Question Discussion & Solution

The correct answer is Shri Ram Bajpai.

Key Points

• Shri Ram Bajpai founded the Sava Samiti Boy Scouts Association in the year 1914 in Bombay.
• On the lines of the worldwide Baden-Powell Organisations, which at that time banned Indians from joining it.
• Though later Baden-Powell, after a private visit to India, lifted the colour bar, Bajpai's organization continued its separate existence, for it had the aim of bringing about the complete Indianisation of the Boy Scout movement in India.  
• About Lord Baden-Powell
  • He was a British general and founder of the modern Scouting movement.
    Baden-Powell became a national hero during the Boer war of 1899-1900 when, with a small garrison, he commanded the defence of Mafeking.
  • During the Boer War, Baden-Powell wrote a book "A Guide to Scout". This was published in 1903 and was a best-seller.
  • Initially meant for military purposes, after the war, he felt it could be used as a focus for young boys to give them more meaning in life.
  • This led to the creation of the Scout Movements. During his lifetime it grew to be a respected international organisation.

Additional Information

• Seva Samiti
  • It was another organization founded by a prominent member of the Servants of India Society, Hridayanath Kunzru.
  • Founded in 1914 at Allahabad, the Seva Samiti had as its objective to organize social service during natural disasters like floods and epidemics, to promote the spread of education, cooperation, sanitation, uplift depressed classes, reform criminals and rescue the fallen.
• ​Hridya Nath Kunzru-
  • He was an Indian freedom fighter and public figure. He was a long-time Parliamentarian, serving in various legislative bodies at the Provincial and Central levels for nearly four decades.
  • He was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India that drew up the Constitution of India. 
  • He was one of the members of the Servants of India Society, founded in 1914 the Seva Samiti at Allahabad.
  • In addition to the promotion of education, sanitation, physical culture, etc., it organises social service during fairs, famines, floods, epidemics, and especially on the occasion of religious festivals like the Kumbha Mela.
• Annie Besant
  • She was a prominent British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule.
  • She became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS) and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh.
  • In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. The scandal made them famous, and Bradlaugh was elected M.P. for Northampton in 1880.
  • She became involved with union actions including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888.
  • She was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF).
  • In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years, her interest in theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned.
  • She became a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject.

The correct answer is Mewar.

• Mewar did NOT establish matrimonial relations with the Mughals.

Additional Information

Some important matrimonial relations of Rajputs with the Mughals as follow-

The correct answer is Non-Cooperation Movement.

Key Points

• Swaraj Party was formed following the failure of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• Non-Cooperation Movement:
  • The movement of Non-cooperation was launched on 4 September 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi with the aim of self-governance and obtaining full independence (Purna Swaraj) as the Indian National Congress (INC) withdrew its support for British reforms following the Rowlatt Act of 21 March 1919, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April 1919.
  • The Rowlatt Act of March 1919, which suspended the rights of political prisoners in sedition trials, was seen as a "political awakening" by Indians and as a "threat" by the British.
  • Although it was never invoked and declared void just a few years later, the act motivated Gandhi to conceive the idea of satyagraha (truth), which he saw as synonymous with independence.
• Swaraj Party:
  • Swaraj Party, an Indian political party established in late 1922–early 1923 by members of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), notably Motilal Nehru, one of the most prominent lawyers in northern India (and the father of political leader Jawaharlal Nehru), and Chitta Ranjan Das, a nationalist politician from Bengal.
  • The party’s name is taken from the term swaraj, meaning “self-rule,” which was broadly applied to the movement to gain independence from British rule.
  • The party’s primary goal was to contest the elections to the new Central Legislative Assembly in 1923 and, once in office, to disrupt official policy and derail the Raj (British government in India) by antigovernment agitation within the council chambers.
  • Though the noncooperation approach of Mohandas K. Gandhi had remained the primary strategy of the Congress, in reality, those Congress leaders who were less-orthodox Hindu or who were more secular-minded in outlook chose the alternative tactic of partially cooperating with political reforms being instituted by the British after World War I.

