INSIGHTS REVISION TEST for Preliminary Exam 2018: Test – 31 (Art and Culture)

Solution: c

Justification:

Punjab Hindu Sabha

• founded in 1909
• Its leaders, U.N. Mukherji and Lal Chand, were to lay down the foundations of Hindu communal ideology and politics.
• They directed their anger primarily against the National Congress for trying to unite Indians into a single nation and for ‘sacrificing Hindu interests’ to appease Muslims. In his booklet, Self-Abnegation in Politics, Lal Chand described the Congress as the ‘self-inflicted misfortune’ of Hindus.

(Hence, Statement 1 is correct)

In 1859, Syed established Gulshan School at Muradabad, Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863, and a scientific society for Muslims in 1864. In 1875, founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, the first Muslim university in South Asia. (Hence, Statement 2 is correct)

During his career, Syed repeatedly called upon Muslims to loyally serve the British Empire and promoted the adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca of all Indian Muslims. Syed heavily critiqued the Indian National Congress.(Hence , Statement 2 is correct)

Source: Bipan Chandra.

Solution: b

Justification:

Provincial Autonomy under Government of India Act 1935

• It replaced dyarchy.
• Provinces were granted autonomy and separate legal identity.

Provinces were freed from “the superintendence, direction” of the secretary of state and governor-general. Provinces henceforth derived their legal authority directly from the British Crown. (Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect)

Provinces were given independent financial powers and resources. Provincial governments could borrow money on their own security. (Hence, Statement 2 is correct)

• Executive
• Governor was to be the Crown’s nominee and representative to exercise authority on the king’s behalf in a province.
• Governor was to have special powers regarding minorities, rights of civil servants, law and order, British business interests, partially excluded areas, princely states, etc.
• Governor could take over and indefinitely run administration.

Source: Spectrum

Solution: c

Justification:

Hindu communalism remained for many years a rather sickly child compared to the Muslim League. This was for several reasons.

The broader social reason was the greater and even dominant role of the zamindars, aristocrats and ex-bureaucrats among Muslims in general and even among the Muslim middle classes. (Hence, Statement 1 is correct)

While among Parsis and Hindus, increasingly, it was the modern intelligentsia, with its emphasis on science, democracy and nationalism, and the bourgeois elements in general, which rapidly acquired intellectual, social, economic and political influence and hegemony, among Muslims the reactionary landlords and mullahs continued to exercise dominant influence or hegemony.

Landlords and traditional religious priests, whether Hindu or Muslim, were conservative and supporters of established, colonial authority. But while among Hindus, they were gradually losing positions of leadership, they continued to dominate among Muslims.

In this sense the weak position of the middle class among Muslims and its social and ideological backwardness contributed to the growth of Muslim communalism. There were other reasons for the relative weakness of Hindu communalism.

The colonial Government gave Hindu communalism few concessions and little support. (Hence, Statement 2 is correct)

Hence, Option c is correct.

Solution: c

Justification:

The aims of the Individual Satyagraha conducted as S. Gopal has put it, ‘at a low temperature and in very small doses’ were explained as follows by Gandhiji in a letter to the Viceroy: ‘The Congress is as much opposed to victory for Nazism as any Britisher can be. But their objective cannot be carried to the extent of their participation in the war. And since you and the Secretary of State for India have declared that the whole of India is voluntarily helping the war effort, it becomes necessary to make clear that the vast majority of the people of India are not interested in it. They make no distinction between Nazism and the double autocracy that rules India.’ Thus, the Individual Satyagraha had a dual purpose

1. giving expression to the Indian people’s strong political feeling
2. gave the British Government further opportunity to peacefully accept the Indian demands.

Hence option c is correct.

