With 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 :

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 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 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.

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.

The correct answer is B, Nagpur, 1920. The Nagpur session, presided over by C. Vijayaraghavachariar, confirmed the Non-Cooperation programme begun at the Calcutta special session of September 1920 and rewrote the organisation from top to bottom: a Working Committee of fifteen members was created, the provincial committees were reorganised on linguistic lines, the membership fee was lowered to four annas, and the goal was defined as swaraj by all legitimate and peaceful means. A is wrong because Lucknow in 1916 is the session of reunion and of the pact with the Muslim League. C is wrong because Calcutta in 1928 considered the Nehru Report on a dominion constitution for India. D is wrong because Madras in 1927 resolved on boycotting the Simon Commission and passed an independence resolution, without touching the party's own constitution.