Class 10 History and Environment

WBBSE Chapter 2 Culture: Characteristics And Discussion Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Why is David Hare renowned in history?
Answer:

David Hare came to Calcutta in 1800 as a watch merchant. Soon he became a great patron of spreading western education in Bengal and one of the personalities of the Bengal renaissance.

As a patron of education: David Hare was one of the founders of the Hindu College. He established ‘Pataldanga Academy’. Now it is known as Hare School. When in 1823 the Hindu College faced a financial crisis, H. H. Wilson saved the college at the request of David Hare.

In 1818, when the School Book Society was established, David Hare became the secretary of this institution. His enthusiastic role helped in the establishment of some institutions.

Question 2. Write a note on the Hindu College.
Answer:

Hindu College

Establishment: The year 1817 is notable for the spread of Western education. In that year an important institution was founded in Calcutta by some leaders of the Hindu society. However, the initiation for the establishment of this college was taken by Sir Hyde East of the Supreme Court, Baidyanath Mukherjee, and David Hare. The role played by Raja Rammohan Roy is controversial.

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Role of the Hindu College: The Hindu College came into prominence in 1826 when Derozio was appointed as a teacher of this college. His high standard of morality, mild and liberal personality, and purity of character greatly influenced his young pupils. The Hindu society received a terrible shock due to the Young Bengal movement. The Hindu College played an important role in the emergence of a 19th-century renaissance in Bengal.

Question 3. Write a note on Debendranath Tagore.
Answer:

Debendranath Tagore

After Rammohan Roy’s death, the Brahmo movement lost its momentum to a great extent. Debendranath Tagore was the son of Dwarkanath Tagore, one of the greatest personalities of the 18th century.

Debendranath’s contribution: After 1833, the leadership of the Brahmo movement was taken by Debendranath. He provided the movement with a better organizational structure. He was deeply influenced by Atmiya Sabha and Brahmo Sabha founded by Rammohan Roy.

He laid stress on the observance of the rules of Brahmo Samaj. Debendranath transformed the Brahmo Samaj and published Tattwabodhini Patrika to establish the views of Brahmo Samaj. He protested against social evils like polygamy, child marriage, and the caste system that prevailed in Hindu Society.

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Question 4. Write about the Young Bengal movement. Or, Assess the contribution of the Derozians to modernizing the society of Bengal. Or, Why is Derozio called “the pioneer of Modern Bengal”?
Answer:

Young Bengal movement

Introduction: Henry Lours Vivian Derozio was the founder of the Young Bengal movement. He spread his ideas and teaching and many people inspired by him became his pupils.
Academic Association: Derozio formed the Academic Association in 1827. It was the 1st debating society of Hindu College. His pupils took part in debates and expressed their opinions against the racial system, untouchability, image worship, and sati system.

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Derozions: The followers of Derozio were called Derozians or Young Bengal. Among the followers of Derozio, Ramtanu Lahiri, Krishna Mohan Banerjee, Radhanath Sikdar, etc. were famous and contributed much to the Indian social system.

The Derozians were staunch advocates of and female education female rights. In a sonnet, Derozio writes about his pupils “Of new perceptions shed their influence and how you worship truth’s omnipotence”.

Journals: To express their opinions on social, economic, and political questions, Derozio and his pupils brought out several Journals which included ‘Athenaeum’ ‘Parthenon’, ‘Hindu Pioneer’, Kaleidoscope’, Enquirer’, etc.

Post Derozio period: Derozio died in 1831 but his pupils carried on the movement started by him. The pupils strongly demanded the introduction of a jury system, free trade, and freedom of the press. But they couldn’t achieve success and were criticized.

Criticism: The followers of Derozio openly ate beef, drank alcohol, and converted to Christianity as a protest against the Hindu Brahmins. So, there was moral degradation and criticism in the movement which didn’t last for a long time.

Evolution: After Derozio the movement was guided in the wrong path and the people were against it. Derozians failed to leave a lasting impression on the people. Their influence was limited to the educated people of Calcutta. The general opinion about the Young Bengal in the decade of 1830 was that a generation without fathers and children.

Question 5. State the role of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa in arousing religious consciousness.
Answer:

Introduction: Ramakrishna Paramhansa, the saint of Dakhineshwar, had a great role to play in the broad humanitarian propagation and reform movement. Historian Toynbee said, “In this case, Ramakrishna has raised his uniqueness”.

Contributions His contributions to the socio-religious reform movement were as follows:

1. He criticized casteism, untouchability, narrowness, and blind and thoughtless attachment to rites without understanding their reliance. He gave the message of ‘Jata Math, Tata Path’.
2. He urged everybody to offer his devotion to rise above ‘Maya’ and attachments to worldly lives and property and relatives.
3. He preached the message of synthesis between different religious beliefs by suggesting that there are different roads to reach the same place. This theory showed the way of unity and tolerance.
4. He inspired the Muslims to be true Muslims and Christians to be faithful to Christ.
5. He firmly believed that by obtaining self-knowledge or proper devotion to God men would no longer go by the levels of cast and creed.
6. Hence, Shri Ramakrishna lighted the way as Avtar. Keshab Chandra, Grish Ghosh, and Vivekananda were very much influenced by Ramakrishna.
7. Mahatma Gandhi aptly described him, “Ramakrishna presents an example of a bright and living faith which gives solace to thousands of men and women who would otherwise have remained without spiritual light”.

