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TEST BOOKLET

GENERAL STUDIES (P) 2025 – Test – 4714

C
Time Allowed: Two Hours Maximum Marks: 200

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1. With reference to the Indian National 4. Consider the following statements:
Movement, which of the following Statement-I: C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru
statements is correct regarding the Pirpur resigned from their respective offices in the
Committee ?
Congress and founded the Congress-Khilafat
(a) It was founded by the British
Swaraj Party.
Government with the purpose of
investigating the disturbances in Bombay Statement-II: C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru

Delhi and Punjab. had lost faith in the Satyagraha strategy of

(b) It was founded by the Congress to Gandhiji as a viable strategy to achieve
propagate an aggressive programme of Swaraj.
boycotting foreign cloth and public Which one of the following is correct in
burning of foreign cloth.
respect of the above statements?
(c) It was founded by the Muslim League to
(a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are
prepare a detailed report on the atrocities
supposedly committed by the congress correct and Statement-II is the correct

ministries during 1936-37. explanation for Statement-I

(d) It was led by Subhash Chandra Bose with (b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are
the objective of focusing on India’s correct and Statement-II is not the correct
industrial development. explanation for Statement-I
(c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is
2. Consider the following statements regarding
incorrect
the Royal Indian Naval Mutiny 1946:
1. It was influenced by the political ideas (d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II

and ideals of the Indian National Army. is correct

2. The general public remained largely
unaffected by the mutiny leaving it 5. Consider the following statements regarding
restricted to the services. Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker:
3. The mutiny resulted in the immediate
1. He participated in the Vaikom
resignation of the Viceroy of India.
Satyagraha demanding temple entry
How many of the statements given above are
correct? rights for the untouchables in Kerala.

(a) Only one 2. He started the “Self-Respect Movement”.

(b) Only two 3. He was in favour of communal
(c) All three representation.
(d) None 4. He was against inter-caste marriage.
How many of the above statements are
3. The term 'emulator,' sometimes seen in the
correct?
news, is associated with:
(a) software Applications (a) Only one

(b) nuclear Power (b) Only two

(c) renewable Energy (c) Only three
(d) space Missions (d) All four
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6. Which of the following statements best 9. With reference to the Home Rule League,
describes the SEHER Program, recently seen
consider the following statements:
in the news?
(a) It is an initiative aimed at improving 1. It was founded in 1914 by Annie Besant.
mental health services in schools across 2. Tilak's Home Rule League operated
India.
mainly in Maharashtra and the Central
(b) It is a scheme designed to promote
sustainable energy development in rural Provinces.
areas. 3. It functioned independently from the
(c) It is a programme to empower women
entrepreneurs in India with financial Indian National Congress.
literacy content and business skills. How many of the statements given above are
(d) It is a social welfare program for
correct?
providing healthcare to marginalized
communities. (a) Only one
(b) Only two
7. With reference to the revolutionary activities
(c) All three
during the freedom struggle, consider the
following statements: (d) None
1. Failure of the non-cooperation movement
and parliamentary politics of Swarajist
led to an upsurge of revolutionary 10. With reference to the Civil Disobedience
movements during the 1920s. movement, consider the following
2. Indian revolutionaries took inspiration
statements:
from the ideology of the Russian
revolution. 1. In Bengal, students protested against the
3. “Philosophy of the Bomb” was written by Cunningham Circular, which asked them
Bhagat Singh in response to Mahatma
to sign a declaration of loyalty to the
Gandhi's criticism of revolutionary
activities. British government.
Which of the statements given above are 2. Mahatma Gandhi’s son Manilal, along
correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only with Sarojini Naidu, led the raid on the
(b) 2 and 3 only Dharasana Salt Works after Gandhi’s
(c) 1, 2 and 3
arrest.
(d) 1 and 3 only
3. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gaffar Khan
8. In the context of Indian freedom struggle, started 'Pukhtoon' the first political
‘Mitra Mela’ was a/an
monthly magazine for Pashtuns.
(a) secret society formed to promote social
reforms in rural India. How many statements given above are
(b) organization established to encourage the correct?
use of Swadeshi goods.
(a) Only one
(c) revolutionary society founded to promote
the armed struggle against British rule. (b) Only two
(d) cultural group promoting Hindu-Muslim
(c) All three
unity during the independence
movement. (d) None

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11. Consider the following statements regarding 15. With reference to the Anti-Simon
the Civil Disobedience Movement: Commission agitations, consider the
1. The industrial working class across the following statements:
country participated in the movement in 1. The Congress session under the
large numbers. presidency of M.A. Ansari decided to
2. Women participated on a large-scale. boycott the commission at every stage
3. Dalit participation in the movement was and in every form.
limited. 2. The Muslim League under M.A. Jinnah
How many of the statements given above are opposed the Congress's call for the
correct? boycott of the Simon Commission.
(a) Only one Which of the statements given above is/are
(b) Only two correct?
(c) All three (a) 1 only
(d) None (b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
12. Consider the following statements regarding (d) Neither 1 nor 2
the 1945-46 provincial elections:
1. In the provincial elections, the Muslim 16. In the context of Rudram-1 Missile, consider
League won nearly 95% of Muslim seats. the following statements:
2. Only 10 percent of the population was 1. It is India’s first indigenously developed
eligible to vote due to the limited anti-radiation missile.
franchise. 2. The missile has a range of over 1000
Which of the statements given above is/are
kilometres.
correct?
3. It can be launched from a variety of
(a) 1 only
platforms, including land and sea-based
(b) 2 only
systems.
(c) Both 1 and 2
How many of the statements given above are
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
correct?
(a) Only one
13. The 'Anderson transition,' sometimes seen in
(b) Only two
the news, is associated with:
(c) All three
(a) quantum computing
(d) None
(b) environmental pollution
(c) electron behavior in doped conducting
17. With reference to the Congress Socialist
materials
Party, consider the following statements:
(d) space exploration
1. It operated from within the Congress until
independence.
14. Which of the following was the main reason
2. Jawaharlal Nehru was its first President.
for the failure of the Desai-Liaquat Pact?
3. Its members were forbidden from joining
(a) Lack of formal endorsement from key
leaders. the All India Kisan Sabha.
(b) No provision for the reservation of the Which of the statements given above is/are
seats for minorities. correct?
(c) Strong opposition from the British (a) 1 only
Parliament. (b) 1 and 3 only
(d) The pact's alignment with the two-nation (c) 2 and 3 only
theory. (d) 1 and 2 only
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18. With reference to the Tizu and Zungki rivers, 21. In the context of the Swadeshi movement,
consider the following statements: which of the following was the objective of
1. Both flow through the Indian state of the Risley Circular issued in 1906?
Arunachal Pradesh. (a) To impose restrictions on Indian-owned
2. Both are tributaries of the Brahmaputra businesses in joining Swadeshi
River. movement.
Which of the statements given above is/are (b) To promote the use of British goods in
correct? Indian schools and colleges.
(a) 1 only (c) To prevent students from participating in
(b) 2 only political activities.
(c) Both 1 and 2 (d) To facilitate the extradition of nationalist
(d) Neither 1 nor 2 leaders from princely states.

19. Consider the following pairs : 22. The term 'Stablecoins', sometimes seen in the
Women’s Established news, is associated with:
organisation By (a) Viability Gap Funding mechanism
1. Bharat Mahila : Kasturba created to fund infrastructure projects.
Parishad Gandhi (b) Digital cryptocurrencies are designed to
2. Arya Mahila Samaj : Sarala Devi maintain a stable value.
Chaudhurani (c) Coins backed by decentralized
3. All India Women’s : Meherbai blockchain systems with no asset
Conference Tata backing.
How many of the above pairs are correctly (d) Coins used exclusively for cross-border
matched? remittances.
(a) Only one
(b) Only two 23. Consider the following statements regarding
(c) All three the Mappila Revolt:
(d) None 1. The Mappila Revolt was primarily
directed against oppressive Hindu
20. Arrange the following revolutionary landlords and the British.
activities in chronological order of their 2. The revolt ended due to a peaceful
occurrence: agreement between the Mappilas and the
1. The Chittagong Armoury Raid British authorities.
2. Kakori Robbery 3. The communalization of the rebellion led
3. Inception of Hindustan Socialist to the isolation of the Mappilas from the
Republican Association Khilafat-Non-Cooperation Movement.
Select the correct answer using the code given Which of the statements given above are
below. correct?
(a) 1-3-2 (a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1-2-3 (b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2-3-1 (c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 3-2-1 (d) 1, 2 and 3
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24. This session, marked a significant shift in the 27. Consider the following statements with
Congress's approach, from seeking dominion respect to the activities during the Non-
status to an unambiguous demand for full Cooperation Movement:
sovereignty. It called for a program of civil
1. The Indian National Congress was
disobedience, including the non-payment of
taxes and the resignation of members from committed to a program of constitutional

legislatures. The session also decided to mass action

celebrate January 26th as "Independence 2. The Congress Working Committee
Day". passed a resolution asking members of
Which of the following congress sessions is
the armed forces to sever their connection
best described in the passage given above?
with the repressive government
(a) Calcutta Session
3. The British Government declared the
(b) Lahore Session
(c) Bombay Session Volunteer Group Illegal and arrested all
(d) Karachi Session those who claimed to be its members
4. The Congress had sanctioned non-
25. BHISM Cubes, recently seen in the news in
payment of rent and questioned the rights
the context of India-Ukraine relations, is
of zamindars
(a) It is a new military exercise between
Which of the following statements given
India and Ukraine.
(b) It is a new trade route connecting India above are correct?
and Ukraine through land routes and the (a) 1 and 2 only
Black Sea. (b) 2 and 3 only
(c) It is an emergency health care service
(c) 3 and 4 only
extended by India to other countries.
(d) 1 and 4 only
(d) It is a scheme introduced by India to offer
free education to the students in
conflicted-affected countries. 28. Who among the following setup Swadesh
Sevak Home in Vancouver on the lines of the
26. Arrange the following organizations in India House in London?
chronological order of their formation: (a) Lala Hardyal
1. Formation of the All India Trade Union
(b) Ram Nath Puri
Congress (AITUC)
(c) G.D Kumar
2. Establishment of the Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (d) V.D Savarkar
(FICCI)
3. Founding of the Indian Merchants' 29. Who became the leader of the Satyagraha
Chamber (IMC) movement against the ban on the Hyderabad
Select the correct answer using the code given
State Congress in 1938?
below.
(a) Sardar Patel
(a) 1-2-3
(b) 3-1-2 (b) Swami Ramanand Tirtha
(c) 3-2-1 (c) Tanguturi Prakasam
(d) 2-1-3 (d) N. G. Ranga
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30. In the context of Indian Independence 33. Consider the following pairs:
movement, the Radcliffe Committee was Tribal Movement Leader
appointed to: 1. Rampa Revolts : Alluri Sitarama
(a) resolve the concerns of minorities in
(1920-24) Raju
India.
2. Reangs’ : Ratnamani
(b) frame the guidelines for the Indian
Independence Bill. revolt(1942-43)
(c) establish the boundaries between India 3. Naga movement : Jadonang
and Pakistan. (1905-31)
(d) investigate the riots in East Bengal How many of the above pairs are correctly
matched?
31. Which of the following provisions were part
(a) Only one
of the Trade Union Act of 1926 in India?
(b) Only two
1. Recognition of trade unions as legal
associations (c) All three
2. Regulation of trade union activities, (d) None
including registration
3. Immunity from civil and criminal 34. Consider the following:
prosecution for legitimate trade union
1. Design
activities
2. Gastronomy
4. Complete freedom for trade unions to
3. Film
engage in political activities without any
restrictions 4. Literature
Select the correct answer using the code given 5. Media Arts
below. 6. Music
(a) 1, 2, and 3 only Under how many of the following creative
(b) 1 and 4 only
field cities from India have been included in
(c) 2, 3, and 4 only
the UNESCO Creative Cities Network?
(d) 1, 2, 3, and 4
(a) Only three
32. Consider the following statements regarding (b) Only four
the general difference between Li-Fi and Wi- (c) Only five
Fi Technology: (d) All six
1. Li-Fi can operate only in line-of-sight
conditions which makes it more flexible
35. The term ‘Denisovan’ is sometimes talked
than Wi-Fi.
about in the context of
2. The data transmission rate in Li-Fi is
much higher than in traditional Wi-Fi. (a) A newly discovered astronomical body
3. Li-Fi sigals are are less susceptible to beyond Pluto.
interception. (b) An ancient human ancestor species
How many of the statements given above are discovered.
correct? (c) A robotic system used in industrial
(a) Only one
automation.
(b) Only two
(d) A deep-sea organism discovered in the
(c) All three
(d) None Mariana Trench.

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36. How many of the following political parties 38. Consider the following statements regarding

and leaders opposed the Quit India the recommendations of the Hartog

Movement? Committee:
1. It recommended the expansion of
1. Muslim League
primary education and vocational
2. Communist Party of India
training.
3. Hindu Mahasabha
2. It emphasized the need for teacher
Select the correct answer using the code given
training to improve the quality of
below. education.
(a) Only one 3. It proposed the establishment of a

(b) Only two University Grants Commission to

(c) All three oversee university education.

How many of the statements given above are
(d) None
correct?
(a) Only one
37. Consider the following statements with
(b) Only two
reference to the Indian capitalist's attitude
(c) All three
towards the Civil Disobedience Movement (d) None
(CDM):

1. They preferred constitutional forms of 39. With reference to the Delhi Durbar of 1911,

struggle. consider the following statements:

2. They were unwilling to support a 1. It was the first Durbar held in Delhi to
mark the succession of an Emperor or
prolonged all-out hostility to the
Empress of India.
government
2. The event was used to declare the
3. FICCI supported the principles of the
annulment of the partition of Bengal.
movement and condemned police
3. It marked the announcement of the
brutalities. transfer of the British Indian capital from
Which of the statements given above is/are Calcutta to Delhi.

correct? How many of the statements given above are

(a) 3 only correct?

(a) Only one
(b) 1 and 2 only
(b) Only two
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(c) All three
(d) None
(d) None
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40. In the context of the Muslim League, consider 43. With reference to the August Offer, consider
the following statements: the following statements:
1. The All-India Muslim League was 1. It provided for the setting up a constituent
founded in Lahore to represent the assembly after the war where solely
political rights of Muslims in India. Indians would decide the constitution.
2. The League supported the partition of 2. Congress rejected but the Muslim League
Bengal in 1905. accepted the offer.
3. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was one of the Which of the statements given above is/are
correct?
founding members of the Muslim
(a) 1 only
League.
(b) 2 only
Which of the statements given above is/are
(c) Both 1 and 2
correct?
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
44. Consider the following pairs:
(c) 1, 2 and 3
Revolutionary Associated
(d) 2 only Activities personality
1. Muzaffarpur : Rashbehari
41. Consider the following statements with Conspiracy Bose
reference to the 1905 session of Indian 2. Alipore conspiracy : Barindra
National Congress (INC): Kumar Ghosh
1. It was held at Banaras and presided over 3. Viceroy Hardinge : Sachindranath
by G.K. Gokhale. bomb case Sanyal
2. It was declared that the goal of the INC How many pairs given above are correctly
was self-government like that of the matched?
United Kingdom or the Colonies. (a) Only one
Which of the statements given above is/are (b) Only two
correct? (c) All three
(a) 1 only (d) None
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2 45. Consider the following statements regarding
the impact of World War I on business groups
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
in India:
1. The war encouraged the establishment of
42. With reference to the Digital Bharat Nidhi
new industries, particularly in the
(DBN), consider the following statements:
manufacturing sector.
1. It aims to replace the Universal Service
2. It led to a decline in the influence of local
Obligation Fund.
businesses due to British control.
2. It is funded by a 5% levy on telecom 3. It contributed to significant labor unrest
operators. and strikes.
Which of the statements given above is/are How many of the statements given above are
correct? correct?
(a) 1 only (a) Only one
(b) 2 only (b) Only two
(c) Both 1 and 2 (c) All three
(d) Neither 1 and 2 (d) None
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46. Consider the following statements regarding 49. Consider the following statements regarding
the Anushilan Samiti: Indian Independence Act 1947:
1. They performed Swadeshi dacoities to 1. The Act was to establish two dominions,
raise funds for purchasing the arms. India and Pakistan, independent of each
2. Dacca Anushilan Samiti Branch was other, from August 15, 1947.
formed by Jatindranath Banerjee. 2. The Government of India Act 1935 was
repealed by the Indian Independence Act.
3. Sandhya Patrika magazine was
3. The Constituent Assemblies were given
associated with it.
partial legislative authority.
How many of the statements given above are
How many of the statements given above are
correct?
correct?
(a) Only one
(a) Only one
(b) Only two (b) Only two
(c) All three (c) All three
(d) None (d) None

47. Which of the following statements are not 50. Consider the following statements regarding
correct about the Champaran Satyagraha the All India Trade Union Congress
1917? (AITUC):
1. Under the tinkathiya system, the 1. C.R. Das was the first president of
cultivators were forced to cultivate indigo AITUC.
on 3/10th of their holdings. 2. The Gaya session of the Indian National
2. Rajkumar Shukla persuaded Gandhiji to Congress (1922) supported the formation
of AITUC and formed a committee to
take up the cause of the cultivators.
assist it.
3. Later, the government appointed a
3. AITUC was influenced by the social
commission under the leadership of
democratic ideas of the British Labour
Gandhiji to go into the whole issue.
Party and Gandhian philosophy.
Select the correct answer using the code given How many of the statements given above are
below. correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only (a) Only one
(b) 2 and 3 only (b) Only two
(c) 1 and 3 only (c) All three
(d) 1, 2 and 3 (d) None

48. Consider the following pairs: 51. With reference to the Komagata Maru
Newspaper/ Leaders incident, consider the following statements:
magazines associated 1. It was closely related to the Ghadar
1. Free Hindustan : Tarak Nath Das movement.
2. Shore Committee was formed to fight for
2. Young India : Annie Besant
the rights of the passengers of Komagata
3. New India : Mahatma Gandhi
Maru.
Which of the pairs given above is/are
Which of the statements given above is/are
correctly matched?
correct?
(a) 1 only (a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only (c) Both 1 and 2
(d) 1, 2 and 3 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
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52. Consider the following statements regarding 55. The term ‘Daksha Project’ is sometimes
the "Khuntkatti system" prevalent in the talked about in the context of:
Chotanagpur Plateau: (a) developing next-generation military
drones for surveillance.
1. The system was based on individual
(b) enhancing disaster management and
ownership of land which allowed the
emergency response using UAV
British to control the Munda tribe through technology.
land revenue collection. (c) creating a national cybersecurity
2. The Chotanagpur Tenancy Act of 1908, framework to protect government
finally abolished the Khuntkatti system. networks.
Which of the statements given above is/are (d) aims to build high-energy space
correct? telescopes for the study of explosive
astrophysical sources.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
56. With reference to the Montague Declaration
(c) Both 1 and 2 and Montford reforms, consider the following
(d) Neither 1 nor 2 statements:
1. The August Declaration of 1917 made the
53. With reference to 'Dark Oxygen,' sometimes demand for self-government by
seen in the news, which of the following nationalists “non-seditious.”
2. Congress welcomed the Montford
statements is correct?
reforms since they accommodated most
(a) It is oxygen produced in the deep ocean
of the nationalist demands.
by sunlight. Which of the statements given above is/are
(b) It is generated in the atmosphere through correct?
chemical reactions involving metals. (a) 1 only
(c) It is an oxygen produced in the deep (b) 2 only
ocean by metallic nodules. (c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) It is an oxygen generated by renewable
energy sources.
57. As per the SIPRI yearbook there has been an
increase in the nuclear stockpiles. In this
54. Which one of the following statements is not context, consider the following statements
correct with respect to the Nagpur Session with respect to India's nuclear developments:
(1920) of the Indian National Congress 1. Currently, India is the only nuclear power
(INC)? which has adopted the No First-use
(a) The programme of non-cooperation was Policy.
2. Operation Smiling Buddha is the name of
endorsed in the session.
the 1998 nuclear test which took place in
(b) The provincial congress committees were
Pokhran.
organised on linguistic basis. Which of the statements given above is/are
(c) The session was presided by C. correct?
Vijayaraghavachariar. (a) 1 only
(d) A resolution was passed for (b) 2 only
reconciliation between Congress and (c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Muslim league.
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58. How many of the following factors 61. Consider the following statements about the
contributed to the British government’s shift Lucknow Session, 1916:
in policy towards 'free India' in 1945? 1. This session was presided over by
1. The emergence of the USA and USSR as Ambika Charan Mazumdar.
superpowers supporting Indian 2. It was the first Congress session attended
independence. by Gandhiji after his return to India from

2. The increased influence of pro- South Africa.

Which of the statements given above is/are
imperialist factions within the British
correct?
government
(a) 1 only
3. The economic strain on Britain caused by
(b) 2 only
the war and debt to India
(c) Both 1 and 2
Select the correct answer using the code given
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
below.
(a) Only one 62. Which of the following was a significant
(b) Only two feature introduced by the Government of
(c) All three India Act, 1919?
(d) None (a) Introduction of the dyarchy in provincial
governance.
59. Which of the following best describes the (b) Establishment of separate electorates for
primary cause of the Cripps Mission's failure? Muslims.
(a) The British refusal to negotiate with (c) Creation of a Federal Court of India.
political leaders (d) Implementation of direct elections for all
(b) The lack of unity among Indian political legislative councils.
parties
(c) The demand for immediate independence 63. Who was the Viceroy of India during the

by Indian leaders Surat Split of the Indian National Congress?

