Class 10 History Chapter 2 Practice Question Answers - India and the Contemporary World - II

Q1: The Non-Cooperation movement was slowed down in towns due to some reasons. Identify the aspects in which it posed some practical problems.
(a) Boycott of foreign cloth
(b) Boycott of British institutions
(c) Picketing of liquor shops
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Ans: (d)
(i) Khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it.
(ii) The boycott of British institutions posed a problem.
(iii) For the movement to be successful, alternative Indian institutions had to be set up so that they could be used in place of the British ones.
(iv) These institutions were slow to come up. So students and teachers began trickling back to government schools and lawyers joined back work in government courts.

Q2: Bardoli satyagraha was led by
(a) Gandhi
(b) JL Nehru
(c) Sardar Patel
(d) Subhash C Bose
Ans: (c)
In 1928, Vallabhbhai Patel led the peasant movement in Bardoli, a taluka in Gujarat, against enhancement of land revenue. Known as the Bardoli Satyagraha, this movement was a success under the able leadership of Vallabhbhai Patel. The struggle was widely publicised and generated immense sympathy in many parts of India.

Q3: The demand of 'Purna Swaraj' was conceptualized in the Congress session at _________.
(a) Ahmedabad
(b) Surat
(c) Bombay
(d) Lahore
Ans: (d)
At the historic Lahore session of 1929 under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress declared its aim for the attainment of Purna Swaraj or complete independence.

Q4: The Swaraj Party was organised by _____.
(a) Lala Lajpat Rai and Feroz Shah Mehta
(b) Sarojini Naidu and Annie Besant
(c) CR Das and Motilal Nehru
(d) C Rajagopalachari and CY Chintamani
Ans: (c)
Swaraj Party was an Indian political party established in late 1922–early 1923 by members of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), notably Motilal Nehru and CR Das. They were among the pro changers who wanted to contest in the elections. Many candidates of the Swaraj Party got elected to the central legislative assembly and provincial legislative council in the 1923 elections where they opposed the unjust government policies.

Q5: The signing of which pact led to the Second Round Table Conference?
(a) Gandhi-Irwin Pact
(b) Poona Pact
(c) Government of India 1919
(d) Government of India 1935
Ans: (a)
The second Round Table Conference was the result of the signing of Gandhi- Irwin Pact. The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5th March 1931 before the second Round Table Conference in London.

Q6: Which one of the following agreements gave reserved seats to the 'Depressed Classes' in Provincial and Central Legislative Councils?
(a) Lucknow Pact
(b) Gandhi-Irwin Pact
(c) Poona Pact
(d) None of these
Ans: (c)
The Poona Pact of September 1932. It gave the Depressed Classes reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate.

Q7: Poona pact was signed between?
(a) Company and the Congress
(b) Government and the Congress
(c) Irwin and Gandhi
(d) Gandhi And Ambedkar
Ans: (d)
Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for dalits. When the British government conceded Ambedkars demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates for dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society. Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhijis position and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932.It gave the Depressed Classes (later to be known as the Schedule Castes) reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate. The dalit movement, however, continued to be apprehensive of the Congress led national movement.

Q8: Who painted the Painting of Bharat Mata?
(a) Rabindranath Tagore
(b) Abhanindranath Tagore
(c) Bal Gangadhar Tilak
(d) Mahatma Gandhi
Ans: (b)
Moved by the Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata. In this painting Bharat Mata is portrayed as an ascetic figure; she is calm, composed, divine and spiritual. In subsequent years, the image of Bharat Mata acquired many different forms, as it circulated in popular prints, and was painted by different artists.

Q9: Who designed the Swaraj Flag in 1921?
(a) Motilal Nehru
(b) Mahatma Gandhi
(c) Subhash C Bose
(d) None of these
Ans: (b)
As the national movement developed, nationalist leaders became more and more aware of such icons and symbols in unifying people and inspiring in them a feeling of nationalism. During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tri colour flag (red, green and yellow) was designed. It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus and Muslims. By1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a tri colour(red, green and white) and had a spinning wheel in the centre, representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help. Carrying the flag, holding it aloft, during marches became a symbol of defiance.

