Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives. There is much to be said for the enlightened and systematic despotism of the utilitarian bureaucrats who built the British raj in this period. They brought peace, much developme
Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.
There is much to be said for the enlightened and systematic despotism of the utilitarian bureaucrats who built the British raj in this period. They brought peace, much development of public services, administrative efficiency, reliable law, and incorrupt government at the higher levels. But economically they failed in the most sensational manner. Of all the territories under the administration of European governments or governments of the European type, even including Tsarist Russia, India continued to be haunted by the most gigantic and murderous famines; perhaps—though statistics are lacking for the earlier period—increasingly so as the century wore on.
The only other large colonial (or ex-colonial) area where attempts to apply liberal land law were made, was Latin America. Here the old feudal colonization of the Spaniards had never shown any prejudice against the fundamental collective and communal land-tenures of the Indians, so long as the white colonists got what land they wanted. The independent governments, however, proceeded to liberalize in the spirit of the French Revolutionary and Benthamite doctrines which inspired them. Thus Bolivar decreed the individualization of community land in Peru (1824) and most of the new republics abolished entails in the manner of the Spanish liberals. The liberation of noble lands may have led to some reshuffling and dispersion of estates, though the vast hacienda {estancia, finca, fundo) remained the dominant unit of landownership in most of the republics. The attack on communal property remained quite ineffective. Indeed, it was not really pressed seriously until after 1850. In fact, the liberalization of its political economy remained as artificial as the liberalization of its political system. In substance, parliaments, elections, land laws, etc., notwithstanding, the continent went on very much as before.
Which of the following words is the most opposite in meaning to the word ‘abolish’ as given in the passage?
1). Exterminate
2). Annihilate
3). Retain
4). Extirpate