Solution: b

Justification:

significant feature of the Quit India Movement

1) Formation of underground Networks and underground communication. (Hence, Statement 1 is correct)

2) emergence of what came to be known as parallel governments in some parts of the country. (Hence, Statement 2 is correct)The first one was proclaimed in Ballia, in East U P, in August 1942 under the leadership of Chittu Pande, who called himself a Gandhian. Though it succeeded in getting the Collector to hand over power and release all the arrested Congress leaders, it could not survive for long and when the soldiers marched in, a week after the parallel government was formed, they found that the leaders had fled.’ In Tamluk in the Midnapur district of Bengal, the Jatiya Sarkar came into existence on 17 December, 1942 and lasted till September 1944. Tamluk was an area where Gandhian constructive work had made considerable headway and it was also the scene of earlier mass struggles.

3) The movement was leaderless. (Hence, Statement 3 is incorrect)

Hence, option b is correct.

Source: Bipan Chandra

Solution: d

Justification:

The idea of the INA was first conceived in Malaya by Mohan Singh, an Indian officer of the British Indian Army, when he decided not to join the retreating British army and instead went to the Japanese for help. (Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect)

The Japanese had till then only encouraged civilian Indians to form anti-British organizations, but had no conception of forming a military wing consisting of Indians.

With Gandhiji’s release on 6 May 1944, on medical grounds, political activity regained momentum. Constructive work became the main form of Congress activity, with a special emphasis on the reorganization of the Congress machinery. Congress committees were revived under different names — Congress Workers Assemblies or Representative Assemblies of Congressmen — rendering the ban on Congress committees ineffective. The task of training workers, membership drives and fund collection was taken up. This reorganization of the Congress under the ‘cover’ of the constructive program was viewed with serious misgivings by the Government which saw it as an attempt to rebuild Congress influence and organization in the villages in preparation for the next round of struggle. A strict watch was kept on these developments, but no repressive action was contemplated and the Viceroy’s energies were directed towards formulating an offer (known as the Wavell Offer or the Simla Conference) which would pre-empt a struggle by effecting an agreement with the Congress before the War with Japan ended. Hence it was not to end Quit India but to prevent any future struggles after Quit India. (Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect)

Hence, option d is correct.

Source: Bipan Chandra.

Solution: c

Justification:

The Mountbatten Plan, as the 3rd June, 1947 Plan came to be known, (Hence, Statement 1 is correct) sought to effect an early transfer of power on the basis of Dominion Status to two successor states, India and Pakistan. (Hence, Statement 2 is correct)Congress was willing to accept Dominion Status for a while because it felt it must assume full power immediately and meet boldly the explosive situation in the country.

Hence option c is correct.

Source: Bipan Chandra.

Solution: a

Justification:

Efforts taken to develop planning through National Planning Committee set up under Congress President Subhash Bose in 1938. (Hence, Statement 1 is correct)

National Planning Committee set up under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru. It consisted of 15 members. (Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect)

Hence option a is correct

Solution: c

Justification:

Hitler’s astounding success and the fall of Belgium, Holland and France put England in a conciliatory mood. To get Indian cooperation in the war effort, the viceroy announced the August Offer (August 1940) which proposed:

1. Dominion status as the objective for India.
2. Expansion of viceroy’s executive council.
3. Setting up of a constituent assembly after the war. Indians would decide the constitution according to their social, economic and political conceptions, subject to fulfilment of the obligation of the Government regarding defence, minority rights, treaties with states, all India services.
4. No future constitution to be adopted without the consent of minorities.

Hence option c is correct.

Source: Spectrum

Solution b

Justification:

The main proposals of the mission were as follows.

1) An Indian Union with a dominion status would be set up; it would be free to decide its relations with the Commonwealth and free to participate in. the United Nations and other international bodies. (Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect)

2) After the end of the war, a constituent assembly would be convened to frame a new constitution. Members of this assembly would be partly elected by the provincial assemblies through proportional representation and partly nominated by the princes. (Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect)

The British Government would accept the new constitution subject to two conditions:

(i) Any province not willing to join the Union could have a separate constitution and form a separate Union,

(ii) The new Constitution making body and the British Government would negotiate a treaty to effect the transfer of power and to safeguard racial and religious minorities.

