DAY – 43 : Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2025 : MODERN INDIA

Solution: A

Butler Committee (1927)

• Along with the Simon Commission, the British government also announced the setting up of a three-member committee consisting of Harcourt Butler, W.S. Holdsworth and S.C. Peel to inquire into the relationship between the Indian States and the Paramount Power and to suggest ways and means for a more satisfactory adjustment of the existing economic relations between them and British India.

• Officially called the Indian States Committee, it visited 16 Indian States. Its report, submitted in 1929, observed that the relationship of the Paramount Power with the States was not merely a contractual relationship, but a living, growing relationship shaped by circumstances and policy, and resting on a mixture of history and theory. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• Further, it maintained that in view of this historical nature of the relationship, the States should not be transferred without their own agreement to a relationship with a new government in British India responsible to an Indian legislature.

Solution: D

Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34)

Before starting the movement, Gandhi served on the British government an ‘Eleven Point Ultimatum’, which, though did not include the demand for complete independence, represented the specific grievances of the Indians. The ultimatum included the following demands:

1. 50% reduction in land revenue.
2. Abolition of the salt tax and government salt monopoly.
3. Reservation of coastal shipping for Indians.
4. Lowering of the rupee-sterling exchange ratio.
5. Protection of indigenous textile industry.
6. 50% cut in military expenditure.
7. 50% reduction in expenditure on civil administration.
8. Total prohibition of intoxicants.
9. Release of all political prisoners.
10. Changes in the Central Intelligence Department.
11. Changes in the Arms Act enabling citizens to bear arms for self-protection.

Solution: A

Round Table Conference:

It was Sir John Simon, the Chairman of the Simon Commission (appointed in 1927 by the conservative ministry headed by Mr. Baldwin to report on the working of the reforms of 1919 and to recommend further constitutional reforms for India), who suggested in a letter from India on 16th October, 1929, to the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald (his Labour Party came to power in 1929) to convene a conference of the representatives of both British India and the Indian States to take a final decision on the question of constitutional reforms for India. His suggestion was accepted by the British Cabinet, and subsequently Lord Irwin, the Governor-General of India, made his famous declaration, known as the ‘Deepavali Declaration’ (October 31. 1929) according to which the objective of British policy was to grant Dominion Status to India and a round table conference would be held in London after the Simon Commission had reported.

Solution: B

The important newspapers and journals published during this period were:

• Sandhya (1906) by Brahmobandhab Upadhyay in Bengal.
• Kal (1906) in Maharashtra.
• Indian Sociologist by Shyamji Krishna Varma from London.
• Bande Mataram by Madam Cama from Paris.
• Talvar by Virendranath Chattopadhyay from Berlin.
• Free Hindustan by Taraknath Das from Vancouver.
• Ghadar by Ghadar party from San Francisco.
• Langal and Ganabani (1927) by Gopu Chakravarti and Dharani Goswami in Bengal.
• Kirti (1926) by Santosh Singh in Punjab.
• Kranti (1927) by S.S. Mirajkar, K N Joglekar and S.V. Ghate in Maharashtra.
• Bandi Jivan by Sachindranath Sanyal in Bengal.

Solution: D

Aurobindo Ghosh (1872–1950)

He launched a systematic criticism of moderate politics through a series of articles entitled ‘New Lamps for Old’ (1893-94), while serving as a lecturer in Baroda. He also advocated the doctrine of ‘Passive Resistance’ in a series of articles in 1907 in Bande Mataram, of which he was the editor. He played an important role in the Anti-Partition movement. Later he became the principal of the Bengal National College started in Calcutta in 1906 as part of the scheme of national education. He was arrested by the British in 1908 due to his involvement in the Kennedy murders, following which he escaped to Pondicherry in 1910 and concentrated on philosophical, spiritual and literary activities. Some of his books were Savitri (the longest epic poem in English), The Life Divine, etc.

Solution: D

The Home Rule agitation was later joined by Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai, Chittaranjan Das, K.M. Munshi, B. Chakravarti, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Lala Lajpat Rai. Some of these leaders became heads of local branches of Annie Besant’s League. Mohammad Ali Jinnah led the Bombay division.

