Modern History Set 120
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📌 Economy • Nationalism
Q.1) In his pioneering book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, Dadabhai Naoroji estimated the per capita income of India for the year 1867-68. What was his estimate?
Ans > Rs. 20
- The Drain of Wealth Theory: Dadabhai Naoroji, affectionately known as the “Grand Old Man of India,” was the first Indian intellectual to systematically formulate the ‘Drain of Wealth’ theory. He utilized extensive statistical data to prove that British colonial rule was actively impoverishing the Indian subcontinent by relentlessly draining its wealth to Britain without adequate economic return.
- Poverty and Un-British Rule in India: Published in 1901, this seminal book compiled his earlier essays and speeches. It exposed how a significant portion of India’s national product was not consumed by its own people but forcefully siphoned off to pay for British administrative expenses, overseas military campaigns, pensions, and guaranteed profits for British capitalists.
- The 1867-68 Estimate: His rigorous calculation of Rs. 20 per capita income was groundbreaking in Indian economic history. It stood in stark contrast to British bureaucratic claims of Indian prosperity under their enlightened rule, revealing instead the deep economic distress and vulnerability of the rural peasantry.
- Impact on Early Nationalism: This empirical economic critique fundamentally transformed the nature of the Indian nationalist movement. It provided the early Moderates within the Indian National Congress with hard, irrefutable economic facts to demand self-government, financial autonomy, and the rapid Indianization of the civil services.
📌 Industry • Economy
Q.2) While the first successful cotton textile mill was established in Bombay in 1854, where was the first modern Jute mill established in India in 1855?
Ans > Rishra
- Pioneering the Jute Industry: The very first modern, machine-powered jute mill in India was established by a Scottish entrepreneur named George Acland. He imported specialized jute spinning machinery from Dundee, Scotland, and set up the mill in 1855 at Rishra, a small town located near Calcutta.
- Geographical Advantage of the Hooghly: The banks of the Hooghly river provided the absolute perfect ecosystem for the jute industry. It offered an abundant supply of fresh water required for the ‘retting’ process of raw jute, cheap riverine transport to move bulky raw materials, and direct access to the massive Calcutta port for international export.
- European Capital Dominance: Unlike the cotton textile industry in Bombay and Ahmedabad, which was primarily financed and managed by indigenous Parsi and Gujarati merchants, the jute industry in Bengal remained almost exclusively under the monopolistic control of powerful British and Scottish managing agencies for decades.
- Economic Impact on Bengal: The establishment at Rishra triggered a massive industrial boom along the Hooghly river. It transformed Bengal into the world’s absolute largest producer and exporter of manufactured jute goods, such as gunny bags and hessian cloth, which were in massive global demand during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
📌 Infrastructure • Railways
Q.3) The first passenger railway line in India ran from Bombay to Thane in 1853. Where was the second passenger railway line opened in 1854?
Ans > Howrah to Hooghly
- Expanding the Railway Network: Closely following the historic 1853 Bombay-Thane inaugural run initiated under Lord Dalhousie, the East Indian Railway (EIR) company successfully inaugurated the subcontinent’s second passenger railway line on August 15, 1854.
- Eastern India’s First Train: Spanning a distance of roughly 24 miles, the Howrah to Hooghly line was the very first railway line to operate in Eastern India. The inaugural train consisted of three steam locomotives pulling passenger carriages holding over 300 enthusiastic people.
- The Economic Motive: The primary motivation for the British to rapidly expand this specific railway network was not passenger convenience, but hardcore economic extraction. The lines were strategically designed to connect the rich, fertile hinterlands of the Ganges valley and the coalfields of Raniganj directly to the Calcutta port for massive export.
- Impact on Transportation: The opening of the Howrah-Hooghly line marked the beginning of the end for the traditional, slow-moving riverboat traffic that had dominated Bengal’s commerce for centuries. It fundamentally centralized economic power around the railway hubs and drastically accelerated the movement of both British troops and raw materials.
📌 Economy • British Policies
Q.4) The systematic ruin of traditional Indian handicraft industries during British rule, without a corresponding growth of modern machine-based industries, is economically termed as what?
Ans > Deindustrialization
- The Definition of Deindustrialization: In the Indian historical context, ‘deindustrialization’ specifically refers to the rapid decline and systematic destruction of India’s world-renowned traditional artisan and handicraft sectors, specifically cotton weaving, during the 18th and 19th centuries under oppressive British colonial policies.
- Asymmetrical Trade Tariffs: The British East India Company enacted highly asymmetrical trade policies. They imposed crushing, exorbitant tariffs on Indian manufactured goods entering Britain to protect domestic industries, while simultaneously flooding the Indian market with duty-free, cheap, machine-made textiles from Manchester and Lancashire.
- Destruction of the Artisan Class: Unable to compete with the sheer volume and extremely low prices of British factory-made goods, millions of highly skilled Indian weavers, spinners, and artisans were entirely ruined. The famous handloom industries of Dacca, Murshidabad, and Surat collapsed entirely within a few decades.
- The Ruralization of India: Because the British deliberately stifled the growth of modern, indigenous heavy industries in India, the ruined artisan class had absolutely no alternative factory jobs. They were violently forced to migrate back to their villages and rely solely on agriculture, creating immense pressure on land and leading to widespread rural impoverishment.