In the meantime, defence of India would remain in British hands and the governor-general’s powers would remain intact.

3) The making of the constitution was to be solely in Indian hands now (and not “mainly” in Indian hands—as contained in the August Offer). A concrete plan was provided for the constituent, assembly. (Hence, Statement 3 is incorrect)

Hence option b is correct.

Source: Spectrum.

Solution d

Justification:

The main points in CR Plan were:

• Muslim League to endorse Congress demand for independence.
• League to cooperate with Congress in forming a provisional government at center.
• After the end of the war, the entire population of Muslim majority areas in the North-West and North-East India to decide by a plebiscite, whether or not to form a separate sovereign state. (Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect)
• In case of acceptance of partition, agreement to be made jointly for safeguarding defence, commerce, communications, etc. (Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect)
• The above terms to be operative only if England transferred full powers to India.

Hence option d is correct.

Solution: d

Justification:

WAVELL PLAN (SHIMLA CONFERENCE-JUNE 1945)

An all-Indian executive council except the governor-general and commander-in-chief Equal representation for caste Hindus and Muslims.

Muslim League wanted all Muslims to be its nominees and claimed a communal veto in the executive council. Congress objected to it being painted purely as a caste Hindu party.

Hence, option d is correct

Source: Spectrum

Solution: c

Justification:

Cabinet Mission Plan—Main Points

• Rejection of the demand for a full-fledged Pakistan, because—the Pakistan so formed would include a large non-Muslim population-38% in the North-West and 48% in the North-East; (Hence, Statement 1 is correct)
• The very principle of communal self-determination would claim separation of Hindu-majority Western Bengal and Sikh- and Hindu dominated ‘Ambala and Jullundur divisions of Punjab (already some Sikh leaders were demanding a separate state if the country was partitioned).
• Deep-seated regional ties would be disturbed if Bengal and Punjab were partitioned;
• Partition would entail economic and administrative problems, for instance, the problem of communication between the western and eastern parts of Pakistan; and
• The division of armed forces would be dangerous.
• Grouping of existing provincial assemblies into three sections—
• Section-A: Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces, United Provinces, Bihar and Orissa (Hindu-majority provinces).
• Section-B: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province and Sindh (Muslim majority provinces).
• Section-C: Bengal and Assam (Muslim-majority provinces). 230 A Brief History of Modern India
• National Movement 1939-1947 231
• Three-tier executive and legislature at provincial, section and union levels.
• A constituent assembly to be elected by provincial assemblies by proportional representation (voting in three groups—General, Muslims, Sikhs). This constituent Assembly to be a 389-member body with provincial assemblies sending 292, chief commissioner’s provinces sending 4, and princely states sending 93 members. This was a good, democratic method not based on weightage.
• In the constituent assembly, members from groups A, B and C were to sit separately to decide the constitution for provinces and if possible, for the groups also. Then, the whole constituent assembly (all three sections A, B and C combined) would sit together to formulate the Union constitution.
• A common center would control defence, communication and external affairs. Communal questions in central legislature were to be decided by a simple majority of both communities present and voting.
• Provinces were to have full autonomy and residual powers. Princely states were no longer to be under paramountcy of British Government They would be free to enter into an arrangement with successor governments or the British Government. (Hence, Statement 2 and 3 are correct)
• After the first general elections, a province was to be free to come out of a group and after 10 years, a province was to be free to call for a reconsideration of the group or the Union constitution.
• Meanwhile, an interim government to be formed from the constituent assembly.

Hence option c is correct

Source: Spectrum

Solution: c

Justification:

The Indian council act, 1861 returned the legislative powers to provinces of Madras and Bombay which had been taken away in 1833. This can be said to be the first dtep towards decentralization.

Ripon’s Resolution of 1882 was a landmark in decentralization and local self-governance.

