Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 48

The correct answer is D, Salt tax. The Dandi March of 1930 was a protest against the British monopoly on salt and the tax on it, under which no Indian was allowed to make or sell salt freely.

Gandhi set out from the Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad on 12 March 1930 with 78 companions and walked about 385 km to the coastal village of Dandi in Gujarat, reaching it on 5 April. On the morning of 6 April he picked up a lump of natural salt from the sea shore and broke the salt law, which began the Civil Disobedience Movement. Salt was chosen because the tax fell on rich and poor alike, so the protest could unite the whole country.

A is wrong: indigo cultivation was the grievance behind the Champaran Satyagraha of 1917. B is wrong: textile trade rules were never the target of this march. C is wrong: land revenue was the issue in the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928, led by Vallabhbhai Patel.

Exam tip: Dandi March — began 12 March 1930, about 385 km on foot, salt law broken on 6 April 1930.

The correct answer is D, He was the first recipient of the Padma Shree Award. C. Rajagopalachari was one of the first three recipients of the Bharat Ratna in 1954, along with C. V. Raman and S. Radhakrishnan, not of the Padma Shri, so this statement is not true. Known as Rajaji, he took charge in 1948 as the last Governor General of India and the only Indian to hold that post, after Lord Mountbatten left. He had earlier been Premier of the Madras Presidency, Governor of West Bengal, Union Home Minister and Chief Minister of Madras State. A is true, since no other Indian held the office. B is true, because he founded the Swatantra Party in 1959 to oppose Nehru's policy of state control and land ceilings. C is true, as he was a close associate of Gandhi and a senior Congress leader. Exam tip: the first Bharat Ratna went to Rajaji, Raman and Radhakrishnan in 1954.

The correct answer is B, Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Revolutionaries from the United Provinces, Punjab and elsewhere met at the ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla in September 1928 and reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, adding socialism to its aim of independence; Chandra Shekhar Azad became its commander in chief. Option A is wrong because Kanpur is where the earlier HRA was founded in 1924. Option C is wrong because Lahore is the city of the Saunders action, the Lahore Conspiracy Case and the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Option D is wrong because Chittagong is associated with the armoury raid led by Surya Sen in 1930. The insertion of the word socialist in the name is the point examiners test.

The correct answer is B, Cholas. Puhar, also called Kaveripattinam, was the great port of the early Cholas of the Sangam age.

The town stood where the Kaveri meets the Bay of Bengal, and Karikala, the best known early Chola ruler, is credited with developing it. Sangam poetry and the Tamil epic Silappadikaram describe its warehouses, its separate quarter for foreign merchants and its trade in pepper, pearls and fine cloth with Rome and South East Asia. Uraiyur was the inland capital of the early Cholas while Puhar served as the coastal capital and port.

A is wrong: the Cheras of the Kerala coast used Muziris and Tondi as their ports. C is wrong: the Pandyas ruled from Madurai and their port was Korkai, famous for pearls. D is wrong: the Vakatakas ruled in the Deccan and had no port on this coast.

Exam tip: pair them up, Chola with Puhar and Uraiyur, Chera with Muziris and Vanji, Pandya with Korkai and Madurai.

The correct answer is B, Indian Councils Act, 1909. The Morley-Minto Reforms created separate electorates in which Muslim members were elected only by Muslim voters, and for that reason Lord Minto is remembered as the father of communal electorates in India. Option A is wrong because the Act of 1892 had only an indirect and limited system of nomination through local bodies, universities and chambers of commerce, with no communal electorate. Option C is wrong because the Act of 1919 did not introduce the device but extended it to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. Option D is wrong because the Act of 1935 extended it still further to the depressed classes, women and labour, following the Communal Award of 1932 and the Poona Pact. So 1909 introduced, 1919 extended and 1935 extended again: that progression is itself a favourite question.