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Question 6. Write a short note on Wood’s Despatch.
Answer:

Wood’s Despatch: Sir Charles Wood, the president of the Board of Control, recommended combining the stream of both the lowest and highest forms of education in 1854. This is known as Wood’s De or Education despatch.

Recommendations:

1. To separate the Department for Education
2. To establish 3 in each at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras
3. To take ad measures for teachers and teaching by opening teachers to college,
4. To establish new schools
5. To improve the primary schools
6. To improve the govt, schools, and cc
7. To expand female education, etc.

Thus, Wood’s Despatch is regarded as the ‘Magna Carta’ history of English education in India. Wood rejected the filt< policy, 3 universities were founded, and the private school: provided grants in aid. Gradually the number of universities increased. Dr. R. C. Majumdar said on this despatch, “The educational system in British India has since developed”.

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Question 7. Write about the reformation movement of Keshab Chandra Sen.

Answer:

1. Introduction: The second half of the 19th century was an important phase in the history of the reform movement of Bengal. In 1857 AD. Keshab Chandra Sen became the leader of Brahmo Samaj at the age of 19.

2. Contribution: Keshab Chandra Sen made a great contribution to society, religion, and education. Max Muller rightly coined the term ‘Great Son of India’ for Keshab Chandra Sen. He made the Brahno movement popular at the international level. R. C. Majumdar said that “Keshab Chandra was the father of all India Brahmo movement”. Debendranath gave him the title ‘Brahmanada’.

3. Editorial Work: Keshab Chandra edited the papers like ‘Indian Mirror’, ‘Bengalee’, ‘Hindu’, etc. In the August 1861 edition of Tatwabodhini Patrika, he wrote an article about the development of women in India. In 1864 Keshab Chandra travelled throughout India to spread the Brahmo religion.

4. Religious and Social Reforms: In 1869 A.D. Keshab Chandra created a ‘Bharat Barshiya Brahmo Mandir’ assembling the religious ideas of Hinduism and Christianity. He made many attempts to spread the ideas of establishing night schools, ‘widow marriage’, etc. He opposed child marriage. In 1880 he established ‘Nababidhan Samaj’. He died in 1884 and his death was a major loss for Brahmo Samaj.

5. Conclusion: We can conclude in the words of Dr. R.C. Majumdar, “Kesab brought to the Brahmo Samaj a dynamic force which it never processed before”.

Question 8. Write a short note on Hunter Commission.
Answer:

Introduction: The Hunter Commission was formed in 1882 under the leadership of Sir William Hunter during the period of Lord Rippon. The Commission reported that Wood’s Despatch was not fully implemented.

Recommendations:

1. Schools and colleges would be subsidized by the government
2. All government restrictions would be lifted from schools and colleges
3. District boards and municipalities would be entrusted with the foundation and maintenance of primary schools
4. Emphasis would be given to the spread of primary education
   Special attention would be given to the spread of higher education. Hence, the role of the
5. Hunter Commission in the field of expansion of education was vital. The government rejected the recommendations in the sphere of primary education but accepted other recommendations. As a result, secondary and higher secondary education had some advancement.

Question 9. What was the system of education as practiced in India during the pre-British days?
Answer:

Education in the Pre-British Period :

Chief Feature: The system of education prevalent in the pre-British days, however defective, served the needs of the time.

Centres of Lower and Higher Learning: Tools and Madrassas were higher centers of learning and Pathsalas and Maktabs were primary schools to impart elementary education.

Pathsalas: Pathsalas were held in temple premises or religious institutions. The pupils here received some knowledge of elementary arithmetic

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Maktabs: In the Maktabs, attached to masjids, learning was confined to the Muslim scriptures

Tools: Tools were essentially centers of higher education for the Hindu scholars. Sanskrit was the medium of instruction in the tools. The subjects, other than the Hindu religious scriptures taught in the tools included philosophy, grammar, etc.

Higher Education: Nabadwip, Benaras, Mithila, Bikampur, etc. were important centers of higher education. The Madrassas of Patna, Murshidabad, Delhi, Lahore, etc. emerged as important centers of higher learning in Arabic and Persian. Persian being the state language under the Mughals, a large number of pupils attended the Madarssas spread over different parts of the country.

Question 10. What were the merits and demerits of the system of education prevalent in the pre-British days?
Answer:

Merits and Demerits of Pre-British Education :

1. Failed to Widen the Mental Horizon: The traditional system of education available in India during the pre-British days, indeed, failed to widen the mental horizon of the learners
2. Lack of Rational Outlook: The education imparted in the tools-pathsalas and mastabas-madrassas could neither inculcate individuality nor a rational outlook among the young learners
3. Religious Orthodoxy: In fact, education in the pre-British days made the Hindu and the Muslim pupils, uncritical subscribers to their respective religion
4. Mass Literacy: Despite these limitations, it has been admitted on all hands that there had been a general inclination for education in those days. Besides, a very large section of the population used to receive vernacular education in a good number of elementary schools spread all over the country. J Under the Company’s rule this indigenous elementary education suffered a decline.

