Question

Who amongst the following had given the ‘average rent’ theory ?

• A. David Ricardo
• B. Karl Marx
• C. Adam Smith
• D. Francis Buchanan

Hint:

Francis Buchanan was an explorer and physician commissioned by the East India Company to survey the landscapes of India. Ricardo's theories often failed to account for the frequent droughts and crop failures faced by Indian peasants.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Concept:

• Colonial economic policy in 19th-century India was heavily influenced by classical British economic thought.
• Land revenue demand was often justified based on the 'rent' that the land was theoretically capable of producing.

Step 1: Identifying the economic theorist
David Ricardo was a famous British political economist whose work on rent and distribution became central to classical economics.
He posited that rent is the portion of the produce of the earth which is paid to the landlord for the use of the original and indestructible powers of the soil.

Step 2: Applying the theory to the colonial context
British administrators in India, particularly those designing the Ryotwari system, were guided by Ricardian principles.
They believed the State should claim the surplus produce as revenue, viewing the land as a source of rent that naturally belonged to the government as the "universal landlord."