(a) Lord Curzon
(d) The influence of the Communist Party in
(b) Lord Minto II
India
(c) Lord Hardinge
(d) Lord Elgin-II
60. The primary objective of the Simla
Conference of 1945 was to:
64. Who among the following personalities said,
(a) discuss the immediate granting of
"Untouchability question is one of life and
Dominion Status to India.
death for Hinduism. If untouchability lives,
(b) negotiate the terms of the Cripps Hinduism perishes, and even India perishes;
Proposals for Indian self-governance. but if untouchability is eradicated from the
(c) deliberate on the Wavell Plan for the Hindu heart, root and branch, then Hinduism
reconstitution of the Viceroy's Executive has a definite message for the world"?
Council. (a) Swami Vivekananda
(d) resolve the differences between the (b) B.R. Ambedkar
Indian National Congress and the Muslim (c) M.K. Gandhi
League regarding representation. (d) Jawaharlal Nehru

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65. With reference to the Khilafat movement, 68. Consider the following pairs:
consider the following statements: Viceroy Important event
1. The Khilafat Movement started because
A. Lord : 1. Establishment of the
of the dismembering of the Turkish
Chelmsford Hindu Mahasabha
empire under the Treaty of Locarno.
B. Lord : 2. August Offer
2. Maulana Azad was part of the Khilafat
committee formed for the country-wide Hardinge II

agitations. C. Lord : 3. Communal Award

Which of the statements given above is/are Linlithgow
correct? D. Lord : 4. The introduction of
(a) 1 only
Willingdon the Government of India
(b) 2 only
Act,1919
(c) Both 1 and 2
Which of the above pairs are correctly
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
matched with the codes given below?

66. Consider the following pairs: (a) A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3

Tribes States (b) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3

1. Apatani Tribe : Arunachal Pradesh (c) A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
2. Mascho Piro : Nagaland (d) A-4, B-2, C-3, D-1
3. Kuki-Zo : Odisha
Which of the pairs given above is/are
69. Consider the following statements with
correctly matched?
reference to the transfer of power initiatives
(a) 1 only
by the Britishers during the 1940s:
(b) 1 and 2 only
1. The Wavell Plan aimed to establish an
(c) 2 only
(d) 2 and 3 only interim government while the Cripps
Mission sought support for the British

67. Which of the following associations were war effort.

founded by B.R Ambedkar for the upliftment 2. The Cripps Mission offered dominion
of dalit section of the Indian society? status in the future, whereas the Wavell
1. All India Scheduled Caste Federation Plan aimed to facilitate immediate Indian
2. Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha
participation in governance.
3. Harijan Sevak Sangh
Which of the statements given above is/are
Select the correct answer using the code given
correct?
below.
(a) 1 only
(a) Only one
(b) Only two (b) 2 only

(c) All three (c) Both 1 and 2

(d) None (d) Neither 1 nor 2

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70. With reference to the Tripuri session of 73. Consider the following statements with
Congress, consider the following statements: reference to government schemes in India:
1. Core Schemes and Optional Schemes are
1. The Tripuri Session of the Indian
two different types of Central Sector
National Congress was presided over by Schemes.
Jawaharlal Nehru. 2. Currently, there are more number of
2. In this session, Subhash Chandra Bose Central Sector Schemes than Centrally-
Sponsored Schemes.
accused Sardar Patel of compromising
3. MGNREGA is a type of Centrally-
with the British government on the
Sponsored Scheme.
question of federation. Which of the following statements given
Which of the statements given above is/are above is/are correct?
correct? (a) 2 and 3 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(a) 1 only
(c) 2 only
(b) 2 only (d) 3 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2 74. The term 'Regenerative Braking,' sometimes
seen in the news, is associated with:
(a) Converting kinetic energy into heat
71. Which of the following committees or
during braking.
commissions is associated with civil services (b) Increasing vehicle efficiency by
reforms in British India? converting kinetic energy into electrical
(a) Floud Commission energy.
(c) Using flywheels to store energy in
(b) Lee Commission
electric vehicles.
(c) Simon Commission (d) Reducing energy consumption in
(d) Stratchey Commission traditional combustion engine vehicles.

75. Consider the following statements:

72. Consider the following pairs:
1. The Ghadar Party was founded by Indian
Defence Exercises Partner
immigrants in London.
of India Country 2. The Ghadar Party's leadership primarily
1. Nomadic Elephant : Mongolia consisted of ex-soldiers and peasants.

2. Exercise Maitree : Thailand 3. The Ghadar Party's aim was to organise

assassinations of officials, publish
3. Pitch Black : United States
revolutionary and anti-imperialist
Which of the pairs given above is/are literature.
correctly matched? Which of the statements given above are
(a) 1 and 2 only correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, and 3 (d) 1, 2 and 3
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76. In the context of the Aditya-L1, consider the 79. Consider the following statements with
following statements: reference to Public Safety Bill, 1928:
1. Aditya-L1 is India's first space-based
1. It was introduced to deport foreigners
astronomy mission.
suspected of propagating socialist and
2. It is placed in the sun-synchronous orbit
around the Earth for uninterrupted communist ideas.
observation of the Sun. 2. Indian capitalists actively supported the
3. Its aim is to observe and understand the government in introducing the Bill.
chromospheric and coronal dynamics of
Which of the statements given above is/are
the Sun.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
correct? (a) 1 only
(a) 2 only (b) 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) 3 only

77. With reference to the Great Indian Bustard, 80. In the context of the Morley-Minto Reforms,
consider the following statements: consider the following statements:
1. The Great Indian Bustard is listed as
1. The reforms brought the elected majority
Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red
in provincial legislative councils.
List.
2. It is primarily found in the grasslands of 2. It provided for association of Indians with
Rajasthan and Gujarat. executive council of the Viceroy of India.
3. The species is migratory and travels long Which of the statements given above is/are
distances across the Asia.
correct?
Which of the statements given above is/are
correct? (a) 1 only
(a) 1 only (b) 2 only
(b) 1 and 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) 1, 2 and 3

78. Which of the following institutions were 81. Consider the following:
established during the Swadeshi movement? 1. Zebra mussel
1. National Council of Education 2. Phlogacanthus Sudhansusekharii
2. Indian Society of Oriental Art
3. Senna spectabilis
3. Bengal National College
How many of the species listed above are
4. Banaras Hindu University
Select the correct answer using the code given considered invasive species?
below. (a) Only one
(a) 1 and 2 only (b) Only two
(b) 1, 2, and 3 only
(c) All three
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 2, 3 and 4 only (d) None

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82. "Project Nexus," sometimes seen in the news, 85. The Government arrested 31 labour leaders,
is associated with: and the three-and-a-half-year trial resulted in
the conviction of Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A.
(a) Promoting renewable energy
Dange, Shaukat Usmani. The trial got
(b) Enabling instant cross-border retail worldwide publicity but weakened the
payments working class movement. Which of the
(c) Enhancing cybersecurity measures following cases has been referred here?
(a) Kanpur Bolshevik Case
(d) Supporting international trade
(b) Bombay Textile Strike Case
agreements
(c) Chittagong Armoury Raid Case
(d) Meerut Conspiracy Case
83. In the context of the Surat Split, consider the
following statements: 86. Consider the following statements regarding
the Kheda Satyagraha:
1. The Surat session of Indian National
1. The revenue code provided for a total
Congress was presided over by Dadabhai remission of the land revenue when corps
Naoroji. were less than one-fourth of the normal
2. The main reason for the split was a yield
2. Gandhiji presided over Gujarat Sabha,
disagreement over the methods of
which played a significant role during
political struggle. this movement
Which of the statements given above is/are 3. This movement coincided with Khilafat
correct? Satyagraha
4. An agreement was reached for the
(a) 1 only
remission of the land revenue for all the
(b) 2 only
farmers
(c) Both 1 and 2 Which of the following statements given
(d) Neither 1 nor 2 above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
84. Which of the following were features of the
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
Home Rule League movement in India? (d) 2 and 4 only
1. Circulation of pamphlets
2. Boycott and picketing 87. On February 20, 1947, the British prime
minister, Clement Attlee, issued a statement.
3. Organising libraries and reading rooms
The statement hinted at:
4. Participating in local government (a) a gradual transition to a federated India
activities with strong regional autonomy.
Select the correct answer using the code given (b) a unified India with no divisions or
communal tensions.
below.
(c) partition and balkanization of the country
(a) Only one
into multiple independent states.
(b) Only two (d) a constitutional framework that would
(c) Only three ensure equal rights and representation for
(d) All four all communities.
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88. Consider the following statements: 91. With reference to the Nehru report, consider
1. Independently organize workers and
the following statements:
peasants in class organization
2. Firstly, achieve complete independence 1. Subhash Chandra Bose was part of the
and then the ultimate goal is socialism committee that drafted the Nehru report.
3. Work within the Congress to give it a
2. The Nehru report made recommendations
more radical orientation
How many of the above were the objectives for both British India and the Princely
of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP)? states.
(a) Only one
3. The right to form unions was treated as a
(b) Only two
(c) All three fundamental right.
(d) None
Which of the statements given above are

89. Consider the following statements regarding correct?

the Haripura Session of 1938: (a) 1 and 2 only
1. It was presided over by Subhas Chandra
(b) 2 and 3 only
Bose.
2. It emphasized the need for the adoption (c) 1, 2 and 3
of a radical approach towards the British (d) 1 and 3 only
government.
3. The National Planning Committee was
set up under the chairmanship of 92. With reference to the Gandhi-Irwin pact,
Jawaharlal Nehru.
consider the following statements:
How many of the statements given above are
correct? 1. The terms of the agreement included the
(a) Only one immediate release of all political
(b) Only two
prisoners.
(c) All three
(d) None 2. The Congress demand for a public
inquiry into police excesses during civil
90. Consider the following statements regarding
the Tana Bhagat Movement: disobedience movement was accepted.
1. The Tana Bhagat Movement was 3. Congress, on its part, agreed to
initiated by Jatra Oraon in 1914.
discontinue the Civil Disobedience
2. The movement was focused on rejecting
earthly possessions, spirit worship, and Movement and participate in the first
sacrifice. Round Table Conference.
3. Unlike other tribal movements, the Tana
How many statements given above are
Bhagat Movement was violent and
focused on physical resistance. correct?
Which of the statements given above are (a) Only one
correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only (b) Only two
(b) 2 and 3 only (c) All three
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) None
(d) 1, 2 and 3
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93. With reference to the Second World War and 95. With reference to the freedom struggle in

Indian response, consider the following princely states, consider the following
statements:
statements:
1. Balwant Rai Mehta was crucial in
1. Congress decided to support the British
organizing the All-India State People’s
war efforts unconditionally.
Conference in 1927.
2. Socialists within the Congress advocated 2. Jawaharlal Nehru supported the right of

the strategy of taking advantage of British self-determination of the people of

weakness to secure India’s freedom. princely states in the Lahore session of

the Indian National Congress.
3. Jawaharlal Nehru differed from Gandhiji
3. In the Haripura session, the Congress
on the question of support for the British
supported its association with the
war effort. movement of the people in the princely
Which of the statements given above are states.

correct? How many statements given above are

correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(a) Only one
(b) 2 and 3 only
(b) Only two
(c) 1 and 3 only
(c) All three
(d) 1, 2 and 3 (d) None

94. With reference to the Foreigners Tribunals, 96. The term 'LUCA,' sometimes seen in the
news, is associated with:
consider the following statements:
(a) A project promoting space exploration
1. They are quasi-judicial bodies formed by
(b) A new species discovered in the deep sea
the central government. (c) A new evolutionary theory in biology
2. Decisions of foreign tribunals can be (d) Last common ancestor of all life on Earth

directly appealed to the Supreme Court.

97. In the context of social movements during the
Which of the statements given above is/are
first quarter of the 20th century, the 'Nai-
correct?
Dhobi Bandh' movement started in
(a) 1 only
(a) Hyderabad
(b) 2 only (b) Avadh
(c) Both 1 and 2 (c) Punjab

(d) Neither 1 nor 2 (d) Bombay

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98. During the first half of the 20th century under
colonial rule, the Royal Commission,1908
was appointed to
(a) centralize administrative control in
British India
(b) increase the powers and responsibilities
of local and provincial governments
(c) establish a uniform system of taxation
across all provinces
(d) reform the British legal system in India

99. The term 'Greenium,' sometimes seen in the

news, is associated with:
(a) The yield difference between thematic
and ordinary bonds due to sustainability
(b) The additional return offered by green
bonds compared to conventional bonds
(c) The premium investors pay for bonds
with a positive environmental impact
(d) The interest rate adjustment for bonds
linked to climate change policies

100. Which of the following statements are correct

regarding the Indian National Army (INA)?
1. Rash Behari Bose was instrumental in the
initial formation of the INA.
2. The Axis powers recognized the INA
during World War II.
3. The INA participated in the Imphal-
Kohima Campaign.
Select the correct answer using the code given
below.
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

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 o

VISIONIAS
[Link]
ANSWERS & EXPLANATIONS
GENERAL STUDIES (P) TEST – 4714 (2025)

Q 1.C
• The Congress Working Committee decided to accept office under the Act of 1935. In the 28 months of
Congress rule in the provinces, there were some efforts made for people’s welfare. These were:
o Laws giving emergency powers were repealed
o Press restrictions were lifted
o Confiscated arms and arms licenses were restored
o Police powers were curbed
o Political prisoners and revolutionaries were released
o Encouragement was given to khadi through subsidies and other measures
o Encouragement was given to Indigenous enterprises etc
• The All-India Muslim League was annoyed with the Congress for not sharing power with them. It
established the Pirpur Committee in 1938 to prepare a detailed report on the atrocities supposedly
committed by the Congress ministries. In its report, the committee charged the Congress with
interference in the religious rites, suppression of Urdu in favor of Hindi, denial of proper
representation, and the oppression of Muslims in the economic sphere. Hence option (c) is the
correct answer.
• After the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, the British Government announced the formation of the Disorders
Inquiry Committee or Hunter Commission. The purpose of the commission was to investigate the recent
disturbances in Bombay, Delhi, and Punjab, their causes, and the measures taken to cope with them.
• The National Planning Committee was established in 1938 by Subhas Chandra Bose. The main objective
of the committee was to focus on India’s Industrial development. The Committee was chaired by
Jawaharlal Nehru. The Committee also formed several sub-committees to prepare and carry out a national
plan for the overall economic, cultural, and spiritual development of the people.
• The Congress Working Committee (CWC) organized a Foreign Cloth Boycott Committee to propagate an
aggressive programme of boycotting foreign cloth and public burning of foreign cloth. Gandhiji initiated
the campaign in 1938 and was arrested. This was followed by bonfires of foreign cloth all over the
country.

Q 2.A
• The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny of 1946 or Royal Indian Navy Revolt was one of the major uprisings
against British colonial rule in India.
• Causes of the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny:
o Racial Discrimination: Indians had to experience systematic racial bias coming from their British
superiors, with great gaps in pay and living conditions.
o Poor Working Conditions: Sailors experienced extremely poor living conditions as their food was
meager, and they were crowded in petty quarters; their miserable tasks and harsh treatment by British
officers made them more rebellious.
o Nationalist Sentiments: The mutiny was sparked off by wider nationalist movements in India, like
the INA trials and Quit India Movement, which appealed to the sailors with the feeling of freedom
and justice.
o The Arrest of Sailor B.C. Dutt, who was quoted speaking against Britain, proved to be an immediate
trigger that led to the mutiny, with a hunger strike and others resorting to protests.
• The demands of the sailors while on strike included:
o Their demands include a better standard of food and an improvement in the living conditions, which
had remained a cause of constant complaint.
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 o Political Prisoners Release: The protesting sailors demanded the release of all political
prisoners, especially those who have been held on account of INA trials and celebrated
personalities like Subhas Chandra Bose. The sailors were inspired by the Indian National
Army's fight for freedom and the trials of its members. Hence statement 1 is correct.
o Withdrawal of Indian Troops from Indonesia: The sailors demanded the withdrawal of Indian troops
who were stationed in Indonesia, which reflected their opposition to British imperialist policies.
o Equal Pay and Treatment: They demanded equal pay, and allowances to be on par with the British
sailors; doing away with the discriminatory practices that had been dominant for decades.
• Consequences:
o Impact on British Policy: The mutiny served as a wake-up call for the British government,
illustrating that their control over India was tenuous. The uprising contributed to the urgency
for negotiations regarding India's future governance, leading to the Cabinet Mission and
discussions about independence. Thus it did not result in the immediate resignation of the
British Viceroy of India. Hence statement 3 is not correct.
o The mutiny received widespread public support, with strikes and demonstrations taking place
in various parts of the country in solidarity with the mutineers. The Communist Party of India
and the Bombay Student Union organized a general strike in Bombay. Hence statement 2 is not
correct.
• The British government was prompt and decisive in crushing the mutiny. The government assembled
superior military power and used violence to suppress the uprising. By February 1946, the mutiny was
effectively over, following negotiations led by leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who persuaded the
sailors to surrender.

Q 3.A
• Recent Context: Apple, recently, approved a PC emulator for iOS, allowing users to run classic software,
particularly games, on iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS.
• An emulator is a software that enables one device to mimic another, allowing software designed for one
system to run on another without redesigning. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.
• Emulators are generally legal as they do not use proprietary code. However, running or distributing
copyrighted ROMs without ownership is illegal.
• Emulators can pose security risks if downloaded from unofficial sources, potentially containing malware.
• They may also impact device performance due to their resource-intensive nature.

Q 4.C
• After hearing about the incident at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, Gandhiji decided to withdraw the non-
cooperation movement. Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Bose, and many others have
recorded their dissatisfaction on hearing the news of the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• C.R. Das and Motilal put forward the programme of ‘either mending or ending’ the councils at the
Gaya session of the Congress in December 1922. Another section of the Congress, headed by
Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, and C Rajagopalachari, opposed the new proposal. Das and
Motilal resigned from their respective offices in the Congress and announced the formation of the
Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The Swaraj Party accepted the Congress programme in its entirety except in one respect – it would take
part in elections. It declared that it would present the national demand for self-government in the councils
and in case of its rejection its elected members would adopt ‘a policy of uniform, continuous and
consistent obstruction within the councils, with a view to make the Government through the councils
impossible’.
• The pro-changers and the no-changers agreed that civil disobedience was impossible immediately and that
no mass movement could be carried on indefinitely. Both also accepted that there was a need to rest and
reinvigorate the anti-imperialist forces, overcome demoralization, intensify politicization, widen political
participation, strengthen organization, etc.
• The Swarajist also realized that however useful parliamentary work might be, the real sanction that
would compel the government to accept national demand would be forced only by the mass
movement outside the legislature. So, both pro-changer and no-changer accepted the essentiality of
Gandhiji's leadership. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer, Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect.

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Q 5.C
Self-Respect Movement and Periyar E.V.R.
• Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy was a great social reformer.
o In 1921, during the anti-liquor campaign he cut down 1000 coconut trees in his own farm. In 1924, he
took an active part in the Vaikom Satyagraha. The objective of the Satyagraha was to secure for
untouchables the right to use a road near a temple at Vaikom in Kerala. Hence, statement 1 is
correct.
o E.V.R. opposed the Varnashrama policy followed in the V.V.S. Iyer’s Seranmadevi Gurugulam.
• During 1920- 1925 being in the Congrees Party he stressed that Congress should accept communal
representation, which advocated for reserved seats in legislatures for different communities,
especially the backward and oppressed classes. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Subsequently in 1925, he started the “Self-Respect Movement”.
o The aims of the ‘Self -Respect Movement’ were to uplift the Dravidians and to expose the
Brahminical tyrany and deceptive methods by which they controlled all spheres of Hindu
life. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• He denounced the caste system, child marriage and enforced widowhood.
o He encouraged inter-caste marriages. He himself conducted many marriages without any rituals.
Such a marriage was known as “Self-Respect Marriage.” He gave secular names to new born
babies. Hence, statement 4 is not correct.
• He attacked the laws of Manu, which he called the basis of the entire Hindu social fabric of caste.
• He founded the Tamil journals Kudiarasu, Puratchi and Viduthalai to propagate his ideals.

Q 6.C
• Recent Context: Women Entrepreneurship Platform and TransUnion CIBIL Partner to Launch
SEHER Program to Empower Women Entrepreneurs
• SEHER, a credit education program launched by the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and
TransUnion CIBIL, will empower women entrepreneurs in India with financial literacy content and
business skills, helping them to access the financial tools they need to drive further growth and create
employment in the country’s economy. The program is part of WEP’s Financing Women Collaborative
(FWC), a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at accelerating access to finance for women entrepreneurs.
• Women Entrepreneurship Platform
o It was incubated in NITI Aayog in 2018 as an aggregator platform that transitioned as a public-private
partnership in 2022 to build a comprehensive ecosystem supporting women entrepreneurs across
India.
o WEP aims at empowering women entrepreneurs by overcoming information asymmetry and
providing continuum of support across different pillars - Entrepreneurship promotion, Access to
Finance; Market Linkages; Training and Skilling; Mentoring and Networking and Business
Development Services.
o For this, WEP adopts a wide array of interventions with a focus on convergence and collaboration
with existing stakeholders.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 7.A
• The sudden suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 shattered the high hopes of freedom
raised earlier. Many young people began to question the basic strategy of the national leadership and its
emphasis on non-violence and began looking for alternatives. They were not attracted by
the parliamentary politics of the Swarajists or the patient and undramatic constructive work of the no-
changers. Many were drawn to the idea that violent methods alone would free India. Revolutionary
terrorism again became attractive in the 1920s. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Two strands of revolutionary terrorism developed — one in Punjab, U.P., and Bihar and the other in
Bengal. Both the strands came under the influence of several new social forces. One was the upsurge
of working-class trade unionism after the War. They could see the revolutionary potential of the new
class and desired to harness it to the nationalist revolution. The second significant influence was that of
the Russian Revolution and the success of the young Socialist State in consolidating itself. The youthful
revolutionaries were keen to learn from and take the help of the young Soviet State and its ruling
Bolshevik Party. The third influence was the newly sprouting Communist groups, emphasizing
Marxism, Socialism, and the proletariat. Hence statement 2 is correct.

