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Indian HistoryMediumAsked in: SSC CHSL · 19 March 2020, Shift 1

Who was the first Indian to join the Viceroy's Executive Council?

  1. A.Satyendra Prasad Sinha
  2. B.Tej Bahadur Sapru
  3. C.PS Siwaswami Iyer
  4. D.Syed Ali Iman

Correct answer

A. Satyendra Prasad Sinha

Explanation

The correct answer is A, Satyendra Prasad Sinha. Satyendra Prasad Sinha, later Lord Sinha of Raipur, was the first Indian appointed to the Viceroy's Executive Council, taking the post of Law Member under Lord Minto in 1909. He went on to become the first Indian raised to the British peerage and to sit in the House of Lords, served as Under-Secretary of State for India, and was the first Indian to govern a province as Governor of Bihar and Orissa. He also presided over the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress in 1915. His appointment came with the Indian Councils Act, 1909, the Morley-Minto Reforms, which enlarged the councils and brought in separate electorates. Option D is wrong because Syed Ali Imam followed Sinha as Law Member in 1910. Option B is wrong because Tej Bahadur Sapru became Law Member only in 1920. Option C is wrong because P. S. Sivaswami Iyer served on the Madras Executive Council. Exam tip: 1909 Morley-Minto brought the first Indian into the Viceroy's Executive Council.

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Q1.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2017, GKMedium

The Ryotwari experiment in land revenue was started by

  1. A.Henry Dundas
  2. B.Alexander Reed
  3. C.David Ricardo
  4. D.Mountstuart Elphinstone
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Alexander Reed

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.

Q2.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2018, GKEasy

Who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts?

  1. A.Piyadassi
  2. B.Colin Mackenzie
  3. C.Alexander Cunningham
  4. D.James Prinsep
Show answer
Correct answer: D. James Prinsep

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.

Q3.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2017, GKHard

Which one of the following statements about the Justice Party is not correct?

  1. 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.
  2. B.It was patronized mainly by richer landowning and urban middle class Non-Brahmins.
  3. C.It succeeded in getting the provision for 28 reserved seats for the Non-Brahmins in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.
  4. D.It supported the call given by the Congress to boycott elections in 1920.
Show answer
Correct answer: D. It supported the call given by the Congress to boycott elections in 1920.

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.

Q5.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2017, GKHard

Which one of the following statements about the All India Depressed Classes Association is not correct?

  1. A.The All India Depressed Classes Association was formed in Nagpur with M. C. Rajah as its first elected President.
  2. B.The All India Depressed Classes Association was not attended by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1926.
  3. C.Ambedkar resigned from the All India Depressed Classes Association and formed his own All India Depressed Classes Congress in 1930.
  4. D.The All India Depressed Classes Association favoured Ambedkar's demand for separate electorate for the depressed classes.
Show answer
Correct answer: D. The All India Depressed Classes Association favoured Ambedkar's demand for separate electorate for the depressed classes.

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.