Additional Information

• Civil Disobedience Movement:
  • Mohandas Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement of 1930-1931—launched by the Salt March—is a critical case for understanding civil resistance.
  • Although by itself it failed to bring Indian independence, it seriously undermined British authority and united India’s population in a movement for independence under the leadership of the Indian National Congress (INC).
  • It further signalled a new stage in the struggle for Indian swaraj (self-rule) and facilitated the downfall of the British Empire in India.
  • Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha drew upon a traditional South Asian cultural practice – the “Padyatra” (a long spiritual march) that became a model of strategic action for many social movements in the decades to come.
• Rowlatt Bill Satyagraha:
  • Rowlatt Acts, (February 1919), legislation passed by the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature of British India. 
  • The acts allowed certain political cases to be tried without juries and permitted the internment of suspects without trial.
  • Their object was to replace the repressive provisions of the wartime Defence of India Act (1915) with a permanent law.
  • They were based on the report of Justice S.A.T. Rowlatt’s committee of 1918.
  • The Rowlatt Acts were much resented by an aroused Indian public.
  • All nonofficial Indian members of the council (i.e., those who were not officials in the colonial government) voted against the acts.
  • Mahatma Gandhi organized a protest movement that led directly to the Massacre of Amritsar (April 1919) and subsequently to his noncooperation movement (1920–22).
• Champaran Satyagraha:
  • The Champaran Satyagraha was the combination of elements of extra-constitutional struggle as well as the employment of moral force against an adversary, an exemplar of the rule of law; and the use of compromise as a gambit.
  • It is marked as India’s First Civil Disobedience Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the injustice meted out to tenant farmers in the Champaran district of Bihar.
  • Champaran district was part of a permanent settlement area that consisted of the large zamindari estates under rich and influential landlords.
  • Most of the villages were leased out by the zamindars to thikadars of whom the most influential were European Indigo Planters.
  • Though the planters were temporary tenure holders, they not only extracted rent from the peasants but also exercised civil and criminal jurisdiction.

The correct answer is Pradyumna Shah.

• Pradyumna Shah was killed in the battle of Khurbura in 1804 A.D.

Key Points

• Pradyumna Shah, king of Garhwal fought ferocious with Gurkha invaders from Nepal, was killed in the battle of Khurbura in Dehradun in 1804.
• Battle of Khurbura or Battle of Khudbuda occurred in May 1804 near the modern-day village of Dehradun "Khurbura".
• The battle is regarded as the first major attack in the history of the Garhwal Kingdom that triggered between Gurkha forces and Maharaja Pradyumna Shah and continued for 13 days until the Garhwal king was defeated.
• It was chiefly regarded as the only defeat of his life and the victory of Gurkhas.
• Khurbura is now a small colony without any remains of the bloody battle in which Pradyumna Shah was killed by a bullet while fighting the Gurkhas with his sword.

​Important Points

Garhwal Kingdom 

• The Garhwal Kingdom was an independent kingdom in the current north-western Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India.
• The Garhwal Kingdom was founded in 823 AD by Kanak Pal.
• The kingdom was divided into two parts during the British Raj, namely: the princely state of Garhwal and the Garhwal District of British India.
  • During this period, the princely state of Garhwal was one of the States of the Punjab Hills which became part of the Punjab Hill States Agency although it was not under the Punjab Province administration.
  • The princely state of Garhwal or Independent Garhwal consisted of the present-day Tehri Garhwal district and most of the Uttarkashi district. This former state acceded to the Union of India in August 1949.

The correct answer is Mansingh I.

Key Points

• Mansingh I-
  • He was the son of Bhagwant Das.
  • His first coronation took place in Patna, while his second coronation took place in Amber.
  • He was one of the Navaratnas of Akbar.
  • He played a major role in suppressing the Afghan rebellion in Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar.
  • The Mughal emperor Akbar gave him the titles of Farzand and Raja.
  • He also received seven thousand mansabdari from Akbar.
  • He first went for the Ranthambore campaign with Akbar in 1569 AD.
  • He was the chief commander of Akbar in the battle of Haldighati.

Additional Information

• Mirza Jai Singh-
  • He gave services to three Mugal Kings (Jahangir, Saha Jahan, and Aurangzeb).
  • In the Battle of Dharmat​ (1658 AD), he gave company to Darashikoah against Aurangzeb.
  • In 1665 AD, he signed a Treaty with Shivaji, which is known as Purandar Treaty.
  • Shahjahan gave him the Mirza King title during the Gandhar campaign.
• Bharmal-
  • He first met Akbar in 1556 AD with the help of Majnu Khan.
  • He accepted Akbar's humility with the help of Changtai Khan in 1562 AD.
  • He was the first Kachwaha ruler who established matrimonial relations with the Mughals.
• Bhagwant Das-
  • Akabar gave him five thousand Mansabdari due to his bravery.
  • He was the leader of the third delegation, which was sent to convince Rana Pratap
  • His daughter Manbai was married to Jahangir.