Q26. Who among the following was associated with the suppression of thugs?
(a) General Henry Prendergast
(b) Captain Sleeman
(c) Alexander Burres
(d) Captain Robert Pemberton
Answer: (b) Captain Sleeman
Explanation: Captain William Sleeman was appointed by Lord William Bentick (1828-35) to suppress the thugs.
Q27. The first Viceroy of India was
(a) Lord Canning
(b) Lord Hardinge
(c) Lord Dalhousie
(d) Lord Elgin
Answer: (a)
Explanation: Charles John Canning, known as Viscount Canning from 1837 to 1859, was an English statesman and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. In 1858 he was rewarded by being made the first Viceroy of India. In April 1859 he received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament for his great services during the rebellion. He was also made an extra civil grand cross of the Order of the Bath, and in May of the same year, he was raised to the dignity of an Earl, as Earl Canning.
Q28. Where did Aurangzeb die?
(a) Ahmednagar
(b) Aurangabad
(c) Allahabad
(d) Lahore
Answer: (b)
Explanation: Aurangzeb, the last great Mughal emperor, who spent the latter years of his reign, 1681–1707, in the Deccan, died at Khuldabad near Aurangabad in 1707, and a small monument marks the site.
Q29. When was the first train steamed off in India?
(a) 1848
(b) 1853
(c) 1875
(d) 1880
Answer: (b)
Explanation: Two new railway companies, Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) and East Indian Railway (EIR), were created in 1853-54 to construct and operate two ‘experimental’ lines near Bombay and Calcutta respectively. The first train in India became operational on 22 December 1851 for localized hauling of canal construction material in Roorkee. A year and a half later, on 16 April 1853, the first passenger train service was inaugurated between Bori Bunder in Bombay and Thane. Covering a distance of 34 kilometers, it was hauled by three locomotives, Sahib, Sindh, and Sultan.
Q30. When was the first telegraph line started in India?
(a) 1851
(b) 1875
(c) 1884
(d) 1900
Answer: (a)
Explanation: In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Kolkata and Diamond Harbour. In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company. Subsequently, the construction of 6,400 km of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north along with Agra, Mumbai (then Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai (then Madras) in the south, as well as Ootacamund and Bangalore was started in November 1853. William O’Shaughnessy, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period.
Q31. Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:
List-I
List-II
A. Moplah revolt
1. Kerala
B. Pabna revolt
2. Bihar
C. Eka movement
3. Bengal
D. BirsaMunda revolt
4. Awadh
Codes:
(a) A – 1; B – 3; C – 4; D – 2
(b) A – 2; B – 3; C – 4; D – 1
(c) A – 1; B – 2; C – 3; D – 4
(d) A – 3; B – 4; C – 1; D – 2
Answer: (a) A – 1; B – 3; C – 4; D – 2
Explanation: Moplah revolt in Malabar in Kerala in 1921; Pabna revolt in East Bengal (now in Bangladesh) in 1873; Eka movement in 1921-22 in districts of UP; BirsaMunda revolt in 1899 in Ranchi, Bihar (But now part of Jharkhand)
Q32. The paintings of Abanindranath Tagore are classified as:[1999]
(a) Realistic
(b) Socialistic
(c) Revivalist
(d) Impressionistic
Answer: (c) Revivalist
Explanation: Abanindranath Tagore is known as the leader of the Revivalist Movement in the field of modern Indian painting in Bengal.
Q33. Who was the Chairman of the Union Powers Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India?
(a) Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel
(b) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
(c) Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
(d) Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
Answer: (d)
Explanation: On the 14 August 1947 meeting of the Assembly, a proposal for forming various committees was presented. Such committees included a Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee, and the Union Constitution Committee. The Union Powers Committee and the Union Constitution Committee were headed by Jawaharlal Nehru.
Q34. Consider the following statements:[2005]
Lord Mountbatten was the Viceroy when the Shimla conference took place.
Indian Navy Revolt, 1946 took place when the Indian sailors in the Royal Indian Navy at Bombay and Karachi rose against the Government.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (b) 2 only
Explanation: Statement 1 is incorrect as Lord Wavell was the Viceroy when Simla Conference took place in June 1945.