Solution: C

Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918)— First Hunger Strike

• In March 1918, Gandhi intervened in a dispute between cotton mill owners of Ahmedabad and the workers over the issue of discontinuation of the plague bonus. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• The mill owners wanted to withdraw the bonus. The workers were demanding a rise of 50 per cent in their wages so that they could manage in the times of wartime inflation (which doubled the prices of food-grains, cloth, and other necessities) caused by Britain’s involvement in World War I.
• The relations between the workers and the mill owners worsened with the striking workers being arbitrarily dismissed and the mill owners deciding to bring in weavers from Bombay. The workers of the mill turned to Anusuya Sarabhai for help in fighting for justice. Anusuya Sarabhai was a social worker who was also the sister of Ambalal Sarabhai, one of the mill owners and the president of the Ahmedabad Mill Owners Association (founded in 1891 to develop the textile industry in Ahmedabad), for help in fighting for justice. Anusuya Behn went to Gandhi, who was respected by the mill owners and workers, and asked him to intervene and help resolve the impasse between the workers and the employers. Though Gandhi was a friend of Ambalal, he took up the workers’ cause. Anusuya too supported the workers and was one of the chief lieutenants of Gandhi’s. (It was Anusuya Behn who went on later to form the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association in 1920.) The strike was withdrawn. In the end, the tribunal awarded the workers a 35 per cent wage hike.
• Anasuya or Anusyabehn Sarabhai was a pioneer of the women’s labour movement in India. She founded the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association, India’s oldest union of textile workers, in 1920 and Kanyagruha, in 1927 to educate girls of the mills.

Solution: B

Linlithgow announced the August Offer (August 1940) which proposed: Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

• dominion status as the objective for India;
• expansion of viceroy’s executive council which would have a majority of Indians (who would be drawn from major political parties);
•  setting up of a constituent assembly after the war where mainly 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; and
•  no future constitution to be adopted without the consent of minorities.

Responses

• The Indian National Congress rejected the offer because it did not meet their demand for immediate and substantial self-governance, and the Muslim League also found it unsatisfactory as it failed to secure separate safeguards for Muslims.

Solution: C

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920)

He was known as ‘Lokmanya’ to the Indians and as the ‘Father of Indian Unrest’ to the British.

He was a prominent member of the Deccan Education Society and helped to found the New English School, which later became the Fergusson College. He was the editor for two newspapers, that is, the Maharatta in English and the Kesari in Marathi. He also founded the Home Rule League in April 1916 and declared ‘Swaraj is my birth right, and I will have it’.

Lala Lajpat Rai (1865–1928)

Popularly known as the ‘Punjab Kesari’, he was the leader of the ‘college’ faction of the Arya Samaj and worked for the social and educational reforms in the early period of his life. He became an extremist leader in the beginning of the 20th century and played in important role in the Anti-Partition movement, for which he was deported to Burma by the British in 1907. After his release, he visited the USA, founded the Indian Home Rule League there in 1914.

He edited a newspaper, called the Punjabee, and authored a book, viz. Unhappy India. While leading a protest procession against the Simon Commission he was severely wounded and died of injuries.

Solution: B

The Ghadr Party was a revolutionary group organised around a weekly newspaper The Ghadr with its headquarters at San Francisco and branches along the US coast and in the Far East. Hence, Statement-I is correct.

These revolutionaries included mainly ex-soldiers and peasants who had migrated from the Punjab to the USA and Canada in search of better employment opportunities. They were based in the US and Canadian cities along the western (Pacific) coast.

The Ghadr programme was to organise assassinations of officials, publish revolutionary and anti-imperialist literature, work among Indian troops stationed abroad, procure arms and bring about a simultaneous revolt in all British colonies. Hence, statement-II is also correct but it is not explaining the statement-I.

Therefore, option B is the correct answer.

The moving spirits behind the Ghadr Party were Lala Hardayal, Ramchandra, Bhagwan Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Barkatullah, and Bhai Parmanand. The Ghadrites intended to bring about a revolt in India. Their plans were encouraged by two events in 1914—the Komagata Maru incident and the outbreak of the First World War.

Solution: D

• During the 18th century, the Indian weavers were harassed by the company officials through the agency of the Gomastas, who were agents of the East India Company to accept advanced to produce cloth and then sell their products below market price to the Company.
• In the 1780s, this practice came became systematised and came to be known as Khatbandi system.
• The weavers were compelled to sell exclusively to the Company under regulations passed by the Bengal government.
• By the Regulation of 1789, they were even forced to pay a penalty of 35% on the advance if they defaulted in supplying the goods.
• In this way, the Company reduce the weavers to the status of bonded labourers.

