Which journal was started by B. R. Ambedkar in 1920 to voice the grievances of the depressed classes?

The correct answer is A, Jyotirao Phule. He founded the Satyashodhak Samaj, or Truth Seekers Society, at Pune in 1873, the same year in which his book Gulamgiri appeared. The Samaj conducted marriages without Brahmin priests, opened schools for Shudra and ati-Shudra children and demanded that government service be opened to the lower castes; Phule received the title Mahatma in 1888. B is wrong because Harichand Thakur, often written Haridas, led the Namashudra and Matua movement in Bengal, not a Maharashtrian body. C is wrong because B. R. Ambedkar founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha in 1924, the Independent Labour Party in 1936 and the Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942, and was born in 1891, long after 1873. D is wrong because Guru Ghasidas founded the Satnami movement among the Chamars of Chhattisgarh in the early nineteenth century.

The correct answer is A, Pandit. The fourfold varna order of classical texts consists of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. Pandit is not a varna at all; it is a term of respect for a learned man, used in practice for certain Brahmin groups, so it describes an occupation and a status within a varna rather than one of the four divisions. B is wrong because Vaishya is the third varna, associated with trade, agriculture and cattle rearing. C is wrong because Shudra is the fourth varna, assigned service occupations, and the castes treated as untouchable were placed even outside this group. D is wrong because Kshatriya is the second varna, associated with rule and warfare. Remember that varna is the fourfold scheme of the texts while jati is the actual working unit of caste society.

The correct answer is D, Joothan. Omprakash Valmiki published Joothan in 1997, and it is the best known Dalit autobiography in Hindi; the title refers to the leftover food that upper-caste households gave to Dalit families, and the book records humiliation in school, in the village and at work. It is prescribed reading in school textbooks on caste and social reform, which is why teaching examinations ask it. A is wrong because Achhut is a general Hindi word for an untouchable person and not the title of this work. B is wrong because Tiraskar means rejection or contempt and names no autobiography by Valmiki. C is wrong because Pichhra simply means backward. Along with Joothan, remember Daya Pawar in Marathi and the writings of Bama in Tamil as classics of Dalit life writing.

The correct answer is A, the right to draw water from the Chavdar tank. In March 1927 Ambedkar led thousands of people to the Chavdar tank at Mahad in the Kolaba district of Bombay Presidency and drank its water, asserting that a public tank opened by a municipal resolution belonged to every citizen. Later in the same year, at a conference at Mahad, the Manusmriti was publicly burnt. B is wrong because the Kalaram temple entry satyagraha took place at Nashik in 1930. C is wrong because the roads around the Vaikom temple were the issue of the Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924 and 1925 in Travancore, led by T. K. Madhavan, K. Kelappan and E. V. Ramasamy. D is wrong because reserved seats came from the Poona Pact of 1932, a negotiated settlement and not a satyagraha.

The correct answer is B, Sree Narayana Guru. The SNDP Yogam was founded in 1903 in Travancore under his inspiration, with Dr Palpu as the organiser and the poet Kumaran Asan as its first secretary, to work for the Ezhava community through schools, temples open to all and the slogan of one caste, one religion and one God for man. He had already consecrated a Siva temple at Aruvippuram in 1888. A is wrong because Ayyankali organised the Pulayas, led the Villuvandi march of 1893 and the Kallumala agitation of 1915, and founded the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham. C is wrong because Vitthal Ramji Shinde founded the Depressed Classes Mission at Bombay in 1906. D is wrong because Mangoo Ram led the Ad Dharm movement in Punjab from 1926.