📌 Economy • Literature
Q.5) Which prominent Indian nationalist and economic historian authored the two-volume seminal work The Economic History of India (1901)?
Ans > Romesh Chandra Dutt
- The Bureaucrat turned Nationalist: Romesh Chandra (R.C.) Dutt was a highly distinguished, retired Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer who, after witnessing colonial exploitation firsthand, became a staunch, vocal critic of British economic policies and a key figure in the early Indian National Congress.
- The Economic History of India: Published in two massive volumes at the dawn of the 20th century, this seminal literary work meticulously traced the tragic economic decline of India. It covered the period from the devastating Battle of Plassey (1757) all the way to the end of the Victorian era.
- Critique of Land Revenue: Unlike Dadabhai Naoroji, who focused heavily on the external ‘drain of wealth’, Dutt aimed his sharpest criticism at internal policies. He firmly argued that the oppressive, exorbitant, and rigidly enforced land revenue settlements were directly responsible for the crippling poverty and the catastrophic, recurring famines in rural India.
- Advocating for the Peasantry: Dutt aggressively demanded that the British government extend the Permanent Settlement to other parts of India to protect peasants from arbitrary rent hikes. His meticulous economic research provided a powerful, undeniable intellectual foundation for the rising Swadeshi and boycott movements.
📌 Land Revenue • Administration
Q.6) The Mahalwari system of land revenue was primarily conceived by which British official in 1822?
Ans > Holt Mackenzie
- The Origin of the Mahalwari Concept: The Mahalwari system was primarily formulated by Holt Mackenzie, a deeply influential official serving in the territorial department. He introduced it through Regulation VII of 1822 after recognizing that the Zamindari system of Bengal was entirely unsuitable for the social structure of Northern India.
- The Community Settlement: The defining feature of this system was that the revenue settlement was not made with individual landlords or single peasants, but with the entire village community or estate, which was legally termed as a ‘Mahal’. The village headman (Lumbardar) was responsible for collecting and paying the revenue.
- Geographical Implementation: Recognizing the strong presence of joint village communities (bhaichara), the British actively implemented the Mahalwari system primarily in the North-Western Provinces (modern-day Uttar Pradesh), parts of Central India, the Gangetic valley, and eventually across the Punjab region.
- Later Revisions and Failures: The initial 1822 system failed miserably because the state’s revenue demand was set disastrously high (at 83% of rental value). It was later fundamentally revised and made slightly more practical under the guidance of Lord William Bentinck and Robert Merttins Bird in 1833, though it still heavily burdened the peasantry.
📌 Land Revenue • Bengal
Q.7) Under the Permanent Settlement introduced in 1793, what proportion of the collected land revenue were the Zamindars required to remit to the British government?
Ans > 10/11th
- The Enactment of Cornwallis’s Code: Lord Cornwallis formally introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793, covering Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. This sweeping legislation radically transformed traditional revenue collectors into absolute, hereditary private property owners of vast tracts of land.
- The Strict Revenue Split: Under this deeply exploitative system, out of the total, massive revenue forcibly collected from the tenant peasants (ryots), the Zamindars were strictly required to remit a staggering 10/11th portion directly to the East India Company, keeping only a meager 1/11th share for their own services.
- The Infamous Sunset Law: The British enforced the collection with absolute brutality through the ‘Sunset Law’. If a Zamindar failed to submit the exact revenue amount into the colonial treasury by sunset on a pre-specified date, his entire ancestral estate was immediately confiscated and auctioned off to the highest bidder.
- Disastrous Impact on the Peasantry: Because the state’s demand was permanently fixed, Zamindars resorted to ruthless extortion to maximize their own profits. This led to a massive chain of middlemen (sub-infeudation) and reduced the actual cultivators to a state of absolute, landless destitution with zero tenancy rights.
📌 Tribal Uprisings • Resistance
Q.8) The Santhal Rebellion (1855–56) was a fierce uprising against British revenue officials and moneylenders. It was concentrated in a specific geographical region known as what?
Ans > Damin-i-Koh
- The Santhal Hool (Rebellion): The Santhal rebellion was one of the most massive and violent tribal uprisings against the British East India Company. It was courageously led by the charismatic brothers, Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, who mobilized tens of thousands of tribesmen using traditional drums and bows.
- The Geography of Damin-i-Koh: This massive rebellion was heavily concentrated in a specific, dense forest tract known as the ‘Damin-i-Koh’ (meaning ‘skirts of the hills’). This region encompassed the Rajmahal Hills, spreading across parts of present-day Jharkhand and West Bengal, where the Santhals had been forced to clear forests for agriculture.
- Targeting the ‘Dikus’: The primary rage of the Santhals was directed against the ‘dikus’—the outsider Hindu and Muslim moneylenders (mahajans) who charged ruinous interest rates—as well as the corrupt local police and British revenue officials who colluded to strip the tribals of their ancestral lands.
- Brutal Suppression and Aftermath: The British military eventually crushed the rebellion with overwhelming firepower, slaughtering an estimated 15,000 Santhals. However, the sheer scale of the revolt forced the colonial government to pass the Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, creating a separate, protected district to pacify the region.
