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Indian HistoryMediumAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2023, GK

Who among the following Indian thinkers first spoke of food-for-work programmes to counteract the effects of famines ?

  1. A.Kautilya
  2. B.Aryabhatta
  3. C.Chandragomin
  4. D.Prabhakara

Correct answer

A. Kautilya

Explanation

The correct answer is A, Kautilya. His Arthashastra advises the king, in times of famine, to start public works such as forts and irrigation projects and to pay the workers in food.

Kautilya, also known as Chanakya or Vishnugupta, was the minister of Chandragupta Maurya in the fourth century BCE. The Arthashastra, his treatise on statecraft and economy, has a section on remedies against national calamities. For famine it suggests distributing seeds and food from royal stores, sharing provisions with the needy and employing people on building works in return for food. This is the idea behind modern food-for-work and rural employment schemes.

Option B is wrong because Aryabhatta was a fifth-century astronomer and mathematician known for the Aryabhatiya. Option C is wrong because Chandragomin was a Buddhist scholar remembered for a Sanskrit grammar. Option D is wrong because Prabhakara was a philosopher of the Mimamsa school.

Exam tip: Arthashastra = Kautilya (Chanakya), minister of Chandragupta Maurya; famine relief through food for public work.

Practice Questions

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Q1.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-II 2016, GKEasy

The 'water frame' of Richard Arkwright was a device for

  1. A.producing a new type of painting
  2. B.irrigating fields for rice cultivation
  3. C.producing strong threads of yarn
  4. D.the faster movement of steamships
Show answer
Correct answer: C. producing strong threads of yarn

Richard Arkwright's water frame, patented in 1769, was a spinning machine driven by water power that spun strong cotton thread.

Q2.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2017, GKMedium

Consider the following statements about the Salt March : 1. The Salt March was deliberately ignored by the European media. 2. The Salt March was widely covered by the American and European press. 3. The Salt March was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers. 4. The Salt March impressed upon the British the urgent need to devolve more power to Indians. Which of the statements given above are correct?

  1. A.1, 2 and 4
  2. B.2, 3 and 4
  3. C.3 and 4 only
  4. D.2 and 3 only
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 2, 3 and 4

The Salt March drew wide notice in the American and European press, brought women into the national movement in large numbers, and made the British see that they had to share more power with Indians.

Q4.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-II 2016, GKHard

The term Upari refers to which one of the following?

  1. A.A category of proprietary tenure under the Mughal rule
  2. B.A category of tenancy tenure under the Maratha rule
  3. C.A soldier in the Maratha army
  4. D.A village headman in the Mughal period
Show answer
Correct answer: B. A category of tenancy tenure under the Maratha rule

In the Maratha villages of the Deccan, an upari was a tenant who cultivated land without any hereditary right to it.

Q5.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-II 2017, GKHard

With regard to nature of Mughal State, who among the following scholars argued that "the peculiar feature of the State in Mughal India was that it served not merely as the protective arm of the exploiting classes, but was itself the principal instrument of exploitation"?

  1. A.Irfan Habib
  2. B.Satish Chandra
  3. C.Athar Ali
  4. D.J. F. Richards
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Irfan Habib

In his study of the Mughal agrarian system, Habib argued that the Mughal State did not merely protect the exploiting classes but was itself the main instrument for taking the peasants' surplus.