Test: Modern History - Software Development MCQ

The correct answer is Rangoon.

Important Points

• Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal emperor in the Indian subcontinent.
• After the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar, none of his descendants were recognized as kings.
• Bahadur Shah Zafar was the son of  Akbar II.
• The entry of Bahadur Shah Zafar to the 1857 rebellion gives courage, hope, and confidence to ordinary people.
• British forces recaptured Delhi from the rebel forces in September 1857.

Key Points 

• The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried in court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• The British exiled him to Rangoon following his involvement in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
• Bahadur Shah Zafar and his wife Begum Zeenat Mahal were sent to prison in Rangoon in 1858.
• Bahadur Shah Zafar died in the Rangoon jail in 1862.
• After the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar, his family was shifted out of the Red Fort and given another place in Delhi to reside in.

The revolt of 1857 was the conscious beginning of the Independence struggle against the colonial tyranny of the British. 

• The revolt began on May 10, 1857, at Meerut as a sepoy mutiny.
• It was initiated by sepoys in the Bengal Presidency against the British officers.

Important Points

About 1857 Revolt:

• The Indian Mutiny of 1857-59 was a widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against the rule of the British East India Company in India which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British crown.
• The reason for the Revolt of 1857 is the immediate factor was the introduction of the 'Enfield' rifle.
• The cartridge had to be bitten off before loading it into the gun.
• Indian sepoys believed that the cartridge was greased with either pig fat or made from cow fat.
• 1857 revolt started firstly on 29th March 1857 from Barrackpur (West Bengal) by Mangal Pandey. 
• The revolt is known by several names
  • the Sepoy Mutiny (by the British Historians)
  • the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion (by the Indian Historians)
  • the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection
  • First War of Independence (by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar)

Hence, the correct answer is Sepoys.

Ryotwari system, one of the three principal methods of revenue collection in British India. It was prevalent in most of southern India, being the standard system of the Madras Presidency (a British-controlled area now constituting much of present-day Tamil Nadu and portions of neighboring states). 

Key Points

The system was devised by Capt. Alexander Read and Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Munro at the end of the 18th century and introduced by the latter when he was governor (1820–27) of Madras (now Chennai).

• The principle was the direct collection of the land revenue from each individual cultivator by government agents.
• For this purpose, all holdings were measured and assessed according to crop potential and actual cultivation.
• The advantages of this system were the elimination of middlemen, who often oppressed villagers, and an assessment of the tax on land actually cultivated and not merely occupied.
• Offsetting these advantages was the cost of detailed measurement and of individual collection. This system also gave much power to subordinate revenue officials, whose activities were inadequately supervised.
• This system was in operation for nearly 5 years and had many features of the revenue system of the Mughals.
• It was instituted in some parts of British India, one of the three main systems used to collect revenues from the cultivators of agricultural land.
• These taxes included undifferentiated land revenue and rents, collected simultaneously.
• Where the land revenue was imposed directly on the ryots (the individual cultivators who actually worked the land) the system of assessment was known as ryotwari.
• Where the land revenue was imposed indirectly—through agreements made with Zamindars the system of assessment was known as zamindari. In Bombay, Madras, Assam, and Burma the Zamindar usually did not have a position as a middleman between the government and the farmer.

Hence, the correct answer is Thomas Munro.

Key Points

In 1854, the first cotton mill was set up in Bombay and It grew as an important port for the export of raw cotton from India to England and China.

• This cotton crop became a huge demand and farmers started investing in it.
• Cotton turned the market upside down.
• A huge number of labours started working in mills.
• In Bombay, about 84 mills were established by Parsi and Gujarati businessmen by 1900.
• The construction and development of mills in cities started and the first mill in Ahmedabad was started in 1861.
• The growth of cotton mills demanded manpower.
• Poor peasants, artisans, and agricultural labourers started working in the mills.
• The textile industry of India faced problems such as difficulty competing with the cheap textiles imported from Britain.
• In most countries, the government-supported industrialization by applying and imposing heavy duties on imports which eliminated competition and protected infant industries.
• The first major spurt in the development of cotton factory production in India was during the First World War when textile imports from Britain were declined and Indian factories were called upon to produce cloth for military supplies.

The correct answer is 1895.