Q35. There was no independent development of industries in India during British rule because of the following:
(a) Absence of heavy industries
(b) Scarcity of foreign capital
(c) Scarcity of natural resources
(d) Preference of the rich to invest in land
Answer: (a) Absence of heavy industries
Explanation: Jawaharlal Nehru emphasized on setting up of heavy industries in the second five-year plan.
Q36. Which Portfolio was held by Dr. Rajendra Prasad in the Interim Government formed in the year 1946?
(a) Defense
(b) External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations
(c) Food and Agriculture
(d) None of the above
Answer:(c) Food and Agriculture
Explanation: After the Indian independence in 1947, Dr. Rajendra Prasad became the first Indian President of India.
Q37. The issue on which the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 was launched was
(a) Equal employment opportunities for Indians
(b) The proposed execution of Bhagat Singh
(c) Salt monopoly exercised by the British Government
(d) Complete freedom
Answer: (c)
Explanation: On the historic day of 12th March 1930, Gandhi inaugurated The Civil Disobedience Movement by conducting the historic Dandi Salt March, where he broke the Salt Laws imposed by the British Government.
Q38. Who was the last Governor-General of India?
(a) Sir Cripps
(b) Lord Mountbatten
(c) C. Rajagopalachari
(d) Sir Attlee
Anwer: (b) Lord Mountbatten
Q39. The first feature film (talkie) to be produced in India was:
(a) Hatimtai
(b) Alam Ara
(c) Pundalik
(d) Raja Harishchandra
Answer:(b) Alam Ara
Explanation: AlamAra was the first Indian sound film directed by Ardeshir Irani. The first Indian talkie was so popular that police aid had to be summoned to control the crowds.
Q40. Which one of the following aroused a wave of popular indignation that led to the massacre by the British at Jallianwala Bagh?
(a) The Arms Act
(b) The Public Safety Act
(c) The Rowlatt Act
(d) The Vernacular Press Act
Answer: (c) TheRowlatt Act
Explanation: The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919 during anti-Rowlatt agitation in Amritsar. Rowlatt Act was passed in March 1919 which authorized the government to imprison any person without trial and conviction in a court of law. Tagore renounced his Knighthood in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Q41. Who represented India in the Second Round Table Conference?
(a) Sarojini Nadu
(b) Anne Besaint
(c) Aruna Asaf Ali
(d) None of these
Answer: (a)
Explanation: On August 29, 1931, Gandhi sailed for England in the SS Rajputana to attend the Second Round Table Conference, He went as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. He was accompanied by Sarojini Naidu and also Madan Mohan Malaviya, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Muhammad Iqbal, Sir Mirza Ismail Diwan of Mysore, S.K. Dutta and Sir Syed Ali Imam. The conference failed to reach an agreement, either constitutionally or on communal representation.
Q42. Assertion (A): According to the Wavell Plan, the number of Hindu and Muslim members in the Executive Council was to be equal.
Reason (R): Wavell thought that this arrangement would have avoided the partition of India.
(a) Both A and R are true but R is the correct explanation of A
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not a correct explanation of A
(c) A is true but R is false
(d) A is false but R is true
Answer:(c) A is true but R is false
Explanation: The Wavell Plan was proposed at the Simla Conference in June 1945.
Q43. Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:
List-I (Books)
List-II (Authors)
A. The First Indian of Independence
1. Rabindranath Tagore
B. Anand Math
2. Sri Aurobindo
C. Life Divine
3. Bankim Chandra Chatterji
D. Sadhana
Codes:
(a) A – 4; B – 3; C – 2; D – 1
(b) A – 3; B – 4; C – 1; D – 2
(c) A – 4; B – 3; C – 1; D – 2
(d) A – 3; B – 4; C – 2; D – 1
Answer: (a) A – 4; B – 3; C – 2; D – 1
Explanation: The Life Divine is Sri Aurobindo’s major philosophical opus. It combines a synthesis of Western thought and Eastern spirituality with Sri Aurobindo’sown original insights, covering topics such as the nature of the Divine (the Absolute, Brahman), how the creation came about, the evolution of consciousness and the cosmos, the spiritual path, and human evolutionary-spiritual destiny.
