Question

The Pabna agrarian leagues were formed in the state of _______.
(A) Bengal
(B) Rajasthan
(C) Maharashtra
(D) Kerala

Answer 1

Hint: The Pabna agrarian leagues were formed against the oppression of the Zamindars. This happened in the 1870s and 1880s. This league was led by Ishan Chandra Roy and some intellectuals like R.C Dutt, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Surendranath Banerjee supported it.

Complete answer:
The Pabna agrarian league was an overall peaceful movement and was formed in the state of Bengal against the landlords. This all happened as the rents and land taxes were forcefully collected by the lords from the peasants. They have also prevented the tenants from acquiring the Occupancy Right under Act X of the year 1859. The occupancy right on the tenants was conferred in this act, who held the land for 12 years and paid their rents. As the Zamindars did not want this to happen, they evicted the peasants from the land due to non-payment. Some lords frequently conducted a violent act to gain more money. These were the lords who gained parts of the Natore Raj. In the 1870s, the peasants were struggling with famine due to the decline in the production of jute. An enhancement of land taxes was declared by some of the lords which triggered the rebellion. Some of the peasants also declared their Parganas to be independent of the zamindari control. They also tried to fight with the zamindari lathials or police by setting up a local government with an army.

Thus, option (A) is correct.

Note: The British government was guaranteed the support of peasants against excessive zamindari demands in a proclamation of 4 July 1873 by Sir George Campbell, who was the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal at that time. However, the rebellion subsided due to the face of police action and additional famine which broke out in 1873 – 1874.