Hence statement 1 is incorrect

• The Khatbandi system got abolished in the early 1800s, specification in 1813 when Monopoly of the East India Company was terminated under the Charter Act of 1813.

Hence statement 2 is incorrect

Solution: C

• The Mappilas or Moplahs were Muslim cultivators of South Malabar.
• They were mainly converts to Islam from lower Hindu’s caste; some of them were also the descendants of Arab settlers in the Malabar coast.
• They also follow Sufi tradition and venerate saints and shrines of Kerala.

Hence statement 1 is correct.

• The Mappila or Moplahs were mostly were associated with agriculture
• They worked as jenmi or janmi (bonded labor) of mostly upper caste Namboodri on Nair Hindu landlords.
• The Mappilas were adversely affected by the British occupation of Malabar in the last decade of 18^th century
• Subsequently, Moplah agrarian grievances such as harsh attitude of the government officials, high land revenue demand, insecurity of land tenure and landlord exactions compelled them to rise in protest against the British and Hindu landlords.
• Since the landlords were mostly from upper Hindu castes, and the Moplahs were Muslim converts from Hindu caste, the uprising assumed dimensions of a class conflict.
• The Mappila revolt was primarily against the British and Hindu landlords, but they resisted efforts, initially by the Portuguese and later by the British, to convert them to Christianity.

Hence statement 2 is correct.

Solution: A

• The Brahmo Sabha was founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in August 1828 which was later renamed as Brahmo Samaj.
• The main agenda of the samaj was to purify Hinduism and to spread monotheism.
• It was based on the twin pillars of reason and the Vedas and Upanishads; it blue inspiration from the Vedas and Upanishad for their philosophical basis particularly the concept of monotheism.
• But the Samaj did not treat the Vedas as the final authority.
• The samaj also tried to incorporate teachings of other religions.
• It was based on worship of one God without the mediation of the Priests as well as teachings of the Vedas and Upanishads.
• The Brahmo samaj took no definite stand on the doctrine of Karma and transmigration of soul; it was left to individual members to believe either way.

Hence statement 1 is correct

• Tattvabodhini Sabha was established by Debendranath Tagore in 1839 with the aim of propagating ideals of Ram Mohan Roy and finding the spiritual truth.
• The organisation aimed at countering rapid influence of Christianity in India by advocacy of vedantaism and indigenous culture.

Hence statement 2 is incorrect

Solution: C

• The first Portuguese factory in India was established at Calicut or Kozhikode in 1500 AD under the leadersship of Pedro Alvares Cabral; this mark the beginning of direct European trade in India.
• The second Portuguese factory was established in Cochin in 1501 AD and it became their first headquarter.
• The Portuguese established another Factory at Masulipatam in modern Andhra Pradesh in 1605 AD.
• The Portuguese did not establish a factory at Pettopoli.
• In 1498 Vasco da Gama headed the first Portuguese India Armada; he sailed from Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut in India- thus discovering a new sea route from Europe to India and became the first European to reach India by sea.
• In 1502, he visited India again. During his time the first and second Portuguese factories were set up in India.
• Soon these places became important trading centres of the Portuguese.
• The Portuguese trading points or factories on land were called Feitorias – these were unfortified trading out post which also served as bases for naval fleet called Armadas.

Hence options 2, 3 and 4 are correct

Solution: B

• The Indian National Social Conference was founded by Mahadev Govind Ranade in 1887 along with Raghunath Rao.
• It functioned as the social reform cell of the Indian National Congress.
• The conference met annually as a subsidiary convention of the Congress at the same venue and focused on social reforms.
• The Conference promoted inter-caste marriages and opposed polygamy and supremacy of the upper castes.
• Ranade was a social reformer from Bombay
• Throughout his life he fought against the caste system and promoted religious reforms.
• The Pledge Movement was launched by Indian National Social Conference to inspire people to take oath to prohibit child marriage.

Hence statements 1 and 3 are correct

Solution: B

• Somprakash was founded by Dwarkanath Vidyabhushan on the inspiration of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
• It was the first Bengali newspaper to engage in open political discourse and served as a platform for discussions on social and political issues.

Hence pair 1 is correct

• Paridasak was a weekly newspaper that was started by Bipin Chandra Pal ; its publication started from 1886.