The correct answer is C, Razia Sultana. Razia was the only woman to sit on the throne of Delhi, so she was both the first and the last woman ruler of the Sultanate. She was the daughter of Iltutmish, who chose her over his sons, and she ruled from 1236 to 1240. She held court unveiled, rode an elephant and took the title Jalalat-ud-din Razia. The Turkish nobles of the Chalisa resented a woman on the throne, and she was overthrown and killed in 1240. A is wrong because Chand Bibi was a regent of Ahmednagar and Bijapur in the Deccan in the sixteenth century, not a Delhi sultan. B is wrong because Nur Jahan was the wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir and wielded influence through him, but never ruled as sovereign. D is wrong because Rani Durgavati ruled Gondwana and fought Akbar’s general Asaf Khan in 1564. Exam tip: remember the pair - Iltutmish named his daughter Razia, who ruled Delhi from 1236 to 1240.

The correct answer is A, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt. The two threw low-intensity bombs into the empty benches of the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 while the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill were being pushed through, shouted slogans, threw leaflets and refused to escape, so that the trial could be used to explain their ideas. Option B is wrong because Sukhdev was a key organiser of the HSRA and was hanged with Bhagat Singh, but he was not in the Assembly that day. Option C is wrong because Chandra Shekhar Azad never allowed himself to be arrested and Rajguru took part in the Saunders action. Option D is wrong because Surya Sen and Kalpana Dutta belonged to the Chittagong group in Bengal. The slogan that the deaf must be made to hear is linked with this action.

The correct answer is A, Badruddin Tyabji. The Bombay Presidency Association was founded in 1885 by Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta and Kashinath Trimbak Telang, three lawyers of Bombay who are often called the city's triumvirate.

The body was formed to press Indian political demands before the British Parliament, especially after the anger caused by the Ilbert Bill, and it came up in the very year the Indian National Congress was founded. Badruddin Tyabji later became the third president of the Congress at its Madras session in 1887, the first Muslim to hold that office.

Option B, Behramji M Malabari, was a social reformer and journalist who campaigned against child marriage. Option C, AK Fazlul Haq, was a Bengal leader who moved the Lahore Resolution in 1940. Option D, Zakir Husain, was the third President of India.

Exam tip: Bombay triumvirate — Tyabji, Mehta and Telang; Bombay Presidency Association 1885.

The correct answer is C, the Governor-General. The Act of 1935 divided powers into a Federal List, a Provincial List and a Concurrent List, and left residuary subjects, those appearing in none of the three lists, to the discretion of the Governor-General, that is the Viceroy. Option A is wrong because the Federal Legislature could legislate only on the Federal List and, with the Provincial legislatures, on the Concurrent List. Option B is wrong because the provinces were confined to the Provincial and Concurrent Lists. Option D is wrong because the Federal Court, established in 1937, interpreted the Act and resolved disputes between the federation and its units; it did not hold legislative power. Compare this with our Constitution, where residuary powers belong to Parliament under Article 248, and the contrast becomes an easy mark in the exam.

The correct answer is A, Nizam Shahis : Bijapur, which is the mismatched pair. The Nizam Shahis ruled from Ahmadnagar, founded by Malik Ahmad in 1490, while Bijapur belonged to the Adil Shahis of Yusuf Adil Shah. All five Deccan Sultanates grew out of the break-up of the Bahmani kingdom between about 1490 and 1518, and four of them joined hands to crush Vijayanagara at the battle of Talikota in 1565. Bijapur is remembered for the Gol Gumbaz, Golconda for its fort and diamonds, and Ahmadnagar for Chand Bibi’s defence against the Mughals. Option B is a correct pair, because the Barid Shahis held Bidar, the last Bahmani capital. Option C is a correct pair, because the Qutb Shahis of Quli Qutb Shah ruled Golconda and later founded Hyderabad. Option D is a correct pair, because the Imad Shahis held Berar, the first province to break away and the first to be annexed by Ahmadnagar. Exam tip: Ahmadnagar Nizam Shahi, Bijapur Adil Shahi, Golconda Qutb Shahi, Bidar Barid Shahi, Berar Imad Shahi.

