Test: History - 2 - UPSC MCQ

• Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah was one of the many maulvis who played an important part in the revolt of 1857. In 1856, he was seen moving from village to village preaching Jihad (religious war) against the British and urging people to rebel. He moved in a palanquin, with drumbeaters in front and followers at the rear. He was therefore popularly called Danka Shah – the maulvi with the drum (danka). In 1857, he was jailed in Faizabad. When released, he was elected by the mutinous 22nd Native Infantry as their leader. He fought in the famous Battle of Chinhat in which the British forces under Henry Lawrence were defeated. He came to be known for his courage and power. Many people in fact believed that he was invincible, had magical powers, and could not be killed by the British. It was this belief that partly formed the basis of his authority.

• Shah Mal was a rebel at the time of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, based out of the village of Bijrol, Uttar Pradesh. He led the Jats of Baraut in rebellion against the East India Company. Maulvi Liaquat Ali was a Muslim religious leader from Prayagraj (Allahabad), in the state of Uttar Pradesh in present-day India. He was one of the leaders in the revolt against the British in 1857. Maulvi captured the Khusro Bagh and declared the independence of India. Khusro Bagh became the headquarters of the sepoys under Maulvi Liaquat Ali who took charge as the Governor of liberated Allahabad. However, the Mutiny was swiftly put down and Khusro Bagh was retaken by the British in two weeks.

• He escaped from Allahabad after the British recaptured the city, but was caught after 14 years in September 1871 at Byculla railway station in Surat. He was tried and sentenced to death, but died in captivity in Rangoon on 17 May 1892.

• Bakht Khan (1797–13 May 1859) was commander-in-chief of the Indian rebel forces in the region of Delhi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the East India Company.

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy established the “Atmiya Sabha” a precursor organization in the socio-religious reforms in Bengal in the year 1814 in Kolkata.

• It was a philosophical discussion circle where debates and discussions were held leading to the ideas for social reforms.

• Option (a) is incorrect: Raleigh Commission: The Viceroy filled with imperialistic design was not in favor of giving any power to the Indians. He concluded the Indian Universities and the college were slowly becoming cradle of Propaganda against the Government. So, with an idea to bring the Universities under control, Lord Curzon appointed Raleigh Commission under Sir Thomas Raleigh.

• Option (b) is incorrect: Mahalwari System: In Mahalwari system, all the properties of a Mahal were jointly and severally responsible, in their persons and property, for the sum assessed by the government on that Mahal. If the number of the proprietors was large, some of them were made representatives of all. The ownership and occupancy right was reserved for individual peasants. Even cultivation was to be done individually. But for the payment of the land revenue, the peasants were jointly responsible. Usually the village as a whole would be designated a Mahal and it paid the revenue via its headman called Lambardar. Thus, Lambardars worked as a link between the individual tillers and the government, but they were not given rights like those of Zamindars under permanent settlement.

• Option (c) is correct: Permanent Settlement: In permanent settlement, fixed revenue demand would give zamindars a sense of security and, assured of returns on their investment, encourage them to improve their estates. Initial demands were very high. The revenue was invariable, regardless of the harvest, and had to be paid punctually. In fact, according to the Sunset Law, if payment did not come in by sunset of the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned.

• Option (d) is incorrect: Macdonnell Commission: When the people were dying out of starvation and diseases, a MacDonnell Commission was appointed by Lord Curzon in 1901 which submitted its report in the same year. This commission came out with a “Moral Strategy”, distribution of advances and loans to the peasants and setting up a Famine Commissioner in the famine affected province.

Rabindranath Tagore was born on 7 May 1861 to Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi in Kolkata (Calcutta).

• He is popularly known as ‘Gurudev’.

• He was primarily known as a writer, poet, playwright, philosopher and aesthetician, music composer, choreographer, and painter.

• He was influenced by the classical poetry of Kalidasa and started writing his own classical poems.

• He released his first collection of poems under the pen name ‘Bhanusimha’ at 16 years of age.

• He published several books of poetry in the 1880s and completed Manasi (1890), a collection that marks the maturing of his genius.