📌 Tribal Uprisings • Resistance
Q.9) The Bhil uprisings, which occurred in multiple phases during the early 19th century against the British occupation, primarily took place in which region?
Ans > Khandesh
- The Bhil Aboriginal Identity: The Bhils are a fiercely independent, aboriginal tribal community that has historically inhabited the rugged, mountainous terrains of the Western Ghats, specifically commanding the strategic passes linking the Deccan plateau to Gujarat.
- Resistance in the Khandesh Region: Following the massive defeat of the Maratha Empire in 1818, the British East India Company aggressively occupied the Khandesh region (in present-day northern Maharashtra). The Bhils immediately revolted, refusing to accept the imposition of alien colonial administration over their ancestral territories.
- Causes of the Uprising: The rebellion was primarily triggered by severe agrarian hardship, the disruption of their traditional slash-and-burn agricultural practices, and the terrifying prospect of a massive famine. They heavily deeply resented the British attempts to restrict their traditional forest rights and hunting privileges.
- Decades of Protracted Conflict: The Bhil resistance was not a single event but a prolonged, deeply entrenched struggle spanning multiple decades. Major, bloody uprisings occurred under the leadership of chieftains like Sewaram in 1817-1819, and flared up repeatedly in 1825, 1831, and 1846, requiring massive British military deployments to suppress.
📌 Peasant Movements • Uprisings
Q.10) The Ramosi uprising of 1822 in the Western Ghats, protesting the British pattern of administration and heavy land revenue assessment, was led by which chieftain?
Ans > Chittur Singh
- The Ramosi Discontent: The Ramosis were a martial community who had traditionally served in the lower ranks of the Maratha army and village police force. After the complete British annexation of Maratha territories in 1818, they suddenly lost their traditional livelihoods and social standing.
- Rebellion under Chittur Singh: Pushed to the brink of starvation and deeply resenting the oppressive new British land revenue assessments, the Ramosis rose in a violent revolt in 1822 under the aggressive leadership of their chieftain, Chittur Singh.
- Tactics in the Satara Region: Operating primarily in the rugged terrain around the Satara region of the Western Ghats, Chittur Singh’s forces successfully defied British authority for months. They systematically plundered surrounding British-controlled areas, explicitly targeting colonial treasuries to fund their insurgency.
- The Legacy of Resistance: Although Chittur Singh was eventually suppressed, the simmering Ramosi anger was never fully extinguished. The community erupted in a much larger, far more sustained rebellion just a few years later (1825-1829) under the legendary leadership of Umaji Naik, forcing the British to temporarily grant them land grants to secure peace.
📌 Peasant Movements • Bengal
Q.11) The historic Indigo Revolt (1859-60) in Bengal was initiated in the Nadia district by which two leaders?
Ans > Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas
- The Fraudulent Dadan System: Under this deeply oppressive system, European planters provided small, forced cash advances (dadan) to Bengali peasants. Once a peasant accepted the advance, they were legally bound by fraudulent contracts to cultivate indigo on their most fertile lands instead of profitable food crops like rice.
- The Spark in Nadia District: The mass, organized refusal to sow a single seed of indigo began in the village of Chougacha in the Nadia district. It was courageously led by the Biswas brothers, Bishnucharan and Digambar, who organized the peasants to physically fight back against the planters’ armed thugs (lathiyals).
- Role of the Bengali Intelligentsia: The movement received unprecedented, highly vocal support from the Bengali educated middle class in Calcutta. Harish Chandra Mukherjee published scathing ground reports in ‘The Hindu Patriot’, while Dinabandhu Mitra’s powerful Bengali play ‘Nil Darpan’ graphically exposed the sheer brutality of the planters to a wider audience.
- The Indigo Commission: The relentless, massive, yet largely non-violent mass agitation entirely paralyzed the rural economy. This forced the British government to officially appoint the Indigo Commission in 1860, which ultimately ruled in favor of the peasants, stating they could not be compelled to grow indigo under physical duress.
📌 Peasant Movements • Bengal
Q.12) The Pabna Agrarian Leagues emerged in the 1870s as a peaceful, legalistic peasant movement against the oppressive exactions of zamindars. In which specific pargana did it originate?
Ans > Yusufshahi Pargana
- The Nature of the Resistance: Unlike the violent, fiery uprisings of the past, the Pabna peasant movement (1873-1876) in Eastern Bengal was highly organized and strictly legalistic. The peasants explicitly stated they were loyal subjects of the British Queen, fighting only against the illegal tyranny of local Zamindars.
- The Epicenter in Yusufshahi: The agrarian movement successfully originated and gained massive momentum in the Yusufshahi Pargana of the Pabna district. The peasants formed powerful agrarian leagues, aggressively collected funds, and boldly challenged the Zamindars’ illegal cesses (abwabs) and forced evictions through the colonial court system.
- Support from Nationalist Leaders: The movement was highly significant because it drew the active, sympathetic attention of the emerging Indian intelligentsia. Prominent early nationalist figures, including Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, R.C. Dutt, and Surendranath Banerjea, publicly supported the peasants’ legal right to fair tenancy.
