Question

The French traveller, Bernier, described seventeenth century Bengal in the following way: "The knowledge I have acquired of Bengal in two visits inclines me to believe that it is richer than Egypt. It exports, in abundance, cottons and silks, rice, sugar and butter. It produces amply — for its own consumption — wheat, vegetables, grains, fowls, ducks and geese. It has immense herds of pigs and flocks of sheep and goats. Fish of every kind it has in profusion. From rajmahal to the sea is an endless number of canals. cut in bygone ages from the Ganges by immense labour for navigation and irrigation." India's economy under the British colonial rule remained fundamentally agrarian — about 85 per cent of the country's population lived mostly in villages and derived livelihood directly or indirectly from agriculture. However, despite being the occupation of such a large population, the agricultural sector continued to experience stagnation and, not infrequently, unusual deterioration. Agricultural productivity became low though, in absolute terms, the sector experienced some growth due to the expansion of the aggregate area under cultivation.
A small section of farmers changed their cropping pattern from food crops to commercial crops, a large section of tenants, small farmers and sharecroppers neither had resources and technology nor had incentive to invest in agriculture.
(a) What do you infer by the words of Bernier? (b) Did India had high agriculture development in colonial era, if not, why? (c) What change occurred in cropping pattern?

Answer 1

your question is so big no one can understand this.

Answer 2

Answer:

a) From the knowledge to irrigation.

b) Farmers were told to grow commercial crops rather than food crops, because of which agricultural development wasn't high.

c) The change was that many farmers changed their cropping pattern from food crops to commercial crops.