Day-653 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | HISTORY

Answer: A
Explanation:
Statement 1 is correct: The Surat Split of 1907 divided the Indian National Congress into moderates and extremists, marking a significant ideological and political division.
Statement 2 is correct: The partition of Bengal in 1905 gave the Extremists the opportunity to publicly criticise the strategies used by the Moderates. The Partition consequently supported extremist doctrine. The Indian masses had grown weary of the moderate constitutional agitation strategy, which focused on petitioning, praying, and demonstrating; as a result, extremist tendencies that prioritised direct action against the British emerged. These ultimately lead to division between moderates and extremists and lead to surat split.
Additional information:
● The Surat Split of the Indian National Congress resulted in the party’s division into two groups, i.e., the Moderates and the Extremists. The Moderates were in favor of Rash Bihari Ghosh, while the Extremists supported Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
● The Surat Split of the Indian National Congress into two different groups proved to be a victory of the divide-and-rule policy of the British government. Extremists also endorsed boycotting British products as well as their government establishments; however, moderates opposed them.
● Moderates believed in the 3 Ps (Prayer, petition, protest); while the Extremists worked based on the 3S (self-reliance, sacrifice, and strong will).
Effects of Surat Split of Congress
● Swaraj was introduced in the INC by Gokhale, the President of the Indian National Congress, at the INC’s Banaras Session in 1905. Later, Dadabhai Naoroji used the word Swaraj in 1906 at the Calcutta Session.
● In 1907, the Extremists placed two significant objectives in the Surat Session, and these were:
● It demanded Swaraj’s resolution.
● Presidency of Lala Lajpat Rai in the INC.
● However, the Moderates did not accept these objectives. They supported Rash Behari Ghosh and demanded his presidency. As a result of the difference in opinion, the elections (for the first time) were held for the Presidentship of the Indian National Congress.
● Unfortunately, the Moderates were successful in expelling the extremists from the INC. They got complete control of the Congress’s affairs, and Rash Behari Gosh was selected as the President of the Surat Session.

Answer: A
Explanation:
● The Khuntkatti system, which was a joint holding of land, prevailed among the Mundas.
● Khuntkatti is a customary institution found among Mundas of Chotanagpur which provides ownership of land among all the families of the same killi (clan), who cleared the forest and made land cultivable. This old age institution also provides an identity of being a Munda and their country.
● Between 1789 and 1832, the Mundas revolted around seven times against the oppression brought on by moneylenders and the British Government. But the advent of the British and the outsider Zamindars replaced the Khunkatti with the Zamindari system. This caused indebtedness and forced labour among the tribals.

