Modern Indian History Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 13)

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct: the riots led to the Deccan Agriculturists’ Relief Act (1879), were contained by prompt suppression (not spread), and the American Civil War cotton boom had earlier enriched-then-impoverished the peasants. Statement 3 is wrong.

Article 395 repealed the Government of India Act 1935 and the Indian Independence Act 1947 (1 and 2). The GOI Act 1919 had already been repealed by the 1935 Act, and the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act 1949 was a separate, surviving statute – so only 1 and 2 were repealed by Article 395.

Separate electorates for Muslims were introduced by the Morley-Minto Reforms (Indian Councils Act, 1909) – a distinct measure added to that reform. The 1919 Act, the Communal Award (1932) and the 1935 Act built on it but did not introduce it.

The early nationalists opposed the 1892 Act because it did not give Indians control over public funds – the councils could discuss the budget but could not vote on financial matters. The other options describe the Act’s actual (limited) provisions, not the reason for opposition.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct: the 1861 Act added nominated non-official (Indian) members whose role was confined to considering the Governor-General’s legislative proposals. Statement 3 is wrong – the Governor-General RETAINED effective legislative power, which is why the changes were so limited.

From Bengal the Company exported cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium – the wealth that funded its rise to political power. Raw cotton, sugar, copper and tea were not the main Bengal staples of that period.

Saadat Khan (Burhan-ul-Mulk) was appointed governor of Awadh in 1722 and became the first Nawab Wazir of Awadh, making it virtually autonomous. Safdarjung came later, Shuja-ud-Daula was a later ruler, and Saadat Ali Khan was the British-era Nawab of 1798-1814.

The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82) was concluded by the Treaty of Salbai in 1782, which restored the status quo and secured British support for the Peshwa. The Treaty of Surat (1775) started the conflict, and Purandar (1776) and Wadgaon (1779) were earlier, unfavourable settlements.

Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier, declared in December 1962 that China bore responsibility for the Sino-Indian War – a statement that hurt the China-Soviet alliance and pleased India. The other names are earlier or lesser Soviet leaders.

The answer is nuclear non-proliferation. It is not one of the five principles. The five are in the preamble of the 1954 agreement. Why the others fail: mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty is the first principle. Equality and mutual benefit is the fourth. Peaceful co-existence is the fifth. Memory hook: respect, no attack, no meddling, equal gain, peace. Nothing about nuclear weapons.

The first Five Year Plan in history was launched by the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1928. India launched its own First Five Year Plan in 1951 (1951-56), modelled on the Soviet approach.

Fidel Castro of Cuba was NOT in the founding core of the NAM. The five founding leaders were Nehru (India), Tito (Yugoslavia), Nasser (Egypt), Sukarno (Indonesia) and Nkrumah (Ghana). Castro joined the movement later.

The ‘Garibi Hatao’ (Remove Poverty) slogan of Indira Gandhi’s 1971 election campaign was incorporated as the central objective of the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79) – removal of poverty and attainment of self-reliance. The Fourth Plan (1969-74) predates the slogan’s prominence.

Dayananda took inspiration from the Vedas – his slogan was ‘Back to the Vedas’ (or ‘Go back to the Vedas’). He rejected the Puranas, idol worship, polytheism and priestly ritual as later corruptions, arguing the Vedas taught a single supreme God.

The Hind Mazdoor Sabha (founded December 1948) was established by Ashok Mehta, T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta – socialists and independent trade unionists who wanted a workers’ federation free of Congress and Communist party control. The other options pair communist (Namboodiripad, M.N. Roy), RSS-linked (Deen Dayal Upadhyay) and Congress leaders, none of whom founded HMS.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar founded the All India Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942 to give the Depressed Classes a political voice independent of the Congress — the direct organizational heir of the 19th-century caste-consciousness movements. Phule died in 1890, Periyar worked in Madras, and Karunanidhi was a later DMK leader.

Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired Mahar soldier from Maharashtra, published Vital-Vidhvansak (Destroyer of Caste-Creeds) in 1888 — the first periodical written for Dalit readers — and later petitioned the British for Mahar community rights. Phule’s own paper was Deenbandhu, while Narayana Guru (Kerala) and Iyothee Thass (Madras) built their movements through other institutions.

The correct answer is AITUC (All-India Trade Union Congress) and INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress), both with close party ties.

The correct answer is Howrah, West Bengal, following a trade union conference held in Calcutta from 24-26 December 1948.

The correct answer is Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and David Ricardo. The Derozians drew on classical economics to argue against monopolistic trade systems.

The correct answer is Ramtanu Lahiri. Krishna Mohan Banerjee, another Derozian, instead converted to Christianity and led the Bengal Christian Association — a different but related act of breaking with orthodoxy.

The correct answer is cholera. Derozio died in December 1831, aged just 22, months after his dismissal from Hindu College.

The correct answer is he wrote petitions to the British government. Walangkar petitioned specifically about the discrimination faced by untouchable soldiers within the army itself.

The correct answer is the organised movement against untouchability. Walangkar’s 1888 journal and his petitions to the British government predate Ambedkar’s own anti-caste activism by several decades.

The correct answer is the British Indian Army. Walangkar served in the army before retiring to devote himself to anti-caste reform, and later petitioned the government about discrimination against untouchable soldiers.