Q10: At which of the following place Congress passed the Quit India Resolution?
(a) Lahore
(b) Ahmedabad
(c) Wardha
(d) Karachi
Ans: (c)
The failure of the Cripps Mission and the effects of World War II created widespread discontentment in India. This led Gandhiji to launch a movement calling for complete withdrawal of the British from India. The Congress Working Committee, in its meeting in Wardha on 14 July 1942, passed the historic Quit India resolution demanding the immediate transfer of power to Indians and quit India. On 8 August 1942 in Bombay, the All India Congress Committee endorsed the resolution which called for a non-violent mass struggle on the widest possible scale throughout the country. It was on this occasion that Gandhiji delivered the famous Do or Die speech. The call for Quit India almost brought the state machinery to a standstill in large parts of the country as people voluntarily threw themselves into the thick of the movement. People observed hartals, and demonstrations and processions were accompanied by national songs and slogans. The movement was truly a mass movement which brought into its ambit thousands of ordinary people, namely students, workers and peasants. It also saw the active participation of leaders, namely, Jayprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali and Ram Manohar Lohia and many women such as Matangini Hazra in Bengal, Kanaklata Barua in Assam and Rama Devi in Odisha. The British responded with much force, yet it took more than a year to suppress the movement.

Q11: Which of the following incidents made Gandhiji suspend to the Non-Cooperation Movement?
(a) Killing of hundreds of people at Amritsar by General Dyer.
(b) Violent clash of agitators with police at Chauri Chaura.
(c) Violent Guerrilla War in the hills of Andhra Pradesh.
(d) Forcible imposition of Rowlatt Act on the people.
Ans: (b)
The movement was in full swing when in Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur, the police fired upon a Congress procession of 3,300 peasants. The angry crowd set  the police station on fire, killing 22 policemen. Gandhiji had always emphasised that the movement should be peaceful and non-violent . after this incident he called off the movement in 1922.

Q12: Consider the following statements and identify the correct response from the options given thereafter:
Statement I: In 1921, as the non-cooperation movement spread, houses of talukdars were looted and merchants were attacked.
Statement II: Mahatma Gandhi had declared that tax was not to be paid and land was to be redistributed amongst the poor.
(a) Statement I is false and Statement II is true
(b) Statement I is true and Statement II is false
(c) Both Statement I and Statement II are true and Statement II is the correct explanation of Statement I
(d) Both Statement I and Statement II are true but Statement II is not the correct explanation of Statement I
Ans: (d)
In 1921, as the non-cooperation movement spread, houses of talukdars were looted and merchants were attacked. People told that Mahatma Gandhi had declared that tax was not to be paid and land was to be redistributed amongst the poor. They used his name to sanction all the things but Gandhi did not give such statement.

Q13: What was the main allegation against Simon Commission?
(a) The Commission was appointed by the Viceroy
(b) The Commission was headed by British member
(c) The Commission was not a statutory body
(d) The Commission constituted only British members
Ans: (d)
In November 1927, the British appointed Simon commission to investigate the need for further constitutional reforms. The commission composed of seven British members of Parliament. It had no Indian members. This was seen as a violation of the principle of self- determination and a deliberate insult to the self-respect of the Indians.

Q14: What was the slogan raised against the Simon Commission?
(a) 'Simon Go Back'
(b) 'Inquilab Zindabad'
(c) 'Quit India'
(d) None of the above
Ans: (a)
Wherever the Commission went it was greeted with hartals and black flag demonstrations under the slogan 'Simon Go Back'.