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 • The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), previously known as the Hindustan
Republican Army/Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), was a revolutionary group founded
during the freedom movement in India. Its members included revolutionaries such as Ram Prasad
Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, and Sachindra Nath Bakshi. They believed that India could gain
independence only by force. The group engaged in violent methods to achieve their objective, which
Gandhiji criticized.
• In 1929, the group used a room in Lahore to make bombs. One of the members, Bhagwati Charan
Vohra, attacked Viceroy Lord Irwin by planting a bomb on a railway line in Delhi. Gandhiji criticized
the group for this act in his article titled The Cult of Bomb. In the article, he referred to HRSA’s actions
as cowardly. Vohra wrote “Philosophy of the Bomb” to respond to Gandhi’s criticism. In it, HSRA
defended their methods by saying that these violent methods were as crucial as Gandhiji’s non-violent
methods. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

Q 8.C
• Vinayak Savarkar and Ganesh Savarkar started Mitra Mela, a revolutionary secret society in Nasik
in 1899.
• It was one of the many (revolutionary organizations) involved in Maharashtra that believed in
overthrowing the armed British rule. In 1904, at a meeting attended by 200 members from various cities
in Maharashtra, freedom fighter Vinayak Savarkar named Giuseppe Mazzini's Young Italy and named it
Abhinav Bharat or Young India Society.
• The society was involved in some assassinations of British officials, and the Savarkar brothers were
convicted and imprisoned. For example, in 1909, the Nashik District Magistrate, A. M. T. Jackson, was
assassinated by Anant Laxman Kanhare.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 9.B
• In 1915 Mrs. Annie Besant announced her decision to establish a Home Rule League at Madras on the
model of the Irish Home Rule League. But Bal Gangadhar Tilak started his Home Rule League in
April 1916 whereas the Annie Besant launched the All-India Home Rule League in September
1916 to demand self-government for India. Both the Leagues worked in unison and aimed at the
achievement of self-government for India. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak started his Home Rule League in April 1916. His Home Rule League primarily
operated in the Maharashtra, Central Provinces, and Karnataka regions. Tilak's League focused on
mass mobilization in the Marathi-speaking areas and regions where he had a strong influence. Hence
statement 2 is correct.
• The Leagues' objective was to educate the people and provide the Congress demand for self-government
with the support and strength of a nation united in the knowledge of itself and its single aim. The Home
Leagues functioned independently as the Congress could not adopt a radical programme as that.
The Home Leagues aimed to pressurize the British public for granting self-government to India.
Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 10.B
• When the Civil Disobedience Movement was gaining momentum in the whole country, Assam also
played a significant role in contributing to the freedom of the country. People, especially students from
the Kamrup district of Assam came forward. To prevent the students from participating in the Civil
Disobedience Movement, J.R. Cunningham, the then Director of Public Information of Assam, came
up with the Cunningham circular.
• It required students to sign a declaration pledging their loyalty to the British Raj, renouncing any
participation in anti-government activities. It was received with bitter responses throughout the province.
The nationalist leader received the contents of the circular as a challenge. On 21st July 1930, a Chatra
Sammelan meeting was held under Omeo Kumar Das's leadership to strategise the protest against the
circular.
• Vishnuram Medh became one of the most important student leaders during this period. Picketing began
in educational institutions like Sonaram High School and Cotton College. Students of Assam raised strong
protests against such harmful discrimination of the government and as a result of this, picketing was
witnessed in various schools of Assam. This event was a turning point in the Indian independence
movement, as it marked the emergence of students as a powerful force for change. Hence statement 1 is
not correct.

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 • The historic Dandi march, marking the launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement, began on March 12,
and Gandhi broke the salt law by picking up a lump of salt at Dandi on April 6. Gandhi’s arrest came on
May 4, 1930, when he announced that he would lead a raid on Dharasana Salt Works on the West Coast.
On May 21, 1930, Sarojini Naidu, Imam Sahib, and Manilal (Gandhi’s son) took up the unfinished
task of leading a raid on the Dharasana Salt Works. The unarmed and peaceful crowd was met with a
brutal lathicharge which left 2 dead and 320 injured. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• During the civil disobedience movement, Gaffar Khan, also called Badshah Khan and Frontier
Gandhi, had started the first Pushto political monthly Pukhtoon and had organised a volunteer brigade
‘Khudai Khidmatgars’, popularly known as the ‘Red-Shirts’, who were pledged to the freedom struggle
and non-violence. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 11.B
• In December 1931, Gandhiji went to London for the conference, but the negotiations broke down and he
returned disappointed. Back in India, he discovered that the government had begun a new cycle of
repression. Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were both in jail, the Congress had been declared illegal,
and a series of measures had been imposed to prevent meetings, demonstrations and boycotts. With great
apprehension, Mahatma Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement.
o In the countryside, rich peasant communities – like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of
Uttar Pradesh – were active in the movement.
o Being producers of commercial crops, they were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling
prices. As their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue
demand. And the refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand led to widespread
resentment. These rich peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large
numbers, except in the Nagpur region.
o As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof. But in spite of that, some
workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement, selectively adopting some of the ideas
of the Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against
low wages and poor working conditions.
o The Congress was reluctant to include workers’ demands as part of its programme of struggle.
It felt that this would alienate industrialists and divide the anti-imperial forces.
ü Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the large-scale participation of
women. During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him.
They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.
o Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Not all social groups were moved by the abstract concept of swaraj. One such group was the nation’s
‘untouchables’, who from around the 1930s had begun to call themselves dalit or oppressed. For long the
Congress had ignored the dalits, for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus.
Dalits began organising themselves, demanding reserved seats in educational institutions, and a separate
electorate that would choose dalit members for legislative councils.
• Dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore limited, particularly in the
Maharashtra and Nagpur region where their organisation was quite strong.
o Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 12.A
• Viceroy Lord Wavell, in August 1945 declared the elections to the central and provincial
legislatures that would be held from December 1945 to January 1946. He also declared that an
executive council would be formed and a constitution-making body convened after these elections.
• Election Campaign:
o The Indian National Congress and the Muslim League emerged as the two major parties of
these elections with widespread campaigning by both. The Congress concentrated on the atrocities
of the Quit India Movement of 1942 and the ongoing trials of the captives of the Indian National
Army.
o The Muslim League under M.A. Jinnah declared that their movement would be centered on two
fundamental issues - the establishment of a separate nation of Pakistan and the leadership of the
League as the sole recognized representative of Muslims.

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 • Election Outcomes:
o The Congress did win massively in the general (i.e., non-Muslim) constituencies, capturing 57
out of 102 seats in the Central Assembly (against 36 in 1934) and 91.3% of non-Muslim votes.
o In the provinces, Congress won majorities everywhere except Bengal, Sind and Punjab.
o The Hindu Mahasabha was routed and the Communists, too, did badly, capturing only a handful of
provincial seats (3 in Bengal, including Jyoti Basu from a labour constituency, 2 in Bombay, and 2 in
Madras)
o The Muslim League's success in the Muslim seats was equally spectacular—all 30 reserved
constituencies in the centre with 86.6% of Muslim votes, and 442 out 509 Muslim seats in the
provinces. Unlike 1937, it had now clearly established itself as the dominant party among
Muslims because Muslim League won nearly 95% of Muslim seats. Hence statement 1 is
correct.
o Central Legislative Assembly: In the central assembly polls held in December 1945, on the 102
seats, the Indian National Congress secured 57 seats (against 36 in 1934), Muslim League secured 30
seats, Independents 5 seats, Akalis 2 seats, and Europeans 8 seats.
• Significance:
o It was clear that the Muslim League had emerged as the party of Muslims in India. The election
results vindicated the Muslim League's claim as the only legitimate representative of the Muslims.
o Less than 1 percent of India's population could vote, under the limited franchise, which
permitted less than 18,000 élites to choose the members of the Council of State. Hence statement
2 is not correct.
o There was a greater sense of communal voting during the elections, and the votes of the Muslim
electorate were based upon religious commitment and a declaration of Muslim communal unity.
o The elected members later formed the Constituent Assembly of India that began to draft a constitution
for an independent India.
• The elections laid the path to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. The massive electoral
verdict in favor of Pakistan during 1945-46 was a critical step in the establishment of the new nation.

Q 13.C
• Recent Context: Researchers have unveiled a rare type of electron localization phenomenon in
semiconductors. Semiconductors are materials with electrical properties that lie between conductors and
insulators.
o Anderson Localization
ü Proposed by American theoretical physicist P. W. Anderson.
ü Refers to the localization of quasiparticles like electrons, photons, and phonons in disordered or
amorphous semiconductors.
ü Doping and impurities can cause an absence of conduction in metals or semiconductors.
o Anderson Transition
ü It is caused by doping and impurities, which confuse electrons and make them roam around
impurity centers instead of traveling normally between high and low potential regions. Hence
option (c) is the correct answer.
o Quasi-Classical Anderson Transition
ü Proposes that random distributions of charged dopants can cause potential fluctuations, leading to
a metal-insulator transition.
o Lack of Experimental Evidence
ü Despite efforts, direct experimental verification of the Anderson transition remained elusive for
decades.
o Recent Discovery
ü Researchers at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru,
demonstrated a quasi-classical Anderson transition using oxygen and magnesium as random
dopants.
o Percolative Metal-Insulator Transition
ü Fluctuations in electrical potential create bubbles of electrons in the parent material.
ü The structure of the material remains the same, but an electronic transition occurs.
o Benefits of Electronic Transition in Semiconductors
ü Could enable new applications in lasers, optical modulators, photoconductors, spintronic devices,
and photorefractive dynamic holographic media.

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 o Efficient Semiconductors
ü Potential fluctuations can be used as a novel tool to alter the properties of semiconductors, making
them more efficient.

Q 14.A
• The Desai-Liaquat Pact, signed in January 1945, was a significant attempt to bridge the gap
between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League during a critical period of India's
struggle for independence. This pact aimed to address communal tensions and establish a framework for
cooperation between Hindus and Muslims in the context of forming an interim government.
• Causes for the Desai-Liaquat Pact:
o Failure of Earlier Negotiations: The Wavell Plan and the Simla Conference failed, showing that
there was an essential lack of agreement among Indian leaders as far as the constitution of India was
concerned. It was against this background that there was a need to hold a vital dialogue between the
Congress and the Muslim League.
o Communal Tensions: The communally charged atmosphere between the Hindus and Muslims in
India, juxtaposed with the then politically divided atmosphere, demanded an approach of cooperation
to maintain communal stability in India.
o Desire for a provisional government: Indian leaders breathed an air of strong desire that an interim
government must be formed which could represent the different communities and should take India
towards independence. The need for cooperation between the Congress and the Muslim League was
realized.
o International Perspective: The ongoing World War II and the changing political landscape made it
imperative for Indian leaders to present a united front to the British government.
• Provisions of the Desai-Liaquat Pact:
o Formation of an Interim Government: The pact proposed the establishment of an interim
government at the center, with an equal number of representatives from both the Congress and the
Muslim League in the central legislature.
o Reserved Seats for Minorities: It included provisions for reserving 20% of the seats in the central
legislature for minorities, ensuring their representation, and addressing concerns about their rights.
o Liaquat Ali Khan gave up the demand for a separate Muslim state (Pakistan) in exchange for the
guarantee of equal representation of Muslims and Hindus in the Council of Ministers.
• Failure of the Desai-Liaquat Pact: Despite its initial promise, the Desai-Liaqat Pact ultimately failed to
achieve its objectives for several reasons:
o Secrecy and Lack of Consensus: The Desai-Liaqat Pact was made in secret. The pact did not
have official sanction by the top leadership of the two parties. This severely harmed the
legitimacy and viability of the pact.
o Lack of Support from Influential Leaders and Distrust: There was mistrust all around as there
was no assured support from influential leaders. Congress suspected the plans of Muslim League
while Muslims were concerned that Congress would not actually reflect the true sentiment and
interests of Muslims. This factor posed a lot of problems for the agreement to proceed further.
o Political climate: The Indian political scenario was very charged, with tensions of communalism
running along with the Quit India Movement in the background. Not having official sanctions from
the powerful and influential leaders, the pact failed to respond to some of the burning political issues
of that time appropriately.
o Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Q 15.A
• The Government of India Act of 1919 had a provision that a commission would be appointed ten years
from the date to study the progress of the governance scheme and suggest new steps. An all-white, seven-
member Indian Statutory Commission, popularly known as the Simon Commission (after the name of
its chairman, Sir John Simon), was set up by the British government under Stanley Baldwin’s prime
ministership on November 8, 1927.
• The Congress session at Madras in 1927 under the presidency of M.A. Ansari decided to boycott the
commission “at every stage and in every form.” Those who decided to support the Congress's call to
boycott the Simon Commission included the liberals of the Hindu Mahasabha and the majority faction of
the Muslim League under Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Hence statement 1 is correct and 2 is not correct.
• Within the Muslim League, there were two factions: one led by Jinnah in Calcutta, which opposed the
Simon Commission, and another under Muhammad Shafi in Lahore, which backed the government.

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 • The Bombay Legislative Council Appointed Dr Ambedkar to work with the Simon Commission. In
October 1928, Ambedkar went before the commission. On behalf of the Bahishkrita Hitakarini Sabha,
he submitted a memorandum on the rights and safeguards he felt were required for the depressed classes.
Dr Ambedkar demanded, for the political protection of the depressed classes, representation on the same
basis as the Mohammedan minority. He wanted reserved seats for the depressed classes if a universal
adult franchise was granted. In case a universal franchise was not granted, Ambedkar said he would
campaign for a separate electorate for the depressed classes. He also demanded provincial autonomy and
dyarchy at the Centre.

Q 16.A
• Recent Context: India has successfully tested its first indigenous anti-radiation missile, the Rudram-
1.
• The Rudram-1 is India's first indigenous anti-radiation missile, developed by the Defence Research
and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). It's a critical asset for the IAF's
Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) missions, which aim to disable or destroy enemy air defence
systems. Integrated with Sukhoi-30MKI jets, it targets radiation sources with INS-GPS navigation and a
Passive Homing Head, crucial for the Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD). Hence statement 1 is
correct.
• The Rudram 1 showcases India’s cutting-edge advancements in anti-radiation missile technology, placing
it on par with its global counterparts due to its sophisticated features. In comparison to China’s YJ91,
which boasts a 120 km range and is derived from Russia’s Kh31P (110 km), the Rudram 1 excels with
an impressive 200 km range, enabling precise strikes deep within enemy territory. Hence statement
2 is not correct.
• Currently, Rudram-1 is designed to be launched from aircraft, specifically the Su-30MKI fighter jets of
the Indian Air Force. There is no indication that it can be launched from land or sea-based systems. Hence
statement 3 is not correct.

Q 17.A
• In May 1934, the socialists and other leftists- the most important of them being Jayaprakash Narayan,
Achyut Patwardhan, Asoke Mehta, Narendra Dev, and Minoo Masani - formed the Congress Socialist
Party (CSP).
• Although Jawaharlal Nehru was sympathetic towards the socialist cause, he never formally joined
this group. Acharya Narendra Deva was its first President and Jayaprakash Narayan was its
General Secretary in 1934. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• The CSP, which rapidly gained strength in provinces like UP, was meant to operate from within the
Congress and to try to change its orientation towards a socialist programme as well as contain the
dominance of the conservative 'right' wingers in the Congress. In March 1948, Congress amended the
party constitution according to which no member of any other party could be a member of the Congress
Party. The sole object of this amendment was to create a condition in which the parties working within or
outside the Congress would either have to dissolve themselves or merge with the Congress or be
compelled to break with the Congress. In these circumstances, there was no other option for the Socialist
Party but to quit the Congress. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was formed at the Lucknow session of the Congress in April 1936,
with Sahajanand Saraswati elected as its first president.
o The Kisan Manifesto, which was adopted in August, contained radical demands, such as the abolition
of zamindari, graduated income tax on agricultural income, granting of occupancy rights to all
tenants, and scaling down of interest rates and debts.
o A number of CSP leaders and communists joined the AIKS and helped in consolidating the
movement where it already existed, such as UP, Bihar and Orissa, and also in extending the
movement to other provinces, such as Bengal, where a provincial Kisan Sabha was started in March
1937. Hence statement 3 is not correct.
o It was also because of its CSP members that the AIKS remained a part of the Congress and
maintained close relationships with the provincial Congress committees.

Q 18.D
• Recent Context: The government has announced initiatives for the economic development of Nagaland
through the harnessing of Tizu and Zungki rivers (National Waterways 101).
• Tizu River:
o Originates near Longkhim in Tuensang district, Nagaland. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
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 o It flows into the Chinwin River (also known as Ningthi River) in Myanmar, a major tributary of the
Irrawaddy River. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
o Main Tributaries: Include Zungki, Lanye, and Likimro rivers.
• Zungki River: The largest tributary of the Tizu River within Nagaland.

Q 19.D
• Do not get confused between Bharat Stree Mahamandal and Bharat Mahil Parishad.
• Bharat Mahila Parishad: The Bharat Mahila Parishad, or Ladies Social Conference, was a women's
organization founded by Ramabai Ranade in 1904 in Bombay. The organization was the women's wing of
the National Social Conference, and its goals included fighting for women's rights to vote and inherit
property, and addressing issues such as child marriage, dowry, and the treatment of widows. Hence pair 1
is not correctly matched.
• Bharat Stree Mahamandal: In 1910, Sarla Devi Chaudhurani convened the first meeting of the
Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad.
o Considered as the first major Indian women’s organisation set up by a woman, its objectives included
promotion of education for women, abolition of the purdah system and improvement in the socio-
economic and political status of woman all over India. Sarla Devi believed that the man working for
women’s upliftment lived ‘under the shade of Manu’.
• Pandita Ramabai Saraswati founded the Arya Mahila Samaj to serve the cause of women.
o She pleaded for improvement in the educational syllabus of Indian women before the English
Education Commission which was referred to Queen Victoria. This resulted in medical education for
women which started in Lady Dufferin College.
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 o Later Ramabai Ranade established a branch of Arya Mahila Samaj in Bombay.
ü Hence, pair 2 is not correctly matched.
• The All India Women’s Conference (AIWC), founded by Margaret Cousins in 1927, was perhaps the
first women’s organisation with an egalitarian approach.
o Its first conference was held at Ferguson College, Pune.
ü Hence, pair 3 is not correctly matched.
Q 20.C
• Revolutionaries like Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chatterjea, and Sachindranath Sanyal met in Kanpur in
October 1924 and founded the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) to organize armed revolution to
overthrow colonial rule and establish in its place the Federal Republic of the United States in India.
• The most important action of the HRA was the Kakori Robbery on 9 August 1925. The British
Government arrested a large number of young men and tried them in the Kakori Conspiracy Case.
• After this incident, the younger revolutionaries Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan
Vohra, Sukhdev, etc set out to reorganize the HRA under the overall leadership of Chandrashekhar Azad.
Simultaneously, they were being influenced by socialist ideas. They met at Ferozeshah Kotla Ground
in Delhi on 9 and 10 September 1928, created a new collective leadership, adopted socialism as their
official goal, and changed the name of the party to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
(HSRA).
• The country was also stirred by the prolonged hunger strike the revolutionary under-trial undertook as a
protest against the horrible conditions in jails. They demanded that they be treated not as criminals but as
political prisoners. On 13th September 1929, the 64th day of the fast, Jatin Das died.
• Surya Sen had participated in the non-cooperation movement and he was the secretary of the Chittagong
District Congress Committee. Surya Sen and his associates planned to occupy two main armouries in
Chittagong to seize and supply arms to the revolutionaries to destroy telephone and telegraph lines and to
dislocate the railway link of Chittagong with the rest of Bengal. The raid was conducted on 18th April
1930 and involved 65 activists under the banner of the Indian Republican Army-Chittagong
Branch.
o Kakori Robbery: August 1925
o Inception of HSRA: September 1928
o The Chittagong Armoury Raid: April 1930
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 21.C
• Following the 1905 Partition of Bengal, (Banga-Bhang), the British regime let loose a cycle of repression
throughout the country. Because of the significant participation of students in political agitation, the
government, in 1906, under a new circular 'Risley Circular' (named after H.H. Risley, the then
Secretary to the Government of India, responsible for mooting the idea) prohibited students
participation in politics or any other agitation.
• The raising of slogans like 'Vande Mataram and Tilak Maharaj Ki Jai was made a punishable offense.
Earlier, the provincial government of Bengal had issued a 'Carlyle Circular'; the Risley Circular was a
modified version of the Carlyle Circular issued earlier in Bengal in October 1905.
• Maharshi Aurobindo Ghosh, in his article 'True Meaning of Risley Circular' in the newspaper Vande
Mataram accused the imperial regime of trying to deprive the students of joining the patriotic stream,
sentiment, and programs. The regime's true intent was to weaken the anti-imperialism agitation,
Aurobindo asserted.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 22.B
• Recent Context: Recent volatility in the stablecoin market, such as the collapse of TerraUSD, has drawn
attention to the challenges facing these digital assets.
• Stablecoins are digital cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a stable value by pegging their worth to
assets like fiat currencies (e.g., USD, EUR), commodities (e.g., gold), or other cryptocurrencies. Hence
option (b) is the correct answer.
• They aim to minimize price volatility, making them suitable for transactions and as a store of value within
the volatile cryptocurrency market.
o Stablecoins come in several types:
ü Fiat-collateralized: Backed 1:1 by fiat currencies like USD or EUR (e.g., Tether, Gemini
Dollar).

