UGC NET History Practice Question

What was the Sunset Law associated with the Permanent Settlement system?

If the Zamindar failed to deposit the specified revenue by sunset of the stipulated date, his estate was auctioned ✓

Agricultural labor could not be forced after sunset

Custom duties ceased at sunset

Land measurement was conducted strictly before sunset

The Sunset Law enforced strict, unforgiving revenue deadlines — failure to pay by sunset on the due date meant automatic auction of the Zamindar's estate, a mechanism that led to massive turnover of Zamindari holdings in the early Permanent Settlement period.

The Ryotwari Settlement was initially developed and introduced in parts of the Madras Presidency by:

Alexander Read and Thomas Munro ✓

Holt Mackenzie

James Thomason

John Shore

Alexander Read and Thomas Munro developed and pioneered the Ryotwari system in Madras, establishing direct revenue settlement with individual cultivators (Ryots) rather than through Zamindar intermediaries — a structurally different model from Bengal's Permanent Settlement.

The Mahalwari Settlement was devised for the North-Western Provinces and Punjab primarily through the framework formulated by:

Holt Mackenzie and Robert Merttins Bird ✓

Thomas Munro

Lord Cornwallis

Charles Metcalfe

Holt Mackenzie and Robert Merttins Bird formulated the Mahalwari system's core framework for the North-Western Provinces — a third distinct revenue model, settling with the village/Mahal collectively rather than either Zamindars (Bengal) or individual Ryots (Madras/Bombay).

What was the central feature of the Mahalwari System?

Revenue settlement was negotiated jointly with the village community (Mahal) or body of co-sharers ✓

Direct individual contract with the peasant cultivator (Ryot)

Permanent tax fixing with hereditary revenue farmers

Complete tax exemption for grain lands

The Mahalwari system settled revenue with the village community or Mahal (estate) as a collective unit of joint co-sharers, distinguishing it from both the landlord-based Permanent Settlement and the individual-cultivator-based Ryotwari system — the three together cover roughly the full range of British Indian revenue arrangements.

The theory of 'Drain of Wealth' from India to Great Britain was first systematically formulated by:

Dadabhai Naoroji ✓

Romesh Chunder Dutt

M.G. Ranade

Dinshaw Wacha

Dadabhai Naoroji first systematically formulated the "Drain of Wealth" theory, arguing that a substantial share of India's wealth was being extracted to Britain without adequate economic return — a foundational analytical framework for early Indian economic nationalism, later extended by R.C. Dutt.

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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.