Q1. Who among the following was a proponent of Fabianism as a movement?
(a) Annie Besant
(b) A.O. Hume
(c) Michael Madhusudan Dutt
(d) R. Palme Dutt
Answer:(a) Annie Besant
Explanation: The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning in the late 19thcentury and then up to World War I. Fabianism focused on the advancement of socialist ideas through gradual influence and patiently insinuating socialist ideology into intellectual circles and groups with power.
Q2. As an alternative to the partition of India, Gandhiji suggested to Mountbatten that he:
(a) Postponed granting of independence
(b) Invited Jinnah to form the government
(c) Invited Nehru and Jinnah to form the government together
(d) Invite the army to take over for some time
Answer:(b) Invited Jinnah to form the government
Explanation: Mountbatten Plan came into existence on June 3, 1947. Gandhi ji suggested that he should invite Jinnah to form the government rather than partition of India.
Q3. Which one of the following was the first English ship that came to India?
(a) Elizabeth
(b) Titanic
(c) Red Dragon
(d) Mayflower
Answer: (c)
Explanation: Red Dragon was the first English ship that came to India. The Red Dragon fought the Portuguese at the Battle of Swally in 1612, and made several voyages to the East Indies.
Q4. When Mahatma Gandhi was arrested who among the following took over the leadership of Salt Satyagraha?
(a) Vinoba Bhave
(b) Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel
(c) Abbas Tyabji
(d) Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad
Answer: (c)
Explanation: Abbas Tyabji was an Indian freedom fighter from Gujarat, who once served as the Chief Justice of the (Baroda) Gujarat High Court. Mahatma Gandhi appointed Tyabji, at age seventy-six, to replace him as leader of the Salt Satyagraha in May 1930 after Gandhi’s arrest. Tyabji was arrested soon afterward and imprisoned by the British Indian Government. Gandhi and others respectfully called Tyabji the “Grand Old Man of Gujarat”
Q5. In the interim government formed in 1946, the Vice-President of the Executive Council was:
(a) Jawaharlal Nehru
(b) Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
(c) C. Rajagopalachari
(d) Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Answer: (a) Jawaharlal Nehru
Explanation: C. Rajagopalachari was the Head of the Department of Education and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the Head of the Department of Food & Agriculture in the Executive Council.
Q6. When Congress leaders condemned the Montagu- Chelmsford Report, many moderates left the party to form the:
(a) Swarajya Party
(b) Indian Freedom Party
(c) Independence Federation of India
(d) Indian Liberal Federation
Answer:(d) Indian Liberal Federation
Explanation: When Congress leaders condemned the Montagu-Chelmsford Report (July, 1918), many moderates led by Surendra Nath Banerjea left the party to form Indian Liberal Federation in 1919.
Q7. Who is generally acknowledged as the pioneer of local self-government in modern India?
(a) Ripon
(b) Mayo
(c) Lytton
(d) Curzon
Answer: (a)
Explanation: Lord Ripon’s Resolution of 18 May 1882 is hailed as the Magna Carat of government and got for him the title of “father of local self-government in India. The resolution on local self-government recognized the twin considerations of local government: (i) administrative efficiency and (ii) political education. The Ripon Resolution, which focused on towns, provided for local bodies consisting of a large majority of elected non-official members and presided over by a nonofficial chairperson.
Q8. Which one of the following was directly related to the Poona Pact of 1932?
(a) Indian women
(b) Indian labor class
(c) Indian farmers
(d) Indian depressed class
Answer: (d)
Explanation: The Poona Pact was signed on 25 September 1932 in Bombay. By this, the separate electorate for depressed classes was abolished.
Q9. Consider the following statements:
The First Session of the Indian National Congress was held in Calcutta
The Second Session of the Indian National Congress was held under the presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji
Both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League held their sessions at Lucknow in 1916 and concluded the Lucknow Pact
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 2 only [2004]
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 3 only
Answer:(c) 2 and 3
Explanation: Statement 1 is incorrect as the first session was held in 1885 at Bombay (not in Calcutta) under the presidentship of W.C. Banerjee. The second session was held in Calcutta. Lucknow session in 1916 was presided over by A.C. Majumdaar.
