Test: History - 14 - UPSC MCQ

Larger kingdoms were formed during the later Vedic period.
Many jana or tribes were amalgamated to form janapadas or rashtras in the later Vedic period. Hence the royal power had increased along with the increase in the size of kingdom. The king performed various rituals and sacrifices to strengthen his position.
They include Rajasuya (consecration ceremony), Asvamedha (horse sacrifice) and Vajpeya (chariot race).

• The Rig Vedic Aryans were pastoral people and their main occupation was cattle rearing. Their wealth was estimated in terms of their cattle. When they permanently settled in North India, they began to practice agriculture. With the knowledge and use of iron they were able to clean forests and bring more lands under cultivation.
• Trade was another important economic activity and rivers served as important means of transport. Trade was conducted on barter system. In the later times, gold coins called nishka were used as media of exchange in large transactions.

• The Rig Vedic Aryans worshiped the natural forces like earth, fire, wind, rain and thunder. They personified these natural forces into many gods and worshipped them. The important Rig Vedic gods were Prithvi (Earth), Agni (Fire), Vayu (Wind), Varuna (Rain) and Indra (Thunder).
• There were also female gods like Aditi and Ushas. There were no temples and no idol worship during the early Vedic period. Prayers were offered to the gods in the expectation of rewards. Ghee, milk and grain were given as offerings. Elaborate rituals were followed during the worship.

The correct answer is option C: Both 1 and 2

Statement 1:

• In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the combined forces of the British East India Company and the Nizam of Hyderabad defeated Tipu Sultan.

This statement is correct. In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798-1799), the British East India Company formed an alliance with the Nizam of Hyderabad and other local rulers to defeat Tipu Sultan, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. The combined forces of the British and the Nizam successfully captured the capital city of Seringapatam and Tipu Sultan was killed in the battle.

Statement 2:

• After Tipu Sultan was killed in the Battle of Seringapatam, Mysore was placed under Wodeyars - the former ruling dynasty.

This statement is also correct. After Tipu Sultan's death, the British East India Company did not directly annex the Kingdom of Mysore. Instead, they placed the Wodeyar dynasty, who were the previous ruling dynasty of Mysore, back on the throne. However, the British maintained significant control over the administration and governance of Mysore.

Therefore, both statement 1 and statement 2 are correct. The correct answer is option C: Both 1 and 2.

Lee Commission – Civil services
Aitchison commission – Public services
Sargent plan – Education.
Macdonnell commission – Famine

• There have been precedents when India and Pakistan have allowed a third-party to help resolve their issues.
• Both nations were able to reach agreements through third party mediators in case of the Indus Waters Treaty and the negotiations on the Rann of Kutch dispute.
• Rann of Kutch Accord (mediated by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson) persuaded the combatants to end hostilities and establish a tribunal to resolve the dispute.
• During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the then USSR led mediation efforts paved the way for India and Pakistan to withdraw forces from each other’s territories while agreeing to discuss all future matters. This was followed by signing of the Tashkent Declaration in Uzbekistan.
• The Shimla Agreement, was signed between India and Pakistan on 2 July 1972 in Shimla. It followed from the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971 that led to the independence of Bangladesh, which was earlier known as East Pakistan and was part of the territory of Pakistan.
• The Tashkent Declaration was a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed on 10 January 1966 that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Privy Purse in India was abolished by the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India in 1971. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi argued the case for abolition based on equal rights for all citizens and the need to reduce the government’s revenue deficit.

• The Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation was a treaty signed between India and the Soviet Union in August 1971 that specified mutual strategic cooperation. That was a significant deviation from India’s previous position of non-alignment during the Cold War and was a factor in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war.
• The treaty was caused by increasing Pakistani ties with China and the United States and played an important role in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Bangladesh Liberation War began after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971.

The Bhoodan Movement (Land Gift Movement) also known as the Bloodless Revolution was a voluntary land reform movement in India. It was initiated by Gandhian Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village, which is now in Telangana.
The Bhoodan Movement attempted to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily give a percentage of their land to landless people. Philosophically, Bhave was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s Sarvodaya movement and Gram Swarajya.

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, known as the Panchsheel Treaty: Non-interference in others internal affairs and respect for each other’s territorial unity integrity and sovereignty, are a set of principles to govern relations between states.
The Five Principles, as stated in the Sino–Indian Agreement 1954, are listed as:

• mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,
• mutual non-aggression,
• mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs,
• equality and mutual benefit, and
• peaceful co- existing
   

• The policy of staying away from alliances should not be considered isolationism or neutrality.
• Non-alignment is not isolationism since isolationism means remaining aloof from world affairs.
• In comparison, the non-aligned countries, including India, played an active role in mediating between the two rival alliances in the cause of peace and stability.
• NAM did not advocate joining either the NATO or Warsaw pact.
• Non-aligned states, including India, were actually involved in wars for various reasons.
• They also worked to prevent war between others and tried to end wars that had broken out.