Q15: Who announced vague offer of dominion status to India in 1929?
(a) Lord Hardinge
(b) Lord Chelmsford
(c) Lord Curzon
(d) Lord Irwin
Ans: (d)
The new Tory government in Britain constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon. Set up in response to the nationalist movement, the commission was to look into the functioning of the constitutional system in India and suggest changes. The problem was that the commission did not have a single Indian member. They were all British. When the Simon Commission arrived in India in1928, it was greeted with the slogan Go back Simon. All parties, including the Congress and the Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations. In an effort to win them over, the viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced in October 1929, a vague offer of dominion status for India in an unspecified future, and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution. This did not satisfy the Congress leaders.

Q16: Who was arrested in Peshawar in 1930 during the Civil Disobedience Movement?
(a) Gandhi
(b) Sardar Patel
(c) Pandit Nehru
(d) Abdul Gaffar Khan
Ans: (d)
On 6 April he reached Dandi, and ceremonially violated the law, manufacturing salt by boiling sea water. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement. How was this movement different from the Non-Cooperation Movement? People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British, as they had done in 1921-22, but also to break colonial laws. Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law, manufactured salt and demonstrated in front of government salt factories. As the movement spread, foreign cloth was boycotted, and liquor shops were picketed. Peasants refused to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes, village officials resigned, and in many places forest people violated forest laws going into Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle.
Worried by the developments, the colonial government began arresting the Congress leaders one by one. This led to violent clashes in many palaces. When Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a devout disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, was arrested in April 1930, angry crowds demonstrated in the streets of Peshawar, facing armoured cars and police firing. Many were killed. A month later, when Mahatma Gandhi himself was arrested, industrial workers in Sholapur attacked police posts, municipal buildings, lawcourts and railway stations all structures that symbolised British rule. A frightened government responded with a policy of brutal repression. Peaceful satyagrahis were attacked, women and children were beaten, and about 100,000people were arrested.
In such a situation, Mahatma Gandhi once again decided to call off the movement and entered into a pact with Irwin on 5 March 1931.By this Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Gandhiji consented to participate in a Round Table Conference (the Congress had boycotted the first Round Table Conference) in London and the government agreed to release the political prisoners.

Q17: Who founded Depressed classes association in 1930?
(a) Jyotiba Phule
(b) Dr BR Ambedkar
(c) Sardar Patel
(d) Gandhi
Ans: (b)
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar founded the Depressed Classes Association in 1930. The organization aimed to uplift the socially and economically marginalized sections of society, especially the Dalits (previously known as "Depressed Classes") who faced discrimination and oppression in India. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a prominent social reformer and the architect of the Indian Constitution, dedicated his life to fighting for the rights and welfare of Dalits and other oppressed communities.

Q18: Who was the author of Anandamath?
(a) Rabindranath Tagore`
(b) Abhanindranath tagore
(c) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya
(d) Raja Ram Mohan roy
Ans: (c)
It was in the twentieth century, with the growth of nationalism, that the identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat Mata. The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. In the1870s he wrote Vande Mataram as a hymn to the motherland. Later it was included in his novel Anandamath and widely sung during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal.

Q19: In which of the following movements Gandhi gave the call of 'Do or Die'?
(a) Civil Disobedience
(b) Non Cooperation
(c) Quit India
(d) Rowlatt Satyagraha
Ans: (c)
Gandhi gave the call of 'Do or Die' during the (c) Quit India Movement. The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Movement, was launched by Mahatma Gandhi on August 8, 1942, during India's struggle for independence from British rule. In his speech, he called for Indians to do or die in their nonviolent struggle against British colonial rule.

Q20: Gandhi gave the call of Do or Die at
(a) Lahore
(b) Bombay
(c) Delhi
(d) Calcutta
Ans: (b)
Gandhi gave the call of "Do or Die" during the Quit India Movement on August 8, 1942, at (b) Bombay, which is now known as Mumbai. The movement was launched with the aim of demanding an end to British colonial rule in India.