Q10. The ‘Modi script’ was employed in the documents of the:
(a) Wodeyars
(b) Zamorins
(c) Hoysalas
(d) Marathas
Answer:(d) Marathas
Explanation: It was mainly used in maintaining the revenue and administrative records.
Q11. Match the following
A. Brahmo Samaj
1. Bombay
B. Veda Samaj
2. Bengal
C. Arya Samaj
3. Madras
D. Prarthana Samaj
4. NorthIndia
Codes: A B C D
(a) 1 3 2 4
(b) 3 2 4 1
(c) 2 4 1 3
(d) 2 3 4 1
Answer: (d)
Explanation: The Brahmo Samaj was conceived at Kolkata in 1830 by Devendranath Tagore and Ram Mohan Roy as the reformation of the prevailing Brahmanism of the time (specifically Kulin practices) and began the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century. The Veda Samaj was an extremely important social reform in Southern India established in Madras in the year 1864. Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement founded by Swami Dayananda on 10 April 1875 and its area of activity was mainly northern India. Prarthna Samaj, or “Prayer Society” in Sanskrit, was a movement for religious and social reform in Maharashtra based on earlier reform movements and traditions of Maharashtra. It started in Bombay and was inspired by the Brahmo Samaj.
Q12. Land Revenue under Tipu—
(a) Was mainly collected through revenue officers.
(b) Was mainly collected by Government officials appointed by Tipu
(c) Was collected by intermediaries
(d) Was not allowed to go into the hands of Sultan
Answer: (b)
Explanation: Tipu Sultan while managing his land revenue system introduced the system of collecting the rent in cash. Farming out the land was abolished and the state undertook the task of collecting the tax directly from the peasants. State officers were strictly instructed not to harass the ryots (peasants or cultivators of the soil). They were not to interfere in their daily affairs except at the time of collecting taxes when they should adopt peaceful methods of collection.
Q13. The Montagu-Chelmsford Report formed the basis of:[2004]
(a) The Indian Councils Act, 1909
(b) The Government of India Act, 1919
(c) The Government of India Act, 1935
(d) The Indian Independence Act, 1947
Answer:(b) The Government of India Act, 1919
Explanation: Montagu-Chelmsfordor Montford Reforms which were announced in July 1918 in line with the government policy contained in Montagu’s statement (August 1917) formed the basis of GIA, 1919.
Q14.Who was the advocate at the famous INA Trials?
(a) Bhulabhai Desai
(b) Asaf Ali
(c) Subhash Chandra Bose
(d) C. Rajagopalachari
Answer: (a)
Explanation: Bhulabhai Desai was an Indian freedom fighter and acclaimed lawyer. He is well-remembered for his defense of the three Indian National Army soldiers accused of treason during World War II, and for attempting to negotiate a secret power-sharing agreement with Liaquat Ali Khan of the Muslim League. When three captured Indian National Army (INA) officers, Shahnawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sahgal, and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon were put on trial for treason, the Congress formed a Defence committee composed of 17 advocates including Bhulabhai Desai. The court martial hearing began in October 1945 at the Red Fort. Bhulabhai was the leading counsel for the defense.
Q15. The Governor-General of India who initiated the introduction of English in India was—
(a) Lord Curzon
(b) Lord Macaulay
(c) Lord Bentinck
(d) Lord Hastings
Answer: (c)
Explanation: English education was officially introduced in India in 1835 by Governor-General William Bentinck. The English Education Act was a legislative Act of the Council of India in 1835 giving effect to a decision in 1835 by William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland, the then Governor-General of British India to reallocate funds the East India Company was required by the British Parliament to spend on education and literature in India.
Q16. Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?
(a) Battle of Buxar—Mir Jafar vs. Clive
(b) Battle of Wandiwash—French vs. East India Company
(c) Battle of Chilianwala—Dalhousie vs. Marathas
(d) Battle of Kharda—Nizam vs. East India Company
Answer: (b) Battle of Wandiwash—French vs. East India Company
Explanation: Battle of Wandiwash in 1960 and French were finally defeated by the English. Battle of Buxar (1764) – English under Munro defeated Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-doula and Shah Alam II
Q17. During the Indian freedom struggle, who among the following proposed that Swaraj should be defined as complete independence free from all foreign control?