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 ü Asset-backed: Supported by a basket of assets like commodities or precious metals, which can
affect their value (e.g., Digix Gold).
ü Crypto-collateralized: Decentralized and backed by cryptocurrencies, often over-collateralized
to mitigate price volatility (e.g., Dai).
ü Non-collateralized: Decentralized and algorithmically governed, without specific backing (e.g.,
Basis)
Q 23.B
• Mappila Revolt
o The Mappila Revolt took place in the Malabar region of Kerala in 1921, primarily involving the
Mappilas, a Muslim tenant community, and their grievances against oppressive landlords and British
colonial rule. Hence statement 1 is correct.
o The name Mappilla (lit. son-in-law; anglicized form Moplah) is given to Malayali-speaking
Muslims who reside along the entire length of the Malabar Coast of northern Kerala.
o The revolt is often seen in the context of agrarian discontent, exacerbated by the rising communal
tensions of the time. It eventually turned into one of the most significant peasant revolts under British
rule but also took a tragic turn due to its communal dimension.
o Focus of the Revolt: The Mappila Revolt began as an agrarian uprising, primarily directed against
the Hindu landlords (jenmies) who were exploiting the Mappila tenants through excessive rents, lack
of security of tenure, and other oppressive practices. The British authorities were also seen as
complicit in the system of oppression, providing support to the landlords and imposing harsh
measures to suppress the uprising.
o The revolt had a strong anti-landlord and anti-British sentiment at its core, with Mappilas targeting
both these groups during the rebellion. The grievances revolved around land rights and the oppressive
landlord system that had worsened under British rule.
• End of the Revolt
o Mappila Revolt did not end peacefully. Instead, the British government declared martial law and
responded with severe repression, including mass arrests and violent crackdowns. Thousands of
Mappilas were killed or imprisoned, and the rebellion was brutally suppressed by December 1921.
o There was no peaceful settlement between the Mappilas and the British; instead, the revolt was
crushed through force and resulted in a tragic loss of life. The harsh British response left a
lasting legacy of bitterness among the local population. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
o Initially, the Mappila Revolt was an agrarian movement with strong anti-landlord sentiments,
but over time, it became communalized. Many Hindus were seen by the Mappilas as collaborators
with the British, leading to attacks on Hindu landlords. This communalization isolated the
Mappilas from the broader Khilafat-Non-Cooperation Movement, which had initially provided
support for the revolt. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Azad distanced themselves from
the violence and communal aspects of the revolt. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 24.B
• The Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress, held in December 1929, was a pivotal moment
in India's struggle for independence. Here are the main outcomes of the session:
o Demand for Complete Independence (Purna Swaraj): The resolution known as "Purna
Swaraj," which demanded total independence from British authority, was passed, and this was
the most important result. This marked a clear shift away from the desire for dominion status
and toward an unambiguous demand for full sovereignty.
o Celebration of Independence Day: The assembly decided to declare January 26, 1930, as
"Independence Day," a day to honor the call for total freedom. Later on, this date gained
significance in India as Republic Day.
o Program of Civil Disobedience: The Congress authorized a program of civil disobedience
against British laws, which included non-payment of taxes and the resignation of members from
legislative councils. This signaled the start of the freedom struggle's more assertive phase.
o Unification of Extremists and Moderates: The Lahore Session promoted a more cohesive front in
the struggle for independence by bridging the divide between the extremist and moderate groups
within the Congress.
o Raising the Indian Tricolor Flag: On the banks of the Ravi River, Jawaharlal Nehru raised the
tricolor flag, signifying the determination of the Indian people to attain independence.
o Rejection of the Two-Nation Theory: The session's overall sentiment, while not officially expressed
in a resolution, was one of rejection for the two-nation theory's projected sectarian divisions and an
emphasis on Indian unity.
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 • The Calcutta Session (1928) under the presidentship of Motilal Nehru: The resolution demanding
"Purna Swaraj," or total independence from British rule, was adopted during the session, making it
significant. As a result, the Congress's strategy significantly changed, taking a stronger stand against
colonial control. Additionally, the session prepared the groundwork for the formal declaration of the
demand for complete independence at the Lahore Session in 1929.
• The Bombay Session (1934) with Rajendra Prasad as president: During this session, the Indian
National Congress's Constitution was amended to reflect the shifting political climate. In accordance with
the Government of India Act, of 1935, it sought to fortify the organization and get ready for the
approaching elections. The session also emphasized the need for greater unity among Indian nationalists
and addressed the socio-economic issues facing the country.
• The Karachi Session (1931) was presided over by Vallabhbhai Patel: The Karachi Session is notable
for the passing of the Karachi Resolution, which reiterated the Congress's commitment to Purna Swaraj. It
also laid down fundamental rights and socio-economic principles, including protections for workers and
the abolition of child labor. The session was held in the context of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and the
aftermath of the Civil Disobedience Movement, highlighting the Congress's focus on civil liberties and
economic rights.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 25.C
• Recent Context: The presentation of the Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri (BHISHM)
cubes has been one of the key highlights of the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to war-
affected Ukraine.
• BHISM cubes are innovative portable hospitals (healthcare services) and are designed to provide rapid
medical assistance in emergencies. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
• India has committed to donating four BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri) Cubes
to Ukraine, aimed at enhancing emergency medical care amidst the ongoing conflict with Russia.
• The Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri (BHISHM), part of Project Aarogya Maitri,
is an innovative emergency medical aid program. At its core are compact, portable "mini cubes" filled
with essential medicines and equipment, designed for rapid deployment in various emergencies. The
BHISHM system is highly modular and scalable. Thirty-six mini cubes combine to form a mother cube,
and two mother cubes create a full BHISHM Cube. Each complete cube can support medical care for up
to 200 cases, including surgical procedures. The system incorporates advanced technology, featuring
inventory management via Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and digital support in 180 languages.

Q 26.B
• All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC): Founded in 1920, in Bombay, AITUC was established as
the first national trade union in India, aiming to unify various trade unions and coordinate labor activities
across the country. The organization was influenced by the broader socio-political movements of the time,
including the Non-Cooperation Movement and the impact of the Russian Revolution.
• Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI): Established in 1927, FICCI
was created to represent the interests of Indian businesses and promote trade and industry in the country.
It aimed to provide a platform for dialogue between the government and the business community.
• Indian Merchants' Chamber, established on 7 September 1907 in Mumbai, is an organization of India,
representing interests of Indian trade, commerce, and industry. It was organized originally during the days
of the British Raj to promote trade, commerce, and industry by Indian entrepreneurs.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 27.B
• The non-cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi was a significant phase of the Indian
independence struggle. It was launched after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, the Rowlett Act, and the
abolition of the Caliphate.
• The program of non-cooperation included within its ambit the surrender of titles and honors, boycott of
government-affiliated schools and colleges, law court, and foreign cloth, and could be extended to include
resignation from government service and mass civil disobedience including the non-payment of taxes.
• National schools and colleges were to be set up, panchayats were to be established for settling disputes,
hand-spinning and weaving were to be encouraged and people were asked to maintain Hindu-Muslim
unity, give up untouchability, and observe strict non-violence. The Nagpur Session, thus, committed the
Congress to a program of extra-constitutional mass action. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
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 • Muhammad Ali at the All-India Khilafat Congress declared that it was religiously unlawful for Muslims
to continue in the British Army. Many congressmen, including Gandhiji, issued a manifesto repeating
whatever Mohammed Ali had said and added that every civilian and member of the armed forces
should sever connections with the regressive Government. The Congress Working Committee
passed a similar resolution as well. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• The Bardoli Resolution, which announced the withdrawal of the non-cooperation movement, contained
clauses which asked peasants to pay taxes and tenants to pay rents and assured zamindars that the
Congress had no intention of depriving them of their rights and is also no proof of hidden motive. The
Congress had at no stage during the movement sanctioned non-payment of rent and questioned the
right of zamindars. This was used by later communists to criticize the Congress being a party of the
bourgeoisie class. Hence statement 4 is not correct.
• At the beginning of the non-cooperation movement, the government had thought it best to leave it alone as
repression would only make martyrs. But later, the Government felt that things were really going too
far and announced a change of policy by declaring the volunteer corps illegal and arresting all those
who claimed to be its members. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 28.C
• The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 gave a new lease of life to the nationalist movement which
had been dormant since the heady days of the Swadeshi movement. Britain's difficulty was India's
opportunity. The west coast of North America had since 1904, become home to a steadily increasing
number of Punjabi immigrants. The discriminatory policy of the host countries soon resulted in a flurry of
political activity among Indian nationalists.
• As early as 1907, Ram Nath Puri, a political exile on the west coast issued a circular-e-azadi(circular of
liberty) in which he also pressed support to the swadeshi movement; Tarak Nath Das in Vancouver started
the Free Hindustan and adopted a very militant nationalist tone; G.D Kumar set up a Swadesh Sevak
Home in Vancouver on the lines of the India house in London ( founded by Shyam ji Krishna
Verma) and also began to bring out a Gurumukhi paper called Swadesh Sewak which advocated social
reform and also asked Indian troops to rise in revolt against the British.
• In 1910, Tarak Nath Das and G.D. Kumar, by now forced out of Vancouver, set up the United India house
in Seattle and the U.S.A. The first fillip to the revolutionary movement was provided by the visit to
Vancouver, in early 1913, of Bhagwan Singh, a Sikh priest who had worked in Hong Kong and the Malay
states. He openly preached the gospel of violent overthrow of British rule and urged the people to adopt
Vande Mataram as a revolutionary salute. Bhagwan Singh was expelled from Canada after his stay of 3
months. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 29.B
• Hyderabad was the largest princely State in India both by virtue of its size and its population. The
Nizam’s dominions included three distinct linguistic areas: Marathi speaking (twenty-eight percent),
Kannada Speaking (twenty-two), and Telugu speaking (fifty percent). Osman Ali Khan, who became
Nizam in 1911 and continued till 1948, ruled the State as a personalized autocracy.
• As in other parts of India, it was the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movement of 1920-22 that created the
first stirrings of political activity.
• This new awakening found expression in the subsequent years in the holding of a series of Hyderabad
political conferences at different venues outside the State.
• Simultaneously, there began a process of regional cultural awakening, the lead being taken by the
Telangana area. A cohesion to this effort was provided by the founding of the Andhra Jana Sangham
which later grew into the Andhra Mahasabha.
• In 1937, the other two regions of the State also set up their organizations — the Maharashtra
Parishad and the Kannada Parishad. And, in 1938, activists from all three regions came together
and decided to found the Hyderabad State Congress as a state-wide body of the people of
Hyderabad.
• This was not a branch of the Indian National Congress, despite its name, and even though its members had
close contacts with the Congress.
• But even before the organization could be formally founded, the Nizam’s government issued orders
banning it, the ostensible ground being that it was a communal body of Hindus and that Muslims were not
sufficiently represented in it. Negotiations with the Government bore no fruit, and the decision was taken
to launch a Satyagraha.
• The leader of this Satyagraha was Swami Ramanand Tirtha, a Marathi-speaking nationalist who had
given up his studies during the Non-Cooperation Movement, attended a national school and college,
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 worked as a trade unionist in Bombay and Sholapur and finally moved to Mominabad in Hyderabad State
where he ran a school on nationalist lines.
• The Satyagraha started in October 1938 and the pattern adopted was that a group of five Satyagrahis
headed by a popular leader and consisting of representatives of all the regions would defy the ban by
proclaiming themselves as members of the State Congress.
o This was repeated thrice a week for two months and all the Satyagrahis were sent to jail. Huge crowds
would collect to witness the Satyagraha and express solidarity with the movement.
o The two centres of the Satyagraha were Hyderabad city and Aurangabad city in the Marathwada area.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 30.C
• The Radcliffe Committee, which is otherwise known as the Punjab Boundary Commission, was set
up in 1947 for the demarcation of the border lines between India and Pakistan at the time of
partitioning British India.
• The decision to partition India was made during the negotiations between the British government and
Indian leaders, particularly in the context of the growing demand for a separate nation for Muslims, led by
the Muslim League and its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The British Cabinet, headed by Prime
Minister Clement Attlee, decided that British India be divided into two completely independent
dominions: India and Pakistan.
• Hence, demarcation of the boundaries of the two emerging nations was urgently needed especially
in areas with mixed populations such as Punjab and Bengal with independence due on August 15,
1947. This boundary demarcation would primarily serve to check further communal violence and promote
a semblance of order at the time of transition.
• The British government appointed Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer and politician to head the
Boundary Commission. He was supposed to determine the boundary of the two new countries based on
religious demography and administrative convenience.
• The Radcliffe Report led to one of the biggest mass migrations in world history, removing an
estimated 15 million people as Hindus and Sikhs moved to India, while Muslims shifted to Pakistan.
Communal violence accompanied the move and killed over a million.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 31.A
• The trade unions emerged in India after World War I. The main factors that led to the emergence
of trade unions include:
o Rising prices of essential commodities.
o Decline in the real wages of workers.
o Increase in the demand for industrial products resulting in the expansion of Indian industries.
o Gandhi's call for the Non-Cooperation Movement.
o The Russian Revolution.
o The lack of any specific legislation governing trade unions led to confusion and uncertainty. The
British government recognized the need to establish a legal framework for regulating trade union
activities.
• The Trade Union Act, 1926
o recognised trade unions as legal associations; Hence statement 1 is correct.
o laid down conditions for registration and regulation of trade union activities; Hence statement 2 is
correct.
o secured immunity, both civil and criminal, for trade unions from prosecution for legitimate activities,
but put some restrictions on their political activities. Hence statement 3 is correct and 4 is not
correct.
Q 32.B
• Recent Context: MoD funded a start-up under the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) that
will secure Li-Fi technology for the Indian Defence sector, particularly focusing on the Navy.
• Li-Fi and Wi-Fi are two distinct wireless communication technologies that provide internet connectivity
but are different. Wi-Fi, short for Wireless Fidelity, utilises radio waves to transmit data wirelessly
between devices and access points. On the other hand, Li-Fi, or Light Fidelity, uses light waves from LED
bulbs to transmit data at high speeds. Unlike Wi-Fi, Li-Fi operates in the visible light spectrum, enabling
faster data transfer rates and more secure communication. But Li-Fi's line-of-sight requirement limits
its flexibility, not makes it more flexible than Wi-Fi. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

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 • Wi-Fi offers lower data transmission speeds compared to Li-Fi. While Wi-Fi speeds can vary depending
on your protocol and environment, Li-Fi has the potential to deliver significantly faster data rates,
which is often gigabits per second, as it uses light waves. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Wi-Fi generally provides an excellent range and coverage compared to Li-Fi. Wi-Fi signals can penetrate
through walls and other objects, making connectivity easier across larger areas, whereas Li-Fi signals are
limited between the transmitter and receiver only, limiting their range to the area illuminated by the light
source. Li-Fi offers enhanced security features compared to Wi-Fi. Since Li-Fi signals are confined
to the space where a light source is present, they are less susceptible to interception. Hence
statement 3 is correct.

Q 33.C
• Introduction to Tribal Movements
o The tribal movements in India during the colonial period were often responses to the imposition of
British laws, exploitation by moneylenders and landlords, and interference in the traditional tribal way
of life. Many of these movements were led by charismatic tribal leaders who fought to protect their
communities and resist British policies. Below is an exploration of some significant tribal revolts and
their leaders.
• Rampa Revolts (1920-24) and Alluri Sitarama Raju
o The Rampa Revolts, also known as the Manyam Rebellion, took place in the hilly regions of Andhra
Pradesh.
o The movement was led by Alluri Sitarama Raju, a prominent freedom fighter who mobilized the
tribals against the British. Hence pair 1 is correctly matched.
o The main grievance was the oppressive Madras Forest Act, which restricted the tribal communities'
access to forests.
• Reangs' Revolt (1942-43) and Ratnamani
o The Reangs' revolt, also known as the Kailashahar Rebellion, occurred in the present-day Tripura
region during the Quit India Movement.
o The Reangs, an indigenous tribe, revolted against the oppressive practices of the local authorities and
the British colonial government.
o Ratnamani, a leader from the community, emerged as a key figure during this revolt, inspiring the
tribals to fight for their rights. Hence pair 2 is correctly matched.
• Naga Movement (1905-31) and Jadonang
o The Naga Movement in the early 20th century was a significant tribal uprising in Northeast India.
o Jadonang, a spiritual and political leader from Manipur, led the Nagas in their resistance against
British rule, and he sought to establish a Naga kingdom free from British interference.
o He was executed by the British in 1931, but his legacy continued through his follower, Rani
Gaidinliu.
o Hence pair 3 is also correctly matched.

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Q 34.B
• Recent Context: Kerala celebrates Kozhikode’s recognition as India’s first UNESCO ‘City of
Literature’.
• The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004. It aims to promote cooperation with
and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
Almost 300 cities around the world currently make up this network.
• Every year, UNESCO seeks applications for various cities across the globe for putting them under its
UCCN project. The applications in India are routed through the Ministry of Culture.
• UNESCO designates the creative cities in seven fields — Craft, Folk Art, Media Arts, Film Design,
Gastronomy, Literature and Music.
About Indian cities in UNESCO's Creative Cities Network
• The following cities in India are part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN):
o Kozhikode: India's first UNESCO City of Literature, recognized in 2023
o Gwalior: Recognized for music in 2023
o Srinagar: Recognized for crafts and folk arts in 2021
o Mumbai: Recognized for film in 2019
o Hyderabad: Recognized for gastronomy in 2019
o Chennai: Recognized for music in 2017
o Varanasi: Recognized for music in 2015
o Jaipur: Recognized for crafts and folk arts in 2015
• As of now, no city from India has been included in the UCCN for the media arts or design fields. Hence
points 1 and 5 are not correct.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 35.B
• Recent Context: Scientists have identified bone remains found in a Tibetan Baishiya Karst Cave as
belonging to a Denisovan individual.
o The Denisovans are the first ancient hominin species to be revealed by genes alone, not by fossil
classification. While placed in the Homo genus, they have not yet been given a species classification
as no physical description exists. They are named after the Denisova Cave in Russia where the first
fossils were found.
o The fossils of the first Denisovans to be identified as such were discovered in 2008 by Russian
scientists in Denisova Cave in Siberia. These remains were classified as a new species in 2010 by the
Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 2022.
o Denisovans coexisted with modern humans and the Neanderthals, our closest extinct relatives, for
several thousand years in Eurasia. Denisovans were the smallest of the three related species, standing
3 to 4 feet tall.
• Feature:
o An extinct species of hominid and a close relative to modern humans.
o May have ranged from Siberia to Southeast Asia during the last Ice Age.
o DNA evidence suggests Denisovans are related to both Neanderthals and modern humans, and may
have interbred with both.
o Share a common ancestor - Homo heidelbergensis (most likely lived in Africa) - with both modern
humans and Neanderthals.
o Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 36.C
• The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Movement, was a significant landmark in India’s
struggle for independence from British colonial rule. The Quit India Movement started on 8 August 1942,
as thousands demonstrated through civil disobedience; it was a manifestation of the desire of the people of
India to rid Britain of their rule.
• Spread of the Movement:
o Widespread Protests: The Quit India movement spread fast throughout all of India. Considerable
protests and strikes were reported by Bombay, Calcutta, and Delhi, as well as in all other rural areas.
It embraced boycotts of British goods and services.
o Repression by British Authorities: The British reacted very quickly and brutally. They arrested
more than 100,000 persons including Gandhi, Nehru, and other notable leaders that made rigid

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 restrictions on communication and public gatherings. This repression only increased public anger
against the rule of the British and did not weaken the movement.
o Diverse Responses: However, most political parties opposed the Quit India Movement.
ü The Muslim League under Jinnah opposed it since there would have been no separate
nation for Muslims.
ü The Communist Party of India opposed it as well and instead, campaigned for the British
war effort.
ü The Hindu Mahasabha, under the leadership of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, openly
opposed the Quit India Movement. They issued statements urging their members to remain
loyal to the British and not participate in the movement.
ü B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits, who had joined the viceroy's executive council as a
labor member just before the onset of the campaign, also did not support it.
• Though it did not succeed in its immediate objective of gaining independence from Britain, this was a
strongly intensified call for independence and it showed the will and solidarity of the Indian people.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 37.C
• The Indian capitalist class had its own notions of how the anti-imperialist struggle ought to be waged. It
was always in favour of not completely abandoning the constitutional path and the negotiating table and
generally preferred to put its weight behind constitutional forms of struggle as opposed to mass civil
disobedience. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• This was due to several reasons.
o There was the fear that mass civil disobedience, especially if it was prolonged, would unleash forces
which could turn the movement revolutionary in a social sense (i.e., threaten capitalism itself).
Whenever the movement was seen to be getting too dangerous in this sense, the capitalists tried their
best to bring the movement back to a phase of constitutional opposition.
o The capitalists were unwilling to support a prolonged all-out hostility to the government of the day as
it prevented the continuing of day-to-day business and threatened the very existence of the
class. Hence statement 2 is correct.
o The Indian capitalists' support to constitutional participation, whether it be in assemblies, conferences
or even joining the Viceroy's Executive Council, is not to be understood simply as their getting co-
opted into the imperial system or surrendering to it. They saw all this as a forum for maintaining an
effective opposition fearing that boycotting these forums completely would help ‘black legs' and
elements who did not represent the nation to, without any opposition, easily pass measures which
could severely affect the Indian economy and the capitalist class. However, there was no question of
unconditionally accepting reforms or participating in conferences or assemblies. The capitalists were
to "participate on their own terms, with 'no compromise on fundamentals,' firmly rejecting offers of
cooperation which fell below their own and the minimum national demands. They believed that
complete neutrality would be suicidal, so FICCI supported the principles of the movement and
condemned police brutalities. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 38.A
• The Hartog Committee was a commission established in 1929 to review the state of education in
British India.
• An increase in the number of schools and colleges was observed, leading to the deterioration of
education standards. Its main recommendations were as follows.
o Primary Education:
ü It emphasized the importance of primary education.
ü Recommended adoption of the policy of consolidation as opposed to the expansion or
compulsion in education. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
ü Improvement in the quality, training, status, pay, and service conditions of teachers
o Secondary Education:
ü For secondary education, it recommended a selective system of admission.
ü Only deserving students should go in for high school and intermediate stage, while average
students should be diverted to vocational courses after VIII standard.
ü Recommended inclusion of vocational and technical disciplines in secondary schools. Hence
statement 2 is correct.
ü Providing appropriate teacher training courses for secondary teachers

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 o Higher Education:
ü It criticized the policy of indiscriminate admissions which led to the lowering of standards.
ü Recommended implementing strict regulations for student admissions based on ability and
aptitude.
ü The committee did not recommend the establishment of a University Grants Commission. It
focused more on improving the quality of education rather than quantitative expansion.
Hence statement 3 is not correct.