Some of its provisions were:

• Policy of administrating local affairs through urban and rural local bodies charged with definite duties and entrusted with suitable sources of revenues.
• Non officials to be in majority in these bodies, who could be elected if the officials thought that it was possible to introduce elections;
• Non-official to act as chairpersons to these bodies
• Official interference to be reduced to the minimum and to be exercised to revise and check the acts of local bodies.
• Under Dyarchy local self –government was made a transferred subject under popular ministerial control by Government of India Act, 1919, and each province was allowed to develop local self-institutions according to provincial need.
• Royal Commission on Decentralization (1908) pointing out the lack of financial resources as the great stumbling block in the effective functioning of local bodies, the commission made the following recommendations.
• It emphasized that village panchayats should be entrusted with more powers like judicial jurisdiction in petty cases, incurring expenditure on minor village work.

Hence, option c is correct.

Solution: b

Justification:

“Voice of India” was started by Dadabhai Naoroji.

Hence, option b is correct

Source: Spectrum

Solution: a

Justification:

WOOD’S DESPATCH (1854)

In 1854, Charles Wood prepared a dispatch on an educational system for India. Considered the “Magna Carta of English Education in India”, this document was the first comprehensive plan for the spread of education in India.

It asked the Government of India to assume responsibility for education of the masses, thus repudiating the ‘downward filtration theory’, at least on paper.

It systematized the hierarchy from vernacular primary schools in villages at bottom, followed by Anglo-Vernacular High Schools and an affiliated college at the district level, and affiliating universities in the presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.

It recommended English as the medium of instruction for higher studies and vernaculars at school level. (Hence, Statement 1 is correct)

It laid stress on female and vocational, education, and on teachers’ training.

It laid down that the education imparted in government institutions should be secular.

It recommended a system of grants-in-aid to encourage private enterprise.

SADDLER UNIVERSITY COMMISSION (1917-19)

The commission was set up to study and report on problems of Calcutta University (Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect) but its recommendations were applicable more or less to other universities also. It reviewed the entire field from school education to university education.

Hence, option (a) is correct.

Solution: c

Justification

POLICY OF SUBORDINATE ISOLATION (1813-1857)

Now, the imperial idea grew and the theory of paramountcy began to develop—Indian states were supposed to act in subordinate cooperation with the British Government and acknowledge its supremacy. (Hence, Statement 1 is correct)

States surrendered all forms of external sovereignty and retained full sovereignty in internal administration. British Residents were transformed from diplomatic agents of a foreign power to executive and controlling officers of a superior government. (Hence, Statement 2 is correct)

In 1833, the Charter Act ended the. Company’s commercial functions while it retained political functions. It adopted the practice of insisting on prior approval/sanction for all matters of succession. In 1834, the Board of Directors issued guidelines to annex states wherever and whenever possible. This policy of annexation culminated in usurpation of six states by Dalhousie including some big states such as Satara and Nagpur.

Hence, option c is correct

Solution: a

Justification:

We have no evidences of lower Paleolithic people producing art it is only during Upper Paleolithic that the production of art begins. (Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect)

The paintings can be divided into three categories: human beings, animals and geometric patterns. (Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect)

The largest number of paintings belongs to Mesolithic age. (Hence, Statement 3 is correct)

Hunting scenes predominate in Mesolithic paintings. (Hence, Statement 4 is correct)

Hence, option c is correct

Source: NCERT An introduction to Indian Art.

Solution: d

Justification:

Remnants of pre historic paintings have been found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar. They are not been found in Maharashtra.

Hence option d is correct.

Source: NCERT An introduction to Indian Art

Justification: b

Terracotta images were not as refined as the stone and bronze statutes, they seem to have been used by the lower classes. (Hence, Statement 1 is correct)

Seals were mainly meant for commercial purpose, they were also used as amulets. (Hence, Statement 2 is correct)

Most of the seals are made of steatite some are made I golden ivory as well. (Hence, Statement 3 is incorrect)

Source: An Introduction to Indian Art