- The Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885: The prolonged, peaceful agitation effectively highlighted the glaring loopholes in the Permanent Settlement. The intense pressure generated by the Pabna leagues heavily influenced the British government to eventually pass the landmark Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885, which finally granted certain occupancy rights to long-standing tenants.
📌 Peasant Movements • Maharashtra
Q.13) The Deccan Riots of 1875 were an agrarian revolt by the peasants of Maharashtra directed primarily against which group?
Ans > Marwari and Gujarati moneylenders
- The Macroeconomic Debt Trap: The root cause of the riots was a sudden, catastrophic crash in global cotton prices immediately following the end of the American Civil War. Combined with a harsh 50% increase in British Ryotwari land revenue, this pushed the Deccan peasants into an inescapable spiral of massive debt.
- Targeting the Outsider Moneylenders: The riots, which fiercely erupted in the Pune and Ahmednagar districts, were not directly aimed at overthrowing the British colonial state. Instead, the intense rural rage was squarely directed against outsider Marwari and Gujarati moneylenders (sahukars) who were systematically foreclosing on ancestral farmlands.
- The Strategy of the Rioters: The agrarian revolt was highly specific in its execution. The peasants systematically organized social boycotts of the moneylenders, physically attacked their fortified houses, and specifically targeted and burned the deeply hated debt bonds, promissory notes, and mortgage decrees that bound them to lifelong servitude.
- The Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act: The uprising severely alarmed the British administration, who feared another 1857-style massive rebellion. They violently suppressed the riots with the military but were forced to pass the Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act of 1879, providing the deeply impoverished peasants some legal protection against immediate land eviction.
📌 Peasant Movements • Awadh
Q.14) The Eka Movement (1921–22) was a major peasant uprising demanding the conversion of produce rent into cash rent. Who was its most prominent grassroots leader?
Ans > Madari Pasi
- The Eka (Unity) Mobilization: Surfacing in the northern districts of Awadh (specifically Hardoi, Bahraich, and Sitapur) toward the end of 1921, the Eka movement aimed to unite heavily exploited peasants. Their primary grievance was the extraction of arbitrarily high rents (often 50% above the recorded rates) by ruthless landlords (taluqdars).
- The Shift in Grassroots Leadership: While the movement was initially supported by mainstream Congress and Khilafat leaders, its character rapidly changed. Control decisively shifted to deeply militant, grassroots leaders belonging to the lower, marginalized castes, most notably the fierce and uncompromising leader, Madari Pasi.
- The Oath of the Movement: The participants would gather around a sacred hole filled with water, take a solemn religious oath to only pay the legally recorded rent in cash rather than produce, refuse to leave when illegally evicted, and totally boycott the oppressive landlords’ forced labor (begar) demands.
- Divergence from Congress Ideology: The Eka movement became increasingly violent and radical, completely abandoning the strict non-violent strictures demanded by Mahatma Gandhi. As the peasants resorted to widespread violence against the taluqdars, the national Congress completely withdrew its support, allowing the British to ruthlessly crush the movement by 1922.
📌 Peasant Movements • Bihar
Q.15) In the 1930s, a major peasant movement erupted in Bihar demanding the restoration of lands lost to zamindars during the Depression. What was this land known as?
Ans > Bakasht land
- The Impact of the Great Depression: During the massive global economic depression of the 1930s, agricultural prices crashed catastrophically. Consequently, thousands of impoverished peasants in Bihar failed to pay their cash rents. Taking ruthless advantage, the Zamindars violently confiscated their occupancy holdings.
- The Nature of ‘Bakasht’ Lands: These seized, ancestral lands came to be legally known as ‘Bakasht’ lands. The Zamindars began cultivating these lands themselves through hired labor or forcefully leased them back to the exact same evicted peasants as unprotected, highly exploited sharecroppers (bataidars).
- The Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha: The massive peasant resentment found a highly organized, powerful voice through the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS). Under the fierce, radical leadership of the legendary ascetic Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the peasants launched a massive, state-wide agitation.
- The Bakasht Agitation’s Success: The peasants demanded the immediate, unconditional restoration of these Bakasht lands. The intense, relentless pressure from the Kisan Sabha agitations heavily forced the newly formed Congress provincial ministry in Bihar to pass several pro-peasant agrarian legislations between 1937 and 1939, securing partial tenant rights.
📌 Socio-Religious Reform • Bengal
Q.16) The influential Bengali journal Tattvabodhini Patrika, which propagated the rationalistic ideas of the Brahmo Samaj, was started by whom?
Ans > Debendranath Tagore
- The Foundation of the Sabha: Maharshi Debendranath Tagore (father of Rabindranath Tagore) originally founded the Tattvabodhini Sabha in 1839. Its explicit purpose was to systematically and rationally study India’s ancient past, specifically the philosophical depth of the Upanishads, to counter both orthodox Hindu dogma and aggressive Christian missionary propaganda.
- The Launch of the Patrika: To widely disseminate these profound ideas, he launched the *Tattvabodhini Patrika* in 1843. This highly influential journal quickly became the premier intellectual organ for propagating the reformed, monotheistic ideas of the Brahmo Samaj across the Bengali intelligentsia.
