DAY – 73 : Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2026 : Modern India Full Syllabus

Answer: (c)

Explanation

The Indian National Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed a clear ideological division between the Moderates and the Extremists (Militant Nationalists).

• Raj Narain Bose (Bengal): Often referred to as the “Grandfather of Indian Nationalism”, he was a prominent Brahmo Samaj leader who advocated for national education, swadeshi goods, and physical culture. He founded the Society for the Promotion of National Feeling and was a major inspiration behind the Hindu Mela, a platform designed to foster a fierce spirit of self-reliance and militant patriotism among the youth.

• Ashwini Kumar Dutt (Bengal): A stellar educationist and philanthropist, he founded the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti in Barisal during the Anti-Partition Movement. Through this organization, he successfully mobilized the masses, promoted swadeshi goods, and organized volunteer networks. His fiery rhetoric against British submissiveness placed him firmly in the extremist/militant nationalist camp.
• Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar (Maharashtra): He was a powerful Marathi writer and nationalist who, along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, co-founded the New English School (1880) and the Deccan Education Society (1884) in Pune. Through his influential journal Nibandhamala, he vigorously defended Indian culture against colonial critiques and inspired a militant sense of national pride.

Answer: (a)

Explanation

The Defence of India Act, 1915 (also known as the Defence of India Criminal Law Amendment Act) was an emergency criminal law enacted during the First World War to grant the state sweeping powers of preventive detention, censorship, and speedy trials.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The Act was enacted during the First World War (in March 1915) to manage immediate wartime threats, not in its aftermath. Its immediate trigger was the rising threat of the pan-Indian Ghadar mutiny.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Unlike some earlier controversial legislations (like the original formulation of the Ilbert Bill), the Defence of India Act, 1915 did not make a distinction between European and Indian subjects. It allowed the government to try any person—whether British, European, or Indian—under its emergency provisions if they were suspected of jeopardizing public safety or assisting the enemy.
• Statement 3 is correct: The Act was specifically framed to smash the Ghadar Movement. It allowed for the creation of special tribunals comprising three commissioners, whose decisions were final and could not be appealed in a high court. This judicial apparatus was first put to use during the First Lahore Conspiracy Trial (April 1915) to try and convict Ghadarites, leading to execution orders for leaders like Kartar Singh Sarabha.

Answer: (a)

Explanation

Sir Charles Wood’s Despatch of 1854, often called the “Magna Carta of English Education in India,” outlined a comprehensive, long-term plan for the spread of education across British India.

• Point 1 is incorrect: While Wood’s Despatch strongly recommended the vernacular languages as the medium of instruction at the primary and school levels (and English for higher education), it flatly rejected the promotion of ancient Indian texts. Charles Wood explicitly stated that Oriental culture and literature were deeply flawed and unscientific. The dispatch aimed strictly to inculcate Western knowledge, science, and philosophy.
• Point 2 is correct: One of the main practical aims of the Despatch was to impart vocational and practical skills to the Indian population. The colonial administration wanted to create a class of Indians who could supply cheap, skilled labor for administrative tasks and consume British manufactured goods by modernizing their lifestyle and tastes.
• Point 3 is correct: The Despatch argued that Western education would raise the moral character of Indians, making them more truthful, disciplined, and reliable. From a colonial standpoint, this moral transformation was viewed as necessary to produce trustworthy civil servants for the Company’s expanding administrative machinery.
• Point 4 is incorrect: The Despatch did not aim at the privatization of the education system. On the contrary, it marked the first time the British state assumed direct responsibility for public education on a massive scale. It mandated the creation of a dedicated Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in every province and the establishment of universities modeled on the University of London. While it did introduce a grants-in-aid system to encourage private enterprise and local schools, this was designed to supplement a highly state-supervised and state-controlled educational hierarchy, not to privatize it.

Following the recommendations of the Despatch, rapid structural changes occurred in British India:

1. Departments of Public Instruction (DPI) were set up in all major provinces by 1855.
2. Three Universities were established in 1857 at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.

Answer: (d)

Explanation

The “White Paper on Constitutional Reforms” published by the British Government in March 1933 was a pivotal document that served as the immediate blueprint for the Government of India Act, 1935.

The structural lineage of this White Paper is directly traced back to the work of the Simon Commission:

1. The Indian Statutory Commission (popularly known as the Simon Commission, appointed in 1927) submitted its report in 1930.
2. To consider the recommendations made in the Simon Commission’s report and to deliberate on future constitutional advancement, the British Government convened three Round Table Conferences (1930–1932) in London involving British and Indian political representatives.
3. Based on the consensus, reports, and recommendations emanating from the Simon Commission and these subsequent Round Table Conferences, the British Government prepared the White Paper in 1933.
4. This White Paper was then submitted to a Joint Select Committee of the British Parliament, chaired by Lord Linlithgow. The committee’s recommendations eventually culminated in the drafting and passage of the Government of India Act, 1935.