Question 11. What were the limitations of English education as introduced by the British in India?
Answer:

Limitations of English Education: The new education policy introduced by the British, however, had limited success

1. Limited Mass Appeal: In the first place, a handful of persons living in towns could take advantage of the schools that were established in cities or sub-divisional towns. The bulk of the population that lived in villages had been deprived of the benefit of English education
2. Confined to the Middle Class: Secondly, English education was by and large confined to the middle class. The idea prevalent in the official circle that the new education would percolate downward to the masses through the upper classes was never realized
3. Neglecting Primary Education: Thirdly, the greatest defect of the new education policy was that it neglected the education of the people at the elementary stage
4. Setback of Vernacular Education: Fourthly, another important cause of decline of the vernacular education at the elementary level was that the elementary schools spread all over the country suffered ruination due to a lack of financial support from the government.
5. However, the Company’s government could not neglect the vernacular education for long. It was in 1854 that a new education policy recommended by Charles Wood emphasized the need for introducing vernacular education at the elementary level.

Question 12. Discuss the influence of the spread of Western education in the nineteenth century.
Answer:

Impact of Western Education: The Spread of Western education in the 19th century roused the Indians from medieval slumber and gave birth to a new awakening in India

Spread of Western Philosophy: Western education proved a great blessing in disguise as the Indians began to come under the influence of Western philosophies and Western political concepts like nationalism, democracy, freedom, equality, secularism, etc.

It set up a high standard of rational thinking; reason and judgment took the place of faith and belief; superstition yielded to science

Reform Movement: As a result, many reform movements like the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, etc. started in the 19th century
3. Thirst for Knowledge of Culture: A great urge to know the history of India and its heritage developed among the Indians and research on India’s past and heritage received a great impetus
4. Political Consciousness: The spread of Western education gave rise to the middle class and it was the awakening of political consciousness of this class that fostered national unity
5. Favouring Western Culture and Language: The unfortunate consequence of the spread of Western education was that the Western-educated youths began to look down upon their own culture and a big gap now separated educated Indians and the illiterate masses. Indian languages were neglected and as the vernacular education was of little help in securing jobs, many Pathasalas and Maktabs had to be closed down.

Question 13. Analyze the contribution of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in the field of social reform and education in Bengal.
Answer:

Social reforms :
1. Solving Social Problems: Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar was a great social reformer. He gave a new dimension to the social progress of Bengal. He fought for great social issues such as widow remarriage, prohibition of polygamy, etc.

He was a crusader against superstitions and bigotry. He opened the gates of Sanskrit College to non-Brahmin students as he was opposed to the monopoly enjoyed by the priestly classes in the study of Sanskrit.

2. Emancipation of Women: He is remembered for his contribution to the upliftment of women. He waged a long struggle for widow remarriage and tried to improve the condition of the suffering Hindu widows.

On December 7, 1856, under the supervision of Vidyasagar, the first lawful Hindu remarriage was held. In the years between 1855 and 1860, twenty-five widow remarriages were performed by his inspiration.

Educational reforms :

Establishment of Schools: Vidyasagar is best remembered for his role as an educationist. He, with the support of Lord Hardinge, established schools in the rural localities of Bengal. He established 20 model schools in different districts of Bengal.

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He was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Institution. He also realized the need to establish schools for the education of women. He established 35 girls’ schools in the rural localities of Bengal.

Writing of Textbooks: He wrote Varnaparichay, Kathamala, and Bodhodaya to train children in Bengali language and grammar. He supported the study of Sanskrit grammar through the medium of Bengali for which he composed Sanskrit Byakarner Upakramanika and Byakaran Kaumudi.

Question 14. Why was the Vernacular Press Act introduced?
Answer:

Vernacular Press Act:

1. Lack of Government Support for the Famine-Stricken People: Lord Lytton’s administration began under the shadow of a severe famine. In this crisis, the Government’s apathy towards the sufferings of the people drove discontent among the masses

2. Criticism of Govt, by the Press: Quite naturally the simmering discontent came to the surface and the Government policy began to be openly criticized. Vernacular press not only criticized the Policy but also suggested alternative policies and molded public opinion against the Government

3. Restraints on Vernacular Press: Therefore, to suppress adverse criticisms of governmental measures by the Indians in their press, Lytton took a retrograde measure. On March 1878 the Vernacular Press Act was put on the statute book. The Act empowered a magistrate to enter into a bond,

4. Counter Measures: Somprakash, a Bengalee weekly, ceased publication refusing to accept the humiliating conditions under the said Act. To save Amrit Bazar Patrika from the oppression of the Act, Sisir Kumar and Motilal transformed their bilingual paper into a full-fledged English paper overnight

5. Agitation Against the Act: A powerful agitation developed in Bengal. Surendranath Banerjee described the Act as a bolt from the blue. The agitation grew in strength and the Government was forced to repeal the Vernacular Press Act in 1881.

