[Mission 2023] STATIC QUIZ, 20 April 2023 – History

Solution: b)

The Tattvabodhinī Sabhā was a group founded in Calcutta on 6 October 1839 as a splinter group of the Brahmo Samaj, reformers of Hinduism and Indian Society. The founding member was Debendranath Tagore.

The main objective of the Sabhā was to promote a more rational and humanist form of Hinduism based on the Vedānta, the Upanishads that form the last part of the Vedās.

Solution: d)

Although the rebels received the sympathy of the people, the country as a whole was not behind them. The merchants, intelligentsia and Indian rulers not only kept aloof, but actively supported the British. Meetings were organized in Calcutta and Bombay by them to pray for the success of the British. Despite the Doctrine of Lapse, the Indian rulers who expected their future to be safer with the British liberally provided them with men and materials. Indeed, the sepoys might have made a better fight of it if they had received their support. Almost half the Indian soldiers not only did not Revolt but fought against their own countrymen. Apart from some honourable exceptions like the Rani of Jhansi, Kunwar Singh and Maulvi Ahmadullah, the rebels were poorly served by their leaders. Most of them failed to realize the significance of the Revolt and simply did not do enough. Bahadur Shah and Zeenat Mahal had no faith in the sepoys and negotiated with the British to secure their safety. Most of the taluqdars tried only to protect their own interests. Some of them, like Man Singh, changed sides several times depending on which side had the upper hand. Apart from a commonly shared hatred for alien rule, the rebels had no political perspective or a definite vision of the future. They were all prisoners of their own past, fighting primarily to regain their lost privileges. Unsurprisingly, they proved incapable of ushering in a new political order.

Solution: c)

In reaction to the August Offer, Gandhiji called for a limited ‘Individual Satyagraha’. It was a protest against the British government and their inability to accommodate the demands of Indians.

The first Satyagrahi selected was Acharya Vinoba Bhave, and Second Satyagrahi was Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Solution: a)

These were Indian Opinion (in South Africa during 1903-1915), Young India (1919- 1931), and Harijan (1933-1942 and 1946-January 1948).

Solution: d)

The Royal Commission on Labour or the Whitley Commission on Labour was set up in 1929 to inquire into the existing conditions of labour in industrial undertakings and plantations in India. The Commission was chaired by John Henry Whitley. The commission submitted its report in 1931. The report surprised many by concurring with the criticisms of Gandhiji and others that poverty was the cause of India’s social and industrial problems. It was also critical of British employers’ role in perpetuating the problems.