Directions (Qs. 48 to 65): In this section, there are six short passages. Each passage is followed by questions based on the passage. Read each passage and answer the questions that follow.
Passage-5
Many poor farmers had been compelled to take up indigo cultivation when the British settlers were given the right to purchase and cultivate land in India. Many whites, therefore, either acquired land or advanced loans to poor farmers and pressurised them to forsake the farming of food-grains and other cash crops for indigo cultivation. Indigo export to Europe was lucrative for the business. Within a few years, most of the fertile lands had undergone forcible indigo cultivation, resulting in a famine situation in Bengal. When the farmers declined to cultivate indigo, they were tortured, jailed and even killed.
60. The poor farmers in Bengal took up indigo cultivation because
- Athe government encouraged them to do so
- Bit was a money earning crop
- Cthey were forced to do so
- Dthis was the only crop that would grow in that region
Explanation
Farmers were 'compelled' and 'pressurised' to take up indigo — forced to do so; the official key marks C.