Question 15. What was the role of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in the welfare of women?
Answer:

Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Raja Ram Mohan Roy, regarded as the ‘1st modern man of India’, was the champion of women’s rights. He condemned all the evil practices that degraded the position of women in society. He upheld the cause of the women and denounced the prevailing idea that women were inferior to men.

1. Raja Ram Mohan built up a strong movement against the inhuman practice of Sati. He wrote his arguments against it in journals like Samachar Darpan, Calcutta Journal, Friend of India, and Indian Gazettee, etc. against the sati system. Ultimately Lord Bentinck abolished the sati system by enacting Regulation XVII in 1829 A.D.
2. He protested against the Hindu law for women’s rights on the property of the dead husband. Rammohan called it, a “Modern encroachment on the ancient rights of Hindu females according to the Hindu law of inheritance”.
3. Rammohan also raised his voice against social and religious evils like child marriage, polygamy, intercaste marriage, the dowry system, etc.
4. Rammohan also built up a strong movement in favor of the remarriage of Hindu widows.
5. Ram Mohan Roy contributed to the field of female education
   Hence, all these give proof of how Ram Mohan acted for the upliftment of women.

Question 16. What was the role of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar in the welfare of women?
Answer:

Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar: The message that Ishwar Chandra brought for the welfare of the women was the greatest event after Ram Mohan. He completed the unfinished effort of reform by Ram Mohan Roy
.
Spread of women’s education:

1. He formed the ‘Female Juvenile Society’ with the help of Drinkwater Bethune. Bethune School and College were established with their help.
2. He founded ‘Stri Sikhsa Sammiiani’ in Midnapore, Hoogly, Burdwan, etc. for the expansion of female education.
3. The most important event was that he founded 35 girls’ schools without any government grant. The number of girls students in these schools was 1300.
4. He founded ‘Metropolitan
5. Institution’ in 1870 A.D. by challenging George Campbell.

Protest against the social abuses:

1. He said the strong emphasis on widow re-marriage. He also found proof of widow re-marriage in Boudhayan and Narad Samiti, Agnipurana, etc. Due to Vidyasagar’s untiring effort the Widow Marriage Act of 1856 A.D. was passed.
2. Vidyasagar also protested against child marriage, polygamy, the killing of lepers, the dowry system, etc. He thought that these social abuses were the greatest enemy of the people.
3. Vidyasagar also emphasized the freedom of women in every field and her rights in her ancestor’s property.
4. Thus, Amlesh Tripathi aptly called him a ‘Traditional Modernizer’. Madhusudan Dutta rightly said, “Vidyasagar had the genius and wisdom of an ancient sage, the energy of an Englishman, and the heart of a Bengali mother”.

Question 17. Describe the disabilities from which women suffered in Indian society. Discuss the steps taken by the social and religious reform movements for the emancipation of women.
Answer:

1. Widow Remarriage: The Hindu Widow Remarriage Act was formulated in 1866 A.D. as a consequence of the movement run by Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar about the fight of widow remarriage

2. Stress on Female Education: To remove the cause behind the backwardness of women folk, he stressed the need for female education. Hence, many girls’ schools were opened consequent upon the same, which was a fruitful result of their endeavors. The people otherwise understood that female education was futile.

3. Ban on Child Marriage: As a result of child marriage, the girls often became widows in childhood and ever through life lived under the heavy load of widowhood. Hence Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar gave a staunch opposition to this evil custom.

4. Obstruction of Polygamy: Generally any man could marry any number of girls. This promoted domestic disharmony and exploited the women folk. Hence, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar gave a staunch opposition to this evil custom.

Question 18. What is the University Act?
Answer:

University Act:

University Act: In 1902 AD Lord Curzon formed the Raleigh Commission under the leadership of Sir Thomas Raleigh. This was also known as the ‘Indian University Act Commission’. Sir Gurudas Banerjee and Syed Hussain Bilgrami, the two Indians, were the members of this Commission. The University Act was passed in 1904 A.D. with the recommendations of the Raleigh Commission.

According to this Act, strict Government restrictions were imposed on educational institutions to upgrade the ‘Educational Standard’.

Primary education was ignored in this Act. So this policy of Curzon was said to be a top-heavy policy. Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University, opposed this Act. At the same time, he developed the infrastructure of the post-graduate education system and made the Bengali language honorable.

Question 19. Why was the Brahma Samaj formed?
Answer: Brahma Samaj :

1. Protest Against Traditional Orthodoxy: Rammohan Roy established the Brahma Samaj in 1828 AD. This society was formed in protest of traditional Hindu superstition and complex religious rituals.

2. Rejection of Idolatry: Evening prayer was the main ritualistic form of Brahma Samaj. They did not believe in ideology.

