Class 12 History: CBSE Sample Question Papers- Term II (2021-22)- 1 | CBSE Sample Papers for Class 12 Humanities - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

Class XlI

General Instructions:

• This Question paper is divided into four sections-Section A, B, C and D 
• All questions are compulsory. 
• Section-A: Question no. 1 to 4 are Short Answer type questions of 3 marks each. Answer to each question should not exceed 80 words. 
• Section-B: Question no. 5 to 7 are Long Answer type questions, carrying 6 marks. Answer to this question should not exceed 150-200 words. 
• Section-C: Question no. 8 and 9 are Case Based questions, carrying 4 marks each with subparts. 
• Section-D: Question no. 10 is map based, carrying 2 marks 
• There is no overall choice in the question paper. However, an internal choice has been provided in a few questions. Only one of the choices in such questions have to be attempted. 
• In addition to this, separate instructions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary.

Q.1. Show how the power of the Jotedars within a village was more effective than that of the Zamindars.

The power of the Jotedars within the village was more effective than that of the Zamindars:
(i) Jotedars were located in villages while Zamindars lived in urban areas.
(ii) Indirectly  controlled  the  ryots  by  advancing money, controlling local trade.
(iii) Withholding payment of revenue. 

(iv) Holding benami lands. 

(v) Purchased the auctioned estates of Zamindars.
(vi) They became an alternate source of power in villages.

Q.2. Critically analyse the Fifth Report which was submitted to the British Parliament in 1813.

The fifth Report of 1813 which was submitted to British Parliament:
(i) It was the fifth series of report on the administration and activities of the East India Company in India.
(ii) It ran into 1002 pages of which over 800 pages were appendices that reproduced petitions of zamindars and riots, reports of collectors and districts.
(iii) It contained information on company ’s misrule and maladministration.
(iv) Many British traders wanted a share in Company ’s trade in India and emphasised for openness for British manufacturers in India
(v) Any other relevant point.

Examine the policies adopted by the British towards Paharias during 18th century.

Policies adopted by the British towards Paharias during 18th century. 
(i) British adopted policy of extermination. 

(ii) British proposed policy of pacification with Paharia chiefs to ensure proper conduct.
(iii) Paharia went into mountains and deep forests and continued their war against outsiders
(iv) Many Paharia chiefs who accepted allowances came to be perceived as subordinate employees or stipendiary chiefs so they lost their authority within the community.
(v) Any other relevant point

Q.3. How did “Quit India” become a mass movement?

After the failure of the Cripps Mission, Mahatma Gandhi decided to launch his third major movement against British rule. This was the “Quit India” campaign, which began in August 1942. It was genuinely a mass movement, bringing into its ambit hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians. It especially energised the young who, in very large numbers, left their colleges to go to jail. However, while the Congress leaders languished in jail, Jinnah and his colleagues in the Muslim League worked patiently at expanding their influence. It was in these years that the League began to make a mark in the Punjab and Sind, provinces where previously it had scarcely any presence.

Q.4. Why have many scholars written the months after Independence as being Gandhiji's "finest hours? Explain.

Months after Independence as being Gandhiji's "finest hours:
(i) He pleads for cooperation and communal harmony.
(ii) He urged that the two parts respect and befriend one another.
(iii) He tried to build a spirit of mutual trust and confidence between the communities. 

(iv) He was worried for the displaced people in India and Pakistan.
(v) Any other relevant point.

Q.5. How did Mahatma Gandhi transform Indian nationalism? 

By 1922, Gandhiji had transformed Indian nationalism, thereby redeeming the promise he made in his BHU speech of February 1916. It was no longer a movement of professionals and intellectuals; now, hundreds of thousands of peasants, workers and artisans also participated in it. Many of them venerated Gandhiji, referring to him as their “Mahatma”. They appreciated the fact that he dressed like them, lived like them, and spoke their language. Unlike other leaders, he did not stand apart from the common folk but empathised and even identified with them. This identification was strikingly reflected in his dress, while other nationalist leaders dressed formally, wearing a Western suit or an Indian band gala, Gandhiji went among the people in a simple dhoti or loincloth. Meanwhile, he spent part of each day working on the charkha (spinning wheel) and encouraged other nationalists to do likewise. The act of spinning allowed Gandhiji to break the boundaries that prevailed within the traditional caste system, between mental labour and manual labour.

Q.6. Describe the variety of tasks involved in creation of manuscripts during the reign of the Mughal.

The process of manuscript production in Mughal court was as follows:
(i) All books of Mughal India were in the form of manuscripts i.e. these were handwritten.
(ii) Royal kitabkhana was the main centre of manuscripts’ production. Although, the term kitabkhana can be translated as the term library, actually it was a scriptorium.
(iii) It was a place where the manuscripts of the empire were collected and the new manuscript was fabricated.
(iv) Various multi-tasking people were included for the fabrication of manuscripts.
(v) Papermakers were needed to prepare the folios of the manuscript, calligraphers or scribes to copy the text, gilders to illuminate the pages, painters to illustrate a scene from the textbook, binders collected the individual folio’s and set them within the ornamental covers.
(vi) Prepared manuscript was taken as a precious object, an intellectual property and work of beauty.
(vii) Such books were seen as examples of the power of Mughal emperors.
(viii) Among the different persons involved in the production of manuscripts, calligraphers and painters hold a high social position, but paper makers or bookbinders have remained common artisans.