Hence pair 2 is incorrect

• The Tribune is an English daily newspaper that was founded by Sardar Dayal Singh Majithia in Lahore, Punjab in 1881.
• It was published from Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Gurugram, Bhatinda and Jalandhar.
• It is a major Indian newspaper with a worldwide circulation and is among the leading English daily for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

Hence pair 3 is correct

• Mahratta was an English weekly newspaper started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1881.
• It served as a voice of the Indian freedom movement and aimed at engaging non-Marathi speaking population and educating them regarding policies of the British government.

Hence pair 4 is incorrect

Solution: C

• Arya Samaj was founded by Dayanand Saraswati in 1875; it emphasized on the authority of the Vedas and promoted monotheism while rejecting idol worship.
• Swami Dayanand Saraswati gave the slogan ‘Go back to the Vedas’ as he considered Vedas as the original seed of Hinduism.
• He rejected domination of the Brahmin priests over religious and social life of the Hindus; he also promoted the right of every Hindu to read an interpret the Vedas
• However, he disregarded authority of the Puranas and blamed it for spreading evil practices like idol worship and superstitions in the Hindu religion.

Hence statement 1 is correct

• In 1875 Dayanand founded the first Arya Samaj in Bombay; a few years later the headquarters of the Samaj were established at Lahore.
• The Samaj laid great empasis on brotherhood of man, equality and values of justice and charity towards all.
• It established the Dayanand Anglo Vedic or DAV institutions all over India with the aim of providing the best of Western and eastern learning.

Hence statement 2 is correct

• The Arya Samaj started Shudhi movement; the aim of the movement was to convert non-Hindus to Hinduism.
• It infused a spirit of intense patriotism and succeeded in undermining superiority of the British and imbibing a sense of pride among the Hindus.

Hence statement 3 is correct

Solution: A

• The Subsidiary Alliance Treaty was introduced by Lord Wellesley.
• Under it an Indian state had to surrender its foreign relations and had to allow an English force within the territory for protection in return for an annual subsidy in cash to the company.
• It was economically draining for the state as the annual subsidy was fixed arbitrarily and was usually very high (1/3 of annual revenue of the state), much beyond paying capacity of the state.
• The ruler transferred this burden on to the subjects, by imposing heavy taxation which impoverished them.
• The Subsidiary Alliance Treaty proved to be advantageous for the British
• They could maintain a large army at the cost of the Indian states without arousing any suspicion from other European Nations.
• It also allowed the company to counter the French threat as the subsidiary Ally (Indian ruler) was required to dismis all Frenchmen from its service.

Hence statements 1 and 2 are correct and statement 2 correctly explains statement 1

Solution: B

• The Government of India Act 1919 provided for a bicameral legislature- Indian Legislative Assembly and the Council of State
• The Indian Legislative Assembly consisted of 145 members of whom 42 were nominated and 104 were elected; out of the elected members, 52 were to be elected by General constituencies, 32 by communal constituencies and 20 by special constituents
• The Council of State consisted of 60 members; out of them, 26 were to be nominated by the Governor General, 34 were to be elected; out of the elected members, 20 to be elected by General constituencies, 10 by Muslims 3 by Europeans and 1 by Sikh constituencies.

Hence statement 1 is correct.

• The act provided the members the right to ask supplementary questions
• short notice questions could also be asked
• the members also enjoyed the right to freedom of speech.

Hence statement 2 is correct.

• Women were not allowed to become member in either House; No woman could stand in elections under the act.
• The act introduced a limited franchise for women; that is not all women were granted the right to vote.
• Those who could vote had to meet certain criteria such as property, income or educational qualifications.

Hence statement 3 is incorrect.

Solution: C

• The Swadeshi movement was launched as a response to the government declaration of partition of Bengal in 1905.
• Prominent leaders of the movement urged Indians to boycott British good and promote indigenous products as a means of economic independence.
• An important aspect of the Swadeshi Movement was great emphasis laid to atmashakti or self-reliance as necessary part of movement against the government
• Self-Reliance in various field meant the reasserting of national dignity, honour and confidence

Hence statements 1 and 2 are correct

• Rabindranath Tagore famously rejected his Knighthood which was awarded to him by the British government in 1919 as a protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.

Hence statement 3 is incorrect

Solution: B

Explanation:
Statement 1 is correct. The scheme provides for seamless warehouse-to-warehouse transfer of goods without paying import duties, which supports operational flexibility and scale.

