From the free UGC NET History Mock Test 5 — Unit 5: Administration & Economy unit-wise mock test — real question, real answer, real explanation.
The Polaj land classification under Akbar's revenue system (Aina-i-Dahsala) signified land that was:
Cultivated continuously every year and never left fallow ✓
Left fallow for 1 to 2 years to recover fertility
Uncultivated for 3 to 4 years
Barren land uncultivated for 5 or more years
Polaj was the highest, most-favored land classification — continuously cultivated every year without a fallow break — assessed at the standard full revenue rate, unlike Parauti, Chachar, or Banjar, which received progressively lower assessments reflecting their lower/interrupted productivity.
Land left fallow for 1 to 2 years to regain its natural soil fertility was designated as:
Parauti ✓
Chachar
Banjar
Polaj
Parauti land was deliberately rested for one to two years to recover fertility before being cultivated again — the second tier in Akbar's four-tier land classification system (Polaj, Parauti, Chachar, Banjar), which assessed revenue according to how continuously a plot could be farmed.
Land uncultivated for 3 to 4 years was classified under Akbar's revenue system as:
Chachar ✓
Banjar
Parauti
Polaj
Chachar land, left fallow for three to four years, sat between Parauti (1-2 years fallow) and Banjar (5+ years uncultivated) in Akbar's four-tier classification — each tier carrying a correspondingly different, lower revenue assessment.
What was the Nasaq system of land assessment in the Mughal state?
Group assessment method based on previous calculations or rough estimates of village revenue ✓
Direct individual field-by-field measurement every season
Revenue auctioning to lowest bidder
Tax payment exclusively in grain yield
Nasaq was a simplified assessment method using historical/customary figures rather than fresh individual measurement each season — administratively lighter than Zabti (measurement-based) assessment, often used where detailed annual surveys weren't practical.
Under the Delhi Sultanate, the revenue officer responsible for maintaining local land records at the village level was the:
Patwari ✓
Muqaddam
Chaudhary
Khut
The Patwari maintained village-level land and revenue records — a hereditary local office that, notably, persisted in various forms well beyond the Sultanate and Mughal periods into the colonial and even modern Indian revenue bureaucracy.
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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.