Modern Indian History Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 15)

The Butler Committee’s object was to improve the relationship between the Government of India and the Indian (princely) States.

The committee tried to clarify ‘paramountcy,’ Britain’s claimed superior authority over the princely states, which had never been clearly defined.

Sir Harcourt Butler chaired the committee, which became known by his name — the Butler Committee.

The Trade Disputes Act, 1929 set up Courts of Inquiry and Conciliation Boards, and banned certain strikes, especially in public utility services without proper notice.

Only statement 2 is correct. The 1881 Act did not fix wages or allow trade unions; N.M. Lokhande genuinely was a labour-movement pioneer.

Trade unions had no legal recognition in India until the Trade Unions Act, 1926, decades after the Factories Act, 1881.

The 1881 Act targeted child labour: banning employment under seven, limiting hours for under-twelves, and requiring dangerous machinery to be fenced.

The Mahalwari system settled revenue with a village or estate (‘mahal’) as a collective unit, not with each individual cultivator as Ryotwari did.

Alexander Read and Thomas Munro devised and introduced Ryotwari. Lord Cornwallis was associated with the separate Permanent Settlement, not Ryotwari.

Cornwallis introduced the Permanent (Zamindari) Settlement in Bengal in 1793, a different system from Ryotwari.

Thomas Munro, along with Alexander Read, devised the Ryotwari system, extending it across the Madras Presidency as its Governor.

Under Ryotwari, the government settled revenue directly with each individual cultivator, called a ‘ryot,’ with no zamindar or village intermediary.

The British interned Besant in 1917 for her Home Rule activities. Her release later that year made her the first woman president of the Indian National Congress.

The All India Home Rule League changed its name to Swarajya Sabha in 1920, after Gandhi took over its presidency.

The movement borrowed its name and idea from the Irish Home Rule movement, which sought self-government for Ireland within the United Kingdom.

Besant’s League covered most of India outside Tilak’s zone, especially Madras Presidency, Sindh, and Gujarat.

Both Tilak and Besant founded their own Home Rule League in 1916, within the Indian National Congress, to push for self-rule.

Dyer’s troops opened fire on an unarmed crowd at Jallianwala Bagh, killing hundreds — one of colonial rule’s deadliest single incidents.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong — the Simon Commission arrived in 1928, nearly a decade after the 1919 Rowlatt Satyagraha.

Gandhi called off the campaign after the hartal turned violent in several cities, especially Punjab, distressed that it had strayed from non-violence.

Gandhi called for a nationwide hartal (general strike) on 6 April 1919, launching the Rowlatt Satyagraha.

The Rowlatt Act let British India imprison anyone suspected of terrorism for up to two years without trial, based on the Rowlatt (Sedition) Committee’s recommendations.

Tobacco, cocoa, and rubber are all genuinely New World plants, domesticated in the Americas and later introduced to the Old World via the Columbian Exchange. Cotton, coffee, and wheat are all Old World crops.

Black pepper is native to India’s Malabar coast, unlike the other options, which all arrived via the Columbian Exchange after 1492.

The Portuguese introduced the potato first to Africa and Arabia, then to their Asian trading posts including Goa.