• He wrote the National Anthems of India and Bangladesh.

• He wrote the song Banglar Mati Banglar Jol (Soil of Bengal, Water of Bengal) to unite the Bengali population after the Bengal partition in 1905.

• He also wrote the famed ‘Amar Sonar Bangla' which helped ignite a feeling of nationalism amongst people.

• In 1913, he became the first Indian to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel ‘Geetanjali.

• Statement 1 is correct: A report that was submitted to the British Parliament in 1813. It was the fifth of a series of reports on the administration and activities of the East India Company in India. Often referred to as the Fifth Report. Since, the Company established its rule in Bengal in the mid-1760s, its activities were closely watched and debated in England. Many opposed to the monopoly that the East India Company had over trade with India and China. These groups wanted a revocation of the Royal Charter that gave the Company this monopoly.

• Statement 2 is incorrect: It was published by a select committee on the affairs of the East India Company of the British Parliament. It was submitted to the British Parliament and not the Governor General of India. There was no such post as of 1813.

• In News: PM paid tributes to Gopal Krishna Gokhale on his birth anniversary.

• Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society(SIS) in Maharashtra’s Pune on June 12, 1905. The SIS launched campaigns for the promotion of education, health care and sanitation. It also made efforts to eradicate social evils such as untouchability and oppression of women. He started an English weekly newspaper, The Hitavada (The people's paper). He was a mentor to both Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Gandhi Ji, in his autobiography, described Gokhale as “pure as crystal, gentle as a lamb, brave as a lion and chivalrous to a fault and the most perfect man in the political field.”

• Similarly, Jinnah was so inspired by Gokhle that his aspiration, during the early years of his political life, was to become a “Muslim Gokhle”.

Surendranath Banerjea is one of important moderate political leader. He founded the Indian National Association, through which he led two sessions of the Indian National Conference in 1883 and 1885, along with Anandamohan Bose. He founded a new organization named Indian National Liberation Federation in 1919. He was editor of “The Bengali” newspaper. Written in the last years of Sir Surendranath Banerjea s life, A Nation in Making is not only the autobiography of a pioneering leader in Indian politics but also a commentary on public life.

Achievements

1. With coalition partners, they out-voted the government several times, even on matters relating to budgetary grants, and passed adjournment motions.

2. They agitated through powerful speeches on self-government, civil liberties and industrialisation.

3. Vithalbhai Patel was elected speaker of Central Legislative Assembly in 1925.

4. A noteworthy achievement was the defeat of the Public Safety Bill in 1928 which was aimed at empowering the Government to deport undesirable and subversive foreigners (because the Government was alarmed by the spread of socialist and communist ideas and believed that a crucial role was being played by the British and other foreign activists being sent by the Commintern).

5. By their activities, they filled the political vacuum at a time when the national movement was recouping its strength.

6. They exposed the hollowness of the Montford scheme.

7. They demonstrated that the councils could be used creatively.

Drawbacks

1. The Swarajists lacked a policy to coordinate their militancy inside legislatures with the mass struggle outside. They relied totally on newspaper reporting to communicate with the public.

2. An obstructionist strategy had its limitations.

3. They could not carry on with their coalition partners very far because of conflicting ideas, which further limited their effectiveness.

4. They failed to resist the perks and privileges of power and office.

5. They failed to support the peasants’ cause in Bengal and lost support among Muslim members who were pro-peasant.

• British Government passed the Limitation Law in 1859, to control the debts mounting on ryots in Deccan. In 1832, a large area of land was demarcated as Damin-i-Koh, on the slopes of Rajmahal hills and was given to the Santhals. But with time they found that their land was slipping away from their hands as state was levying heavy taxes and moneylenders were charging high rates of interest on them. Hence, Santhal Rebellion happened in 1855-56.

• Deccan Riot Commission was assigned to make a report on the revolt by ryots in Deccan. The report was presented in British Parliament in 1878.

• The first revenue settlement system in Bombay, Deccan was made in the 1820s. It was known as ‘Ryotwari settlement, where the revenue was directly settled with the ‘ryots’ (peasants).