Q 39.B
• The Delhi Durbar (lit. "Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by the
British at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also
known as the Imperial Durbar, it was held three times, in 1877, 1903, and 1911, at the height of the
British Empire. The 1911 Durbar was the third, organized to commemorate the coronation of King
George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• One of the most significant announcements during the 1911 Durbar was the annulment of the
partition of Bengal. This reversed Lord Curzon's decision from 1905, which had divided Bengal along
communal lines and had been a source of widespread protests and unrest. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Another important declaration made at the 1911 Delhi Durbar was the transfer of the capital of
British India from Calcutta to Delhi. This decision was made to symbolize a return to the historic heart
of Indian politics and to reflect Delhi’s central location in India. Hence statement 3 is correct.
Additional information:
• The first Durbar, held on January 1, 1877, was to formally proclaim Queen Victoria as the Empress of
India. This event was orchestrated by the British government to consolidate their empire and reinforce
their sovereignty over India. It was also an opportunity to display the pomp and power of the British
Empire to the Indian princes and the public.
• The second Durbar was held on January 1, 1903, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra as Emperor and Empress of India. Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, organised this
Durbar, which was larger and more magnificent than the first. It served to demonstrate the splendor and
majesty of the British monarchy and to strengthen the ties between the British crown and the Indian
princes.
• The third and final Durbar was held on December 12, 1911, to celebrate the coronation of King George V
and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India. This Durbar was historically significant because it
was the only one attended by the reigning monarch himself.

Q 40.D
• The All-India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka, not Lahore, on December 30, 1906. It was
established with the aim of promoting and protecting the political rights of Muslims in British India,
especially in response to the growing influence of the Indian National Congress, which was seen by some
Muslim leaders as primarily representing Hindu interests. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The League supported the partition of Bengal. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• It desired separate electorates for Muslims, a demand conceded by the government in 1909. Some seats in
the councils were now reserved for Muslims who would be elected by Muslim voters. This tempted
politicians to gather a following by distributing favours to their own religious groups.
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah was not involved in the founding of the Muslim League in 1906. Jinnah served as
the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pakistan on 14 August 1947,
and then as the Republic of Pakistan's first governor-general until his death. In fact, Jinnah initially
aligned with the Indian National Congress and was a proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity. He later became
a prominent leader of the Muslim League in the 1930s and was instrumental in leading the demand for a
separate Muslim state, eventually leading to the creation of Pakistan. Hence statement 3 is not correct.
Q 41.A
• The Indian National Congress took up the Swadeshi call and the Banaras Session, 1905, presided over by
G.K. Gokhale, supported the Swadeshi and Boycott Movement for Bengal. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The militant nationalists led by Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghosh were,
however, in favour of extending the movement to the rest of India and carrying it beyond the programme
of just Swadeshi and boycott to a full-fledged political mass struggle The aim was now Swaraj and the
abrogation of partition had become the ‘pettiest and narrowest of all political objects”. The Moderates, by
and large, were not as yet willing to go that far.

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 • In 1906, however, the Indian National Congress at its Calcutta Session, presided over by Dadabhai
Naoroji, took a major step forward. Naoroji in his presidential address declared that the goal of the Indian
National Congress was ‘selfgovernment or Swaraj like that of the United Kingdom or the Colonies.’
Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Q 42.C
• Digital Bharat Nidhi
o Recent Context: The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has introduced the draft
Telecommunications (Digital Bharat Nidhi) Rules, 2024 under Sections 26 and 56 of the
Telecommunication Act, 2023.
o About Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN):
o It replaces the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and is funded by a 5% levy on telecom
operators’ Adjusted Gross Revenue. Hence statements 1 and 2 are correct.
o Aim: It aims to expand telecom networks in underserved areas where private companies hesitate due
to low profitability. Funds will support universal service, R&D in telecom, pilot projects, and
connectivity improvements. The DBN will be managed by an administrator selecting implementers
through bidding, ensuring non-discriminatory network sharing.
o This so-called administrator will determine the modalities of providing funding to DBN implementers
on a case-by-case basis, including but not limited to full funding, partial funding, co-funding, market
risk mitigation, and risk capital.
o The DBN shall fund schemes and projects for providing targeted access to telecommunication
services for underserved groups of society such as women, persons with disabilities and economically
and socially weaker sections, as per the draft rules.

Q 43.D
• Hitler’s astounding success and the fall of Belgium, Holland, and France in the initial phase of World War
II put England in a conciliatory mood. As a result, The British government came up with its offer to get
the cooperation of India in the war effort under which Viceroy Linlithgow announced the August Offer
in 1940.
• Under August's offer British proposed setting up a constituent assembly after the war where mainly
Indians would decide the constitution according to their social, economic and political conceptions,
subject to fulfillment of the obligation of the government regarding defence, minority rights, treaties with
States, all India services. For the first time, the inherent right of Indians to frame their constitution was
recognized and the Congress's demand for a constituent assembly was conceded. British proposed the
making of the constitution to be solely in Indian hands under Cripps's mission. Hence statement 1 is
not correct.
• The Congress rejected the August Offer. Nehru said, “Dominion status concept is dead as a doornail.”
Gandhi said that the declaration had widened the gulf between the nationalists and the British
rulers. Though the Muslim League welcomed the veto assurance given to them, they opposed the
offer and demanded the Partition of the Nation. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Q 44.B
• Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case in 1908 AD by the Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki to kill the
Chief Presidency Magistrate DH Kingsford of Muzaffarpur. They threw bombs on a vehicle of DH
Kingsford but he escaped the attack and unfortunately, two British women were killed. Prafulla Chaki
shot himself dead, while Khudiram Bose was tried and hanged. Hence pair 1 is not correctly matched.
• The trial, held at the Alipore Sessions Court in Calcutta from May 1908 to May 1909, resulted from an
assassination attempt on Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford in Muzaffarpur by Bengali nationalists
Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki in April 1908. The Ghosh brothers, Aurobindo and Barindra, were
charged with conspiracy or waging war against the King. Aurobindo was acquitted while Barindra Ghosh
and Ullaskar Dutt were initially sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life in prison. Hence
pair 2 is correctly matched.
• Rashbehari Bose and Sachindranath Sanyal staged a spectacular bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge while
he was making his official entry into the new capital of Delhi in a procession through Chandni Chowk in
December 1912. The Viceroy was wounded in the attempt, but his Mahavat (driver and keeper of an
elephant) was killed. The government strengthens its efforts to destroy underground activities. Ras Bihari
Bose went underground and successfully fled to Japan, where he lived till he died a few years before the
conclusion of the Second World War. Before fleeing to Japan, he was involved in the Ghadar
Conspiracy. Hence pair 3 is correctly matched.
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Q 45.B
• World War I impacted the very foundations of business groups in India, being a period that
presented several challenges and opportunities. Though the War disrupted trade and brought
inflationary pressures, it also spurred growth in industry and the emergence of new business enterprises.
Impact of World War I upon Business Groups in India:
o Economic Impact:
ü Decline in Exports: Because of the war, there was a sharp fall in exports due to interference with
shipping lanes and contraction in the European market. Indian goods, especially cash crops, had
fewer overseas buyers.
ü Shortage of Imports: The war brought in scarcity for some key imports like raw materials and
machinery, which restricted production possibilities in many sectors.
ü Increase in Cost of Living: With the resultant inflation, industrial prices were nearly doubled
from the base of 1914 in the course of six years. The increased industrial prices could not but
affect the cost of living of the average Indian.
ü Decline in Real Wages: Even when the profits were high for a section of businessmen, the
laborers had to suffer declining real wages with the result that discontent and labor unrest
spread in all directions. Hence statement 3 is correct.
o Financial Impact:
ü Reduction in Foreign Capital: War drew away British investments to Britain for war purposes
and thus, decreased the inflow of foreign capital into India.
ü Decline in Domestic Investments: Uncertainty and inflation discouraged domestic investments.
Business groups had difficulty in planning for the future.
ü Shortage of Credit: The war has brought about a liquidity crunch, whereby businesses find it
difficult to get a loan or credit for their operations and expansion.
o Response of Business Groups:
ü Expansion into New Sectors: Most of the business houses began the process of diversification
by venturing into new industries and markets as means of hedging risks associated with
dependence on a single sector.
§ While British imports went down, Indian factories expanded themselves by establishing
new industries for wartime needs, and there was a boom in the industrial production
during the war years. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
ü Adoption of New Machinery: Inefficiency demanded the use of new technologies and
machinery, thus helping businesses perk up the production processes.
ü Improvement in Production Processes: Companies focused on enhancing their methods of
production to fulfill wartime demands and maintain efficiency in the post-war economy.
o Emergence of New Business Groups:
ü Indigenous Industrialists come into prominence: War helped the growth of new and indigenous
industrialist who took advantage of the propitious opportunities opened up by the war economy.
ü Expansion of Existing Firms: Many existing firms now expanded their operations and grew to
meet the growing demand for goods as well as their position in the market.
ü New Enterprises: The economic scenario during and after the war led to the formation of new
enterprises, hence contributing to the diversification of the Indian economy.
ü Increasing Role of Business Associations: Business associations became more prominent,
advocating for the interests of local industries and providing a platform for collective action.
Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

Q 46.B
• Anushilan Samiti was an Indian fitness club that served as an underground society foranti-British
revolutionaries. Founded in 1902 in Bengal, it played asignificant role in the Indian independence
movement. The Anushilan Samiti gotits name from one of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s works titled
Anushilan-tatva (Theory of Discipline).They performed Swadeshi dacoities toraise funds for purchasing
the arms. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Anushilan Samiti had 3 branches: Calcutta, Dacca, & [Link] leaders at Calcutta were
Promotha Mitter, Jatindranath Banerjee, and [Link] leader at Dacca was Pulin Bihari Das. The
leader at Midnapore was Gyanendranath [Link] performed Swadeshi dacoities to raise funds for
purchasing the arms. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• Their most important magazine was Yugantar edited by Barindra Kumar Ghosh & Bhupendranath Dutta.
Another magazine of theirs was Sandhya Patrika edited by Bramha Bandhav Upadhyaya. Hence
statement 3 is correct.
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Q 47.C
• The story of Champaran began in the early nineteenth century when European planters had involved the
cultivators in agreements that forced them to cultivate indigo on the 3/20th of their holdings (known as
the tinkathia system). Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Towards the end of the nineteenth century, German synthetic dyes forced indigo out of the market, and
the European planters of Champaran, keen to release the cultivators from the obligation of cultivating
indigo, tried to turn their necessity to their advantage by securing enhancements in rent and other illegal
dues as a price for the release.
• Resistance had surfaced in 1908 as well, but the exactions of the planters continued till Raj Kumar
Shukla, a local man, decided to follow Gandhiji all over the country to persuade him to come to
Champaran to investigate the problem. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• On reaching Champaran, Gandhiji was ordered by the Commissioner to leave the district immediately.
But to the surprise of all concerned, Gandhiji refused and preferred to take the punishment for his defiance
of the law.
• The Government of India, unwilling to make an issue of it and not yet used to treating Gandhiji as a
rebel, ordered the local Government to retreat and allow Gandhiji to proceed with his inquiry. In
the Champaran Satyagraha, the Government appointed a Commission of Inquiry to go into the
whole issue and nominated Gandhiji as one of its members. Hence statement 3 is not correct.
• Armed with evidence collected from 8,000 peasants, he had little difficulty in convincing the Commission
that the tinkathia system needed to be abolished and that the peasants should be compensated for the
illegal enhancement of their dues. As a compromise with the planters, he agreed that they refund only
twenty-five percent of the money they had taken illegally from the peasants.
• Gandhiji and his colleagues, who now included Brij Kishore, Rajendra Prasad, and other members of the
Bihar intelligentsia, Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh, two young men from Gujarat who had thrown in
their lot with Gandhiji, and J.B. Kripalani, toured the villages and from dawn to dusk recorded the
statements of peasants, interrogating them to make sure that they were giving correct information.
Q 48.A
• The Indian press emerged as a formidable force in the struggle for independence, not only informing and
educating the public but also inspiring action against colonial rule. Its ability to articulate the aspirations
of the Indian people, despite facing severe repression, underscored the vital role of journalism in the
broader context of India's fight for freedom.
• Here is a list of major newspapers and journals published in colonial India:
o Hicky's Bengal Gazette (1780) - Kolkata - Founded by James Augustus Hicky
o Samvad Kaumudi (1819) - Kolkata - Founded by Ram Mohan Roy
o Mirat-ul-Akbar (1822) - Kolkata - Founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy
o Rast Goftar (1854) - Mumbai - Founded by Dadabhai Naoroji
o Som Prakesh (1858) - Kolkata - Founded by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
o Indian Mirror (1862) - Kolkata - Founded by Devendra Nath Tagore
o Amrita Bazar Patrika (1868) - Kolkata - Founded by Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh
o Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq (1871) - Aligarh - Founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
o Kesari (1881) - Pune - Founded by Bal Gangadhar Tilak
o Sudharak (1888) - Pune - Founded by Gopal Ganesh Agarkar
o Indian Opinion (1903) - South Africa - Founded by M. K. Gandhi
o Bande Mataram (1905) - Kolkata - Founded by Aurobindo Ghosh
o New India (1914) - Kolkata - Founded by Annie Besant
o Young India (1919) - Ahmedabad - Founded by M. K. Gandhi
o Mook Nayak (1920) - Mumbai - Founded by B. R. Ambedkar
o Hindustan Times (1924) - Delhi - Founded by Sunder Singh Lyallpuri
o Nav Jeevan (1929) - Ahmedabad - Founded by M. K. Gandhi
o Harijan (1932) - Delhi - Founded by M. K. Gandhi
o Free Hindustan (1936) - Kolkata - Founded by Tarak Nath Das
o Hindustan Dainik (1936) - Delhi - Founded by M. M. Malviya
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Q 49.A
• On July 5, 1947, the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act which was based on
the Mountbatten Plan, and the Act received royal assent on July 18, 1947. The Act came into effect
on August 15, 1947. Provisions of the Indian Independence Act were:

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 o Two Dominions: The Act was to establish two dominions, India and Pakistan, independent of
each other, from August 15, 1947. Each dominion was to have its own Governor-General. Hence
statement 1 is correct.
o Dissolution of Existing Legislative Bodies: The Act then provided that the Central Legislative
Assembly and the Council of States would by itself stand abated. All the legislative powers
would be exercised by the Constituent Assemblies of the two newly created dominions. Hence
statement 3 is not correct.
o Governance During Transition: Till new constitutions were enacted in both dominions, the
provision was going to continue governing the governments under the Government of India Act,
of 1935. The Indian Independence Act did not repeal the Government of India Act 1935. Hence
statement 2 is not correct.
o Princely States: The Act removed British suzerainty over princely states. They were given the choice
to decide whether they would merge with India, or Pakistan or remain independent. This provision
created much political haggling and was bargained over more than 560 princely states.
o Boundary Commission: The Act envisaged the establishment of a Boundary Commission to
demarcate borders between India and Pakistan in regions having mixed populations, like Punjab and
Bengal.
o Abolition of Titles of British: The Act abolished the title of "Emperor of India" held by the British
sovereign. The British imperialism over India ended.

Q 50.B
The AITUC -
• The All India Trade Union Congress was founded on October 31, 1920.
• The Indian National Congress president for the year, Lala Lajpat Rai, was elected as the first
president of AITUC and V. [Link] as the first General Secretary (and not Diwan Chamanlal).
o Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Lajpat Rai was the first to link capitalism with imperialism— “imperialism and militarism are the twin
children of capitalism”.
• The prominent Congress and swarajist leader C.R. Das presided over the third and the fourth sessions of
the AITUC.
• The Gaya session of the Congress (1922) welcomed the formation of the AITUC and a committee was
formed to assist it.
o C.R. Das advocated that the Congress should take up the workers’ and peasants’ cause and
incorporate them in the struggle for swaraj or else they would get isolated from the movement.
ü Hence, statement 2 is correct.
o Other leaders who kept close contacts with the AITUC included Nehru, Subhas Bose, C.F. Andrews,
J.M. Sengupta, Satyamurthy, V.V. Giri and Sarojini Naidu.
• In the beginning, the AITUC was influenced by social democratic ideas of the British Labour Party.
The Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, trusteeship and class-collaboration had great influence
on the movement.
o Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Q 51.C
• The Komagata Maru incident was closely linked to the Ghadar Movement. The Komagata Maru, a ship
carrying Sikh immigrants, was denied entry into Canada due to discriminatory immigration laws. Hence,
statement 1 is correct.
• The passengers on the Komagata Maru were primarily Punjabi Sikhs, and the incident symbolized the
racial prejudice and discriminatory policies faced by Indians within the British Empire.
• After being denied entry to Canada, the ship returned to India, and upon arrival in Calcutta, the passengers
were met with British attempts to suppress any potential unrest. On September 29, 1914, the ship reached
Budge Budge, a suburb of Calcutta (now Kolkata), British authorities tried to arrest the Ghadar Leaders.
• To fight for the rights of the passengers of Komagata Maru, a ‘Shore Committee’ was set up under the
leadership of Husain Rahim, Sohan Lal Pathak, and Balwant Singh, funds were raised, and protest
meetings were organized. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

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Q 52.D
• Khuntkatti System:
o An Overview:
ü The Khuntkatti system, prevalent among the Munda tribe in the Chotanagpur Plateau, was
based on collective or communal ownership of land.
ü This system operated under a clan-based structure, where land was not owned by
individuals but by the community or the "khunt" (meaning lineage or clan). Each family had the
right to cultivate a portion of the communal land, and the produce was shared among the clan
members. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
ü The British colonial administration, which sought to impose land revenue collection systems,
found this collective ownership challenging as it did not conform to their individual ownership-
based revenue systems.
ü The Khuntkatti system provided the Munda people with a degree of autonomy over their land,
resisting outside interference, especially from the British. The system helped preserve the Munda
way of life and land rights for centuries, but with British attempts to impose individual ownership
and revenue systems, many Mundas began to lose their land to outsiders, including
moneylenders and landlords.
o Impact of the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act of 1908:
ü The Chotanagpur Tenancy Act of 1908 came into force in response to the Munda Rebellion
(Ulgulan), led by Birsa Munda. This rebellion was against the exploitation and loss of land
suffered by the Munda community under colonial rule and moneylenders.
ü The act aimed to protect the rights of tribal communities, including the Mundas, by preventing the
alienation of their land to non-tribals.
ü The act recognized the collective rights of the Mundas over their ancestral land, effectively
safeguarding the Khuntkatti system from external encroachments. Hence statement 2 is also
not correct.
ü The act did not abolish the Khuntkatti system, but rather, it legally upheld and protected the
communal land ownership that the system represented. This legislation marked a significant step
in maintaining tribal land rights in the face of increasing pressure from outsiders and colonial
administrators.

Q 53.C
• Dark oxygen
o Recent Context: Scientists have discovered “dark oxygen” being produced in the deep ocean by
metallic nodules on the seafloor, challenging the belief that oxygen production requires sunlight.
o What is “Dark Oxygen”?
ü “Dark oxygen” is oxygen produced in the deep ocean, independent of sunlight, by metallic
nodules on the seafloor. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
o How is it being produced?
ü These naturally occurring metallic nodules act like batteries, generating electric currents that split
seawater (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen.
o Applications:
ü Support for Deep-Sea Life: Provides oxygen for marine organisms in deep-sea environments.
ü Potential Extraterrestrial Insights: Suggests similar oxygen production could occur on other
planets and moons, possibly supporting life.

Q 54.D
• The Nagpur session (1920) Indian National Congress was presided by C. Vijayaraghavachariar.
• At the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress:
o The programme of non-cooperation was endorsed.
o An important change was made in the Congress creed: now, instead of having the attainment of self-
government through constitutional means as its goal, Congress decided to have the attainment of
swaraj through peaceful and legitimate means, thus committing itself to an extra-constitutional mass
struggle.
o Some important organizational changes were made: a congress working committee (CWC) of 15
members was set up to lead the Congress from now onwards; provincial congress committees on a
linguistic basis were organized, ward committees were organized, and the entry fee was reduced to
four annas.