Answer: (c)

Explanation

The Gandhi-Irwin Pact (signed on March 5, 1931), also termed the Delhi Pact, was a political agreement signed before the Second Round Table Conference between Mahatma Gandhi, representing the Indian National Congress, and Lord Irwin, the British Viceroy. While the Pact led to the suspension of the Civil Disobedience Movement, the British administration accepted only a few select demands of the Congress while firmly rejecting others.

• Point 1 is incorrect: The Congress strongly demanded a public inquiry into the brutal police excesses committed during the suppression of the Civil Disobedience Movement. However, Lord Irwin flatly refused this demand, and Gandhi eventually conceded this point to reach an agreement.
• Point 2 is correct: The British government agreed to allow the right to peaceful, non-aggressive, and non-political picketing of foreign cloth and liquor shops. This was a major concession for the nationalist movement. Hence, point 2 is correct.
• Point 3 is incorrect: The government allowed the manufacturing of salt in coastal villages, but strictly for personal consumption or domestic use, not for commercial sale or trade. The absolute right to make salt for commercial purposes was denied to preserve the government’s fiscal monopoly on the salt tax.

Answer: (c)

Explanation

The system of appointing “Residents” was a crucial political instrument used by the East India Company to establish indirect rule over the Indian princely states, particularly after the Battle of Buxar (1764) and through the expansion of Lord Wellesley’s Subsidiary Alliance system.

• Point 1 is incorrect: The Residents were not primarily responsible for provincial revenue collection. In the territories directly annexed by the British (the Provinces), revenue administration was managed by Company officials like Collectors, Board of Revenue members, or local agrarian intermediaries depending on the settlement system (Permanent, Ryotwari, or Mahalwari). In the princely states, the local ruler retained control over internal tax and revenue collection.
• Point 2 is incorrect: Academic management of madrasas, pathsalaas, or missionary schools did not fall under the purview of the Resident. Educational initiatives were handled by organizations like the Calcutta Madrasa (founded by Warren Hastings), the Asiatic Society, Christian missionary boards, or later, the state-led Departments of Public Instruction.
• Point 3 is correct: According to the official mandate of the East India Company, Residents were political and commercial agents stationed directly inside the courts of the princely states. Their primary duties were to serve the political and commercial interests of the Company, ensure that the ruler did not form alliances with other European powers or rival Indian states, and secure trade privileges. Over time, they transcended this advisory role and began interfering heavily in the internal administrative, succession, and day-to-day affairs of the native states.

Answer: (c)

Explanation

During the Indian national movement, the British colonial administration instituted several high-profile political trials, known as conspiracy cases, to suppress revolutionary networks. The revolutionaries listed are accurately linked to these specific judicial trials.

• Pair 1 is correctly matched: The Howrah-Shibpur Conspiracy Case (1910) was launched following the assassination of DSP Shamsul Alam by revolutionary networks in Bengal. Jatindranath Mukherjee (popularly known as Bagha Jatin), along with dozens of other revolutionaries associated with the Anushilan Samiti and the Jugantar group, was arrested and tried for attempting to wage war against the King-Emperor and tampering with the loyalty of Indian soldiers.
• Pair 2 is correctly matched: The Second Lahore Conspiracy Case (1929–1930) was initiated after the assassination of British police official John Saunders in Lahore (to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai) and the assembly bombing. Shivaram Hari Rajguru, along with Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev Thapar, was tried, convicted, and subsequently executed on March 23, 1931, under this case.
• Pair 3 is correctly matched: The Delhi Conspiracy Case (1912–1915), also known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy Case, was launched following the assassination attempt on the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, during his official entry into Delhi. Master Amir Chand, a prominent nationalist intellectual and organizer from Delhi, was arrested alongside Bhai Balmukund, Avadh Behari, and Basanta Kumar Biswas. They were convicted and sentenced to death for their central roles in the conspiracy orchestrated by Rash Behari Bose.

Answer: (a)

Explanation

The evolution of the Civil Services in India during the colonial period involved various institutional setups, changing examination venues, and numerous statutory commissions.

• Statement 1 is correct: Fort William College was established at Calcutta (now Kolkata) by the Governor-General Lord Wellesley in July 1800. Its primary purpose was to train young British civil servants of the East India Company in Indian languages, laws, customs, and geography to ensure efficient administrative governance.
• Statement 2 is correct: Initially, the Indian Civil Service (ICS) competitive examinations were held exclusively in London, creating a massive barrier for Indian aspirants. Following the recommendations of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (1919), the examination was held simultaneously in London and India (specifically at Allahabad) for the very first time in 1922. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: The Aitchison Commission (officially the Public Service Commission of 1886) was appointed by Lord Dufferin, not Lord Reading. Headed by Sir Charles Umpherston Aitchison, the commission was set up to devise a scheme to do justice to the claims of Indians for higher employment in the public service. It recommended dropping the terms “covenanted” and “uncovenanted” and dividing the civil services into three distinct tiers: Imperial, Provincial, and Subordinate.

