The concept of "Four Pillar State", free from district magistracy for India was suggested by
- A.Lala Lajpat Rai
- B.Ram Manohar Lohia
- C.Raja Ram Mohan Roy
- D.Subash Chandra Bose
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Ram Manohar Lohia. The socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia proposed the Chaukhamba Raj, a Four Pillar State, to spread power away from the centre.
Lohia argued that power in India was concentrated in the Union and the bureaucracy, especially in the district collector and magistrate. In his plan the State would rest on four equal pillars: the village, the district, the province and the centre, each with real powers and its own share of revenue. The district magistrate's office would be abolished and its work handed to elected bodies. The idea of decentralisation later found a place in the debate that led to the 73rd and 74th Amendments.
A is wrong because Lala Lajpat Rai was an Extremist leader of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio, not the author of this scheme. C is wrong because Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a nineteenth-century social reformer who founded the Brahmo Samaj. D is wrong because Subhas Chandra Bose led the Forward Bloc and the INA and favoured a strong central state for planned development.
Exam tip: Chaukhamba Raj, village, district, province and centre, is Lohia's idea.
Practice Questions
View allThe ruins of Hampi were brought to light by which of the following British officers of the East India Company ?
- A.Colonel Colin Mackenzie
- B.James Prinsep
- C.William Jones
- D.James Rennell
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In 1800 Colin Mackenzie, an engineer and surveyor of the East India Company, prepared the first survey map of the ruins of Hampi.
Read the full explanation →With reference to the Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman, consider the following statements:
1. The script of this inscription is Kharosthi and the language is Prakrit.
2. The inscription records the restoration of a reservoir called Sudarshana Lake.
3. It is an undated inscription.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.1 and 2 only
- D.1, 2 and 3
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The Junagadh rock inscription of the Shaka ruler Rudradaman I records how he restored the Sudarshana lake after a storm burst its dam.
Read the full explanation →In which one of the following years was the first telegraphic connection established between Europe and India ?
- A.1851
- B.1854
- C.1865
- D.1871
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In 1865 the overland line through the Ottoman Empire and Persia was joined to a submarine cable in the Persian Gulf, and messages could pass between Britain and India for the first time.
Read the full explanation →With reference to the Swadeshi Movement, consider the following statements :
1. The Swadeshi Movement had its genesis in the Anti-Partition movement, which was started to oppose the British decision to partition Bengal.
2. Aurobindo Ghosh was in favour of extending the movement to the rest of India and carrying it beyond the programme of just Swadeshi and Boycott to a full-fledged political mass struggle.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.Both 1 and 2
- D.Neither 1 nor 2
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The Swadeshi Movement grew out of the protest against the partition of Bengal, and the Extremists, Aurobindo Ghosh among them, wanted to turn it into a nationwide mass struggle.
Read the full explanation →The first cotton mill in British India which began production in 1856 was set up by
- A.Ghanshyam Das Birla
- B.Jamnalal Bajaj
- C.Ambalal Sarabhai
- D.C. N. Davar
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Cowasjee Nanabhoy Davar, a Parsi businessman of Bombay, set up the Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company, which began production in 1856 and is regarded as India's first modern cotton mill.
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