• Swami Vivekananda was born on 12th January 1863 in a Bengali family in Calcutta and was originally named Narendranath Datta.

  • In his honour, the Government of India in 1984 declared his birthday National Youth Day.

• He was well-read in many subjects and would meditate in front of the images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

  • He met the religious leader Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who later became his Guru and he remained devoted to him until the latter died in 1886.

  • In 1893, he took the name ‘Vivekananda’ after Maharaja Ajit Singh of the Khetri State requested him to do so, changing from ‘Sachidananda’ that he used before.

• He was one of India’s greatest spiritual leaders and inspired the youth of India to become better, leading a life of purity and setting an example for the world.

  • Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had called him the “Maker of Modern India”.

• He played an important role in introducing the philosophies of Yoga and Vedanta to the West.

  • He preached ‘neo-Vedanta’, an interpretation of Hinduism through a Western lens and believed in combining spirituality with material progress.

  • He is best known for his speech at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.

  • After coming back to India, he formed the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897.

  • In 1899, he established the Belur Math, which became his permanent abode.

• In February 1909, the public prosecutor was shot dead in Calcutta and in February 1910, a deputy superintendent of police met the same fate while leaving the Calcutta High Court. In 1908, Barrah dacoity was organised by Dacca Anushilan under Pulin Das to raise funds for revolutionary activities.

• Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal staged a spectacular bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge while he was making his official entry into the new capital of Delhi in a procession through Chandni Chowk in December 1912. (Hardinge was injured, but not killed.)

• The western Anushilan Samiti found a good leader in Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin and emerged as the Jugantar (or Yugantar). Jatin revitalised links between the central organisation in Calcutta and other places in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

• During the First World War, the Jugantar party arranged to import German arms and ammunition through sympathisers and revolutionaries abroad. Jatin asked Rashbehari Bose to take charge of Upper India, aiming to bring about an all-India insurrection in what has come to be called the ‘German Plot’ or the ‘Zimmerman Plan’. The Jugantar party raised funds through a series of dacoities which came to be known as taxicab dacoities and boat dacoities, so as to work out the Indo-German conspiracy.

• Statement 1 is not correct: The convention is held once every two years.

• Statement 2 is correct: on this day Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa, is celebrated grandly to strengthen the engagement of the Government of India with the overseas Indian community.

• Statement 3 is correct: The main idea behind this event is to reconnect the Non-Resident Indian community with their original roots.

• The poligars (or palayakkarargal) of South India gave a stiff resistance to the British between 1795 and 1805. The main centres of these strong uprisings were Tinneveli (or Thirunelveli), Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Sivagiri, Madurai, and North Arcot. The problem started in 1781, when the Nawab of Arcot gave the management and control of Tinneveli and the Carnatic Provinces to the East India Company. This arrangement caused resentment among the poligars who had, for long considered themselves as independent sovereign authorities within their respective territories. The first revolt of the poligars against the Company was basically over taxation, but had a larger political dimension in that the English considered and treated the poligars as enemies.

• Kattabomman Nayakan, the poligar of Panjalankurichi, led the insurrection between 1795 and 1799. After a fierce battle in which the Company forces were defeated by Veerapandiya Kattabomman, a price was put on the latter’s head. This led to greater rebellion by the poligars.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: Fort St George became the nucleus of the White Town where most of the Europeans lived. Walls and bastions made this a distinct enclave. Colour and religion determined who was allowed to live within the Fort. The Company did not permit any marriages with Indians. Other than the English, the Dutch and Portuguese were allowed to stay here because they were European and Christian. The administrative and judicial systems also favoured the white population. Despite being few in number the Europeans were the rulers and the development of Madras followed the needs and convenience of the minority whites in the town.

• Statement 3 is incorrect: In 1757, when Sirajudaula was defeated in the Battle of Plassey, the East India Company decided to build a new fort called Fort William, one that could not be easily attacked. Calcutta had grown from three villages called Sutanati, Kolkata and Govindapur. The Company cleared a site in the southernmost village of Govindpur and the traders and weavers living there were asked to move out.