- A Hub for Leading Intellectuals: The journal was completely unique because it successfully attracted the absolute brightest minds of the Bengal Renaissance. Prominent social reformers and brilliant writers, including Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Akshay Kumar Datta, actively contributed deeply progressive articles on science, history, and social reform.
- Promotion of the Bengali Language: Beyond religious reform, the Patrika played an absolutely massive role in shaping modern Bengali literature. By enforcing a serious, highly refined prose style, Debendranath Tagore and his associates elevated the Bengali language into a powerful medium capable of expressing complex philosophical and political discourse.
📌 Socio-Religious Reform • Maharashtra
Q.17) To secure human rights and social justice for low-caste people, the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers’ Society) was founded in Maharashtra in 1873 by whom?
Ans > Jyotiba Phule
- The Anti-Caste Crusader: Jyotirao ‘Jyotiba’ Phule was a highly radical social reformer from the Mali (gardener) caste who fiercely challenged the absolute social, economic, and religious supremacy of the Brahmins in Maharashtra, dedicating his entire life to destroying the oppressive caste system.
- Mission of the Satyashodhak Samaj: Founded in 1873, the Satyashodhak Samaj explicitly aimed to emancipate the deeply exploited Shudras and Ati-Shudras (untouchables) from Brahminical exploitation. The society encouraged lower castes to conduct their own marriage ceremonies without Brahmin priests to break their religious monopoly.
- The Literature of Revolt: Phule expressed his powerful, highly critical ideology through his seminal, deeply influential book *Ghulamgiri* (Slavery), published in 1873. He dedicated this explosive text to the American abolitionists who fought to end slavery, drawing a direct parallel between racism in America and casteism in India.
- Pioneering Women’s Education: Recognizing that true liberation required mass education, Jyotiba Phule, alongside his immensely courageous wife Savitribai Phule, absolutely pioneered women’s education in India. Against violent orthodox opposition, they opened the very first school for girls in Pune in 1848, and later a school specifically for untouchable children.
📌 Social Reform • Women’s Rights
Q.18) The ‘Seva Sadan’, which specialized in taking care of exploited and discarded women of all castes, was founded in 1885 by which Parsi social reformer?
Ans > Behramji M. Malabari
- The Parsi Champion of Women: Behramji M. Malabari was a deeply compassionate Parsi social reformer and a highly influential journalist operating out of Bombay. He dedicated his entire public life to the absolute eradication of the horrific practices of child marriage and enforced widowhood that plagued Hindu society.
- The Age of Consent Act Crusade: Through his powerful writings in ‘The Indian Spectator’, Malabari launched a relentless, nationwide journalistic crusade against child marriage. His massive, highly organized lobbying efforts directly forced the British government to pass the landmark Age of Consent Act in 1891, raising the legal age of consummation.
- The Foundation of Seva Sadan: Moving beyond mere legislative advocacy, Malabari, along with his associate Dayaram Gidumal, founded the Seva Sadan in Bombay in 1885. This was a pioneering institution dedicated to the practical upliftment of the most vulnerable sections of society.
- Shelter and Empowerment: The Seva Sadan specialized in providing absolute crucial shelter, specialized medical care, and vocational education to socially marginalized, exploited, and discarded women of all castes. It trained them as nurses and teachers, ensuring they could achieve permanent financial independence and social dignity.
📌 Socio-Religious Reform • Vivekananda
Q.19) In which year was the Ramakrishna Mission established by Swami Vivekananda to propagate Vedanta philosophy and carry out social service?
Ans > 1897
- Triumph on the Global Stage: Following his massive, historic success representing Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda returned to India as a national hero, determined to deeply revitalize the dormant, colonized Indian society.
- The Establishment at Belur: On May 1, 1897, Vivekananda officially established the Ramakrishna Mission near Calcutta. The headquarters was later permanently established at the Belur Math on the banks of the river Hooghly, serving as the central hub for monks and lay followers alike.
- The Doctrine of Daridra Narayan: The mission was completely unique because it fundamentally synthesized the ancient, highly intellectual Advaita Vedanta philosophy with modern, active social service. Vivekananda preached the profound doctrine of ‘Daridra Narayan’—that serving the poor, the sick, and the starving is the absolute highest form of worship of God.
- Relief Work and Education: Under this powerful spiritual mandate, the Ramakrishna Mission extensively engaged in massive philanthropic activities. They actively built hospitals, established widespread educational institutions for the masses, and conducted highly organized, large-scale relief operations during catastrophic famines, floods, and devastating epidemics across the subcontinent.
📌 Socio-Religious Reform • Muslim Reform
Q.20) The Aligarh Movement was initiated to bring modern education and social reform to the Muslim community in India. Who was its principal founder?
Ans > Syed Ahmed Khan
- Post-1857 Muslim Upliftment: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan launched the deeply influential Aligarh Movement in the aftermath of the 1857 revolt. He acutely realized that the Indian Muslim community was falling drastically behind Hindus in government employment because they strictly rejected modern, Western English education.
- Reconciling Faith and Science: The primary ideological thrust of the movement was to fundamentally reconcile the core tenets of Islam with modern Western scientific and rationalist thought. He argued that there was absolutely no contradiction between the Quran and the study of modern physics, chemistry, and history.