Answer: (c)

Explanation

The Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (also known as Nai Talim or Buniyadi Shiksha) was a revolutionary educational framework formulated under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi to reconstruct the Indian education system based on national needs and self-reliance.

• Statement 1 is correct: In July 1937, Mahatma Gandhi published a series of articles in his weekly journal, Harijan, expressing his deep dissatisfaction with the prevailing colonial, English-dominated education system. These articles ignited a national debate and directly led to the organizing of the All India National Education Conference at Wardha on October 22–23, 1937.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The Wardha Educational Conference of 1937 was presided over and chaired by Mahatma Gandhi himself, not Jawaharlal Nehru. Following the conference, a committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr. Zakir Hussain (who later became the President of India) to formulate a detailed syllabus based on the resolutions passed at the conference.
• Statement 3 is correct: The conference passed several landmark resolutions that formed the core of the Wardha Scheme. Foremost among these was the recommendation to provide free and compulsory education on a nationwide scale for a duration of seven years (covering children aged 7 to 14 years).

Answer: (b)

Explanation

The Individual Satyagraha was launched by Mahatma Gandhi in October 1940 as a measured, non-violent protest against the British colonial government’s unilateral decision to drag India into the Second World War without the consent of its people. Gandhi carefully selected individual satyagrahis to maintain strict discipline and avoid a massive, uncontrollable upheaval while the war was active.

The campaign commenced on October 17, 1940. Gandhi hand-picked the satyagrahis to offer resistance in a specific, sequential order during the first week:

1. Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1): He was chosen by Gandhi as the first Individual Satyagrahis. On October 17, 1940, he inaugurated the campaign at Paunar village near Wardha by making an anti-war speech and was promptly arrested.
2. Jawaharlal Nehru (2): He was selected as the second Individual Satyagrahi. He was scheduled to offer satyagraha on October 21, 1940, but was arrested by the British authorities on October 31 at Cheoki railway station before he could formally complete his public layout.
3. Brahma Datt (3): He was a dedicated inmate of Gandhi’s ashram and was chosen as the third Individual Satyagrahi to offer resistance right after Nehru within that inaugural week.

• Leader 4 is incorrect: While C. Rajagopalachari (4) was not part of the exclusive trio chosen to initiate the movement during its very first week in October 1940.

Correct Answer: (c)

Explanation:

The passage highlights that public policy treats water as an isolated resource for supply augmentation rather than an integral part of the natural ecosystem. By emphasizing the irony of viewing water as divorced from its sources, the author implies that wetlands must be looked at comprehensively as ecological systems rather than mere supply channels.

This directly supports option (c). Option (a) and (d) introduce outside concepts not mentioned, while option (b) contradicts the critique of focusing solely on engineering supply.

Correct Answer: (a)

Explanation: To find out if any 5-digit number formed by these digits is prime, we can check its divisibility.

The sum of the digits for any arrangement of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15. Since the sum of the digits is 15, which is divisible by 3, every single number formed by these digits will be a multiple of 3.

A number greater than 3 that is a multiple of 3 cannot be a prime number. Therefore, zero prime numbers can be formed.

Correct Answer: (c)

Explanation:

Assume that each of these equal expressions equates to a constant value, let’s say k.

This gives the values: p = k + 2016, q = k – 2017, r = k + 2018, and s = k – 2019. To determine which is the largest, we look at what is being added or subtracted from k.

Since 2018 is the largest value added to k, r must be the largest natural number.

Correct Answer: (c)

Explanation:

The sequence follows alternating alphabetical patterns:

• a b a b a
• b c b c b
• c d c d c
• d e d e d

Therefore, the missing letters are:

• first blank = a
• second blank = c
• third blank = c
• fourth blank = e

Hence, the correct answer is option (c).

Correct Answer: (d)

Explanation:

Let us analyze the natural numbers strictly between 10 and 20, which are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.

Using Statement S1 alone: The prime numbers in this range are 11, 13, 17, and 19. Because there are multiple possibilities, S1 alone cannot pinpoint a unique value for n.

Using Statement S2 alone: The numbers that leave a remainder of 1 when divided by 4 are 13 (since 4 x 3 + 1 = 13) and 17 (since 4 x 4 + 1 = 17). Because there are two possibilities, S2 alone cannot pinpoint a unique value for n.

Combining S1 and S2 together: We look for numbers that are both prime and leave a remainder of 1 when divided by 4. Comparing the two filtered lists, both 13 and 17 satisfy both conditions simultaneously. Because we still have two valid values instead of a single, unique natural number, the question cannot be answered uniquely even with both statements.

Therefore, S1 and S2 together are not sufficient to answer the Question.