• Statement 2 is correct: The most spectacular example of the neo-Gothic style is the Victoria Terminus, the station and headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway Company. The British invested a lot in the design and construction of this railway station in Bombay. As a group these buildings dominated the central Bombay skyline and their uniform neo-Gothic style gave a distinctive character to the city.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year, but the aim of the festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its extravaganza and traditions.

• Statement 2 is incorrect: The Festival is named after the hornbill, the globally respected bird and which is displayed in folklore in most of the state’s tribes. However the State bird of Nagaland is ‘Blyth’s Tragopan’ shown in pic below (not hornbill)’. This festival takes place between the 1st and the 10th of December every year in Kohima. (Nagaland formation day 1 December 1963).

• Organized by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments, Hornbill Festival showcases a mélange of cultural displays under one roof. This festival usually takes place between the 1st and the 10th of December every year in Kohima.

  • The Music festival and rock contest is now held in nearby Dimapur. Hornbill Festival is held at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama which is about 12 km from Kohima. All the tribes of Nagaland take part in this festival.

  • The aim of the festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its extravaganza and traditions.

  • For visitors it means a closer understanding of the people and culture of Nagaland. It must be included in your itinerary, if you are visiting Nagaland during that time to enjoy the food, songs, dances and customs of Nagaland.

  • The Festival is named after the hornbill, the globally respected bird and which is displayed in folklore in most of the state’s tribes.

  • The weeklong festival unites one and all in Nagaland and people enjoy the colourful performances, crafts, sports, food fairs, games and ceremonies.

  • Traditional arts which include paintings, wood carvings, and sculptures are also on display. Festival highlights include Traditional Naga Morungs Exhibition and sale of Arts and Crafts, Food Stalls, Herbal Medicine Stalls, Flower shows and sales.

  • Cultural Medley - songs and dances, Fashion shows, Beauty Contest, Traditional Archery, Naga wrestling, Indigenous Games, and Musical concert.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer

• Option (a) is incorrect: In 1600, the East India Company acquired a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I, granting it the sole right to trade with the East. Exclusive right to trade was given to EIC, only in Britain.

• Option (b) is incorrect: Royal charter meant that no other trading group in England could compete with the East India Company. 2nd option is also incorrect as sole monopoly to trade in the east was given to EIC.

• Option (c) is the correct answer: In 1600, the East India Company acquired a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I. It means East India Company got the sole right to trade with the East in Britain.

• Option (d) is incorrect: With this charter the Company could venture across the oceans, looking for new lands from which it could buy goods at a cheap price, and carry them back to Europe to sell at higher prices. The Company did not have to fear competition from other English trading companies. The royal charter, however, could not prevent other European powers from entering the Eastern markets.

The Moamarias were low-caste peasants who followed the teachings of Aniruddhadeva (1553-1624), and their rise was similar to that of other low-caste groups in north India. Their revolts weakened the Ahoms and opened the doors for others to attack the region, for instance, in 1792, the King of Darrang (Krishnanarayan), assisted by his band of burkandazes (the demobilised soldiers of the Muslim armies and zamindars) revolted.

• Statement 1 is incorrect as maladministration within the trading companies led to losses for the companies but did not give rise to rivalries.

• Statement 2 is incorrect as many companies wanted to be in the good books of the Rajas and Nawabs to get favourable trading conditions and the Rajas and Nawabs supported most of the companies that came to trade without favouring one or the other.

• Statement 4 is incorrect as it was a consequence of the rivalry and not the cause.

He was bestowed with the title of Raja by Akbar II, the Mughal emperor.

• Gopal Krishna Gokhale called him the ‘Father of Modern India’.

• Several historians consider him one of the pioneers of the Indian Renaissance.

• Monotheism: Rammohan was a strong propagator of monotheistic ideas which he believed to be the fundamental principle of Vedanta philosophy.

  • He believed that monotheism lay at the core of all religious texts.

• Option (b) is correct: In 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey. One of the main reasons for the defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one of Siraj Ud Daulah's commanders, never fought the battle. Clive had managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after crushing Siraj Ud Daulah. The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first major victory the Company won in India.