Answer: C
Explanation:
Statement 1 is correct: Mountbatten proposed in May 1947 that the provinces be declared independent successor states and then given the option of joining or not joining the constituent assembly. The ‘Dickie Bird Plan’ was the name given to this strategy.
Statement 2 is correct: Plan Balkan, envisaged the transfer of power to separate provinces with Punjab and Bengal given the option to vote for partition of their provinces. The partitioned units thus formed will have the choice to join India or Pakistan or remain independent. When informed of the plan, Jawaharlal Nehru (born November 14, 1889) vehemently opposed it, claiming that it would lead to the country’s Balkanization. As a result, this plan was also known as Plan Balkan.
Statement 3 is correct: The viceroy then devised another plan known as the June 3 Plan. This was the final strategy for Indian independence. The Mountbatten Plan is another name for it. The principles of partition, autonomy, sovereignty for both nations, and the right to write their own constitution were all included in the June 3 Plan.
Additional information:
● Lord Mountbatten arrived in India as the last Viceroy and was tasked by then-British Prime Minister Clement Atlee with ensuring a smooth transfer of power.
● Above all, princely states such as Jammu and Kashmir were given the option of joining either India or Pakistan. The consequences of these decisions would have long-term consequences for the new nations.
● Both Congress and the Muslim League agreed to this plan. Congress had also acknowledged the partition’s inevitability by that point.
● The Indian Independence Act 1947, which was passed in the British Parliament and received royal assent on July 18, 1947, put this plan into action.
Mountbatten Plan – Provisions
● British India was to be divided into two countries: India and Pakistan.
● The Constituent Assembly’s draft constitution would not apply to Muslim-majority areas (as these would become Pakistan). These provinces would decide on the issue of a separate constituent assembly for Muslim-majority areas.
● The legislative assemblies of Bengal and Punjab met and voted for partition in accordance with the plan. As a result, it was decided that these two provinces would be divided along religious lines.
● Sind’s legislative assembly would decide whether or not to join the Indian constituent assembly. It made the decision to travel to Pakistan.
● The NWFP (North-Western Frontier Province) was to hold a referendum to decide which dominion to join. While Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan boycotted and rejected the referendum, the NWFP decided to join Pakistan.
● Since the Congress had conceded a unified India, all of their other demands would be met, namely:
● Independence for princely states was ruled out—they would join either India or Pakistan;
● Independence for Bengal was ruled out;
● Accession of Hyderabad to Pakistan was ruled out (Mountbatten supported the Congress on this);
● Freedom would be granted on August 15, 1947; and
● A boundary commission would be established if partition was to be effected.
The Boundary Commission, chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe, was established to fix the international boundaries between the two countries. The commission was tasked with dividing Bengal and Punjab into two new countries.
● The princely states were given the option of remaining independent or acceding to either India or Pakistan. The British sovereignty over these kingdoms ended.
● The British monarch would no longer address himself as “Emperor of India.”
● Following the creation of the dominions, the British Parliament was unable to enact any legislation in the territories of the new dominions.
● Until the new constitutions were established, the Governor-General would assent to any law passed in His Majesty’s name by the constituent assemblies of the dominions.
● The Governor-General was elevated to the status of the constitutional head.

Answer: D
Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: Malik Muhammad Jayasi completed Padmavat during the reign of Sher Shah.
Statement 2 is incorrect: Yashovarma Bhavbhuti was the court poet of famous Maukhari king Yashovarma of Kannauj who ruled around 730 AD.
Additional information:
● Malik Muhammad Jayasi was an Indian Sufi poet and pir. He wrote in the Awadhi language, and in the Persian Nastaʿlīq script. His best known work is the epic poem Padmavat (1540). Much of the information about Jayasi comes from legends, and his date and place of birth are a matter of debate. As the nisba “Jayasi” suggests, he was associated with Jayas, an important Sufi centre of medieval India, in present-day Uttar Pradesh. However, there is debate about whether he was born in Jayas, or migrated there for religious education.
● Bhavabhuti was an 8th-century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered the equal of the works of Kalidasa. Bhavabhuti was born in Padmapura, Vidarbha, in Gondia district, on the Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh border. He is described as an ‘Udumbara Brahmin’. His works attributed to poet Bhavbhuti viz Mahaviracharita(depicting the early life of Rama), Malatimadhava a play based on the romance of Malati and Madhava and Uttararamacharita (depicts Rama’s coronation, the abandonment of Sita and their reunion).

Answer: A
Explanation:
Statement 1 is correct: The abacus and the animal part of the Sarnath pillar form the national emblem of India.
Statement 2 is incorrect: In the National Emblem of India, the words Satyameva Jayate from Mundaka Upanishad, meaning ‘Truth Alone Triumphs’, are inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script.
● The State Emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath. In the original, there are four lions, mounted back to back, on a circular abacus, which itself rests on a bell-shaped lotus. The frieze of the abacus has sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening Dharma Chakras.

● The profile of the Lion Capital showing three lions mounted on the abacus with a Dharma Chakra in the centre, a bull on the right and a galloping horse on the left, and outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left was adopted as the State Emblem of India on January 26, 1950. The bell-shaped lotus was omitted.
● The motto Satyameva Jayate, which means ‘Truth Alone Triumphs’, written in Devanagari script below the profile of the Lion Capital is part of the State Emblem of India.