(a) Mazharul Haque
(b) Maulana Hasrat Mohani
(c) Hakim Ajmal Khan
(d) Abul Kalam Azad
Answer: (b) Maulana Hasrat Mohani
Explanation: Maulana Hasrat Mohani proposed that Swaraj should be defined as complete independence free from all foreign control in 1921 when he was presiding over the session of the All India Muslim League in Lucknow.
Q18. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer
List I
(A) Governor-General of Presidency of Fort William in Bengal (under Regulating Act, 1773)
(B) Governor-General of India (under Charter Act, 1833)
(C) Governor-General and Viceroy of India (under Indian Council Act, 1858)
(D) Governor-General and Crown Representative (under Government of India Act, 1935)
List II
Archibald Percival Wavell, Viscount and Earl Wavell
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, Earl andMarquess of Dalhousie
Charles Cornwallis 2nd Earl and First Marquess of Cornwallis
Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, Earl of Minto
Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma
(a) A-3; B-2; C-4;D-1
(b) A-1; B-2; C-3; D-4
(c) A-2; B-5; C-3; D-1
(d) A-2; B-4; C-5; D-3
Answer:(a) A-3; B-2; C-4; D-1
Explanation: The Earl Cornwallis took office on 12 September 1786 and left office on 28 October 1793. The Marquess Cornwallis took office on 30 July 1805 and left office on 5 October 1805.
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie served as Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856.
Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first Governor-General of the independent Dominion of India (1947-48).
The Viscount Wavell tenure is 1 October 1943 – 21 February 1947.
Q19. Consider the following events during India’s freedom struggle:
Chauri-Chaura Outrage
Minto-Morley Reforms
Dandi March
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
Which one of the following is the correct chronological order of the events above?
Q20. In which one of the following provinces was a Congress ministry not formed under the Act of 1935?
(a) Bihar
(b) Madras
(c) Orissa
(d) Punjab
Answer:(d) Punjab
Explanation: Congress ministries were formed in Bombay, Madras, Central Provinces, Orissa, United Provinces, and Bihar, and later in NWFP and Assam also.
Q21. The Cabinet Mission came to India in the year
(a) 1946
(b) 1945
(c) 1942
(d) 1940
Answer: (a)
Explanation: The British Cabinet Mission of 1946 to India aimed to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Government to Indian leadership, providing India with independence. Formulated at the initiative of Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the mission consisted of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty. However, Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, did not participate.
Q22. Muslim League was founded in the year
(a) 1900
(b) 1905
(c) 1906
(d) 1902
Answer: (c)
Explanation: The All-India Muslim League was a political party during the period of British Rule which advocated the creation of a separate Muslim-majority nation. It was founded by the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka (now Bangladesh), in 1906, in the context of the circumstances that were generated over the partition of Bengal in 1905.
Q23. Which one of the following is an important historical novel written during the latter half of the nineteenth century?
(a) RastGoftar
(b) DurgeshNandini
(c) Maratha
(d) Nibandhamala
Answer:(b) DurgeshNandini
Explanation: Durgesh Nandini was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1862-1864 in Bangla.
Q24. The famous revolutionary song ‘Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai …’ was composed by
(a) Bhagat Singh
(b) Khudiram Bose
(c) Chandrasekhar Azad
(d) Ramprasad Bismil
Answer: (d)
Explanation: Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna is a patriotic poem in Urdu, written by Pandit Ram Prasad, (pen name: Bismil) he was an Indian Independence Movement leader, known popularly with Kakori Train Robbery, during the British Raj in India.
Q25. Who drafted the resolution on fundamental rights for the Karachi session of Congress in 1931?
(a) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
(b) Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
(c) Dr. Rajendra Prasad
(d) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Answer: (b) Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Explanation: Nehru drafted the resolution on Fundamental Rights. The Karachi Session was presided over by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