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 • Gandhi declared that if the non-cooperation programme was implemented completely, swaraj would be
ushered in within a year.
• At this stage, some leaders like Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, G.S. Kharpade and B.C. Pal left the
Congress as they believed in a constitutional and lawful struggle while some others like Surendranath
Banerjea founded the Indian National Liberal Federation and played a minor role in national politics
henceforward.
• Reconciliation between INC & Muslim League was achieved in Lucknow on the sidelines of Lucknow
Session 1916. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.
o The Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the Muslim League could be considered an important
event in the course of the nationalistic struggle for freedom.
o While the League agreed to present joint constitutional demands with the Congress to the government,
the Congress accepted the Muslim League’s position on separate electorates which would continue till
any one community demanded joint electorates.

Q 55.D
• Recent Context: The Daksha project aims to build two high-energy space telescopes.
• The project is led by IIT Bombay (IITB), in close collaboration with the Physical Research Laboratory
(PRL), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Raman Research Institute (RRI), the Inter-
University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), and various ISRO centres.
• The Daksha project is an ambitious proposal to build two high-energy space telescopes for the study of
explosive astrophysical sources like GRBs and EM counterparts to GW sources. Each telescope will be
equipped with three types of sensors, covering the energy range from 1 keV to > 1 MeV. In a five-year
mission, Daksha is expected to discover thousands of gamma-ray bursts, and dozens of high-energy
counterparts to binary neutron star mergers.
• Significance of the project
o The two satellites will orbit on opposite sides of the earth to give better coverage than existing
missions.
o Will localize the source of emission of intense gravitational waves due to neutron star mergers or
other reasons.
o Neutron stars are formed when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses.
o Primordial Black Holes (PBH) mass window could be probed for the first time.
o PBH are a type of black hole formed in the first second after the birth of the universe.
• Other Gamma Ray Detection Mission
o Astrosat: India's multi-wavelength space observatory aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray,
optical, and UV spectral bands simultaneously.
o Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: NASA's telescope observes gamma rays across a wide energy
range
o NASA's Swift observatory: Studies gamma-ray bursts.
• Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Q 56.A
• The Secretary of State for India, Edwin Samuel Montagu, made a statement in the British House of
Commons on August 20, 1917, in what has come to be known as the August Declaration of 1917. The
statement said: “The government policy is of an increasing participation of Indians in every branch of
administration and gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive
realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire.”
• From now onwards, the demand by nationalists for self-government or home rule could not be termed
seditious since the attainment of self-government for Indians now became a government policy,
unlike Morley’s statement in 1909 that the reforms were not intended to give self-government to
India. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• In line with the government policy contained in Montagu’s statement of August 1917, the government
announced further constitutional reforms in July 1918, known as Montagu-Chelmsford or Montford
Reforms. Based on these, the Government of India Act 1919 was enacted.
• The Act introduced dyarchy for the executive at the provincial government level only. Under Dyarchy,
Subjects were divided into two lists: ‘reserved’, which included subjects such as law and order, finance,
land revenue, irrigation, etc., and ‘transferred’ subjects such as education, health, local government,
industry, agriculture, excise, etc. The reserved subjects were to be administered by the governor through

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 his executive council of bureaucrats, and the transferred subjects were to be administered by ministers
nominated from among the elected members of the legislative council.
• The Congress met in a special session in August 1918 at Bombay under Hasan Imam’s presidency and
declared the Montford reforms to be “disappointing” and “unsatisfactory” and demanded effective self-
government instead. Tilak termed The Montford reforms “unworthy and disappointing—a sunless dawn”
even as Annie Besant found them “unworthy of England to offer, and India to accept.” Hence statement
2 is not correct.

Q 57.D
• Recent Context: It is estimated that there are 12,121 nuclear weapons in the world, 9,585 of which are in
military stocks and ready for deployment.
• The United States leads the world in nuclear capabilities, followed by Russia, the United Kingdom,
France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel, according to the report on global weapons,
disarmament, and security. Both India and Pakistan are actively engaged in continuous attempts to update
their nuclear arsenals. Historically, India’s nuclear policy has focused on Pakistan; however, there has
been a discernible shift in emphasis toward enhancing longer-range capabilities, which include targets
within China.
• A key feature of India's nuclear policy is the adoption of the No First-use (NFU) Policy, but India is not
the only country to do so. Even China, United States and many other countries have adopted the NFU
policy. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Pokhran-II was a series of five nuclear weapon tests conducted by India in May 1998. The bombs were
detonated at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. It was the second instance of nuclear
testing conducted by India, after the first test, code-named Smiling Buddha, was conducted in May
1974. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Q 58.B
• The British Conservative government's Wavell Plan was unable to end the deadlock on the
constitution. In July 1945, the Labour Party formed the government in Britain. Clement Attlee
became the new Prime Minister. Pethick Lawrence was appointed as the new Secretary of State for
India.
• In August 1945, elections to central and provincial assemblies were announced. In September 1945, it
was announced that a constituent assembly would be convened after the elections. The government was
working according to the spirit of the Cripps Offer.
• The government’s change in attitude was influenced by:
o The balance of power in the world changed with the end of World War II. The UK had ceased
to be an important power. As superpowers, the USA and USSR both supported Indian freedom.
Hence statement 1 is correct.
o Indian requests were met with greater sensitivity by the new Labour government, unlike the
previous conservative government. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
o Throughout Europe, a wave of radical socialist governments emerged.
o The British economy was in ruins, and the men were exhausted. India owes the British
government £1.2 billion by 1945. UK finances were depleted by the US Lend-Lease
arrangement, which was only paid back in 2006. Hence statement 3 is correct.
o In South-East Asia, there existed an anti-imperialist movement. Opposition to the restoration of
French and Dutch authority in Indonesia and Vietnam.
o 1942 was a dangerous year, with INA involvement, agrarian revolts, labour unrest, army
disenchantment, and possible attacks on communications. Elections following the war were
unavoidable. The most recent elections were held in 1934 for the Centre and 1937 for the provinces.
• The Labour government just expedited the process somewhat; the British would have had to retreat.

Q 59.C
• The Cripps Mission, which was initiated in March 1942, was a significant yet unsuccessful effort the
British government made to seek Indian cooperation for the war during the period of World War
II. The mission was headed by Sir Stafford Cripps, a senior minister in the coalition government led by
Winston Churchill. This mission aimed to fulfill the long-pending Indian demands for self-governance
and meanwhile retain the cooperation of India with Britain in the impending war against the Axis powers.

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 • Provisions of the Cripps Proposals:
o Dominion Status: India was to be granted dominion status within the British Commonwealth
following the war. In other words, India would enjoy practically the same autonomy as the countries
of Canada and Australia.
o A Constituent Assembly was to be established that would draft a new Constitution for
India. The members of the Constituent Assembly were elected by the provincial legislatures, and
there was to be a special provision for the representatives of the princely states.
o Defence of India would remain in British hands and the governor-general’s powers would remain
intact.
o Right to Secede: The right to secede was available to the provinces who could leave the future Union
if they felt the new constitution disappointed them, further eroding national integration.
• Failure of the Cripps Mission:
o The Cripps Mission offered dominion status to India after the war, which was seen as
insufficient by many Indian leaders, particularly those in the Indian National Congress (INC).
Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were advocating for complete and
immediate independence from British rule. In 1942, Gandhi called the offer "a post-dated
cheque on a crashing bank," emphasizing the lack of genuine commitment to Indian
independence.
o Mohammad Ali Jinnah led the protest from the Muslim League stating that the proposals never
really reflected sufficient fulfillment of the demands for a separate state for Muslims and the
principle of self-rule.
o Divergent political interests: Other political parties - Hindu Mahasabha and Depressed Classes -
voiced objections towards the mission provisions, especially the right of provinces to secede, which
they felt threatened national unity.
o The tone of British government proposals was perceived as "take it or leave it", and many Indian
leaders felt that the proposals reflected neither their aspirations for full independence.
o The British were known for their broken promises; Indians would never believe that the proposals
given by Cripps came out of good faith. They will only use these as a bargaining chip to get India's
support in the war but with no intention to hand over independence.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 60.C
• The Simla Conference, held in 1945, was convened by the then Viceroy of India, Lord Wavell, for
discussing his proposals on the reconstitution of the Viceroy's Executive Council. The Wavell Plan
aimed to facilitate greater Indian participation in governance by including more Indian members in
the Executive Council.
• The main features of the Wavell Plan were:
o Except for the governor-general and the commander-in-chief all the members of the executive
council should be Indians.
o The representation of both caste Hindus and Muslims be equal.
o The reconstructed council was to function as an interim government within the framework of the 1935
Act (i.e. not responsible to the Central Assembly).
o The governor-general was to exercise his veto on the advice of ministers
o Delegations of all parties were to submit a common list to the viceroy for nomination to the executive
council. In case a joint list was not feasible, the delegations were to submit separate lists.
o Possibilities were to be kept open for negotiations on a new constitution once the war was finally
won.
• The conference looked forward to finding a solution to the political deadlock in India. This relates to
INC's relations with the Muslim League. Its efforts were meant to attract governance that would consider
the needs of all different communities, including the Muslim community for representation, in the new
Executive Council.
• Failure of Agreement: Despite the conference's focus on the Wavell Plan, conflicts eventually arose,
especially over the choice of Muslim representatives. There was a deadlock since the Muslim
League insisted that only it could represent Indian Muslims.

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Q 61.A
• The Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress, presided over by a Moderate, Ambika Charan
Majumdar, finally readmitted the Extremists led by Tilak to the Congress fold. He played a crucial role
in this historic session where unity within the Congress was achieved, and significant political decisions
were made. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The Lucknow Session of 1916 marked a significant moment in Indian politics as it witnessed the reunion
of the moderates and extremists within the Congress. Since the Surat Split of 1907, the Congress had
been divided, with moderates and extremists at odds. However, at this session, under the leadership of
Ambica Charan Mazumdar, both factions came together to present a united front against British rule.
• Though Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915, he did not attend the
Lucknow Session of 1916. At this time, Gandhi was still relatively new to Indian politics and was in the
process of observing the political climate in the country. His active involvement in the Congress began
later. Lucknow session also resulted in the Lucknow Pact between the Indian National Congress and the
Muslim League, where both parties agreed on a common platform to demand greater self-governance and
agreed to separate electorates for Muslims, which was a crucial political development at the time. Hence
statement 2 is not correct.
o Gandhiji first attended Congress session of Calcutta session in 1901, when he used to live in South
Africa. He had an opportunity to meet Congress Leaders like Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, Lokmanya B.
G. Tilak, G. k. Gokhale, and others.

Q 62.A
• In July 1918, the administration announced additional constitutional reforms known as the
Montagu-Chelmsford or Montford reforms, which were in accordance with the policies outlined in
Montagu's August 1917 declaration.
• The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms were measures that the British government in India implemented to
progressively establish self-governing institutions in India. The reforms are named after two individuals:
Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy of India from 1916 to 1921, and Edwin Samuel Montagu, the Secretary of
State for India. Following are the the main features of the Montford Reforms :
o Provincial Government—Introduction of Dyarchy:
ü Executive: Dyarchy, or the rule of two, was introduced, with popular ministers and
executive council members. The governor was to serve as the province's executive leader.
§ The list of subjects was divided into two categories: those that were "transferred," such as
education, health, local government, industry, agriculture, excise, etc., and those that were
"reserved," such as finance, law and order, irrigation, land revenue, etc.
§ Ministers appointed from among the elected members of the legislative council were to
administer the "transferred" subjects, while the governor, through his executive council of
bureaucrats, was to oversee the "reserved" subjects.
§ While the executive councilors were not accountable to the legislature, the ministers were
expected to answer to it and resign if a no-confidence motion was approved against them.
ü Legislature:
§ Provincial Legislative Councils were extended with the requirement that 70% of their
members be elected.
§ There was increased consolidation of the communal and class electorate system.
(Separate electorates for Muslims were established earlier through the Government of
India Act, 1909).
§ Voting rights were extended to women as well.
§ Legislative Councils had the authority to propose laws, but they needed the governor's
approval. The governor could veto bills and issue ordinances.
§ The budget might be rejected by the Legislative Councils, but if required, the governor could
reinstate it.
§ The legislators had the right to free speech.
o Central Government— Without Responsible Government:
ü Executive:
§ The chief executive authority was to be the governor-general.
§ The administration was to be divided into two lists: provincial and central.
§ Three of the eight members of the viceroy's executive council were to be Indians.
§ The "reserved" subjects in the provinces were still entirely within the governor-general's
authority.

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 § The governor-general had the authority to promulgate, dissolve, summon, prorogue, and
restore grant reductions, as well as to certify bills that were rejected by the Central
Legislature.
ü Legislature:
§ A bicameral arrangement was introduced.
§ The Central Legislative Assembly had a three-year term, while the Council of State had a
five-year tenure and was exclusively composed of men.
§ While the lawmakers may make adjournment motions, ask questions, and vote on certain
parts of the budget, seventy-five percent of the budget remained unvotable.
§ A few Indians made their way onto significant panels, such as the finance committee.
§ The Secretary of State would be in charge of matters concerning the Government of India.
• Separate electorates for Muslims were established earlier through the Government of India Act, of
1909 (Morley-Minto Reforms) and was continued under the 1919 Act.
• The Federal Court of India was established later, under the Government of India Act, of 1935.
• While the 1919 Act did introduce some direct elections, it did not implement direct elections for all
legislative councils. A significant portion of the members were still nominated, and the franchise
was limited.
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Q 63.B
• Lord Elgin-II(1894-1999): The devastating Great Famine of 1896-1897 had a widespread impact across
India, resulting in significant loss of life and property.
• Lord Curzon (1899 - 1905): The Bengal Province was divided into two parts, Bengal and East Bengal, in
1905.
o Various institutions were established under his leadership, including the Archaeological Survey of
India, the Department of Commerce and Industry and Agricultural banks.
o The Cooperative Credit Societies Act of 1904 was passed under his administration.
o To improve the police administration, the Police Commission in 1902 was appointed, which was led
by Sir Andrew Frazer, and recommended the establishment of the Criminal Investigation Department
(CID).
o Establishment of the Agriculture Research Institute at Pusa.
o The appointment of the Raleigh Commission in 1902 aimed to suggest improvements to universities,
and the Indian Universities Act was passed in 1904 based on its recommendations.
• Lord Minto-II (1905 - 1910): His reign is marked as the "Era of Great Political Unrest" in India.
o The Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909, known for its 'Divide & Rule Policy', introduced Separate
Electorates for Muslims.
o The Anti-Partition and Swadeshi Movement aimed to prevent the unjust partition of Bengal through
the boycott of foreign goods.
o The foundation of the Muslim League in 1906.
o The split in Congress occurred during the Surat Session in 1907.
• Lord Hardinge-II (1910 - 1916): The annulment of the Partition of Bengal in 1911 was done to suppress
revolutionary activities.
o Delhi became the new capital in 1912.
o The 3rd Delhi Durbar was held in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 64.C
• Mahatma Gandhi: He did not condemn the varna system for most of his life. So even though he
commanded dignity for the untouchables, he also supported the caste system, deeming it necessary until
the 1940s.
• "Untouchability question is one of life and death for Hinduism. If untouchability lives, Hinduism perishes,
and even India perishes; but if untouchability is eradicated from the Hindu heart, root and branch, then
Hinduism has a definite message for the world." —M.K. Gandhi. Hence, option(c) is the correct
answer.
• Swami Vivekanand: Swami Vivekananda was against untouchability and the caste system, and he
preached against them throughout his life. He believed that the modern caste system was a degenerated
version of the original caste system, and that it was a hindrance to Indian society.

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 • Jawaharlal Nehru: Nehru believed that the caste system was a symbol of rigidity and exclusion that
oppressed certain groups and stunted India's growth. He thought that the caste system's concept of purity
and pollution led to the development of narrow attitudes and exclusiveness
• B.R. Ambedkar: He criticized the caste system as unjust and the practice of untouchability as inhuman.
He sought to awaken and organize the untouchables into a potent social and political force. He criticized
the Hindu scriptures for their bias against the lower castes. He advocated the abolition of the caste system
in his famous work 'The Annihilation of Caste'.

Q 65.B
• The 1920 Sèvres treaty was a pact between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire, officially dismantling the
Empire and forcing it to relinquish claims to territories in North Africa and the Middle East. It also
recognized independent and/or autonomous areas for Armenia, Kurdistan, and Thracian Greece. Turkish
nationalists rejected the treaty and replaced it in 1923 with the Treaty of Lausanne. The Locarno Pact, or
the Treaties of Locarno, was a series of treaties negotiated in October 1925 in the lakeside resort of
Locarno, Switzerland, and signed on December 1, 1925, in the Foreign Office in London. The Pact led to
Germany accepting the terms of the Versailles Treaty and the boundaries established between France and
Germany. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The Muslims of India felt that the position of the Sultan of Turkey, who was also regarded by many as the
religious head of Muslims, should not be undermined. A Khilafat committee was formed under the
leadership of the Ali brothers, Maulana Azad, Hakim Azmal Khan, and Hasrat Mohani, to launch a
country-wide agitation against the British government. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Hence option (b) is the correct option.

Q 66.A
• Recent Context: Recently, the uncontacted indigenous Mashco Piro tribe was located in the remote
Peruvian Amazon, in Peru. A new species has been named after the dominant Apatani community
in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Apatani Tribe is found in Ziro Valley in Arunachal Pradesh and is known for its effective traditional
village council called bulyañ. Region of the tribe has been included in UNESCO’s Tentative List as a
living Cultural Landscape (where man and environment have harmoniously existed together in a state of
interdependence). Major Festivals of the tribe are Dree and Myok and Key Dance are Daminda, and Pree
dance. Hence pair 1 is correctly matched.
• Numbering more than 750, Mascho Piro are believed to be the largest uncontacted tribes living in the
jungles of Amazon and Southeast Asia. They are nomadic hunter-gatherers. Contact with them is
prohibited fearing the spread of a disease among a population to which it has no immunity. Hence pair 2
is not correctly matched.
• Kuki ho, a Southeast Asian people living in the Mizo (formerly Lushai) Hills on the border between
India and Myanmar (Burma) and numbering about 12,000 in the 1970s. They have been largely
assimilated by the more populous Mizo (q.v.), adopting their customs and language. Hence pair 3 is not
correctly matched.
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Q 67.B
Babasaheb Ambedkar
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had experienced the worst form of casteist discrimination during his childhood,
fought against upper caste tyranny throughout his life.
• He organised the All India Scheduled Castes Federation, while several other leaders of the depressed
classes founded the All India Depressed Classes Association.
o Ambedkar condemned the hierarchical and insular caste system as a whole, and advocated the
annihilation of the institution of caste for the real progress of the nation. The struggle of the depressed
classes led to the provision of special representation for these classes in the Government of India Act,
1935.
• Dr Ambedkar established the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha in 1924 to highlight the difficulties and
grievances of the dalits before the government.
o Its motto was: ‘Educate, Agitate and Organise’.
• The All India Harijan Sevak Sangh is an independent national-level non-profit voluntary
Organisation, also known as the All India Anti-Untouchability League.
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 o It was founded on September 30, 1932, in the wake of Gandhiji’s Epic Fast at Yervada Jail,
Pune, resulting in the historic Poona Pact.
o The Sangh was established to combat untouchability and a new weekly paper, the Harijan, was
started.
• Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 68.A
• The following events depicts a complex political scenario during the tenures of these Viceroys and show
an emerging demand for self-government by the Indians and the reactions of British authorities:
• Lord Chelmsford (1916-1921):
o Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (1919): Introduced limited self-governance at the provincial
level through the Government of India Act 1919, which established a dyarchy system of
governance. Hence A is matched with 4.
o Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919): British troops opened fire on a peaceful gathering in Amritsar,
resulting in hundreds of casualties, which significantly heightened anti-British sentiments.
o Rowlatt Act (1919): Passed to extend wartime emergency powers, leading to widespread protests and
opposition from Indian leaders.
o Khilafat Movement (1919): Supported by Indian leaders, this movement aimed to protect the
Ottoman Caliphate, fostering Hindu-Muslim unity against British rule.
o Non-Cooperation Movement (1920): Launched by Mahatma Gandhi in response to the Jallianwala
Bagh incident, urging Indians to withdraw from British institutions.
• Lord Hardinge II (1910-1916):
o Establishment of the Hindu Mahasabha (1915) by Madan Mohan Malaviya. Hence B is matched
with 1.
o Delhi Durbar (1911): Celebrated the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, marking the
shift of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi.
o Lucknow Pact (1916): Facilitated cooperation between the Indian National Congress and the All-
India Muslim League, promoting a united front for constitutional reforms.
o Formation of the Home Rule League (1916): This movement, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and
Annie Besant, sought self-governance for India and gained significant support.
• Lord Linlithgow (1936-1943):
o August Offer (1940): Proposed constitutional reforms to increase Indian participation in
governance during World War II, but was met with mixed reactions. Hence C is matched with
2.
o Quit India Movement (1942): A significant mass protest led by the Indian National Congress
demanding an end to British rule, resulting in widespread arrests and repression.
o Cripps Mission (1942): An unsuccessful attempt to secure Indian cooperation during World War II
by offering limited self-governance.
o Expansion of the Indian National Congress: The period saw the Congress gaining momentum and
support, pushing for greater autonomy.
• Lord Willingdon (1931-1936):
o Communal Award (1932): Similar to Linlithgow's tenure, this award further entrenched
communal divisions by providing separate electorates. Hence D is matched with 3.
o Government of India Act (1935): Implemented significant constitutional reforms, including
provincial autonomy and the establishment of a federal structure.
o Indian National Congress's Boycott: The Congress boycotted the elections under the new act,
leading to a significant political vacuum.
o Repression of the Civil Disobedience Movement: Willingdon's administration was marked by a
crackdown on Gandhi's civil disobedience campaigns, leading to increased tensions.
o Formation of the All India Forward Bloc (1939): A leftist political party founded by Subhas
Chandra Bose, reflecting the growing radicalization of Indian politics.
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Q 69.C
• The Wavell Plan was a significant proposal aimed at resolving the political deadlock in India during
World War II. Proposed by Lord Archibald Wavell, the Viceroy of India, in 1945, the plan sought
to facilitate Indian self-governance and address the demands of various political factions.
• The main features of the Wavell Plan were:

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 o Except for the governor-general and the commander-in-chief all the members of the executive
council should be Indians.
o The representation of both caste Hindus and Muslims be equal.
o The reconstructed council was to function as an interim government within the framework of
the 1935 Act (i.e. not responsible to the Central Assembly).
o The governor-general was to exercise his veto on the advice of ministers
o Delegations of all parties were to submit a common list to the viceroy for nomination to the executive
council. In case a joint list was not feasible, the delegations were to submit separate lists.
o Possibilities were to be kept open for negotiations on a new constitution once the war was finally
won.
• The Cripps Mission, which was initiated in March 1942, was a significant yet unsuccessful effort the
British government made to seek Indian cooperation for the war during the period of World War
II.
• Provisions of the Cripps Proposals:
o Dominion Status: India was to be granted dominion status within the British Commonwealth
following the war. In other words, India would enjoy practically the same autonomy as the countries
of Canada and Australia.
o A Constituent Assembly was to be established that would draft a new Constitution for India. The
members of the Constituent Assembly were elected by the provincial legislatures, and there was to be
a special provision for the representatives of the princely states.
o Defence of India would remain in British hands and the governor-general’s powers would remain
intact.
o Right to Secede: The right to secede was available to the provinces who could leave the future Union
if they felt the new constitution disappointed them, further eroding national integration.
• Thus The Wavell Plan 1945, aimed to create an interim government in India to facilitate Indian
participation in governance. In contrast, the Cripps Mission, sent in 1942, was primarily focused on
securing Indian support for the British war effort during World War II, offering future dominion
status in exchange for cooperation. Hence statements 1 and 2 are correct.