Discuss, with examples, the distinctive features of Mughal chronicles.

(i) Chronicles commissioned by the Mughal emperors are an important source for studying the empire and its court.

(ii) They were written in order to project a vision of an enlightened kingdom to all those who came under its umbrella.

(iii) The authors of Mughal chronicles focused on events related to the life of the ruler, their family, the court and nobles, wars, and the administrative system.
(iv) These chronicles were written in Persian. 

(v) This language flourished as a language of the court and of literary writings, alongside the north Indian languages, especially Hindavi and its regional variants.
(vi) As the Mughals were Chaghtai Turks by origin, Turkish was their mother tongue. 

(vii) Chronicles narrating the events of a Mughal emperor ’s reign contained, alongside the written text, images that described an event in visual form.
(viii) When scenes or themes in a book were to be given visual expression, the scribe left blank spaces on nearby pages; paintings, executed separately by artists, were inserted to accompany what was described in words.

Q.7. Abu'l Fazl describes the ideal of "Sulh- i -Kul (absolute peace) as the cornerstone of Akbar enlightened rule." Support the statement with few examples.

Sulh-I-kul policy of Akbar
(i) Different ethnic and religious communities had freedom of expression but on condition that they did not undermine the authority of the state or fight among themselves.
(ii) He ensured justice and peace.
(iii) The nobility was comprised of Iranis, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs, Deccanis, etc. were given positions and awards based on merit and services.
(iv) Akbar abolished the tax on pilgrimage /Jjizya. 

(v) He gave grants to support and maintain religious buildings.
(vi) He celebrated festivals like Id, Shab-i-barat and Holi.
(vii) He invited Jesuit mission for religious discussions.
(viii) Any other relevant point.

‘The officer corps of the Mughals were described as bouquet of flowers held together by loyalty to the emperor’. Justify the statements with suitable arguments.

‘The officer cops of the Mughals 
(i) The Mughal nobility was comprised of Iranis, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs, Deccanis, etc.
(ii) The Mughal nobility were the main pillars of the Mughal state.
(iii) The Mughal nobility was chosen from different groups, both religiously and ethnicity to ensure a balance of power between the various groups.
(iv) They were described as guldasta or a bouquet of flowers in the official chronicles.
(v) It signified their unity, held together by loyalty towards the Mughal emperor.
(vi) All nobles were ranked or were allotted mansabs comprising of zat and sawar
(vii) The nobles were also required to perform military service for the emperor
(viii) Any other relevant point.

Q.8. Read the source given below and answer the questions that follows.
Mahatma Gandhi was to spend much of 1917 in Champaran, seeking to obtain the peasants’ security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. The following year, 1918, Gandhiji was involved in two campaigns in his home state of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad, demanding better working conditions for the textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda in asking the state for the remission of taxes following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda marked Gandhiji out as a nationalist with a deep sympathy for the poor. At the same time, these were all localised struggles.
(i) Why did Mahatma Gandhi spend time in Champaran? 

Mahatma Gandhi was to spend much of 1917 in Champaran, seeking to obtain for the peasant's security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice.

(ii) Mention the two campaigns in which Mahatma Gandhi got involved. 

The two campaigns were - he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad, demanding better working conditions for the textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda in asking the state for the remission of taxes following the failure of their harvest.

(iii) What narrative about Mahatma Gandhi came out after the initiatives at Champaran?

These initiatives in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda marked Gandhiji out as a nationalist with a deep sympathy for the poor.

Q.9. Read the source given below and answer the questions that follow.

“There cannot be any divided loyalty” 
Govind Ballabh Pant argued that in order to become loyal citizens people had to stop focusing only on the community and the self:
For the success of democracy one must train himself in the art of self-discipline. In democracies one should careless for himself and more for others. There cannot be any divided loyalty. All loyalties must exclusively be centred round the State. If in a democracy, you create rival loyalties, or you create a system in which any individual or group, instead of suppressing his extravagance, cares nought for larger or other interests, then democracy is doomed.

(i) How did G.B. Pant encourage citizens to make a unified nation?

According to Pant one should care less for himself and more for the nation to make it strong and unified.

(ii) Why did he urge citizens for loyalty towards nation?

According to him, for making nation successful, Individual should care less for personal gain and focus more on collective benefit and for the development of the nation in all perspectives.

(iii) How was loyalty considered as the base of social pyramid?

(i) He suggested that nothing should be done for personal gain which can harm the interest of other person or large section of people
(ii) This philosophy promotes people centric benefits instead of individual centric.
(iii) Any other relevant point.

Q.10. On the given political outline map of India, locate and label ANY ONE of the following with appropriate symbol: 
(a) (i)  The place where the colonial rule was first established.  

(i) Bengal

(ii) The Santhal Revolt took place here in 1555-1556.

(ii) Jharkhand

(b) On the same outline map of India, the place where the sepoys arrived in the morning on 11th May to convince Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar to lead the mutiny, is marked as A. Identify it and write its name on the line drawn near them.

(A) Delhi