- The MAO College Foundation: To institutionalize this massive reform, he founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College at Aligarh in 1875. The college was explicitly modeled on Oxford and Cambridge universities, aiming to produce a new generation of highly educated, progressive Muslim leaders loyal to the British state.
- Opposition to the Congress: Politically, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan strongly advised Muslims to entirely stay away from the newly formed Indian National Congress. He heavily feared that democratic elections in a Hindu-majority country would permanently marginalize Muslim interests, a stance that deeply influenced later separatist politics.
📌 Political Organizations • Pre-Congress
Q.21) The Indian Association of Calcutta, founded in 1876, was the most important pre-Congress nationalist organization. It was established by Anand Mohan Bose and whom?
Ans > Surendranath Banerjea
- The Rise of the Middle Class: The Indian Association was founded in 1876 by the deeply eloquent nationalist Surendranath Banerjea and Anand Mohan Bose. It represented a crucial shift in Indian politics, moving power away from aristocratic, Zamindar-led groups (like the British Indian Association) to the newly educated, vocal middle class.
- A Unifying National Vision: The explicit, highly ambitious objective of the association was to create a strong, unified public opinion on political questions and to actively unify Indians from different regions and religions upon common political interests and shared national aspirations.
- The Civil Service Agitation: The organization’s first massive, nationwide campaign was a fierce agitation against Lord Lytton’s highly discriminatory decision to reduce the maximum age limit for the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination from 21 to 19, which deliberately aimed to keep talented Indians out of the administration.
- Protesting Repressive Laws: The Indian Association also led massive, highly organized public protests against Lytton’s deeply repressive policies, specifically the Vernacular Press Act (which gagged the Indian language press) and the Arms Act. Its success paved the absolute direct way for the foundation of the Indian National Congress.
📌 Political Organizations • Pre-Congress
Q.22) In 1866, the East India Association was founded in London to discuss Indian questions and influence British public opinion. Who was its founder?
Ans > Dadabhai Naoroji
- Lobbying in the Imperial Capital: Dadabhai Naoroji astutely realized that because absolute political power resided in London, it was absolutely crucial to inform the British public and the parliament about the true, deeply dismal state of Indian affairs caused by colonial exploitation.
- Superseding Earlier Efforts: Founded in 1866, the East India Association successfully superseded the earlier, less effective London Indian Society. It quickly became the premier, highly respected platform in England for discussing Indian grievances, drawing both prominent Indian students and highly sympathetic British liberals.
- The Propaganda of Truth: The association actively organized high-profile lectures, published extensively detailed pamphlets, and tirelessly lobbied Members of Parliament to advocate for the welfare of the Indian people, specifically pushing for the admission of Indians into the higher civil services.
- Expansion to the Homeland: Proving its massive success and influence, the East India Association rapidly opened active branches in major Indian cities like Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. This directly helped spread early moderate nationalist ideas and political consciousness among the educated Indian elite back home.
📌 Political Organizations • Pre-Congress
Q.23) The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was established in 1870 as a mediating body between the government and the people of India. Who was its most prominent founding figure?
Ans > Mahadeo Govind Ranade
- Bridging the Colonial Gap: Justice Mahadeo Govind (M.G.) Ranade was the towering intellectual and organizing force behind the formation of the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha in 1870. The Sabha was explicitly designed to act as a highly articulate mediating body between the absolute power of the British government and the voiceless people of India.
- Representing the Peasantry: Unlike many elite organizations of the time, the Sabha took a deep, active interest in agrarian issues. During the devastating famines in the Deccan in the 1870s, it organized massive relief efforts and sent highly detailed memorials to the government explicitly detailing the severe distress of the peasantry.
- A Precursor to National Politics: Through its meticulously researched quarterly journal, the Sabha published high-level critiques of British economic policies, land revenue assessments, and administrative failures. It played an absolutely massive role in awakening political and economic consciousness across Western India.
- The Extremist Takeover: For decades, the Sabha was the stronghold of Moderate politics under Ranade and Gokhale. However, by 1895, the rapidly rising, highly aggressive Extremist leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak successfully captured control of the organization, leading the Moderates to exit and form the Deccan Sabha.
📌 Indian National Congress • Founding
Q.24) The very first session of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885 was held at which specific venue in Bombay?
Ans > Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College
- The A.O. Hume Initiative: The formation of the Indian National Congress was heavily facilitated by Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant. He actively urged the educated Indian elite to form a national political platform, which later gave rise to the debated ‘Safety Valve’ theory of the Congress’s origins.
- The Last-Minute Venue Shift: The historic first session was originally planned to be held in Poona. However, due to a sudden, highly dangerous outbreak of cholera in the city, the organizers were forced to quickly shift the venue to the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay.
- The Historic Gathering: The first session took place from December 28-30, 1885. It was attended by exactly 72 politically active delegates representing various provinces from all over India, marking the very first time a truly pan-Indian political organization had successfully convened.
- The First Presidency: The session was presided over by Womesh Chandra (W.C.) Bonnerjee, a highly prominent Bengali lawyer. In this inaugural session, the Congress laid down its early, moderate demands: the expansion of legislative councils, reduction in massive military expenditure, and holding ICS exams simultaneously in India and Britain.
