UPSC CDS 1 2018 GK Paper

"So much is wrung from the peasants that even dry bread is scarcely left to fill their stomachs."
The above statement was made by Francisco Pelsaert, a Dutch traveler in response to the poverty that had infiltrated deeply into the lives of the people of Muhgal India. The statement was made when he visited the subcontinent in the early decades of the 17th century and saw how miserably the people lived. For this abject poverty, Pelsaert held the State responsible. Francisco Pelsaert was a Dutch merchant who worked for the Dutch East Indies Company.