Test: Modern History - 1 - UPSC MCQ

While in jail, Gandhi set up the All India Anti Untouchability League in September 19323 All India Kisan Congress/Sabha: This sabha was founded in Lucknow in April 1936 with Swami Sahjanand Saraswati as the president and N.G. Ranga as the  general secretary. During the 1920s in South India, the non-brahmins organised the Self-Respect Movement led by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker.
• So, D: all three are correct.

• The Company's monopoly over trade in India ended, but the Company retained the trade with China and the trade in tea.  So #1 is right.
• The Company was to retain the possession of territories and the revenue for 20 years more, without  prejudice to the sovereignty of the Crown. So, #2 is right but #3 is wrong. Hence answer A: 1 and 2 only.

Bipan Chandra's India Since Independence, Ch.31 on Land Reforms (III)
• In most states, initially, the ceilings were imposed on individual and not family holdings, enabling landowners to divide up their holdings 'notionally' in the names of relatives merely to avoid the ceiling. So, A is wrong.
• A large number of exemptions to the ceiling limits were permitted by most states following the Second Plan recommendations that certain categories of land could be exempted from ceilings. These were tea, coffee and rubber plantations, orchards, specialized farms etc. So, D is wrong.
• C is a 'hyperbole' wrong statement. Land reform is not responsible for cash crop cultivation becoming predominant in India. Besides, majority of India's area under cultivation is foodgrains and cereals. (and not cash crops) as per Table3, page 101 of Economic Survey 2017-18.
• Thus, B is the most suitable answer.

• As early as in 1957, the Congress party had the bitter taste of defeat in Keral(a) In the assembly elections held in March 1957, the Communist Party won the largest number of seats to the Kerala legislature….The governor invited E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the leader of the Communist legislature party, to form the ministry. For the first time in the world, a Communist party government had come to power through democratic elections.
• This means 1 comes in between 2 (SBI-1955) and 4 (Goa-60s). Correct option should have this pattern: _ - 2 - _ - 1 - _ - 4. Only Option B fits this pattern. # Answerkey-Prelims-2018: Science

• Jean-Baptiste Tavernier: was a French traveler who visited India between 1640 and 1667. Being a diamond merchant, he was particularly interested in diamonds and visited various diamond mines in India, especially those of the Deccan.
• Jean De Thevenot (1626): one of the first French travellers, graphically describes the cultivation of indigo and the extent of its cultivation in his book Remonstrantie.
• Frenchman, Francois Bernier (1656- 58). His book Travels in the Mughal Empire mentioned the life of the peasantry, their poor conditions, towns, industries, life in the countryside and the urban culture and, above all, the major manufactures of India
• Abbe Carre also a Frenchman, visited Mughal India between 1672 and 1674 and recorded his information in The travels of Abbe Carre in India and the Near East. He wrote about the port towns and the role of the newly formed French East India Company.

The Founding Conference elected Com. Ashok Mehta as the General Secretary and Com. G.G. Mehta and V.S. Mathur as Secretaries. Ms. Maniben Kara and Com. T.S. Ramanujam were elected as Vice-Presidents of HMS. So, D is most fitting.

All three were responsible for the introduction of English education in India

Wood's dispatch recommended that Primary and secondary education should be in Vernacular language.*" so statement#3 is wrong, and by elimination we are left with Answer A: only 1 and 2.

1. In 1791 due to the sincere efforts of the British resident, Jonathan Duncan, a Sanskrit College was established to promote the study of Hindu laws and philosophy in Banaras. And Sir William Jones is associated with Asiatic Society of Bengal (NCERT themes-II page 232).
So, #1 is wrong. A and C eliminate(d)
2. Fort William College was established by Lord Wellesley (1798) for the training of civil servants. But, Arthur Wellesley was the brother of Lord Wellesley who fought the 4th Anglo-Mysore war against Tipu Sultan. Arthur Wellesley, forced Tipu to retreat to his capital Srirangapattinam. (Tamilnadu board History textbook Class 12 page 29). So #3 is wrong, C and D eliminate(d)
3. Thus by elimination, we are left with B: only 2.

• 1859: Neeldarpan was written
• 1863: Satyendranath cleared CSE.
• 1875: Arya Samaj was founde(d)
• 1882: Anandmath was written.

Commercialization of Indian agriculture was among the major impacts of British rule on Indian economy.

Point A, B and D were the salient features of Subsidiary Alliance, hence "C" doesn't apply.

• NEW NCERT, Std 8- Our Past III, Chapter 2: "….The fine qualities of cotton and silk produced in India had a big market in Europe…. The competition among the European companies inevitably pushed up the prices at which these goods could be purchase(d)"
• NEW NCERT St(d)12- Ch.12 Colonial Cities: "….By the end of the nineteenth century, half the imports and exports of India passed through Bombay. One important item of this trade was opium that the East India Company exported to Chin(a)"
• "Indigo and saltpetre were the other major imports from India, and the fact that both products were produced in the eastern Gangetic plain, especially in Bihar, stimulated British efforts to establish factories on the east coast as well as the west coast of the Indian subcontinent." So Saltpetre was indeed exported otherwise British wouldn't have made efforts to setup factories on East coast.

Annamacharya belonged to 15th century. So, Annamacharya and Tyagaraja (born in 1767) can't be be contemporaries. By elimination we get B: 2 and 4 only.

(i) The main proposals of the plan of Sir Stafford Cripps was that an Indian Union with a dominion status would be set up; it would be free to decide its relations with the Commonwealth and free to participate in the United Nations and other international bodies.
(ii) Cripps proposed to give dominion status to India after WW2.

(i) Extremists and moderates both seemed to be locking horns. The Extremists thought that the people had been encouraged and the battle for freedom had begun.
They felt the time had come for the big push to drive the British out and considered the Moderates to be a stumbling block to the movement.
(ii) So, Surat split occurred because extremists were dissatisfied with Moderates’ capacity to negotiate with the British.

In 1881, Keshab Chandra Sen established Naba Bidhan (New Dispensation) meaning new universalist religion after having differences within Brahmo Samaj. He was also part of Indian reform association to legalize Brahmo marriage and to fix minimum age of marriage. Calcutta Unitarian Committee was formed by Raja Rammohan Roy, Dwarkanath Tagore and William Adam, hence irrelevant to the question. Hence Answer (b) only 2 and 3.

(i) The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms were reforms introduced by the British Government in India to introduce self-governing institutions gradually to India. The reforms were outlined in the Montagu-Chelmsford Report prepared in 1918 and formed the basis of the Government of India Act 1919.
(ii) They’re related to Constitutional reforms.

Satyashodhak Samaj is a society established by Jyotirao Phule on September 24, 1873. This was started as a group whose main aim was to liberate the social shudra and untouchable castes from exploitation and oppression.

The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms which became the Government of India Act in 1919 clearly defined the jurisdiction of the central and provincial governments.