📌 Extremism • Freedom Struggle
Q.25) “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!” This iconic slogan was famously coined by whom?
Ans > Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- The Father of Indian Unrest: Bal Gangadhar Tilak, described by the British as the “Father of Indian Unrest,” was a highly aggressive, prominent leader of the Extremist faction within the Congress. He completely rejected the Moderates’ polite, constitutional methods of ‘prayer and petition’ as utterly ineffective political mendicancy.
- A Fiery Call for Self-Rule: This incredibly iconic, defiant slogan electrified the Indian masses. It fundamentally transformed the demand for political reform from a polite, elite intellectual discourse into a massive, uncompromising public movement demanding absolute self-rule and political dignity.
- Mass Mobilization Tactics: Tilak was a master of mass mobilization. To spread political consciousness beyond the English-educated elite, he brilliantly reorganized traditional religious and historical festivals—specifically the Ganapati festival and the Shivaji festival—into massive, highly charged political rallies against British rule.
- Journalism and the Home Rule League: He propagated his fierce nationalist ideology through his two highly influential newspapers: ‘Kesari’ (in Marathi) and ‘Mahratta’ (in English). Later in 1916, he successfully founded the Indian Home Rule League to demand self-government for India within the British Empire.
📌 Swadeshi Movement • Bengal Partition
Q.26) The controversial partition of Bengal, which triggered the Swadeshi Movement, was officially annulled by the British Government in which year?
Ans > 1911
- Bowing to Massive Public Pressure: Faced with years of relentless, crippling economic boycotts, massive public protests, and a highly dangerous rise in armed revolutionary terrorism during the Swadeshi Movement, the British colonial government was ultimately forced to reverse their deeply unpopular policy.
- The Grand Delhi Durbar: The historic annulment of the partition was officially and grandly announced by King George V himself during his coronation visit at the spectacular Delhi Durbar in December 1911, aiming to pacify Bengali sentiment.
- The Shift of the Imperial Capital: Simultaneously with the annulment, the British announced a massive, highly strategic shift: the relocation of the imperial capital of British India from Calcutta (the nerve center of nationalism) to the historically significant city of New Delhi, moving the government away from the volatile Bengali political climate.
- Linguistic Reorganization: While East and West Bengal were reunited to appease Bengali Hindus, the massive province was still divided along new, linguistic lines. Bihar and Orissa were officially separated from Bengal to form a new, distinct province, drastically reducing Bengal’s overall territorial and political dominance.
📌 British Administration • Bengal Partition
Q.27) Which British Viceroy was responsible for executing the controversial partition of Bengal in 1905?
Ans > Lord Curzon
- The Administrative Pretext: Lord Curzon, one of the most brilliant yet deeply arrogant Viceroys of India, publicly justified the partition by citing sheer administrative convenience. He argued that the Bengal Presidency, with a massive population of 78 million, was simply too large and unwieldy to be governed efficiently by a single lieutenant-governor.
- The True Political Motive: However, internal colonial documents revealed the true, deeply sinister political motive. The partition was a deliberate, highly strategic application of the ‘divide and rule’ policy. It explicitly aimed to weaken Calcutta, which had become the absolute nerve center of aggressive Indian nationalism.
- Dividing the Bengali Identity: Curzon’s plan surgically divided the linguistically unified Bengali population. It created a Hindu-majority West Bengal and a newly formed, Muslim-majority province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, deliberately attempting to foster deep communal divisions and pit Muslims against the Hindu nationalist leadership.
- Risley’s Infamous Statement: The political intent was brazenly confirmed by H.H. Risley, the Home Secretary to the Government of India, who infamously stated: “Bengal united is a power; Bengal divided will pull in several different ways… one of our main objects is to split up and thereby weaken a solid body of opponents to our rule.”
📌 Swadeshi Movement • Resistance
Q.28) In protest against the partition of Bengal, the Swadeshi Movement was formally proclaimed at a massive public meeting at the Calcutta Town Hall on which date?
Ans > August 7, 1905
- The Boycott Resolution: As the British ruthlessly ignored millions of petitions against the partition, Indian leaders realized stronger action was needed. On August 7, 1905, a massive, unprecedented gathering at the Calcutta Town Hall officially passed the historic Boycott Resolution, marking the formal start of the Swadeshi Movement.
- Economic Retaliation against Britain: The core strategy was severe economic retaliation. Leaders urged the public to aggressively boycott British imported goods—particularly Manchester cloth, Liverpool salt, and foreign sugar—and to publicly burn these items in massive, highly symbolic bonfires at crossroads.
- The Promotion of Indigenous Industries: Simultaneously, the movement heavily emphasized ‘Swadeshi’—the exclusive use of goods produced within India. This triggered a massive, patriotic revival of indigenous industries, leading to the rapid establishment of Indian-owned textile mills, soap factories, match factories, and nationalist banks.
- The Day of Mourning: When the partition legally took effect on October 16, 1905, it was observed as a massive day of national mourning (Arandhan). Rabindranath Tagore brilliantly utilized the occasion to foster unity, urging Hindus and Muslims to tie Rakhis on each other’s wrists as a powerful symbol of the unbreakable brotherhood of Bengal.