Q44. In ends and means relationship, Gandhiji believed
(a) Means become good if they serve the end
(b) Means and ends are watertight compartments
(c) Means determine the end
(d) End is everything, no matter what or how the means are
Answer: (c)
Explanation: The theory of Satyagraha sees means and ends as inseparable. The means used to obtain an end are wrapped up in and attached to that end. Therefore, it is contradictory to try to use unjust means to obtain justice or to try to use violence to obtain peace. As Gandhi wrote: “They say, ‘means are, after all, means’. I would say, ‘means are, after all, everything’. As the means so the end’. Gandhi rejected the idea that injustice should, or even could, be fought against “by any means necessary” — if you use violent, coercive, unjust means, whatever ends you produce will necessarily embed that injustice.
Q45. Consider the following events:
Indigo Revolt
Santhal Rebellion
Deccan Riot
Mutiny of the Sepoys
The correct chronological sequence of these events is:
Q46. The song ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ written during the Swadeshi Movement of India inspired the liberation struggle of Bangladesh and was adopted as the National Anthem of Bangladesh. Who wrote this song?
(a) RajniKanta Sen
(b) Dwijendralal Ray
(c) Mukunda Das
(d) Rabindranath Tagore
Answer: (d) Rabindranath Tagore
Explanation: The song was written in 1905 in Bangla. Rabindranath Tagore was the only person to write the National Anthem of two countries, i.e. India and Bangladesh.
Q47. Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:
List-I (Year)
List-II (Event)
A. 1775
1. First Anglo-Burmese War
B. 1780
2. First Anglo-Afghan War
C. 1824
3. First Anglo-Maratha War
D. 1838
4. Second Anglo-Mysore War
Codes:
(a) A – 4; B – 3; C – 2; D – 1
(b) A – 4; B – 3; C – 1; D – 2
(c) A – 3; B – 4; C – 1; D – 2
(d) A – 3; B – 4; C – 2; D – 1
Answer: (c) A – 3; B – 4; C – 1; D – 2
Explanation: First Anglo-Burmese War – Burmese defeated, Treaty of Yandobo (1826);
First Anglo-Afghan War –Afghans defeated (1838);
First Anglo-Maratha War – Started 1975, Britishers were defeated, Treaty of Salbai (1782);
Second Anglo-Mysore War – Haider Ali died and was succeeded by Tipu Sultan, Treaty of Mangalore.
Q48. English education was introduced in India by
(a) Lord Curzon
(b) Jawaharlal Nehru
(c) Lord Macaulay
(d) Lord Dalhousie
Answer: (c)
Explanation: Macaulay was Secretary to the Board of Control under Lord Grey from 1832 until 1833. After the passing of the Government of India Act 1833, he was appointed as the first Law Member of the Governor General’s Council. He went to India in 1834. He served on the Supreme Council of India between 1834 and 1838. He introduced English education in India through his famous minute of February 1835. He called an educational system that would create a class of Anglicized Indians who would serve as cultural intermediaries between the British and the Indians.
Q49. The last major extension of British Indian territory took place during the time of : [2000]
(a) Dufferin
(b) Dalhousie
(c) Lytton
(d) Curzon
Answer: (b) Dalhousie
Explanation: The last major extension of British Indian Territory took place during Dalhousie under his Doctrine of Lapse (Jhansi, Satara, Jaitpur, Sambalpur, Udaipur, and Nagpur) and based on misgovernance (Awadh).
Q50. Name the important French possession in India.
(a) Goa
(b) Pondicherry
(c) Daman
(d) Cochin
Answer: (b)
Explanation: Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India formed out of four enclaves of former French India and named for the largest, Pondicherry. The French East India Company set up a trading center at Pondicherry in 1674. This outpost eventually became the chief French settlement in India. The French acquired Mahe in the 1720s, Yanam in 1731, and Karaikal in 1738.