The correct answer is A, Surya Sen. A schoolteacher known as Masterda, Surya Sen led the Indian Republican Army in a raid on the armoury at Chittagong in April 1930, hoisted the national flag and declared a provisional government before the group took to the hills. He was captured in 1933 and hanged in 1934, and Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Dutta came from the same circle. Option B is wrong because Pulin Behari Das led the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti in the first decade of the century. Option C is wrong because Barindra Kumar Ghosh belonged to the Maniktala group of 1908 and was convicted in the Alipore Conspiracy Case. Option D is wrong because Jatindra Nath Das died in Lahore jail in 1929 after a hunger strike of sixty-three days. Fix the pair Chittagong and Surya Sen, 1930.

The correct answer is C, Bronze/Copper. Muhammad bin Tughlaq issued token coins of bronze and copper in 1329-30 that were to pass at the value of the silver tanka. The idea itself was sound and had worked in China and Persia, but the sultan did not keep the minting of these coins in state hands. Goldsmiths across the empire forged them in their homes, the treasury was flooded with fake coins, and traders refused to accept them. The sultan had to withdraw the issue and exchange the token coins for silver, which drained the treasury. A is wrong because Rupak was a coin name of the ancient period, not of this experiment. B is wrong because the rupee was introduced much later by Sher Shah Suri as a silver coin. D is wrong because the tanka was the standard silver coin whose value the token coins were meant to carry. Exam tip: link the pair - Muhammad bin Tughlaq and the failed bronze token currency of 1329.

The correct answer is A, Lord Canning and the Indian Councils Act of 1861. Canning introduced the portfolio system, under which each member of the Viceroy's council was placed in charge of one or more departments of government and could issue final orders on departmental matters; the Act of 1861 gave this arrangement statutory recognition and is also remembered for beginning the association of Indians with law making and for giving the Viceroy the power to issue ordinances. Option B is wrong because the Act of 1909 is the Act of separate electorates and of the first Indian in the Viceroy's Executive Council. Option C is wrong because the Act of 1919 is the Act of dyarchy, a much later development. Option D is wrong because Lord Ripon is linked with local self-government in 1882 and the Act of 1892 with budget discussion, not with portfolios.

The correct answer is A, Chalukya. Vikramaditya VI ruled the Western Chalukya kingdom of Kalyani, and his court poet Bilhana wrote the Vikramankadevacharita on his life. Vikramaditya VI reigned from about 1076 to 1126 CE from Kalyani in present-day Karnataka, and he started the Chalukya-Vikrama era, a new reckoning counted from his accession, which very few Indian rulers ever did. Another scholar of his court was Vijnaneshwara, who wrote the Mitakshara, the best known commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti and a key text of Hindu law. B is wrong because the Pallavas ruled from Kanchi and had faded away by the tenth century. C is wrong because the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta were displaced by these very Chalukyas in 973 CE. D is wrong because the Western Gangas ruled Talakad in southern Karnataka and are remembered for Shravanabelagola, not for Bilhana. Exam tip: Bilhana wrote Vikramankadevacharita for Vikramaditya VI, and Vijnaneshwara wrote the Mitakshara at the same court.

The correct answer is B, Sachindra Nath Sanyal. Sanyal, a founder of the Hindustan Republican Association and the author of its manifesto The Revolutionary, wrote Bandi Jivan, an account of prison life and revolutionary faith that circulated widely among the youth of the 1920s. Option A is wrong because Ram Prasad Bismil is remembered for his autobiography written in the shadow of the gallows and for the poetry associated with his name, not for Bandi Jivan. Option C is wrong because Bhagat Singh wrote the essay Why I Am an Atheist and kept a famous jail notebook. Option D is wrong because Ashfaqullah Khan, hanged in the Kakori case in 1927, left letters and verses rather than a memoir of this kind. Author and book pairs from this period are a steady source of one-mark questions.

