

Taxing trade caravans at internal check posts

Centralizing grain collection in royal granaries

The Iqta system assigned the revenue of a territory (not the land itself) to a noble or officer in place of a cash salary, with the holder (muqti) obligated to maintain troops for the Sultan — a foundational Sultanate-era institution later paralleled by the Mughal Jagir system.

The official in charge of town policing, law order, and market control during the Mughal era was the:

Kotwal ✓

Muhtasib

Qazi

Subahdar

The Kotwal was the chief urban police/administrative officer responsible for law, order, and market regulation in a Mughal city — working alongside, but distinct from, the Muhtasib (moral censor) and Qazi (judicial officer).

What was the specific role of the Muhtasib in Mughal city administration?

Public censor of morals and inspector of market measures ✓

Chief treasury collector

Military commander of the fort

Head of state communications

The Muhtasib enforced public morality (per Islamic law) and inspected market weights/measures for fairness — a role that became especially prominent and strict under Aurangzeb's more orthodox religious policy.

In the Mughal Empire, what was the administrative unit termed Sarkar?

Subdivision of a province (Subah), containing several Parganas ✓

Village assembly council

Port custom house

Military encampment

The Mughal administrative hierarchy ran Subah (province) > Sarkar (district) > Pargana (sub-district) > village — the Sarkar was the intermediate district-level unit, headed by a Faujdar for law and order.

The term Hundi in medieval Indian commercial operations represented:

A credit bill of exchange used for safe money transfer and trade transactions ✓

Import license issued by sea ports

Tax token given to itinerant peddlers

Mortgage deed for agricultural lands

A Hundi was a negotiable credit instrument (similar to a bill of exchange) that let merchants transfer money safely across long distances without physically carrying cash — evidence of a sophisticated indigenous banking/credit system (operated largely by Sarrafs) well before European banking arrived.

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More Free UGC NET History Practice

This question is part of our free Unit-Wise mock test series, drawn from the same real question bank used across every UGC NET History mock test on this site. For structured, chapter-by-chapter notes covering everything these questions test, see our UGC NET History Notes, or try the History Glossary Flashcard Quiz for daily term-by-term practice.