Prelims 2006 · archive
MediumAssertion (A): Muhammad bin Tughlaq issued a new gold coin which was called Dinar by Ibn Batutah.
Reason (R): Muhammad bin Tughlaq wanted to issue token currency in gold coins to promote trade with West Asian and North African countries.
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) A is true but R is false
Muhammad bin Tughlaq did issue a heavier gold coin that travellers called the dinar, so A holds. But his token currency was of cheap metal, not gold, and it failed; R is therefore false.
- ✓ A He issued a new gold coin (dinar); this part is accepted in standard accounts, though not verified in a fetched official page.
- ✗ R The token currency used coins of baser metal (copper/brass) given the face value of silver; it was not in gold, and the experiment failed.
Remember · Tughlaq's token currency was copper/brass at silver value, not gold, and failed.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 2 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Chapter 2 “cheap copper coins were declared to be tokens and have the value of silver or gold coins”
- Britannica, Muhammad ibn Tughluq ↗ · reference work “His introduction of token currency, coins of baser metal with the face value of silver coins, however, failed dismally.”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2006, General Studies paper. UPSC did not publish an answer key for 2006: the answer shown is the one the sources above support. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·