Indian Modern History Test 5

Answer – c

• When Warren Hastings assumed the administration of Bengal in 1772, he found it in utter chaos. The financial position of the Company became worse and the difficulties were intensified by famine.
• East India Company decided to act as Diwan and to undertake the collection of revenue by its own agents. Hence, the Dual System introduced by Robert Clive was abolished. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Board of Revenue was established at Calcutta to supervise the collection of revenue. English Collectors were appointed in each district. The treasury was removed from Murshidabad to Calcutta and an Accountant General was appointed. Calcutta thus became the capital of Bengal in 1772 and shortly after of British India. Hence statement 2 is correct.

Answer – A

• Under Warren Hastings, each district was provided with a civil court under the Collector and a criminal court under an Indian Judge. To hear appeals from the district courts two appellate courts, one for civil cases and another for criminal cases, were established at Calcutta. Hence tatement 1 is correct
• The highest civil court of appeal was called Sadar Diwani Adalat, which was to be presided over by the Governor and two judges recruited from among the members of his council.
• Similarly, the highest appellate criminal court was known as Sadar Nizamat Adalat which was to function under an Indian judge appointed by the Governor-in-Council. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Answer – A

• After a few months’ tussle with the Government, the Congress Working Committee decided to accept office under the Act of 1935. During July, it formed Ministries in six provinces: Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces, Orissa, Bihar and U.P.. Later, Congress Ministries were also formed in the North West Frontier Province and Assam. Hence statement 1 and 2 are correct.
• The difference between the Congress provinces and the non Congress provinces of Bengal and Punjab was most apparent in this realm. In the latter, especially in Bengal, civil liberties continued to be curbed and revolutionary prisoners and detenus, kept for years in prison without trial, were not released despite repeated hunger strikes by the prisoners and popular movements demanding their release. Hence statement 3 is incorrect.

Answer – B

• Obvious from the excerpt. Go through Bipin Chandra’s relevant chapter. The option is B only – 1937 elections.<

Answer – A

• One of the first acts of the Congress Government was to release thousands of political prisoners and detenus and to cancel internment and deportation orders on political workers. Many of the revolutionaries involved in the Kakori and other conspiracy cases were released.
• But problems remained in U.P. and Bihar where several revolutionaries convicted of crimes involving violence remained in jails. Most of these prisoners had earlier been sent to kala pani (Cellular Jail in Andamans) from where they had been transferred to their respective provinces after they had gone on a prolonged hunger strike during July 1937. In February 1938, there were fifteen such prisoners in U.P. and twenty-three in Bihar. Their release required consent by the Governors which was refused.
• But the Congress Ministries were determined to release them. The Ministries of U.P. and Bihar resigned on this issue on 15 February. The problem was finally resolved through negotiations. All the prisoners in both provinces were released by the end of March. Hence statement 1 only is incorrect.

Answer – A

• In July 1937, Yusuf Meherally, a Socialist leader, was prosecuted by the Madras Government for making an inflammatory speech in Malabar, though he was soon let off. Both “Quit India” and “Simon Go Back” slogans were coined by a lesser-known hero of India’s struggle for freedom, Yusuf Meherally. Hence statement 1 is correct, but 2 is wrong.
• In October 1937, the Madras Government prosecuted S.S. Batliwala, another Congress Social leader, for making a seditious speech and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment. There was a furore in the Congress ranks led by Jawaharlal Nehru, for this action went against the well-known Congress position that nobody should be prosecuted for making a speech and least of all for a speech against
  colonial rule.

Answer – B

• During the discussion on the subject in the Congress Working Committee, Nehru, reportedly, asked C. Rajagopalachari, the Premier of Madras (the head of the Provincial ministry was then known as Premier and not Chief Minister as now is the case): ‘Do you mean to say that if I come to Madras and make a similar speech you would arrest me?’ ‘I would,’ the latter is said to have replied. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• M. Munshi, the Home Minister of Bombay, and a light-weight within the Congress leadership, used the CID to watch the Communists and other left-wing Congressmen, earning a rebuke from Jawaharlal Nehru: ‘You have already become a police officer.’ Hence statement 1 is incorrect.

Answer – A

• Indigo Revolt (1859-60) in Bengal – The anger of the peasants exploded in 1859 when, led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Nadia district, they decided not to grow indigo under duress and resisted the physical pressure of the planters and their lathiyals (retainers) backed by police and the courts. Hence statement 1 is correct, but 2 is incorrect.
• They also organised a counter force against the planters’ attacks. Hence statement 3 is incorrect.

Answer – D

• The revolutionaries in northern India were the first to emerge out of the mood of frustration after the apparent failure of Non Coperation Movement and reorganize under the leadership of the old veterans, Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chatterjea and Sachindranath Sanyal whose Bandi Jiwan served as a textbook to the revolutionary movement.
• They met in Kanpur in October 1924 and founded the Hindustan Republican Association (or Army) to organize armed revolution to overthrow colonial rule and establish in its place a Federal Republic of the United States of India whose basic principle would be adult franchise. Hence statement 1, 2 and 3 are correct.