Statement 2 is correct. Capital goods, just like raw materials, enjoy deferred import duty under the scheme. The duty is payable only when these goods are cleared for domestic consumption. If they are used solely for exports, the duty can be completely avoided.

• Additionally, capital goods can be re-exported or even transferred between bonded facilities without paying duty. This deferment and conditional exemption make the scheme financially attractive for manufacturers, especially those focusing on exports.

Statement 3 is incorrect. One of the scheme’s highlights is that it does not impose any time limit for storing goods in bonded warehouses. Goods—whether raw materials, components, or finished products—can remain indefinitely until consumed, exported, or moved elsewhere.

• The scheme emphasizes ease of compliance by allowing businesses to digitally maintain records in a single standardized format as specified in Annexure B, ensuring streamlined audit and oversight mechanisms.
• This combination of operational flexibility, financial efficiency, and digital compliance makes the Bonded Manufacturing Scheme a strong pillar of India’s “Make in India” vision.

Solution: B

Explanation:
The Amazon Basin spans nine countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and others. Argentina is not part of the Amazon Basin.

Answer: B

Explanation:

The SEHER Program is a financial empowerment initiative launched under the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) by NITI Aayog in collaboration with TransUnion CIBIL.

• It primarily targets financial literacy, business skill development, and credit management education among women entrepreneurs. It helps them build good CIBIL scores, manage loans, and understand financial products, thereby improving access to institutional credit. Unlike other schemes, it does not offer direct funding or sectoral subsidies.
• Its core strength is credit preparedness, which addresses the critical gap in women-led businesses: lack of formal credit history.

Answer: C

Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: The Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 was repealed in 1949, and the communities were denotified in 1952. Hence, it is not in force anymore.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Denotified Tribes (DNTs) are a heterogeneous group—some are included in the ST list, others in SC or OBC categories, depending on their socio-cultural backgrounds. They are not uniformly classified under Article 342 (STs).

• The Renke Commission (2008), which studied DNTs and nomadic groups, reported that there are 1,500 nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes and 198 DNTs, collectively accounting for around 15 crore individuals in India.
• They face extreme deprivation, marginalization, and stigma, especially under laws like the Habitual Offenders Acts, which the Idate Commission (2017) recommended repealing.

Solution: D

Explanation:
The Supreme Court in Common Cause vs. Union of India (2018) upheld the constitutional validity of passive euthanasia, stating it falls under the ambit of the right to die with dignity, which is an extension of the right to life under Article 21. Therefore, Statement-I is incorrect.

Statement-II is correct, as passive euthanasia indeed involves withdrawing medical support, allowing a patient to die naturally, without active intervention. This differs from active euthanasia, where a deliberate action causes death. The Court also allowed living wills to formalize such end-of-life decisions.

Correct Option: B

Justification:

The first statement is incorrect because the passage shows how straight line structure can be a breeding ground for miscommunication and red tape.

Statement 2 is correct because the first paragraph shows how organisational structures are changing in today’s world.

Statement 3 is not correct because matrix structure can lead to confusion and conflict between different leadership methods.

Correct Option: A

Justification:

Set A= {1, 4, 7, 10 …………….181}

Here the first term = 1

Common difference =3

181=1+(n-1)3

n=61

Set B = {22, 45, 68, ……………………….482}

First term = 22

Common difference = 23

482=22+(n-1)23

n=21

The product of the number of terms in set A and B = 61*21=1281

A is the correct answer.

Correct Option: C

Justification:

The series is:
11 + 0 = 1
22 + 1 = 5
33 + 2 = 29
44 + 3 = 259
55 + 4 = 3129.
∴ The wrong number is 219

Correct Option: D

Justification:

The given series: 3K12, 5O20, 7S28, _______, 11A44

The pattern followed here is:

The number of each term keeps increasing by 2 with respect to the first number of the previous term.

The second letter of each term is followed by its fourth successor as per the English alphabetical series.

The third number of each term keeps increasing by 8 with respect to the third number of the precious term.

Hence, the missing term is “9W36”

Solution: C

Explanation:

Now,

• 132 – 129 = 3
• 129 – 124 = 5
• 124 – 117 = 7
• 117 – 106 = 11
• 106 – 93 = 13

So, the sequence of differences is: 3, 5, 7, 11, 13

These are prime numbers in order: 3, 5, 7, 11, 13.

After 13, the next prime number is 17.

So,
93 – 17 = 76

Thus, X = 76.

The letters decrease by 1; the numbers are multiplied by 2.