QUIZ – 2020: INSIGHTS STATIC , 22 January 2021 – History

Solution: d)

Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement that was founded by Dayanand Saraswati in 1875 in Bombay. The movement believes in the infallible authority of the Vedas.

According to the website of Arya Samaj Houston, the central objectives of Arya Samaj is to, “eradicate Ignorance (Agyan), Indigence or Poverty (Abhav) and Injustice (Anayay) from this earth. This mission is enshrined in the ten Niyams or Principles.”

The website says that contrary to the misconception, Arya Samaj is not a religion or a new sect in the Hindu religion.

Members of the Arya Samaj believe in one God and reject the worship of idols.

Solution: a)

Savitribai Phule, the social reformer who is considered to be one of India’s first modern feminists, was born on January 3, 1831. Among her accomplishments, she is especially remembered for being India’s first female teacher who worked for the upliftment of women and untouchables in the field of education and literacy.

Phule was born in Naigaon, Maharashtra in 1831 and married activist and social-reformer Jyotirao Phule when she was nine years old. After marriage, with her husband’s support, Phule learned to read and write and both of them eventually went on to found India’s first school for girls called Bhide Wada in Pune in 1948. Before this, she started a school with Jyotirao’s cousin Saganbai in Maharwada in 1847.

Essentially, both Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule recognised that education was one of the central planks through which women and the depressed classes could become empowered and hope to stand on an equal footing with the rest of the society.

The Phules also started the Literacy Mission in India between 1854-55. The Phules started the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society for Truth-Seeking), through which they wanted to initiate the practice of Satyashodhak marriage, in which no dowry was taken.

Solution: a)

Born in 1879, Periyar is remembered for the Self Respect Movement to redeem the identity and self-respect of Tamils. He envisaged a Dravida homeland of Dravida Nadu, and launched a political party, Dravidar Kazhagam (DK).

He associated himself with the Justice Party and the Self Respect Movement.

Periyar’s fame spread beyond the Tamil region during the Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924, a mass movement to demand that lower caste persons be given the right to use a public path in front of the famous Vaikom temple.

Periyar took part in the agitation with his wife, and was arrested twice.

In the 1940s, Periyar launched Dravidar Kazhagam, which espoused an independent Dravida Nadu comprising Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada speakers.

As a social reformer, he focused on social, cultural and gender inequalities, and his reform agenda questioned matters of faith, gender and tradition.

He asked people to be rational in their life choices. He argued that women needed to be independent, not mere child-bearers, and insisted that they be allowed an equal share in employment.

Solution: d)

In May and June 1875, peasants of Maharashtra in some parts of Pune and Ahmednagar districts revolted against increasing agrarian distress. The Deccan Riots of 1875 targeted conditions of debt peonage (kamiuti) to moneylenders. The rioters’ specific purpose was to obtain and destroy the bonds, decrees, and other documents in the possession of the moneylenders.

The movement also got support from the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha co-founded by M G Ranade.

It took several months for the police to restore order in the countryside. The Bombay government initially dismissed the uprising as trivial. However, the Government of India pressurised Bombay to enquire into the matter.

Accordingly, the Deccan Riots Commission was set up which presented a report to the British Parliament in 1878. In 1879, the Agriculturists Relief Act was passed which ensured that the farmers could not be arrested and imprisoned if they were unable to pay their debts.

Solution: d)

The Santhal rebellion (June 30, 1855 to January 3, 1856): Also known as the Santhal Hool, it was a native rebellion in eastern India against both the British colonial authority and zamindari system by the Santhal people.

The Munda Rebellion: Birsa Munda led the movement in the region south of Ranchi in 1899-1900, seeking the establishment of Munda Raj and independence after the system of khuntkattidar was corroded by the jagirdars and thikadars who came as moneylenders and as traders.

1917-1919 Kuki Uprising in Manipur against British colonialism under the leadership of their chieftains called haosa.

The Bodo Movement: The official movement of the Bodos for an independent state of Bodoland started under the leadership of Upendranath Brahma of All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) on March 2, 1987.