Moneylender exploitation in the Deccan Riots indicated which wider problem?

Correct answer: Rural debt and weakness of peasants in colonial economy

The direct answer is B, rural debt and the weakness of peasants in the colonial economy. The Deccan Riots of 1875 were connected with severe pressure on cultivators. Peasants often borrowed from moneylenders, faced high interest and difficult repayment, and could lose control over land or belongings when debts accumulated. The reasoning is: colonial revenue demands and economic difficulty reduce farm security; a crop failure or low income increases borrowing; interest makes the debt larger; moneylender pressure produces anger and resistance; this reveals the vulnerability of rural peasants, not a naval or religious dispute. Option A, naval discipline crisis, concerns sailors and is unrelated to Deccan cultivators. Option B is correct because it combines the immediate issue, rural debt, with the wider colonial economic weakness. Option C, temple entry dispute, belongs to a different social-religious context. Option D, foreign parliament dispute, does not explain the local agrarian conflict. The exam cue is: Deccan Riots—1875, indebted peasants, moneylenders, and the Deccan Agriculturists’ Relief Act of 1879.