3. Contribution of Rammohan: Rammohan established the ‘British Indian Unitarian Association’. In the next year, he established Brahma Samaj. Many scholars believed that Rammohan was influenced by Adam, Tarachand Chakraborty, and Chandrasekhar Deb. Later Ramchandra Vidyavagis, Prasanna Kumar Thakur, and Dwarakanath Thakur became supporters of this society

4. Activities of the Samaj: The meetings of the Samaj were held on Wednesdays. Here Bramhasangit was played and also readings from the Vedas were held. Ramananda Chattopadhyay said “Rammohan wanted to assemble all the people from different communities in a single belief”

5. After Rammohan’s Death: Rammohan went to England in 1830 A.D. and died there in 1833 A.D. After his death the importance of this Samaj decreased. In the later period, it gained its importance in the days of Keshab Chandra Sen, Debendranath Thakur, etc.

Question 20. Write a short note on the Charter Act of 1813 AD.
Answer:

Charter Act:

1. Objective: The Charter Act was passed to understand the exact position of the Company in India in 1813.

2. Ending of Monopoly: This Act ended the monopoly of the East India Company in India. As a result, the Indian markets were opened to all other merchants in Europe
3. Features of the Act: It is also said that the Company should separate its income from trade and that from land revenue.

The income would be spent on military and non-military purposes, it was said that the Government would give an amount of 1 lakh rupees annually for the development of literature and science in India. The Christian missionaries were allowed to preach their religion in India

4. Supremacy of the British Govt.: This Act also stated that the approval of the British Government was compulsory regarding the appointment of Governor-General, Governor, and Commander-in-Chief.

5. Revision of the Act: This Act was to be renewed after every 20 years. Accordingly, the Charter Acts of 1833 AD and 1853 AD changed, improved, and developed the earlier ones. Of all these Acts, the Charter Act of 1833 AD was known as the ‘Charter of Laisser Faire’ due to its constitutional and economic significance.

Question 21. Describe the role and activities of Brahmo Samaj after Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
Answer:

Brahmo Samaj after Ram Mohan Roy: Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 which played a significant role in meeting the requirements of the time.

The principles of Brahmo Samaj were as follows:

1. There is only one omnipotent God.
2. People of all religions and sects have an equal right to worship God.
3. If we remain away from both virtuous and vicious actions, we shall automatically attain salvation.
4. The soul is immortal.
5. Worship God with a true heart. Raja Ram Mohan Roy made a strenuous endeavor for the removal of widespread evil customs of contemporary society. He got the sati custom legally banned.

He supported the cause of widow remarriage. He stressed the need for female education so that they may come out of their concealment (veil) and become a useful organ of society. The Brahmo Samaj raised their voice against polygamy and child marriage.

Debendra Nath Tagore and Keshav Chandra Sen came forward to stretch ahead the programs of reform run by Raja Ram Mohan Roy after his death. They too strove their utmost to bring about a social awakening.

Question 22. Write the contributions of Bamabodhini Patrika. 
Answer:

Bamabodhini Patrika :

Establishment: Bamabodhini Patrika was a monthly journal edited by Umesh Chandra Dutta (1840-1907) from 1863. He, together with some other young Brahmo leaders, established Bamabodhini Sabha in 1863, aiming to educate Bengali housewives and to publish books and journals for their mental upliftment.

Establishment of Schools: Bethune School was founded in 1849 and the total number of Girls’ Schools in Bengal in 1863 was 35 with students numbering only 1183.

Objective: Umesh Chandra and others tried to penetrate Bengali families through the medium of a journal to spread women’s education. Bamabodhini Patrika was the result of this pioneering effort.

Activities: Bamabodhini Sabha started this journal in August 1863 (Bhadra 1270 BS). Bamabodhini Patrika was a success from the beginning and continued for a long sixty years up to 1922 encountering many vicissitudes. Umesh Chandra edited the monthly journal for forty-four years, helped by Kshetramohan and Basantakumar Dutta in the beginning. After him, Sukumar Dutta, Tarakumar Kab; Ratna, and others continued to edit the journal.

Subject Matter of Publication: Bamabodhini brought both conservative and liberal writers into its fold. Religion, ethics, science, history, household medicine, child care, women’s education many such topics were deliberated on in the journal. All articles centered on women and were aimed at their development.

It asserted from the very beginning that everything considered necessary for women would be discussed in its pages, with special emphasis on delivering proper and essential knowledge by removing all doubts and superstitions from their minds. Bamabodhini witnessed a turning point in our history and recorded in its pages the women’s role in a changing society and family. It protested against all forces bent on oppressing women.

Question 23. Write a note on Bijoy Krishna Goswami. 4
Answer:

Bijoy Krishna Goswami:

Introduction: Bijoy Krishna Goswami was a prominent social reformer and religious figure and the incarnation of Mahaprabhu Chaitanya in India during the British period. He was a spokesman for the new Vaisnavite doctrine.

Early Life: Bijay Krishna was born on 2 August 1841 in Santipur, Nadia. His father, Ananda Kishore Goswami, was a great devotee. While in college, he read about Vedanta and developed an interest in it. He met Debendranath Tagore in Kolkata and being influenced by him he joined Brahma Samaj.