Key Points

• The Natal Indian Congress was an organization that aimed to fight discrimination against Indians in South Africa.
• The Natal Indian Congress was founded by Mahatma Gandhi along with other Indians in 1895.
• Gandhi was the Honorary Secretary and Abdoola Hajee Adam Jhaveri (Dada Abdulla) was elected president.
• The Natal Congress in its early stages focused on providing equality to all races and people of all castes, genders, and Creeds.
• From the 1920s the organization functioned under the umbrella organization, the SAIC (South African Indian Congress).
• However, in the 1930s-1940s, the NIC experienced more radical leadership when Dr. G.M. Naicker emerged on the scene 

The Brahmo Samaj was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy.

Key Points

• It was founded in Calcutta in 1828 by Ram Mohan Roy as Brahmo Sabha.
• The Brahmo Samaj was a monotheistic sect of Hinduism
• The samaj was dedicated to the "worship and adoration of the Eternal, the Unsearchable, the Immutable Being, who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe".
• The Samaj was open to all without distinction of color, creed, caste, nation, or religion.
• It denounced polytheism, image worship, and the caste system.
• It also discarded meaningless Hindu rituals.
• Raja Rammohun Roy is also called the father of the Indian renaissance.

The correct answer is Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Key Points

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave a slogan 'Freedom is our birthright and we must have it.
• Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak roused the Indian people and injected fresh life into our liberation cause with his electrifying phrase, "Swaraj is my birth-right and I shall have it."
• Lokmanya Tilak was born in 1856, barely one year before the First War of Indian Independence, into a disappointed and sullen India, and following the defeat of the 1857 insurrection, into a swirl of sorrow and hopelessness.

Important Points

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak worked valiantly to aid the country's independence from British domination.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a member of the Lal-Bal-Pal troika, was dubbed the "Father of Indian Unrest" by British colonial rulers.
• Lokmanya Tilak founded and published two newspapers: the Marathi Kesari and the English The Mahratta. To criticize the colonial overlords, he used his pen as a weapon.

Jawahar Lal Nehru announced the formation of Andhra Pradesh as a separate state in 1952.

• In 1953, the first linguistic state of Andhra for Telugu-speaking people was formed. 
• Constituent Assembly in 1948 appointed Linguistic Provinces Commission to enquire into the desirability of linguistic provinces.
  • It was headed by Justice S. K. Dhar. 
  • The Commission advised against the organization of states on a linguistic basis at that time because it might harm national unity and also it is administratively inconvenient.
  • It recommended reorganization on the basis of administrative convenience rather than on a Linguistic basis.
• In 1953, Nehru appointed States Reorganisation Commission to examine the reorganization of the states of the Union.
  • Members: Justice Fazl Ali, KM Panikkar & H Kunzru.
• States Reorganization Act 1956:
  • It provided for 14 states and 6 centrally administered territories although opposed to the disintegration of Bombay & Punjab.

Thus, it is clear that after independence, the first Indian State constituted on the linguistic basis is Andhra Pradesh.

The correct answer is Robert Clive.

Key Points

When Alivardi Khan died in 1756, Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal.

• The Company was worried about his power and keen on a puppet ruler who would willingly give trade concessions and other privileges.
• So it tried, though without success, to help one of Sirajuddaulah’s rivals become the nawab.
• An infuriated Sirajuddaulah asked the Company to stop meddling in the political affairs of his dominion, stop fortification, and pay the revenues.
• After negotiations failed, the Nawab marched with 30,000 soldiers to the English factory at Kassimbazar, captured the Company officials, locked the warehouse, disarmed all Englishmen, and blockaded English ships.
• Then he marched to Calcutta to establish control over the Company’s fort there.

Important Points

• On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Company officials in Madras sent forces under the command of Robert Clive, reinforced by naval fleets.
• Prolonged negotiations with the Nawab followed.
• Finally, in 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey. 
• The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first major victory the Company won in India.

Thus, it is clear that Robert Clive led the company's army against Sirajudallah at Plassey.

Additional Information

• James Mill was a famous economist and political philosopher from Scotland.
• The Permanent Settlement of Bengal was brought into effect by the East India Company headed by Governor-General Lord Cornwallis in 1793.
• Lord Dalhousie devised a policy that came to be known as the Doctrine of Lapse.

The correct answer is ​the exploitative outsiders in tribal areas.

Important Points

Santhal Rising:

• The Santhals of Rajmahal Hills resented the oppression by revenue officials, police, money-lenders, landlords - in general, by the 'outsiders' (whom they called diku). Hence option 3 is correct.
• The Santhals under Sido and Kanhu rose up against their oppressors, declared the end of the Company's rule and asserted themselves independent in 1854.
• It was only in 1856 after extensive military operations that the situation was brought under control.Sido died in 1855, while Kanhu was arrested in 1866.
• A separate district of Santhal Pargana was created by the Government to pacify the Santhals.