Question Discussion & Solution

The correct answer is Education.

Key Points

• Charles Wood was the President of the Board of Control(Introduced through Pitt’s India Act, 1784) of English East India Company.
• He had also been the Secretary of the state of India.
• In 1854 he sent a despatch to Lord Dalhousie(the Governor-General of India at that time).
• Wood’s despatch suggested that primary schools must Adopt vernacular languages.
• Through the despatch, he also suggested that high schools use anglo-vernacular medium and that English should be the medium for college-level education.
• Hence, Wood’s Despatch is considered as ‘Magna-Carta’ of English Education in India.

The correct answer is 2 only.

Key Points

• Champaran Satyagrah:-
  • The Champaran Satyagrah holds an important position in the Indian Independence Movement.
  • The tenant farmers were forced to grow Indigo crops instead of food crops.
  • The indigo and cash crops were bought by the British at very low prices which resulted in extreme poverty. Also, the British officials were hostile to the poor farmers and levied huge taxes on them.
  • This developed anger among the tenant farmers and Indian journalists like Ganesh Shankar Vidhyarthi and Peer Muneesh published the sufferings of Champaran people in their publications.
  • When the situation became unbearable, the farmers revolted against the government in indigo plant cultivation in 1914 (at Pipra) and in 1916 at (Turkaulia).
  • People like Pandit Raj Kumar Shukla and Sant Raut persuaded Mahatma Gandhi to come to Champaran to investigate the problem of peasants. Pandit Raj Kumar Shukla was himself an oppressed Indigo cultivator of the region. Hence, Statement 1 is Not correct.
  • At the request of these people, Gandhiji along with his team, that included people like Rajendra Prasad, Brajkishore Prasad,  Prasad, Maulana Mazharul Haque, Babu Gaya Prasad Singh, Ramnavmi Prasad, J.B. Kripalani, etc., arrived in Champaran in April 1917 and stayed at the house of Sant Raut in Amolwa village. Hence, Statement 2 is correct.
  • Gandhi's team of lawyers comprising Babu Braj Kishore Prasad, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, and Dr. Rajendra Prasad surveyed the villages and tried to find out the injustice done to the peasants.
  • Gandhiji organized protests and strikes against the landlords who signed agreements with the British government, as the provisions of the agreement were detrimental to the poor tenant farmers.
  • Gandhiji received titles like 'Bapu' and 'Mahatma' during this agitation. He preferred to be called 'Bapu'.

The correct answer is Salt Satyagraha.

Key Points

• Mahatma Gandhi sent an ultimatum to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands on 31 January 1930 and stated that if the demands were not fulfilled by 11 March, he would start a Civil disobedience campaign.
• On 12 March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi with his 78 volunteers started marching from Gandhiji's ashram in Sabarmati to Dandi.
• On 6 April, he reached Dandi and violated the Salt law, by manufacturing salt by boiling water.
• This movement thus marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Hence, the correct answer is Salt Satyagraha.

Additional Information

• Khilafat Movement was led by the Ali brothers, Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali in India.
  • It was later united with the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• The Ghadar Movement was an early 20th century, international political movement founded by expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India.

• Burzahom archaeological sites have evidence of pit-dwellings.
• It is located in the Kashmir Valley of the Indian state Jammu and Kashmir.
• As per the archeological excavations, there were four phases of cultural significance between 3000 BC to 1000BC.
• Periods I and II relate to the Neolithic era, Period III relates to the Megalithic era, and IV relates to the early historical period.
• The Burzahom site revealed the transition from the subterranean and ground-level housing features of the Neolithic people to the mudbrick structures of the Megalithic people.

​​Additional Information

• Paleolithic: 
  • It is the earliest Stone age period dating 2.6 million years ago.
  • The age is distinguished by most primitive stone tools. Humans during the era grouped together in small “bands” and were involved in gathering plants, fishing, and hunting.
  • The paleolithic period is the longest in human history.
  • The age can be divided into lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, and Upper Paleolithic. 
  • During the end of the age, people developed spiritual and religious beliefs as depicted in some of the excavations.
• Mesolithic: It is the second period of the stone age between Paleolithic and Neolithic. The start and end of the age vary by geographical region. It is a transition period from hunting and gathering as in Paleolithic to domestication as in Neolithic. The tools used were the mode V chipped stone tools (microliths).
• Neolithic: It is the 3rd period of the stone age and is often referred to as the “New stone age”. Its time period is considered to be around 10,200 BC to 4,500BC, which ended with the beginning of the “Bronze Age”.
• Megalithic: It is a small tool made up of flint or chert, used to form the points of hunting weapons.

• The first Jain Mahasabha was held at Pataliputra(now known as Patna).
• It was held in the beginning of the 3^rd century BC by Sthulabahu.
• The second councils were held simultaneously at Mathura and Vallabhi and the third at Vallabhi.
• The Jain councils are associated with the revision and improvement of their sacred text termed as Jain Agamas.