Who was Governor General of India when the Nawab of Awadh was forced to give over half of his territory to the East India Company in 1801?
- A.Richard Wellesley
- B.Warren Hastings
- C.Charles Cornwallis
- D.Robert Clive
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Richard Wellesley. Lord Richard Wellesley was Governor-General from 1798 to 1805, and in 1801 he forced Nawab Saadat Ali Khan of Awadh to hand over about half of his kingdom to the Company. The Nawab had failed to pay the rising cost of the British troops kept in his state, and Wellesley took rich lands such as Rohilkhand and the lower Doab in payment. This was a classic use of Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance, under which an Indian ruler paid for British troops, accepted a British Resident and could make no treaty without the Company's approval. Hyderabad was the first state to accept it, in 1798. Option B is wrong because Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal, had left India in 1785. Option C is wrong because Cornwallis, known for the Permanent Settlement of 1793, had left by then; he returned only briefly in 1805. Option D is wrong because Robert Clive, the victor of Plassey, died in 1774. Exam tip: Subsidiary Alliance means Wellesley; Awadh lost half its land in 1801 and was annexed by Dalhousie in 1856.
Practice Questions
View allThe Ryotwari experiment in land revenue was started by
- A.Henry Dundas
- B.Alexander Reed
- C.David Ricardo
- D.Mountstuart Elphinstone
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Captain Alexander Read (the name is also spelt Reed) began the Ryotwari experiment in 1792 in the Baramahal region, which the Company had taken from Tipu Sultan, with Thomas Munro as one of his assistants.
Read the full explanation →Who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts?
- A.Piyadassi
- B.Colin Mackenzie
- C.Alexander Cunningham
- D.James Prinsep
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Prinsep, an official of the East India Company's mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837 and also made the key breakthrough in reading Kharoshthi.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the Justice Party is not correct?
- A.It clamoured for the same kind of separate communal representation for the Non-Brahmins as had been granted to the Muslims by the Morley-Minto Reforms.
- B.It was patronized mainly by richer landowning and urban middle class Non-Brahmins.
- C.It succeeded in getting the provision for 28 reserved seats for the Non-Brahmins in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.
- D.It supported the call given by the Congress to boycott elections in 1920.
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The Justice Party did not join the Congress boycott of the 1920 elections; it contested them, won a majority in the Madras Legislative Council and formed the first ministry under the new reforms.
Read the full explanation →Which organization was started at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in 1915?
- A.Sanatan Dharma Sabha
- B.Dev Samaj
- C.Brahmin Sabha
- D.Hindu Mahasabha
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The All-India Hindu Mahasabha held its founding session at Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela of 1915, bringing together the provincial Hindu Sabhas that had grown up, first in Punjab, since 1909.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the All India Depressed Classes Association is not correct?
- A.The All India Depressed Classes Association was formed in Nagpur with M. C. Rajah as its first elected President.
- B.The All India Depressed Classes Association was not attended by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1926.
- C.Ambedkar resigned from the All India Depressed Classes Association and formed his own All India Depressed Classes Congress in 1930.
- D.The All India Depressed Classes Association favoured Ambedkar's demand for separate electorate for the depressed classes.
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The All India Depressed Classes Association did not back Ambedkar's demand for a separate electorate; under M. C. Rajah it supported joint electorates with seats reserved for the depressed classes.
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