Answer – C

• The most important ‘action’ of the HRA was the Kakori Robbery. Kakori case was a major setback to the revolutionaries of northern India; but it was not a fatal blow. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Younger men such as Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Varma and Jaidev Kapur in U.P., Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Sukhdev in Punjab set out to reorganize the HRA under the overall leadership of ChandrashekharAzad.
• They met in Kanpur in October 1924 and founded the Hindustan Republican Association (or Army) to organize armed revolution to overthrow colonial rule and establish in its place a Federal Republic of the United States of India whose basic principle would be adult franchise. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Finally, nearly all the major young revolutionaries of northern India met at Ferozeshah Kotla Ground at Delhi on 9 and 10 September 1928, created a new collective leadership, adopted socialism as their official goal and changed the name of the party to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (Army).

Answer – C

• Government appointed an indigo commission to inquire into the problem of indigo cultivation.
• Based on its recommendations, the Government issued a notification in November 1860 that the ryots could not be compelled to grow indigo and that it would ensure that all disputes were settled by legal means.
• But, the planters were already closing down factories and indigo cultivation was virtually wiped out from Bengal by the end of 1860. Hence both statements are

Answer – D

• Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt were asked to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill which would reduce the civil liberties of citizens in general and workers in particular.
• Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt were tried in the Assembly Bomb Case. Later, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and tens of other revolutionaries were tried in a series of famous conspiracy cases. Hence statement 1 and 2 are incorrect.
• The aim was not to kill, for the bombs were relatively harmless, but, as the leaflet they threw into the Assembly hall proclaimed, ‘to make the deaf hear’. The objective was to get arrested and to use the trial court as a forum for propaganda so that people would become familiar with their movement and ideology.

Answer – A

Indigo Revolt (1859-60) in Bengal – The anger of the peasants exploded in 1859 when, led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Nadia district, they decided not to grow indigo under duress and resisted the physical pressure of the planters and their lathiyals (retainers) backed by police and the courts. Hence statement 1 is correct, but 2 is incorrect.
They also organised a counter force against the planters’ attacks. Hence statement 3 is in

Answer – D

The revolutionaries in northern India were the first to emerge out of the mood of frustration after the apparent failure of Non Coperation Movement and reorganize under the leadership of the old veterans, Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chatterjea and Sachindranath Sanyal whose Bandi Jiwan served as a textbook to the revolutionary movement.
They met in Kanpur in October 1924 and founded the Hindustan Republican Association (or Army) to organize armed revolution to overthrow colonial rule and establish in its place a Federal Republic of the United States of India whose basic principle would be adult franchise. Hence statement 1, 2 and 3 are correct.

Answer – C

The most important ‘action’ of the HRA was the Kakori Robbery. Kakori case was a major setback to the revolutionaries of northern India; but it was not a fatal blow. Hence statement 1 is correct.
Younger men such as Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Varma and Jaidev Kapur in U.P., Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Sukhdev in Punjab set out to reorganize the HRA under the overall leadership of ChandrashekharAzad.
They met in Kanpur in October 1924 and founded the Hindustan Republican Association (or Army) to organize armed revolution to overthrow colonial rule and establish in its place a Federal Republic of the United States of India whose basic principle would be adult franchise. Hence statement 2 is correct.
Finally, nearly all the major young revolutionaries of northern India met at Ferozeshah Kotla Ground at Delhi on 9 and 10 September 1928, created a new collective leadership, adopted socialism as their official goal and changed the name of the party to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (Army).

Answer – C

Government appointed an indigo commission to inquire into the problem of indigo cultivation.
Based on its recommendations, the Government issued a notification in November 1860 that the ryots could not be compelled to grow indigo and that it would ensure that all disputes were settled by legal means.
But, the planters were already closing down factories and indigo cultivation was virtually wiped out from Bengal by the end of 1860. Hence both statements are

Answer – D

Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt were asked to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill which would reduce the civil liberties of citizens in general and workers in particular.
Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt were tried in the Assembly Bomb Case. Later, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and tens of other revolutionaries were tried in a series of famous conspiracy cases. Hence statement 1 and 2 are incorrect.
The aim was not to kill, for the bombs were relatively harmless, but, as the leaflet they threw into the Assembly hall proclaimed, ‘to make the deaf hear’. The objective was to get arrested and to use the trial court as a forum for propaganda so that people would become familiar with their movement and ideology.

Answer – A

Simon Fraser, the Political Agent, and several other Englishmen were killed in Delhi; the public offices were either occupied or destroyed. The capture of Delhi and the proclamation of Bahadur Shah as the Emperor of Hindustan gave a positive political meaning to the Revolt and provided a rallying point for the rebels by recalling the past glory of the imperial city. Hence statement 1 is correct.
Revolt at Meerut and the capture of Delhi was the precursor to a widespread mutiny by the sepoys and rebellion almost all over North India, as well as Central and Western India. South India remained quiet and Punjab and Bengal were only marginally affected. Hence statement 2 is correct.

Answer – A

Even before the Meerut incident, there were rumblings of resentment in various cantonments. The 19th Native Infantry at Berhampur, which refused to use the newly introduced Enfield rifle, was disbanded in March 1857.
A young sepoy of the 34th Native Infantry, Mangal Pande, went a step further and fired at the Sergeant Major of his regiment. He was overpowered and executed and his regiment too, was disbanded.
The 7th Oudh Regiment later which defied its officers met with a similar fate.

Answer – A

Within a month of the capture of Delhi, the Revolt spread to different parts of the country: Kanpur, Lucknow, Benares, Allahabad, Bareilly, Jagdishpur and Jhansi.