The correct answer is C, Ibrahim Lodi. Khatoli, fought in 1517 near Bundi in present-day Rajasthan, was the first clash between Rana Sanga of Mewar and Ibrahim Lodi, who had just succeeded to the throne of Delhi, and the Rajputs won. Rana Sanga, or Rana Sangram Singh, ruled Mewar from 1509 to 1528 and made it the strongest Rajput power of its time, defeating the Lodis again at Dholpur in 1518 and the Malwa forces at Gagron in 1519. His career ended at Khanwa in 1527, where Babur's guns defeated him. A is wrong because Sikandar Lodi died in 1517 before the battle and had made peace with the Rajputs. B is wrong because Babur reached India only in 1526. D is wrong because Mahmud Lodi, Ibrahim's brother, fought later at Ghaghra in 1529. Exam tip: Rana Sanga's run goes Khatoli 1517, Dholpur 1518, Gagron 1519 and Khanwa 1527.

The correct answer is C, Government of India Act, 1935. The Act of 1935 ended dyarchy in the provinces, granted provincial autonomy and placed the whole provincial administration under ministers answerable to elected legislatures. Dyarchy had been brought in by the Government of India Act of 1919, which split provincial subjects into transferred subjects run by Indian ministers and reserved subjects kept with the Governor. The 1935 Act scrapped that split, widened the franchise to about one-sixth of the adult population, provided for a federation with a bicameral central legislature, created the Federal Court, and introduced dyarchy at the Centre instead. The elections held under it in 1937 brought Congress ministries to power in most provinces. A is wrong because the Charter Act of 1793 mainly renewed the Company’s trading rights. B is wrong because the 1919 Act began dyarchy rather than ending it. D is wrong because Pitt’s India Act of 1784 set up the Board of Control in London. Exam tip: 1919 brought dyarchy to the provinces, 1935 removed it there and shifted it to the Centre.

The correct answer is D, Chin Khilich Khan. Chin Qilich Khan, better remembered by his title Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, was a Mughal noble appointed governor of the Deccan by Muhammad Shah. Tired of court intrigue at Delhi, he returned to the south, defeated his rival Mubariz Khan at Shakar Kheda in 1724 and from then on ruled the Deccan as an independent prince in all but name, founding the Asaf Jahi or Nizam dynasty of Hyderabad that lasted until 1948. He kept the forms of Mughal loyalty, struck coins in the emperor’s name, yet appointed his own officers and made war and peace on his own. Option A is wrong because Asaf Jah II, that is Nizam Ali Khan, was a later ruler of the same line, not its founder. Option B is wrong because Bahadur Shah was the Mughal emperor who ruled from 1707 to 1712. Option C is wrong because Alivardi Khan made himself independent in Bengal, not Hyderabad. Exam tip: Hyderabad 1724 Chin Qilich Khan, Awadh 1722 Saadat Khan, Bengal Murshid Quli Khan.

The correct answer is B, Hindustan Republican Association. On 9 August 1925 members of the Hindustan Republican Association stopped the 8 Down train near Kakori in Uttar Pradesh and took the government treasury bags, hoping to fund an armed struggle and buy weapons. Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri were hanged for it in December 1927, and Chandrashekhar Azad escaped arrest. The association had been founded in 1924 by Bismil, Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, and was renamed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association in 1928. A is wrong because the Ghadar Party was formed in 1913 by Indians in the United States. C is wrong because the Indian National Army was raised in 1942 and led by Subhas Chandra Bose from 1943. D is wrong because the Congress followed constitutional and non-violent methods. Exam tip: Kakori 1925 and the Lahore conspiracy case 1929 both belong to this group of revolutionaries.

The correct answer is A, 1928. A committee headed by Motilal Nehru, with eight other members, drafted a constitution for India in 1928, and its report is known as the Nehru Report.

The committee was set up by the All Parties Conference, which met in reply to the Simon Commission; that commission had no Indian member and was greeted with the slogan 'Simon, go back'. The report asked for dominion status rather than complete independence, together with a list of fundamental rights, joint electorates and responsible government at the centre. Younger leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose rejected dominion status, and in 1929 the Congress adopted Purna Swaraj instead.

Option B, 1925, is the year of the Commonwealth of India Bill. Option C, 1930, is the year of the Dandi March and the first Round Table Conference. Option D, 1950, is when the Constitution of India came into force.

Exam tip: Simon Commission 1927, Nehru Report 1928, Purna Swaraj 1929.