Religious Activities: Bijoy Krishna visited different parts of India to preach Brahmanism. He came to East Bengal in 1863 and worked for some time in Dhaka with Keshab Chandra Sen. He established Brahma temples in Shantipur, Mymensingh. He was especially interested in the development and education of women and taught for some time at the school established by Keshab Chandra. He wrote a book named Prashnottar to teach yoga. He was always in search of absolute truth. He later left Brahmo Samaj and followed many different religious paths to attain absolute truth

And even after doing so when he was unable to find the absolute truth he understood the importance of a Guru. While residing in Gaya once he was beset with severe longing for the divine when “Brahmananda Paramhansa” who lived near Mansarovar Lake appeared before him in his yogic body and initiated him in the path.

This event took place at Akash Ganga Pahar in Gaya. He remained in samadhi for 11 days after getting the initiation, during which his body was taken care of by a sage living nearby

His Teaching: He attained God’s realization and he started initiating other people on this path after getting orders from his Guru. The rules of conduct regarding food and cleanliness laid down in the path preached by him are very strict. His teaching can be read in the book named “Sri Sadgurusanga” which is a diary written by his disciple Sri Kuldanand Brahmachari.

Death: He left his mortal body in Jagannath Puri Dham, after being poisoned. His samadhi is still famous as “Jatiya Baba Ashram”. Bijay Krishna Goswami was also popularly known as “Gosaiji”,

Question 24. State the importance of Grambarta Patrika. 4
Answer:

Grambarta Patrika :
1. Introduction: Grambarta Prakashika was an influential nineteenth-century journal, first published in April 1863 under the editorship of Kangal Harinath Majumdar. In June-July, 1864 it became a fortnightly and weekly in April-May, 1871. Initially, it was printed at Girish Vidyaratna Press, Kolkata. In 1864 Grambarta was shifted to Mathuranath Press at Kumarkhali. In 1873 the Kumarkhali Press was donated to Harinath by its owner, Mathuranath Maitreya.
2. Rural Inclination: Only 19 episodes of his periodical, the ‘Grambarta7 were published. As this periodical highlighted the life and condition of the villagers and villages of Santipur, Meherpurere Chakdaha, etc., its name had been “Grambarta Prakashika77. It was aimed at informing the whereabouts of the villagers to the British Government for immediate action. So the name ‘Grambarta7, was meaningful. In 1864 (June-July months) this became a fortnightly magazine and in 1871 (April-May months) it was converted to a weekly magazine.
3. Publication: Grambarta Prakashika published articles on literature, philosophy, science, etc. Reputed Bengali scholars used to write in the journal. Rabindranath Tagore’s essays on literature, philosophy, and science as well as poems were also published in it. The well-known Muslim writer Mir Mosharraf Hossain began his literary activities through this paper for which he first worked as a mofussil correspondent. Jalandhar Sen, well-known as a writer of Himalayan travels and journalist, also began his literary career through this journal.
4. Editorial Work: Harinath edited Grambarta Prakasika for a period of full 18 years. During this period he led a relentless struggle to promote education in Bengal and create public opinion against exploitation. He published articles exposing social and political wrongs, and he wrote harshly against the oppression of British indigo farmers and moneylenders.
5. Conclusion: Harinath’s ‘Grambarta Prakashika7 highlighted the sorrows and sufferings of the village people. He strictly criticized the oppressive Zamindars, moneylenders, indigo-planters, and Zamindars of the Tagore family of Jorasanko. ‘Grambarta7 was the only literary magazine that supported the rebel peasants in the Pabna Revolt (1870).

Question 25. Write a note on Hindoo Patriot.
Answer:

Hindoo Patriot

Introduction: The Hindoo Patriot was an English weekly published from Kolkata in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The Hindoo Patriot was a nationalist publication known for its active role in exposing the oppression of indigo planters in Bengal.

Objective: Although the principal objective of the Hindoo Patriot was to focus on anomalies in the British Government in India, it pinned very high Jiopes on the liberalism of the British public and parliament. Thus, it always advised Indians to look for the amelioration of their grievances to the British public and Parliament whenever the British Indian administration failed to redress their complaints. Again, the focus on multiple anomalies relative to British rule was never intended to tarnish the image of the British Indian government. Rather, criticism of anomalies was intended to make the administration aware of public grievances and their causes to enable the government to effect their speedy rectification. To the Hindoo Patriot, British rule in India was not blind imperialism but something highly noble to be supported for public welfare. Indians had still much to learn from the English and English rule was accordingly to be endured. This feature comes out vividly in a lengthy editorial of the 11 October 1855 issue of the newspaper.

1857 revolt: During the revolt of 1857, the Hindoo Patriot used to publish stories of the revolt as the lead articles. He believed that the rebels had harmed their cause by placing their trust in the leadership of the Mughals, whom he described as the rotten house of Tamerlane, in 1859 when Tatia Tope was hanged, the Hindoo Patriot saluted his martyrdom and recognized the efforts of Lakshmi Bai and Kunwar Singh.