Q 70.B
• The Tripuri Session of the Indian National Congress presided over by Subhas Chandra Bose marked a
crucial milestone in the history of the Indian national movement. This session, which was held in the
present-day Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, witnessed the passage of a critical resolution that
facilitated the integration of the political struggle in the princely states and the rest of India. Hence
statement 1 is not correct.
• During the Tripuri session Subhash Chandra Bose branded Sardar Patel and most of the top Congress
leadership as rightists. He openly accused them of working for a compromise with the Government on
the question of the federation, of having even drawn up a list of prospective central’ ministers and
therefore of not wanting a leftist as the president of the Congress ‘who may be a thorn in the way of a
compromise and may put obstacles in the path of negotiations.’ He had, therefore, appealed to
Congressmen to vote for a leftist and a genuine anti-federations. Hence statement 2 is correct.

Q 71.B
• The civil service system initiated in India by the East India Company for the benefit of its commercial
affairs was transformed into a well-structured machinery to look after the administrative affairs of the
acquired territories in India. The Company initially depended upon the local revenue collectors and
administrators, but with time it developed a full-fledged civil service to run its extended territories and
commercial concerns in the Indian subcontinent.
• Evolution of Civil Services in India
o Cornwallis' Role (1786-1793): He was the first to bring into existence and organize the civil
services to eliminate corruption. The following measures were undertaken:
ü Increased salary of civil servants.
ü Enforced regulations against private trade.
ü Abolition of presents and bribes.
ü Promotion based on seniority.
o Wellesley's Role (1798-1805): Established Fort William College in 1800 to train newly recruited
civil service officials.
ü Fort William was disapproved of and abolished in 1806; for training, East India College at
Haileybury, England, took its place.
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 o Charter Act of 1853:
ü East India Company's patronage system was abolished.
ü Introduced open competition for recruitment.
ü Indians were initially barred from high posts due to their belief in English superiority and their
perception of Indian inefficacy and untrustworthiness.
o Indian Civil Service Act, 1861:
ü Certain posts were reserved for covenanted civil servants.
ü Examinations were held in England, based on classical learning.
ü The maximum age was reduced over time for recruitment.
ü Satyendra Nath Tagore became the first Indian to qualify in 1863.
o Statutory Civil Service: Introduced by Lytton, reserved one-sixth of posts for Indians of high
families. This system failed and was later abolished.
o Congress Demand and Aitchison Committee (1885, 1886):
ü Indian National Congress demanded:
§ Lowering of age limits for recruitment.
§ Holding simultaneous examinations in India and Britain.
ü Aitchison Committee recommended:
§ Doing away with terms 'covenanted' and 'uncovenanted'.
§ Dividing services into Imperial, Provincial, and Subordinate Civil Services.
§ Raising age limits to 23 years.
§ A resolution by the House of Commons in 1893 favored simultaneous examinations but was
never implemented.
o Montford Reforms (1919):
ü Advocated more Indian employment in public service
ü Conducted simultaneous examinations in India and England.
ü One-third of recruitment was to be made in India and it should be progressively increased.
o Lee Commission (1924): Its Recommended:
ü The Secretary of State was to continue recruiting for some services.
ü Recruiting in the transferred fields was to be done by the provincial governments.
ü There should be 50:50 parity between Europeans and Indians in ICS within 15 years.
ü To set up a Public Service Commission in accordance with the Government of India Act, 1919.
o Government of India Act 1935: It established Federal and Provincial Public Service Commissions.
• The Simon Commission, officially known as the Indian Statutory Commission, was a group of seven
British Members of Parliament under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon, which was appointed in
1927 to investigate the working of the Government of India Act 1919 and to suggest further
constitutional reforms.
• When the bubonic plague hit India in 1896–97, the government set up a Special Plague Commission
in March of that year to handle the menace and control the spread of the disease.
• Floud Commission: The Floud Commission, also known as the Bengal Land Revenue Commission,
was established in 1938 by the government of Bengal to assess the problems of the land revenue
system.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 72.A
• Recent Context: Recently, An Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent landed at the Royal Australian Air
Force (RAAF) Base Darwin, Australia for participating in Exercise Pitch Black 2024
• The 16th edition of India-Mongolia Joint Military Exercise NOMADIC ELEPHANT was conducted
from 03rd to 16th July 2024. The aim of the Exercise is to enhance joint military capability of both sides
to undertake counter-insurgency operations in a sub-conventional scenario under Chapter VII of the
United Nations Mandate. The exercise will focus on operations in the semi-urban and mountainous
terrain. Hence pair 1 is correctly matched.
• The Indian Army contingent conducted the 13th edition of India- Thailand joint military Exercise
MAITREE from 1st to 15th July 2024 at Fort Vachiraprakan in Tak Province of Thailand. The aim
of Exercise MAITREE is to foster Military Cooperation between India and Thailand. The Exercise will
enhance combined capabilities in executing Joint Counter Insurgency/ Terrorist Operations in Jungle and
Urban Environments under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. The Exercise will focus on a high
degree of physical fitness, joint planning and joint tactical drills. Hence pair 2 is correctly matched.
• Exercise Pitch Black is a multinational air combat exercise held every two years in Australia by the
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Indian Air Force. The exercise focuses on practising
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 offensive and defensive counter-air combat in a simulated war environment. Hence pair 3 is not
correctly matched.
• Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Q 73.A
• Recently, as part of the expenditure reforms, the NITI Aayog has initiated a process for revamping
of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs).
• Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) of the NITI Aayog has invited proposals to
engage consultancy firms to support the evaluation of CSSs in nine broad sectors.
• CSSs are Schemes that are funded jointly by centre and state and implemented through the State in sectors
falling in the State and Concurrent Lists of the Constitution.
• There are three types of CSS which are Core of the Core Schemes, Core Schemes and Optional Schemes.
Hence statement 1 is not correct.

• MGNREGA is a CSS and not a Central Sector Scheme. Hence statement 3 is correct.
• Currently, there are nearly 700 Central Sector Schemes while the number of Centrally-Sponsored
Schemes. Hence statement 2 is correct.

Q 74.B
• Regenerative braking
o Recent Context: Regenerative braking in electric vehicles is a system that converts kinetic energy
from the wheels into a storable form of energy, increasing efficiency. Hence option (b) is the correct
answer.
o Traditional braking methods, such as disc and induction brakes, convert kinetic energy to heat.
o In regenerative braking, the electric motor that propels the vehicle acts as a generator during braking,
converting mechanical energy back to electrical energy, which is then stored in the vehicle’s battery.
o While beneficial, regenerative braking has limitations, such as not being sufficient alone to stop a
vehicle completely and reduced energy recovery at lower speeds.
o Other methods of energy recovery include flywheels and compressed air systems.
Q 75.B
• Pre-Ghadar revolutionary activity had been carried on by Ramdas Puri, G.D. Kumar, Taraknath Das,
Sohan Singh Bhakna, and Lala Hardayal who reached there in 1911. To carry out revolutionary activities,
the earlier activists had set up a ‘Swadesh Sevak Home’ at Vancouver and ‘United India House’ at Seattle.
• Hardayal, an intellectual giant and a fire-brand revolutionary from the Panjab, was the moving spirit
behind the organization of the Ghadar Party on November 1913 at San Franscisco in the U.S.A. He
was actively assisted by Ram Chandra and Barkatulla. The party also published a weekly paper, the Ghadr
(Rebellion) in commemoration of the Mutiny of 1857. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• These revolutionaries included mainly ex-soldiers and peasants who had migrated from the Punjab
to the USA and Canada in search of better employment opportunities. They were based in the US and
Canadian cities along the western (Pacific) coast. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• The Ghadar programme was to organise assassinations of officials, publish revolutionary and anti-
imperialist literature, work among Indian troops stationed abroad, procure arms, and bring about a

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 simultaneous revolt in all British colonies. The moving spirits behind the Ghadar Party were Lala
Hardayal, Ramchandra, Bhagwan Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Barkatullah, and Bhai Parmanand. The
Ghadrites intended to bring about a revolt in India. Their plans were encouraged by two events in 1914—
the Komagata Maru incident and the outbreak of the First World War. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 76.D
• Recent Context: Aditya-L1 completes first halo orbit at Lagrange Point 1 in 178 days.
• Aditya-L1 Mission is India’s first solar mission planned by the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO). Earlier the name was Aditya -1, which has been renamed as Aditya-L1 Mission. It is ISRO’s
second space-based astronomy mission after AstroSat for a scientific expedition to study the Sun's
atmosphere, including its chromosphere and corona. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
designed and developed the spacecraft. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• India's Aditya-L1 spacecraft is in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 (L1) to study
the Sun continuously. Aditya-L1 orbits the Sun at a distance of about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth
in a three-dimensional, periodic halo orbit. The orbital period is about 177.86 Earth days. The halo orbit
around L1 allows Aditya-L1 to continuously observe the Sun without any eclipses or occultations. This is
because L1 is a stable point in space where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth balance each
other out. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• The Aditya-L1 mission aims to observe and understand the chromospheric and coronal dynamics of
the Sun. Aditya-L1's seven payloads will observe the Sun's photosphere, chromosphere and corona. Four
instruments will directly image the Sun from the L1 vantage point, while three others will detect particles
and fields in situ. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 77.B
• Recent Context: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) approved
funds for the next phase (from 2024 to 2029) of the Bustard Recovery Program
• Great Indian Bustard Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972, in the CMS
Convention and in Appendix I of CITES, as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It has also
been identified as one of the species for the recovery programme under the Integrated Development of
Wildlife Habitats of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Hence statement 1
is correct.
• Historically, the great Indian bustard was distributed throughout Western India, spanning 11 states, as
well as parts of Pakistan. Its stronghold was once the Thar desert in the northwest and the Deccan plateau
of the peninsula. Today, its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small
populations occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Bustards generally favour flat open
landscapes with minimal visual obstruction and disturbance, therefore adapt well in grasslands. Hence
statement 2 is correct.
• The Great Indian Bustard is not a migratory bird. It is largely non-migratory and remains within
limited regions of its habitat, mostly within the grasslands it resides in. They congregate in traditional
undisturbed grassland patches characterized by a mosaic of scantily grazed tall grass (below 50 cm). They
avoid grasses taller than themselves and dense scrub-like thickets. they feed on grass seeds, insects like
grasshoppers and beetles, and sometimes even small rodents and reptiles. GIB lacks frontal vision. They
breed mostly during the monsoon season when females lay a single egg on open ground. Hence
statement 3 is not correct.

Q 78.B
• The movement to boycott British educational institutions gathered momentum in the wake of the British
government’s efforts to suppress the participation of students in the Swadeshi Movement and the threat to
stop grants, affiliation, and scholarships of the institutions that were dominated by nationalists.
• The British action led to the founding of national schools. In this context, it may be recalled that Raja
Subodh Mullick made a contribution of Rs 100,000 towards the foundation of a national university in
Bengal. A National Council of Education was set up on August 15, 1906, and the Bengal National
College and Bengal Technical Institute were established. The first principal of the Bengal National
College was Aurobindo Ghosh and its first president was Rashbehari Ghosh. The college was
inspired by Tagore’s school at Shantiniketan which had been set up in 1901. Several more national
schools were established in Bengal and Bihar.
• The nationalists of all hues took inspiration from songs written by Rabindranath Tagore, Rajnikant Sen,
Dwijendralal Ray, Mukunda Das, Syed Abu Muhammad, and others. Tagore’s Amar Sonar Bangla

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 written on this occasion was later to inspire the liberation struggle of Bangladesh and was adopted by it as
its national anthem. In Tamil Nadu, Subramania Bharati wrote Sudesha Geetham.
• In painting, Abanindranath Tagore broke the domination of Victorian naturalism over the Indian art scene
and took inspiration from Ajanta, Mughal, and Rajput paintings. Nandalal Bose, who left a major imprint
on Indian art, was the first recipient of a scholarship offered by the Indian Society of Oriental Art,
founded in 1907. In science, Jagdish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra Roy, and others pioneered original
research which was praised the world over.
• The Banaras Hindu University (BHU), founded by Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya ji in
1916, is one of the most prestigious Central Universities in the country. An autonomous institution of
distinction and having the Hon'ble President of India as its Visitor, BHU is the largest residential
University in Asia.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 79.A
• The Public Safety Bill, 1928 was designed to secure the deportation of communists and also to check the
flow of foreign money transmitted to India for promoting communism. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Frightened by the spread of socialist and communist ideas and influence and believing that the crucial role
in this respect was being played by British and other foreign agitators sent to India by the Communist
International, the Government proposed to acquire the power to deport 'undesirable' and 'subversive'
foreigners by introducing Public Safety Bill, 1928.
• In 1928, the capitalists refused to support the Government in introducing the Public Safety Bill, which
was intended to contain the Communists, on the ground that such a provision would be used to attack the
national movement. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

Q 80.B
• The viceroy, Lord Minto, and the Secretary of State for India, John Morley, agreed that some reforms
were due so as to placate the Moderates as well as the Muslims. They worked out a set of measures that
came to be known as the Morley Minto (or Minto-Morley) Reforms that translated into the Indian
Councils Act of 1909.
o The elective principle was recognised for the nonofficial membership of the councils in India. Indians
were allowed to participate in the election of various legislative councils, though on the basis of class
and community.
o For the first time, separate electorates for Muslims for election to the central council was
established—a most detrimental step for India. 8 seats were reserved for the Muslims under separate
electorates in the Imperial Legislative Council (only Muslims could vote here for the Muslim
candidates).
o The number of elected members in the Imperial Legislative Council and the Provincial Legislative
Councils was increased. In the provincial councils, a non-official majority was introduced, but since
some of these non-officials were nominated and not elected, the overall non-elected majority
remained. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
o The elected members were to be indirectly elected. The local bodies were to elect an electoral
college, which in turn would elect members of provincial legislatures, who, in turn, would elect
members of the central legislature.
o Besides separate electorates for the Muslims, representation in excess of the strength of their
population was accorded to the Muslims. Also, the income qualification for Muslim voters was kept
lower than that for Hindus.
o Powers of legislatures—both at the centre and in provinces—were enlarged and the legislatures could
now pass resolutions (which may or may not be accepted), ask questions and supplementary, vote
separate items in the budget though the budget as a whole could not be voted upon.
o One Indian was to be appointed to the viceroy’s executive council (Satyendra Sinha was the first
Indian to be appointed in 1909). Hence statement 2 is correct.
o The scheme of dyarchy was introduced at provincial level by the Government of India Act of
1919.

Q 81.B
• Recent Context: Zebra mussel larvae, an invasive species, have been discovered in the Colorado River
near Grand Junction, Colorado. Hence option 1 is correct.
• This poses a severe threat to the river’s ecosystem and infrastructure.

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 • Zebra mussels are difficult to remove once established and can rapidly spread, disrupting ecosystems by
eliminating essential food sources and attaching to hard surfaces, leading to clogged pipes and damaged
equipment.
• Phlogacanthus Sudhansusekharii
o Recent Context: Researchers from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have discovered a new plant
species, ‘Phlogacanthus Sudhansusekharii,’ in Arunachal Pradesh. Hence option 2 is not correct.
o This species, belonging to the Acanthaceae family and Phlogacanthus genus, has been named in honor
of Dr. Sudhansu Sekhar Dash for his significant contributions to plant and ecological research in the
Indian Himalayan region.
• Senna spectabilis
o Recent Context: The Kerala Forest Department has partnered with Kerala Paper Products Limited
(KPPL) to remove invasive species like Senna spectabilis from the Wayanad Wildlife
Sanctuary. Hence option 3 is correct.
o These plants threaten the wildlife habitat in the Nilgiri biosphere.
o About Senna spectabilis:
ü A deciduous tree native to tropical regions of the Americas.
ü Ecological Impact: Thick foliage inhibits the growth of native trees and grasses, leading to food
shortages for wildlife, particularly herbivores. Disrupts germination and growth of native plant
species.
ü Conservation Status: Classified as ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List.

Q 82.B
• Project Nexus
o Recent Context: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has joined Project Nexus, an international
initiative to enable instant cross-border retail payments by linking multiple countries' domestic
Fast Payments Systems (FPSs). Hence option (b) is the correct answer.
o India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will be connected with the FPSs of Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, with potential expansion to more countries.
o Project Nexus, conceptualized by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, aims
to standardize the connectivity between various instant payment systems (IPS) globally.
o This will streamline cross-border payments, completing transactions within 60 seconds.
o The platform simplifies the process by allowing a single connection to Nexus to link to all other
countries in the network, accelerating the growth of instant cross-border payments.

Q 83.B
• The Surat Split occurred during the annual session of 1907, which was presided over by Rash
Behari Ghosh, not Dadabhai Naoroji. Naoroji had presided over the 1906 Calcutta session, where the
Congress had adopted the swadeshi and boycott movements, which were supported by the extremists but
seen with caution by the moderates. The Surat Split marked the division between the two factions of the
Indian National Congress: the moderates, who believed in gradual reforms through constitutional means,
and the extremists, who advocated for more direct and assertive methods like boycotts and
swadeshi. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The key reason for the split was a disagreement between the moderates and extremists over the
methods of political struggle. The extremists, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Lala
Lajpat Rai, demanded more direct action against British rule, while the moderates, led by leaders like
Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Rash Behari Ghosh, favoured dialogue and constitutional reforms. Hence
statement 3 is correct.
• The Extremists wanted the 1907 session to be held in Nagpur (Central Provinces) with Tilak or Lajpat Rai
as the president along with a reiteration of the Swadeshi, boycott, and national education resolutions. The
Moderates wanted the session at Surat in order to exclude Tilak from the presidency, since a leader from
the host province could not be session president (Surat being in Tilak’s home province of Bombay).
• Instead, they wanted Rashbehari Ghosh as the president and sought to drop the resolutions on swadeshi,
boycott, and national education. Both sides adopted rigid positions, leaving no room for compromise. The
split became inevitable, and the Congress was now dominated by the Moderates who lost no time in
reiterating Congress’ commitment to the goal of self-government within the British Empire and to the use
of constitutional methods only to achieve this goal.