Hyderabad was integrated by means of police action whereas Junagarh and Sikkim by means of referendum. Kashmir was integrated by an instrument of accession. Nagaland was part of Indian Union later separated from Assam.

• Planning, in the real sense of the term, began with the Second Five Year Plan. The Second Plan, a landmark contribution to development planning in general, laid down the basic ideas regarding goals of Indian planning; this plan was based on the ideas of Mahalanobis. In that sense, he can be regarded as the architect of Indian planning.
• Industrial Policy Resolution 1956 (IPR 1956): In accordance with the goal of the state controlling the commanding heights of the economy, the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 was adopted. This resolution formed the basis of the Second Five Year Plan, the plan which tried to build the basis for a socialist pattern of society.
• In the first seven plans, trade was characterised by what is commonly called an inward-looking trade strategy. Technically, this strategy is called import substitution. This policy aimed at replacing or substituting imports with domestic production.

Third Five Year Plan was based on Gadgil Yojna.

Mountbatten Plan
(i) independence for princely states ruled out—they would join either India or Pakistan;
(ii) independence for Bengal ruled out;
(iii) accession of Hyderabad to Pakistan ruled out
(iv) freedom to come on August 15, 1947; and
(v) a boundary commission to be set up if partition was to be effected.

Abolition of Privy Purse was a major issue in post-independent India.
The integration of India was preceded by an assurance that after the dissolution of princely rule, the then rulers’ families would be allowed to retain certain private property, and given a grant in heredity or government allowance, measured on the basis of the extent, revenue and potential of the merging state.
This grant was called the Privy Purse.

The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcation line between the Indian and Pakistani portions of the Punjab and Bengal provinces of British India. 
The demarcation line was published on 17 August 1947 upon the Partition of India. Today its western side still serves as the Indo-Pakistani border and the eastern side serves as the India-Bangladesh border.

• The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan.
• The representatives of princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the princely states.
• Constituent Assembly was to be a partly elected and partly nominated body. Moreover, the members were to be indirectly elected by the members of the provincial assemblies, who themselves were elected on a limited franchise.
• Seats were allotted on the basis of population at that time.

• The integration of princely states with the rest of India has purely an ad hoc arrangement. There has been a demand from different regions, particularly South India, for reorganisation of states on linguistic basis.
• Accordingly, in June 1948, the Government of India appointed the Linguistic Provinces Commission under the chairmanship of S K Dhar to examine the feasibility of this.
• The commission submitted its report in December 1948 and recommended the reorganisation of states on the basis of administrative convenience rather than linguistic factor.
• This created much resentment and led to the appointment of another Linguistic Provinces Committee by the Congress in December 1948 itself to examine the whole question afresh. It consisted of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallahbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya and hence, was popularly known as JVP Committee
• It submitted its report in April 1949 and formally rejected language as the basis for reorganisation of states. The creation of Andhra state intensified the demand from other regions for creation of states on linguistic basis.
• This forced the Government of India to appoint (in December 1953) a three-member States Reorganisation Commission under the chairmanship of Fazl Ali to re-examine the whole Question.

• Wellesley – Introduction of Subsidiary Alliance, 1798.
• William Bentinck – Educational reforms and introduction of English as the official language.
• Dalhousie – Telegraph (4000 miles of telegraph lines to connect Calcutta with Bombay, Madras and Peshawar) and postal (Post Office Act, 1854) reforms.

• Cornwallis (governor-general, 1786-93) was the first to bring into existence and organise the civil services.
• In 1878-79, Lytton introduced the Statutory Civil Service consisting of one-sixth of covenanted posts to be filled by Indians of high families through nominations by local governments subject to approval by the secretary of State and the viceroy.
• In 1863, Satyendra Nath Tagore became the first Indian to qualify for the Indian Civil Service

The Aitchison Committee on Public Services (1886), set up by Dufferin, recommended—

• dropping of the terms ‘covenanted’ and ‘uncovenanted’;
• classification of the civil service into Imperial Indian Civil Service (examination in England), Provincial Civil Service (examination in India) and Subordinate Civil Service (examination in India); and,
• raising the age limit to 23.

• The Cornwallis Code is a body of legislation enacted in 1793 by the East India Company to improve the governance of its territories in India. The Code was developed under the guidance of Cornwallis, who served as Governor of Bengal from 1786 to 1793.
• The code contained significant provisions governing, policing and judicial and civil administration. Its best-known provision was the Permanent Settlement (or the zamindari system enacted in 1793), which established a revenue collection scheme that lasted until the 20th century.

Lord Canning served as Governor General of India from 1856 to 1862. During his tenure, the Government of India Act, 1858 was passed which created the office of Viceroy to be held by the same person who was Governor General of India. Thus, Lord Canning also served as first Viceroy of India.
The important events during his tenure include –

• the Mutiny of 1857, which he was able to suppress successfully,
• Passing of Indian Councils Act, 1861 which introduced portfolio system in India,
• withdrawal of “Doctrine of Lapse” in which was one of the main reasons of mutiny of 1858,
• introduction of Code of Criminal Procedure