From the free UGC NET History Mock Test 5 — Unit 5: Administration & Economy unit-wise mock test — real question, real answer, real explanation.
What was the Taccavi (or Sondhar) loan system introduced during the Sultanate and Mughal eras?
State agricultural advance loans given to peasants for purchasing seeds, bullocks, and digging wells ✓
Commercial loan given to foreign sea merchants
Tax advance taken by zamindars from the state
Emergency military salary payment
Taccavi loans were state-provided agricultural credit to help peasants purchase seed, cattle, and dig wells, especially after crop failure or during land-extension drives (like Muhammad bin Tughlaq's Diwan-i-Amir-Kohi) — an early example of state-supported agrarian investment.
In the Bahmani Kingdom, administrative reforms dividing the kingdom into eight provinces (Tarafs) were instituted by which minister?
Mahmud Gawan ✓
Malik Ambar
Yusuf Adil Shah
Mir Jumla
Mahmud Gawan, the capable and famous Bahmani prime minister, reorganized the kingdom into eight Tarafs (provinces) as part of a broader set of administrative and military reforms — his career is a standard example of effective Deccan Sultanate statecraft.
Malik Ambar, who introduced effective revenue administration reforms and guerrilla warfare (Bargigiri) in the Deccan, was Prime Minister of:
Ahmadnagar Kingdom ✓
Bijapur Kingdom
Golconda Kingdom
Bidar Kingdom
Malik Ambar served as the de facto ruler/prime minister of Ahmadnagar, implementing effective land revenue reforms (modeled on Todar Mal's system) and pioneering the guerrilla warfare tactics later famously adapted by Shivaji against the Mughals.
Under the Mughals, who was the chief provincial revenue collector directly reporting to the imperial Diwan?
Diwan-i-Subah ✓
Bakshi
Faujdar
Kotwal
The Diwan-i-Subah headed revenue administration at the provincial level, reporting to the central imperial Diwan — running parallel to, but administratively separate from, the Subahdar (provincial governor), a deliberate check-and-balance in Mughal provincial government.
What was the main duty of the Faujdar at the Sarkar level during Mughal rule?
Executive administrative head maintaining law, order, and police force ✓
Assessment of land revenue
Keeping financial record of village lands
Auditing religious endowments
The Faujdar was the district (Sarkar) level executive officer responsible for maintaining law and order and commanding local military/police forces — the district-level counterpart to the Kotwal's urban policing role.
This is one question from a free, complete 50-question Unit-Wise mock test — take the real thing, under real time pressure, for free.
Take the Free Mock Test →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.
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Itihaaskar — UGC NET/JRF & UPSC History Optional notes by Parveen Malik (B.Tech. (CSE), M.A. (History), History JRF). Also spelt Itihaskar.