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Q 84.C
• The Congress in 1915 was dominated by the Moderates, failed to keep its promise of reviving local level
Congress committees and beginning a programme of educative propaganda by September 1916. Therefore
Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak launched their own organisations, the Home Rule Leagues in
[Link] League campaign aimed to convey to the common man the message of home rule as self-
government.
• It carried a much wider appeal than the earlier mobilisations had and also attracted the hitherto ‘politically
backward’ regions of Gujarat and Sindh.
• The aim was to be achieved by promoting political education and discussion through public
meetings, organising libraries and reading rooms containing books on national politics, holding
conferences, organising classes for students on politics, carrying out propaganda through newspapers,
pamphlets, posters, illustrated postcards, plays, religious songs, collecting funds, organising social work,
and participating in local government activities. Hence, except boycott and picketing all the given
activities are features of Home rule league.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 85.D
• Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929)
o In March 1929, the Government arrested 31 labour leaders and the majority of them were well-known
individuals in the labor movement and trade unions. The three-and-a-half-year trial resulted in the
conviction of Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A. Dange, Joglekar, Philip Spratt, Ben Bradley, Shaukat Usmani
and others.
o Meerut was carefully chosen as the location for the trial. The authorities primarily desired to avoid a
jury trial. The case would have been tried by the High Court with a jury in both Bombay and Calcutta,
two major centers of communist activity. Unlike in past 'communist conspiracy' cases, the Meerut
inmates intended to use the court as a forum to spread their agenda as much as possible.
o The trial got worldwide publicity but weakened the working class movement.
o Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Q 86.A
• The Kheda Satyagraha was one of the most important Satyagraha of Gandhiji during his initial days in
India. The peasants of Kheda district were in extreme distress due to a failure of ropes and their appeals
for the remission of land revenue were being ignored by the government. Even when the revenue code
provided for a total remission of land revenue when crops were less than one-fourth of the normal
yield. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The Gujarat Sabha, of which Gandhiji was the President, played a leading role in the agitation.
Hence statement 2 is correct.
• It submitted petitions to the highest governing authorities of the province requesting that the revenue
assessment for the year 1919 be suspended.
• During the movement, the cultivators, those who could afford to pay were to take a vow that they would
not pay in the interest of the poorer ryots who would otherwise panic and sell off their belongings or incur
debts to pay the revenue. The Government had issued instructions directing that revenue should be
recovered only from those peasants who could pay. Hence statement 4 is not correct.
• The Kheda Satyagraha was part of Gandhiji’s regional movement in his initial days in 1918,
whereas the Khilafat Non-Cooperation movement was his all-India movement launched in 1920.
Hence both the movements belong to different periods with different causes. Hence statement 3 is not
correct.
Q 87.C
• The British prime minister, Clement Attlee, on February 20, 1947, issued a statement. The British
House of Commons announced the intention of the British to withdraw from the Indian
subcontinent.
• Main Points of Attlee’s Statement:
o Date for Transfer of Power: Confirmed as June 30, 1948, and Indian politicians had made or not
made their decision on the constitution.
o Power Transfer: If the constituent assembly was not completely representative then power
would pass either to a central government or to existing provincial governments.
o Princely States: British powers and obligations regarding princely states would end with the transfer
of power, with no transfer to any successor government in British India.

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 o Viceroy Transfer: Lord Mountbatten would succeed Lord Wavell as Viceroy.
o The declaration hinted at partitioning and Balkanizing the country into multiple states,
reversing the Cripps Offer.
• Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Q 88.C
• The main form of political work by the earlier communists was to organize peasants’ and workers’ parties
and work through them. The first such organization was the Lahore Swaraj Party of the Indian National
Congress organized by Muzaffar Ahmed, Qazi Nazrul Islam, Hemanta Kumar Sarkar, and others in
Bengal in November 1925.
• In late 1926, a Congress Labour Party was formed in Bombay and a Kirti Kisan Party in Punjab. A Lahore
Kisan Party of Hindustan had been functioning in Madras since 1923.
• By 1928, all these provincial organizations had been renamed the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP)
and knit into an All-India Party whose units were also set up in Rajasthan, UP, and Delhi. All communists
were members of this party.
• The basic objective of the WPPs was to work within the Congress to give it a more radical
orientation and make it the party of the people and independently organize workers and peasants in
class organizations first to enable complete independence and ultimately socialism. Hence option (c)
is the correct answer.
• The WPPs grew rapidly and within a short period, the communist influence in Congress grew rapidly.
Moreover, Jawaharlal Nehru and other radical congressmen welcomed the WPPs’ efforts to radicalize the
Congress.
• The WPPs also made rapid progress on the trade union front and played a decisive role in the resurgence
of working class struggles during 1927-29 as also in enabling communists to gain a strong position in the
working class.

Q 89.C
• Haripura Session of the Indian National Congress, under the presidentship of Subhas Chandra
Bose, is one of the important sessions in the history of the Indian independence movement, held at
Haripura, Gujarat in 1938. Hence statement 1 is correct.
o Key Resolutions:
ü Demand for Purna Swaraj: The session, inter alia, reaffirmed the Congress resolve for complete
independence-Purna Swaraj of India. A resolution was adopted warning the British
government that if independence was not granted within six months, Congress would start a
mass movement for the removal of the British from India, which was significantly an escalation in
both terms of demands and strategies that the Congress was adopting and pulling toward a more
assertive direction against colonial rule.
ü Condemning the Communal Electorates: The Congress deplored the system of communal
electorates, which had been set up by the Government of India Act 1935. The delegates argued
that the communal electorates separated the communities and damaged the unity so vital for the
struggle for freedom. The resolution called for a common approach to all problems concerning
government without discrimination based on communal or religious considerations.
ü Support to Peasants and Workers: They reiterated their support for the Kisan Sabhas and even
identified the Kisan’s objectives with their own. While they backed their right to organize
themselves, they declared that they would not associate with activities of the unions that were
incompatible with the basic principles of the Congress.
ü The session called for a more assertive stance against British rule. Hence statement 2 is
correct.
o Significance of the Haripura Session:
ü This session underlined the ideological differences within the Congress, especially between
Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi with respect to the aspects linked to the means of
struggle against the British rule. Bose was highly affirmative in his way of approach, while on the
other hand, Gandhi stressed non-violence and negotiation alone.
ü Another important event associated with this period was the setting up of the National
Planning Committee under Jawaharlal Nehru, with a view to tackling the economic issues
and formulating plans pertaining to post-independence India. Hence statement 3 is correct.

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Q 90.A
• Introduction to the Tana Bhagat Movement
o The Tana Bhagat Movement, which emerged in 1914 in the Chotanagpur Plateau, was a tribal
movement initiated by Jatra Oraon. The movement reflected the discontentment among the Oraon
tribe, particularly with regard to the exploitation by landlords, the colonial administration, and the
oppressive practices prevalent in the region.
o The Tana Bhagats, who followed Jatra Oraon’s leadership, sought to reorganize the social structure of
their community and return to a purer way of life, free from the exploitative structures imposed on
them.
• Founding and Leadership of the Movement
o The movement began under the leadership of Jatra Oraon in 1914, who claimed to have received
divine inspiration to lead the Oraon people towards reform. Hence statement 1 is correct.
o Later, in 1919, the leadership of the movement transitioned to Sibu Oraon, further expanding its
scope and influence. This leadership change brought more organization to the movement, which
aimed to restructure the Oraon society according to their traditional values.
• Focus on Religious and Social Reform
o The core focus of the Tana Bhagat Movement was on rejecting certain practices that the Oraon
tribe had previously followed.
o The movement discouraged the worship of spirits, which had been a central aspect of Oraon religious
life. It also rejected sacrifice and earthly possessions, urging followers to adopt a simpler and
spiritually purer way of living. Hence statement 2 is correct.
o This rejection was part of a broader attempt to purify the community and return to its traditional roots
while distancing itself from the oppressive practices imposed by outsiders.
• Nonviolent Nature of the Movement
o One of the distinguishing features of the Tana Bhagat Movement was its nonviolent nature.
o Unlike other tribal movements, such as the Santhal Rebellion or the Munda Ulgulan, which were
often characterized by physical resistance and armed struggle, the Tana Bhagat Movement chose a
path of peaceful protest.
o The movement drew inspiration from the larger national movements of the time, particularly
Gandhian methods of satyagraha and nonviolent resistance.
o The Tana Bhagats conducted peaceful protests against the colonial authorities and local landlords,
rejecting violence as a means to achieve their goals. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

Q 91.D
• To answer Lord Birkenhead’s challenge to Indians to produce an agreed constitution, an All-Parties
Conference met in February 1928. It appointed a subcommittee under the chairmanship of Motilal
Nehru to draft a constitution. This was the first significant attempt by the Indians to draft a constitutional
framework for the country. The committee included Tej Bahadur Sapru, Subhash Chnadra Bose, M.S.
Aney, Mangal Singh, Ali Imam, Shuab Qureshi, and G.R. Pradhan as its members. The report was
finalized by August 1928. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The Nehru Report confined itself to British India, as it envisaged the future link-up of British India with
the princely states on a federal basis. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• The Nehru report recommended nineteen fundamental rights, including equal rights for women,
the right to form unions, and universal adult suffrage. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 92.D
• As a result of discussions between Mahatma Gandhi on behalf of Congress and Viceroy Lord Irwin, a
pact was signed between the viceroy, representing the British Indian Government, and Gandhi,
representing the Indian people, in Delhi on February 14, 1931. This Delhi Pact, also known as
the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, placed the Congress on an equal footing with the government.
• The terms of the agreement included the immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted of
violence, the remission of all fines not yet collected, the return of confiscated lands not yet sold to
third parties, and lenient treatment for those government employees who had resigned. Hence
statement 1 is not correct.
• The Government also conceded the right to make salt for consumption to villages along the coast, as
also the right to peaceful and non-aggressive picketing. The Congress's demand for a public inquiry
into police excesses was not accepted, but Gandhiji’s insistent request for an inquiry was recorded in the
agreement. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

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 • The Congress, on its part, agreed to discontinue the Civil Disobedience Movement. It was also
understood that the Congress would participate in the next (second) Round Table Conference. Hence
statement 3 is not correct.
• 18 days after the signing of Gandhi Irwin Pact, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were hanged.
When Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt hurled bombs at the central legislative assembly, Gandhi
criticized them. But Gandhi made several attempts to save Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru from the
gallows. In the days leading to the execution of Bhagat Singh and his comrades, Gandhi met the Viceroy
on multiple occasions to convince him to rethink and undo the court judgement however he refused to
make the Pact conditional on the commutation of the death sentences of Bhagat Singh and his comrades.

Q 93.B
• On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland – the action that led to the Second World War. On
September 3, 1939, Britain declared war against Germany and the British Government of India declared
India’s support for the war without consulting Indian opinion. Though the Congress did not like the
unilateral action of the British of drawing India into the war without consulting the Indians, it decided to
support the war effort conditionally. The Indian offer to cooperate in the war effort had two basic
conditions:
o After the war, a constituent assembly should be convened to determine the political structure of a free
India.
o Immediately, some form of a genuinely responsible government should be established at the Centre.
• The offer was rejected by Linlithgow, the viceroy. The Congress argued that these conditions were
necessary to win public opinion for war. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The official Congress position was adopted at the Wardha session of the Congress Working
Committee, but before that different opinions were voiced on the question of Indian support to British
war efforts.
• Subhas Bose and other socialists, such as Acharya Narendra Dev and Jayaprakash Narayan, who had
been invited by the Congress to attend the Wardha meeting so that different opinions could be discussed,
had no sympathy for either side in the war. In their opinion, the war was being fought by imperialists on
both sides; each side wanted to protect its colonial possessions and gain more territories to colonise, so
neither side should be supported by the nationalists. They thought it was the ideal time to launch a civil
disobedience movement, to thus take advantage of the situation and snatch freedom from Britain. Hence
statement 2 is correct.
• Gandhi, who had all sympathy for Britain in this war because of his total dislike of the fascist
ideology, advocated unconditional support to the Allied powers. He made a clear distinction between
the democratic nations of western Europe and the totalitarian Nazis and fascists. He said that he was not
willing to embarrass the British government during the war.
• Jawaharlal Nehru was not ready to accept the opinion of either Gandhi or the socialists. He was
clear in his mind about the difference between democratic values and fascism. He believed that justice
was on the side of Britain, France and Poland, but he also believed that Britain and France were
imperialist powers, and that “the war was the result of the inner contradictions of capitalism maturing
since the end of World War I”. He, therefore, advocated no Indian participation till India itself was
free. However, at the same time, no advantage was to be taken of Britain’s difficulty by starting an
immediate civil disobedience movement. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q 94.A
• Recent Context: Recently in July 2024, the Assam government asked the Border wing of the State’s
police not to forward cases of non-Muslims who entered India illegally before 2014 to the
Foreigners Tribunals (FTs). This was in keeping with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 that
provides a citizenship application window for non-Muslims — Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains,
and Buddhists — who allegedly fled persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
• The Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies formed under the Foreigners
(Tribunals) Order of 1964.
• They are designed to determine whether a person is an Indian citizen or a foreigner.
• Formation and Structure:
ü Established through the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964, linked to the Foreigners’ Act of 1946.
ü Although 300 FTs are sanctioned, only 100 are currently operational.
ü The Assam government has recently instructed the Border police not to refer cases of non-Muslims
who entered India before 2014 to the FTs, aligning with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019.

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 ü The FTs are quasi-judicial bodies formed by the central government through the Foreigners
(Tribunals) Order of 1964 under Section 3 of the Foreigners’ Act of 1946, to let local authorities in a
State refer a person suspected to be a foreigner to tribunals.
ü Decisions made by foreign tribunals are binding, but they can be challenged in higher courts.
relics. Hence statement 1 is correct.
ü While decisions of foreign tribunals can be appealed, they are not directly appealed to the
Supreme Court. Instead, appeals can be made to the High Court of the respective state, and
subsequently, further appeals can be made to the Supreme Court of India if necessary. relics. Hence
statement 2 is not correct.
Q 95.B
• The advance of the national movement in British India and the accompanying increase in political
consciousness about democracy, responsible government, and civil liberties inevitably impacted the
people of the States. In the first and second decade of the twentieth century, runaway terrorists from
British India seeking shelter in the States became agents of politicization. The Non-Cooperation and
Khilafat Movement exercised a much more powerful influence launched in 1920; around this time and
under its impact, numerous local organizations of the States’ people came into existence. Some of the
States in which Praja Mandals or States’ People’s Conferences were organized were Mysore,
Hyderabad, Baroda, the Kathiawad States, the Deccan States, Jamnagar, Indore, and Nawanagar. This
process came to a head in December 1927 with the convening of the All-India States’ People’s
Conference (AISPC), attended by 700 political workers from the States. Balwantrai Mehta, Manikial
Kothari, and G.R. Abhayankar were chiefly responsible for this initiative. Hence statement 1 is
correct.
• The policy of the Indian National Congress towards the Indian states had been first enunciated in
1920 at Nagpur when a resolution calling upon the princes to grant full responsible government in their
States had been passed. Simultaneously, however, the Congress, while allowing residents of the States to
become members of Congress, made it clear that they could not initiate political activity in the States in
the name of Congress but only in their individual capacity or as members of the local political
organizations. In 1927, Congress reiterated the resolution of 1920, and in 1929, Jawaharlal Nehru, in his
presidential address to the famous Lahore Congress, declared that ‘the Indian states cannot live apart
from the rest of India. . . the only people who have a right to determine the future of the states must be the
people of those states’) In later years, the Congress demanded that the princes guarantee fundamental
rights to their people. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• The years 1938-39 stand out as years of a new awakening in the Indian States, and many movements
demanded responsible government and other reforms. These new developments brought about a
significant change in Congress policy as well. Whereas, even in the Haripura session in 1938, the
Congress had reiterated its policy that movements in the States should not be launched in the name of the
Congress but should rely on their own independent strength and fight through local organizations. Hence
statement 3 is not correct.
• The Congress at Tripuri in March 1939 passed a resolution enunciating its new policy: ‘The great
awakening that is taking place among the people of the States may lead to a relaxation, or to a complete
removal of the restraint which the Congress imposed upon itself, thus resulting in an ever-increasing
identification of the Congress with the States’ peoples.’ Also in 1939, the AISPC elected Jawaharlal
Nehru as its President for the Ludhiana session, thus setting the seal on the fusion of the movements in
Princely India and British India.

Q 96.D
• Recent Context: Scientists have developed a detailed genetic profile of the Last Universal Common
Ancestor (LUCA), a single-cell, bacterium-like organism that lived around four billion years ago. Hence
option (d) is the correct answer.
• LUCA is believed to have resided in deep sea vents, supported by evidence from 355 genes linked to
extreme environments.
• LUCA is believed to have lived around 4.2 billion years ago, based on a study using a molecular clock to
estimate evolutionary timelines.

Q 97.B
• Towards the end of 1919, the first signs of grass-roots peasant activity were evident in the reports of
a nai-dhobi bandh (a form of social boycott) on an estate in Pratapgarh district. By the summer of 1920,
in the villages of taluqdari Avadh, kisan meetings called by village panchayats became frequent. Hence
option (b) is the correct answer.
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 • The 'Nai-Dhobi Bandh' highlighted the unity and collective strength of the farmers in Pratapgarh district
in their fight against British oppression. Landlords in some areas of Pratapgarh were subjected to nai-
dhobi bandhs by panchayats, which denied them the services of barbers and washermen.

Q 98.B
• The Royal Commission on Decentralisation (1908) was an initiative by the British colonial
government in India to examine the feasibility of transferring more administrative and financial
powers from the central authorities to local municipal and district-level bodies. The Commission
recommended the following suggestions, pointing out that the biggest obstacle to local bodies' ability
to function effectively is a lack of financial resources.
o It emphasized that village panchayats should be given additional authority, such as the ability to
hear small-scale issues in court, spend money on village schools and other infrastructure, and keep
small reserves of fuel and fodder. They should be given sufficient sources of revenue.
o It was emphasized that sub-district boards should be established in every taluka or tehsil and
that they should have distinct areas of responsibility and revenue streams from district boards.
o It demanded the removal of all current limitations on their ability to impose taxes as well as the
end of regular grants-in-aid from provincial governments, except for large-scale projects.
o The municipalities may take up primary education responsibilities, and if they so choose, they must
establish middle schools in their native tongue. If not, the government should absolve the
municipalities of all duties pertaining to secondary education, hospitals, relief, law enforcement,
veterinary care, etc.
• Other important measures:
o Mayo's Resolution of 1870: The Mayo Resolution was for financial decentralization and represented
a major step toward local self-government. It provided powers to the provincial governments for
raising local taxation and handling funds relating to education, sanitation, and public works, thus
extending the scope of local administration and encouraging local government.
o Ripon's Resolution of 1882: It was popularly also called the 'Magna Carta of Local Self-
Government'. Ripon's Resolution put forth that local self-government was essentially essential and
that the local bodies were to have a two-thirds majority of elected non-official members. This
resolution heavily democratized local governance as it called for elected representation in
municipalities and district boards.
o The Government of India Resolution of 1915: This resolution discussed the working of local self-
government in the background of earlier reforms and strove for an empirical strengthening of local
bodies. It embodied the official views on the recommendations of the Decentralisation Commission,
but most of the recommendations remained on paper and the condition of local bodies continued to be
as it was left by Lord Ripon.
o The Resolution of May 1918: The Resolution of May 1918 laid stress on the desirability of making
local self-governments responsive to local needs and contained a series of recommendations regarding
an increase in the powers of local bodies. This formed part of wider constitutional reforms, which
had the objective of preparing India for a regime of self-government.
o Government of India Act, 1935: It formed a landmark in the evolution of local governance in that it
introduced provincial autonomy and made local self-government a provincial subject. It provided for
establishing elected local bodies with substantial powers, thus forming the base for a more democratic
structure in local governance.
• Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q 99.A
• Recent Context: India’s sovereign green bonds, have not received significant green premiums from
private investors, affecting the financing of green transition projects, according to the Economic Survey.
• Greenium is defined as the difference in yield between thematic bonds and ordinary bonds of
similar maturity, based on the logic that investors are willing to pay extra for a bond with a sustainable
impact. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.
• Despite India’s green bond framework being well-rated, there is more capital potential than actual capital
flow for energy transition in emerging markets.
• The Survey highlights the need for developed countries to provide more accessible, affordable financial
resources in line with UNFCCC and Paris Agreement objectives.

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Q 100.B
• Captain Mohan Singh, an Indian commander in the British Indian Army, came up with the initial
concept for the Indian National Army (INA) in 1941 following the British surrender of Singapore to
the Japanese. With the aid of Indian prisoners of war who had been taken prisoner by the Japanese in
Malaya and Singapore, Mohan Singh established the first INA in September 1942.
• However, the initial INA was short-lived. In March 1942, Rash Behari Bose, an Indian revolutionary
in exile in Japan, decided to form the Indian Independence League (IIL) to coordinate anti-British
activities among the Indians in Southeast Asia. Rash Behari Bose played a key role in persuading
the Japanese to support the INA and acting as its political mentor. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• In July 1943, Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore and took on the mantle of leadership of
IIL and the INA. Bose reconstituted this minuscule force and generated popular sympathy among the
Indian community of Southeast Asia, who joined the INA and donated funds to the cause.
• Under the energetic leadership of Bose, the INA grew to a force of approximately 60,000 troops at its
peak and even included a women's regiment called the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. Bose famously declared
"Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!" to encourage Indians to join the fight against the British
Raj.
• The Axis powers, including Japan, Germany, and Italy, recognized Azad Hind as the de facto
government of India. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Imphal-Kohima Campaign: In 1944, the INA became part of the Japanese push towards the
frontiers of Manipur in India at the Imphal-Kohima Campaign. The first objective of the INA was
to serve as an auxiliary to the Japanese who were to take Imphal and Kohima. The INA initially
made gains, but as the war situation worsened for the Japanese, the INA began to suffer setbacks. Many
troops deserted the army as Japanese funding diminished. Hence statement 3 is correct.
• After the fall of the Axis powers in 1945, putting an end to World War II, the British had opened the INA
trials or Red Fort trials. The trial proceedings went on between November 1945 and May 1946. Several
INA officers had been prosecuted for various offenses including treason, torture, and murder.
• Although the INA was defeated militarily, its legacy lived on. The secular nationalist ideology of the INA
bridged religion, region, and ethnicity into a common enemy in the form of the imperial oppressor. Its
remarkable saga saw the light of revolutionary fervor infuse into the independence movement, along with
the Quit India Movement.

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