Indigo revolt: The Hindoo Patriot, under the able editorship of Harish Chandra Mukherjee, became the mouthpiece of protest against imperial injustices.
1. In the late fifties, the Hindoo Patriot began to expose the oppression and atrocities on Indian peasants by the indigo planters. The latter used to force the peasants into cultivating indigo.
2. In late 1875, when one Jagadananda Mukherjee invited the Prince of Wales to his residence and zenana, The Hindoo Patriot commented that the national feeling had been outraged.
3. After the initial editorship of Girish Chandra Ghosh and Harish Chandra Mukherjee, Krishnadas Pal was the editor of the paper for 23 years. During this period he opposed imperial laws like the Immigration Bill, the Vernacular Press Act, and the Albert Bill through the columns of the Hindoo Patriot. He protested against the oppression of tea workers and termed the Immigration Bill as ‘The Slave Law of India’,

Conclusion: The Hindoo Patriot under Harish Chandra played a vital role against the tyranny of the indigo planters, particularly during the post-Serboy revolt period. Regular editorials against such tyranny on the poor helpless indigo farmers attracted public attention and evoked universal condemnation from a large cross-section of educated Indians.

Question 26. Write a note on Hutom Pyanchar Naksha.
Answer:

Hutom Pyanchar Naksha :

1. Introduction: Custom Pyanchar Naksha or ‘Naksha of the OwT is a compilation of satirical prose by Kaliprasanna Sinha. It is a truly remarkable collection of around 140 pages in length, consisting of descriptions of religious festivals, false saints, Babus, Sahibs, etc. Chalit Bhasha, or colloquial language, is employed throughout Hutom Pyanchar Naksha.
2. Pioneering of Satire: Hutom Pyanchar Naksha, as one of the outstanding literary works of nineteenth-century Bengal, found numerous imitators and established Naksha once and for all as a genre. The term Naksha, too, appears here to denote a satirical sketch written in prose and becomes customary from then on. In this sense, it marks the end of prose experiments and the beginning of a rather tightly-knit tradition, that is, in one phrase, the end of the beginnings.
3. Subject Matter: Kaliprasanna has firmly molded the anarchy and variety of life that is synonymous with the rise, from the early 19th century, of Calcutta as a colonial and global metropolis, a city as yet without a notion of a great modern author (although two great moderns, Kaliprasanna himself and Michael Madhusudan Dutt, and their principal literary offerings, have, by now, in 1861, just come into existence); without a fixed and recognizable notion of Bengali literature (Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who was quick to notice Kaliprasanna’s idiosyncratic genius, would write “A Popular Literature for Bengal” nine years later, lamenting its absence); or even a safe, working idea of Bengali culture, such as we take for granted today. Tagore, at this moment, is a newborn. Everything is transient, confusing, uncertain, and alive. It is not a culture comprising canons, or great authors and maneuvers, but pictures, posters, bulletins, scandals, and fads.

Importance: The book is historically important as it depicts the contemporary life of Kolkata in the middle of the nineteenth century in a realistic manner. It is also significant for its use of the spoken language of Kolkata and its surrounding areas. The writer’s use of the pseudonym ‘HutonV led to the language of the book being known as ‘Hutomi Bangla’. This language is more refined than the Alali language of Peary Chand Mitra (1814-1883) and there is no confusion of spoken and written forms.

Question 27. What do you know about Lalon Fakir?
Answer:

Lalon Fakir :

1. Introduction: Lalon, also known as Lalon Saint, Lalon Shah, Lalon Fakir, or Mahatma Lalon was a Bengali Baul saint, mystic, songwriter, social reformer, and thinker.
2. Contribution: In Bengali culture, he is considered as an icon of religious tolerance. His songs influenced considerably many poets, and social and religious thinkers including Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Allen Ginsberg, though he “rejected all distinctions of caste and creed”. He was both praised and criticized in his lifetime and after his death. Throughout life, Lalon sang of a society where all religions and beliefs are in harmony. His disciples mostly come from Bangladesh and West Bengal. He founded the institute known as Lalon Akhrah in Cheuriya, about 2 kilometers from Kushtia railway station. He is also regarded as the founder of the Baul music and known as the Baul Samrat (The king of Bauls).
3. Writing of Songs: Lalon composed numerous songs and poems that describe his philosophy. It is estimated that Lalon composed about 2,000 -10,000 songs, of which only about 800 songs are generally considered authentic. Lalon left no written copies of his songs, which were transmitted orally and only later put to writing by his followers. Also, most of his followers could not read or write either, so few of his songs are found in written form. Rabindranath Tagore published some of Lalon’s songs in the monthly Prabasi magazine of Kolkata.
4. Hits Philosophy: The songs of Lalon aim at an indescribable reality beyond realism. He was observant of social conditions and his songs spoke of day-to-day problems in simple yet moving language. His philosophy was expressed orally, as well as through songs and musical compositions using folk instruments that could be made from materials available at home, for example, the ektara (one-string musical instrument) and the doggie (drum).
5. Conclusion: Some of the famous singers who have used his compositions are Farida Parveen and Anusay Andil. Zamindar Jatirindranath Tagore of Shilaidaha sketched the image of Lalan Fakir. His life and thoughts were made into a movie ‘Moner Manush’ in 2010.