📌 Indian National Congress • Surat Split
Q.29) The historic split between the Moderates and the Extremists within the Indian National Congress occurred in which year?
Ans > 1907
- The Ideological Boiling Point: Tensions had been violently brewing over the methods and ultimate scope of the Swadeshi movement. The Extremists (Lal-Bal-Pal) wanted to massively expand the boycott nationwide and target all forms of British administration, while Moderates (Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta) wanted to strictly restrict the boycott only to Bengal and only to foreign goods.
- The Presidential Dispute: The immediate trigger for the split was the bitter dispute over the presidency of the 1907 session. The Extremists aggressively pushed for Lala Lajpat Rai or Bal Gangadhar Tilak, while the Moderates successfully maneuvered to install their candidate, Dr. Rash Behari Ghosh, by shifting the venue to Surat (a Moderate stronghold).
- Physical Chaos at Surat: The ideological friction spectacularly erupted into physical violence on the floor of the 1907 Surat session. When Tilak was denied permission to speak on a resolution, extreme chaos ensued, culminating in chairs being thrown and a famous incident where a heavy Maharashtrian shoe was hurled at the Moderate leaders on the podium.
- The Expulsion of the Extremists: Following this unprecedented disgrace, the Moderates, who controlled the party machinery, immediately held a separate convention. They drafted a new, rigid constitution for the Congress that explicitly demanded adherence to strict constitutional methods, effectively expelling Tilak and the Extremists from the party for almost a decade.
📌 Indian National Congress • Alliances
Q.30) The historic Lucknow Pact, which forged a political alliance between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, was signed in which year?
Ans > 1916
- The Reunion of the Congress: The 1916 Lucknow session was highly significant for two major reasons. First, driven heavily by the tireless diplomatic efforts of Annie Besant and a recently released Bal Gangadhar Tilak, it witnessed the historic, long-awaited readmission of the Extremists back into the Indian National Congress fold.
- The Congress-League Alliance: Secondly, and more crucially, the session saw the signing of the historic Lucknow Pact. The Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League (brilliantly represented by a young Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was hailed as the “Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity”) forged a powerful, unprecedented political alliance against British rule.
- Acceptance of Separate Electorates: To secure this massive united front, the Congress made a deeply controversial concession: they officially accepted the Muslim League’s core demand for separate communal electorates (which the British had introduced in 1909), a move that some historians argue legitimized communal politics in the long run.
- Joint Constitutional Demands: In return, both powerful organizations agreed to present a unified, joint scheme of constitutional reforms to the British government. They collectively demanded a massive expansion of elected majorities in the legislative councils and a definitive step toward immediate self-government for India.
📌 Quick Summary — Modern History Set 120
- Per Capita Income: Dadabhai Naoroji estimated Rs. 20 per capita income in 1867-68.
- First Jute Mill: Established at Rishra, Bengal in 1855.
- Second Passenger Railway: Opened from Howrah to Hooghly in 1854.
- Deindustrialization: The ruin of traditional Indian crafts without modern industrial growth.
- Economic History: Romesh Chandra Dutt authored ‘The Economic History of India’ in 1901.
- Mahalwari System: Conceived by British official Holt Mackenzie in 1822.
- Permanent Settlement: Zamindars remitted 10/11th of collected revenue to the British.
- Santhal Rebellion: Concentrated in the Damin-i-Koh region (1855–56).
- Bhil Uprisings: Primarily took place in the Khandesh region in the 19th century.
- Ramosi Uprising: Led by chieftain Chittur Singh in 1822.
- Indigo Revolt: Initiated in Nadia by Bishnucharan and Digambar Biswas.
- Pabna Agrarian Leagues: Originated in the Yusufshahi Pargana in the 1870s.
- Deccan Riots: Directed primarily against Marwari and Gujarati moneylenders in 1875.
- Eka Movement: Prominent grassroots leader was Madari Pasi (1921–22).
- Bihar Peasant Movement: Demanded the restoration of confiscated ‘Bakasht’ lands.
- Tattvabodhini Patrika: Started by Debendranath Tagore to propagate rationalist ideas.
- Satyashodhak Samaj: Founded by Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra in 1873.
- Seva Sadan: Founded by Parsi reformer Behramji M. Malabari in 1885.
- Ramakrishna Mission: Established by Swami Vivekananda in 1897.
- Aligarh Movement: Founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan for Muslim educational reform.
- Indian Association of Calcutta: Founded by Surendranath Banerjea and Anand Mohan Bose.
- East India Association: Founded in London by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866.
- Poona Sarvajanik Sabha: Prominent founding figure was Mahadeo Govind Ranade.
- First INC Session: Held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay (1885).
- Swaraj Slogan: “Swaraj is my birthright” coined by Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
- Bengal Partition Annulled: The British reversed the partition in 1911.
- Partition Viceroy: Lord Curzon executed the Bengal partition in 1905.
- Swadeshi Proclamation: Formally launched on August 7, 1905, at Calcutta Town Hall.
- Surat Split: Congress split between Moderates and Extremists in 1907.
- Lucknow Pact: Signed between the Congress and Muslim League in 1916.
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