• Option (a) is incorrect: Warren Hastings served as a volunteer in Clive forces as they retook Calcutta in January 1757.

• Option (c) is incorrect: Lord William Bentinck served as Governor-General of India from 1828 to 1835. Option (d) is incorrect. Charles Cornwallis was appointed in February 1786 to serve as both Commander-in-Chief of British India and Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, also known as the Bengal Presidency

• Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Movement, also known as Ezhava Movement was started by Sri Narayana Guru against the Brahmin dominance.

• He formed a programme of action known as the ‘SNDP Yogam’. The Yogam took up several issues, including the right of admission to public schools, recruitment to government employment, entry into temples, on roads and political represen­tation.

• Jotiba Phule was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. He fought for the cause of caste discrimination.

• He wrote ‘Gulamgiri’ and ‘Sarvajanik Satyadharma Pustak’.

• Nathaniel Halhed, Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Willam Jones together set up the ‘Asiatic Society of Bengal’, and started a journal called ‘Asiatick Researches’.

• William Jones arrived in Calcutta and had an appointment as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that the Company had set up. In addition to being an expert in law, Jones was a linguist.

• He had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew French and English, had picked up Arabic from a friend, and had also learnt Persian. At Calcutta, he began spending many hours a day with pandits who taught him the subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar and poetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, medicine and the other sciences. Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many British officials living in Calcutta at the time. Englishmen like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed were also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage, mastering Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and Persian works into English. Jones and Colebrooke came to represent a particular attitude towards India.

• They shared a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and the West. Indian civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the ancient past, but had subsequently declined. In order to understand India it was necessary to discover the sacred and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period. For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of these texts could form the basis of future development in India. So Jones and Colebrooke went about discovering ancient texts, understanding their meaning, translating them, and making their findings known to others. This project, they believed, would not only help the British learn from Indian culture, but it would also help Indians rediscover their own heritage, and understand the lost glories of their past. In this process the British would become the guardians of Indian culture as well as its masters.

jayanti.Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Popularly known as Veer Savarkar, was born on 28 May 1883 in Nashik.

• He is known for coining the term ‘Hindutva’

• He was against foreign goods and propagated the idea of Swadeshi. In 1905, he burnt all the foreign goods in a bonfire on Dussehra.

• In his teenage years, Savarkar formed a youth organisation. Known as Mitra Mela (Group of Friends), this organisation was put into place to bring in national and revolutionary ideas.

• He started one of the most powerful social reform movements against untouchability in India”, built Patit Pavan Mandir in the Ratnagiri district to allow entry to all Hindus, including Dalits. “He was the first to envision a casteless India”

• He established a secret organisation called Abhinav Bharat Society in 1904 with his brother, Ganesh Damodar Savarkar.

• He was associated with India House and founded student societies like Free India Society.

• He wrote 'The Indian War of Independence, 1857' during his jail time.

• Statement 1 is correct: After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the Company appointed Residents in Indian states. They were political or commercial agents and their job was to serve and further the interests of the Company.

• Statement 2 is correct: Through the Residents, the Company officials began interfering in the internal affairs of Indian states. They tried to decide who was to be the successor to the throne, and who was to be appointed in administrative posts. Residents acted as a supra-authority which resulted in diminishing power of Indian rulers and slowly all the states lost their sovereignty to East India Company and later to British Empire.

  • The Residency system has its origins in the system of subsidiary alliances devised by the British after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, to secure Bengal from attack by deploying East India Company troops of the Bengal Army within friendly Native States. Through this system, the Indian Princes of these Native States were assured of protection from internal and external aggression, through deployment of company troops. In return they had to pay for the maintenance of those troops and also accept a British Resident in their Court. The Resident was a senior British official posted in the capital of these Princely States, technically a diplomat but also responsible for keeping the ruler to his alliance.

The famines of 1899-1900 was followed by a commission under the presidency of Sir Anthony Mac Donnell(1901). It emphasized on the policy of ‘Moral Strategy’ and advocated the appointment of a famine commissioner in s province where relief operations were expected to be extensive