Consider the following international events : 1. Signing of the Simla Agreement 2. Agra Summit between India and Pakistan 3. Signing of the SAARC Charter at the First SAARC Summit 4. India's first nuclear test Which one of the following is the correct chronological order of the above events ?
- A.1, 3, 4, 2
- B.4, 1, 3, 2
- C.1, 4, 3, 2
- D.4, 1, 2, 3
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, 1, 4, 3, 2. The events fall in 1972, 1974, 1985 and 2001 in that order, which is also UPSC's official key.
The Simla Agreement was signed on 2 July 1972 by Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the 1971 war; it turned the ceasefire line in Kashmir into the Line of Control. India's first nuclear test, code-named Smiling Buddha, was held at Pokhran on 18 May 1974. The SAARC Charter was signed at the first summit in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. The Agra Summit between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf took place in July 2001 and ended without a joint declaration.
A is wrong: it puts the 1985 SAARC Charter before the 1974 test.
B is wrong: it starts with the 1974 test, but the Simla Agreement came two years earlier.
D is wrong: it begins with the test and also places the 2001 Agra Summit before the 1985 SAARC Charter.
Exam tip: Simla 1972, Pokhran-I 1974, SAARC Dhaka 1985, Lahore bus 1999, Agra 2001.
Practice Questions
View allWith reference to the difference between the culture of Rigvedic Aryans and Indus Valley people, which of the following statements is/are correct ?
1. Rigvedic Aryans used the coat of mail and helmet in warfare whereas the people of Indus Valley Civilization did not leave any evidence of using them.
2. Rigvedic Aryans knew gold, silver and copper whereas Indus Valley people knew only copper and iron.
3. Rigvedic Aryans had domesticated the horse whereas there is no evidence of Indus Valley people having been aware of this animal.
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- A.1 only
- B.2 and 3 only
- C.1 and 3 only
- D.1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. The Rigveda describes armour and the horse as central to Aryan life, while the Harappan remains show neither armour nor clear use of the horse; but the Harappans did not know iron.
Statement 1 is correct: the Rigveda mentions the varman (coat of mail) and helmet, and the Aryans fought from horse-drawn chariots, whereas no defensive armour has been found at Harappan sites. Statement 3 is correct in the sense the question intends: the horse was vital to the Rigvedic people, but it does not appear on Harappan seals and there is no firm evidence that the Harappans used it. Statement 2 is wrong: the Indus people worked gold, silver, copper, bronze and lead, but not iron, which came into use in India only around 1000 BCE.
A is wrong because statement 3 is also correct.
B is wrong because statement 2 is false.
D is wrong because the Harappans knew no iron.
Exam tip: Harappans = Bronze Age, no iron, horse not on seals; Rigvedic Aryans = horse, chariot and armour.
With reference to Mughal India, what is/are difference/differences between Jagirdar and Zamindar?
1. Jagirdars were holders of land assignments in lieu of judicial and police duties, whereas Zamindars were holders of revenue rights without obligation to perform any duty other than revenue collection.
2. Land assignments to Jagirdars were hereditary and revenue rights of Zamindars were not hereditary.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.Both 1 and 2
- D.Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, Neither 1 nor 2. A jagir was a temporary, transferable revenue assignment given mainly in lieu of salary for military service, while zamindari rights were hereditary.
Under the mansabdari system, a mansabdar was paid either in cash or through a jagir, the right to collect revenue from a tract of land equal to his salary. The jagir was tied to his military rank, was transferred every few years and was not hereditary, so statement 1 is wrong about judicial and police duties being its basis. Zamindars held hereditary rights over a share of the produce and also had duties beyond revenue collection, such as keeping order and supplying troops to the state. So statement 2 has the hereditary part reversed.
A is wrong because statement 1 misstates both the jagir and the zamindar's role.
B is wrong because jagirs, not zamindari rights, were non-hereditary.
C is wrong because both statements are incorrect.
Exam tip: jagir = salary for military rank, transferable; zamindari = hereditary local right.
The last session of the Indian National Congress before independence was held in 1946 at
- A.Ramgarh
- B.Meerut
- C.Jaipur
- D.Tripuri
Show answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Meerut. The Meerut session of November 1946, with Acharya J. B. Kripalani in the chair, was the last session of the Congress held before 15 August 1947. A is wrong because the Ramgarh session of 1940, presided over by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was the last session before the Quit India years; no session could be held between 1940 and 1946, which is why Azad remained president for so long. C is wrong because Jaipur hosted the first session of independent India, in 1948, under Pattabhi Sitaramayya. D is wrong because Tripuri hosted the session of 1939, where Subhas Chandra Bose was re-elected and from which he soon resigned. Azad therefore held the office for the longest unbroken stretch in the Congress history, from 1940 to 1946, and Kripalani was president at the moment of the transfer of power, which is why his name appears in questions on the last Congress president of British India.
The Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the Muslim League was signed at the Congress session of
- A.1909
- B.1916
- C.1919
- D.1923
Show answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, 1916. At the Lucknow session of December 1916, presided over by Ambica Charan Mazumdar, the moderates and the extremists were reunited and the Congress and the Muslim League agreed on a joint scheme of political reform, accepting separate electorates for Muslims; that agreement is the Lucknow Pact. A is wrong because 1909 is the year of the Morley-Minto reforms, which introduced separate electorates by law and are often confused with the pact that later accepted them. C is wrong because 1919 is the year of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms and of the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh, and the Congress session that year met at Amritsar. D is wrong because 1923 saw the Delhi special session under Abul Kalam Azad, held to settle the dispute over contesting the legislative elections.
Jana Gana Mana was sung for the first time at the Calcutta session of the Congress held in which year?
- A.1896
- B.1906
- C.1911
- D.1917
Show answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, 1911. Jana Gana Mana, composed by Rabindranath Tagore, was sung for the first time on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Congress, and the first stanza was adopted as the national anthem by the Constituent Assembly on 24 January 1950. A is wrong because it was at the Calcutta session of 1896, under Rahimtulla Sayani, that Tagore sang Vande Mataram for the first time at a Congress gathering. B is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1906 under Dadabhai Naoroji is remembered for the first demand for swaraj. D is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1917 is remembered for Annie Besant becoming the first woman president of the Congress, not for the anthem. Candidates should also remember that the song was sung on the second day of that session and that the Constituent Assembly adopted Vande Mataram as the national song on the same day it adopted the anthem.