Question 28. What do you know about Madhusudan Gupta?
Answer:

Madhusudan Gupta

Pandit Madhusudan Gupta (1800 – 15 November 1856) was an Indian doctor and the first Indian trained in Western medicine to dissect a human corpse. When the Medical College was set up in Kolkata, Gupta broke prevalent social taboos and came forward to dissect a human corpse.

Foundation of the Medical College: In 1835, the Medical College was set up. The Baidyak discipline was discontinued at the Sanskrit College and Gupta joined Medical College as an assistant teacher. He studied Western medicine along with the students and passed in 1840. In 1845, he became the Superintendent of the Hindusthani medium. In 1848, he was promoted to a first-class sub-assistant surgeon. In 1852, the Bengali medium was opened at the Medical College for the first time. Gupta took charge as the Superintendent of the Bengali medium. ,

“WBBSE Class 10 History Culture chapter, solved short answer questions”

Contributions: Gupta made a significant contribution to the history of Calcutta Medical College (CMC) and the hospital. During the prime stage of the medical college, Indian students were not coming to join the course partly because they were from aristocratic Indian families who had disdain for surgery (reluctant to touch the dead body) and partly because the Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine were popular at that time.

He was a Sanskrit scholar and Ayurvedic doctor and he proclaimed that he would dissect the dead body and that created waves among the people after that many students came to join the medical education at CMC. He was one of the first batch of students that passed from the CMC. He did not pass the first batch of CMC graduates. He was assisted by Raj Krishna Dey, Umacharan Sett, Dwarkanath Gooptu, and Nabin Chandra Mitra, students of the Medical College.

In 1830, he was appointed a professor at the Sanskrit College, replacing Khudiram Visharad, which created a ripple among the student community. Madhusudan’s role may be viewed as one of the first internalizes of modern anatomical education who acted as the agent for the Company’s education.

Books: He wrote Anatomy Arthat Sharir Vidya in Bengali, translated London Pharmacopoeia in Bengali, and translated Anatomist Vade Mecum in Sanskrit.
Conclusion: The British East India Company administration honored him by firing guns from Fort William. It should be noted that ancient Indian sages such as the legendary surgeon Sushruta had almost certainly performed human autopsies to gain knowledge of the human body. However, Dr. Madhusudan Gupta was the first Indian to do it as a practitioner of modern Western medicine.

Question 29. Write a note on the Brahmo Movement.
Answer:

Brahmo Movement:

1. Introduction: The mantle of leading the Brahmo Samaj fell on the shoulders of Debendranath Tagore (1877-1905) who led Tattwabodhini Sabha (founded in 1839), which was engaged in search of spiritual truth. The informal association of two sabhas gave new strength to the membership and purpose of the Brahmo Samaj.

2. Contribution of Tagore: Tagore worked on two fronts. Within Hinduism, the Brahmo Samaj was a reformist movement, and outside he resolutely opposed the Christian missionaries for their criticism of Hinduism and their attempts at conversion. Tagore also condemned idol worship and discouraged pilgrimages, ceremonials, and penance among the Brahmos. Under his leadership, it established its branches in different parts of the country
3. Contribution of Sen: Keshab Chandra Sen joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1858 and became Acharya. With his dynamic leadership, the branches were opened outside Bengal, in the U.P., Punjab, Bombay, Madras, and other towns. But Keshab’s liberal and cosmopolitan outlook brought about a split in the Samaj. It began to cut itself from Hindu moorings; henceforth religious scriptures of every sect including the Christians, Muslims, and Parsis began to be read in the Brahmo Samaj meetings
4. Difference between Tagore and Sen: On the social front, Keshab spoke against the caste system and even advocated intercaste marriages. On this premise, there arose differences between Tagore and Keshab, leading to the split of the organization. Keshab and his followers left the Samaj in 1866 and formed the Brahmo Samaj of India. Debendranath’s Samaj henceforth came to be known as the Adi Brahmo Samaj. But over time, Keshab’s actions became controversial, and again his followers got separated in the name of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.

Question 30. State the contributions of the Brahmo movement.
Answer:

Contributions of Brahmo Movement: Despite the schisms and ideological disputes, over a period of time, its contribution towards the Indian Renaissance was manifold. In the field of social reform, it discarded many of the established principles and practices:
1. It discarded faith in divine Avatars.
2. It denied that any scripture could enjoy the status of ultimate authority transcending human reason and conscience.
3. It denounced polytheism and idol worship.
4. It also criticized the caste system.
5. It took no definite stand on the doctrine of karma and transmigration of the soul and left it to individual Brahmos to believe either way.
6. It condemned the prevailing Hindu prejudice against going abroad.
7. It worked for a respectable status for women in society by condemning sati, and the purdah system, discouraging child marriages, and polygamy, and crusading for widow remarriage, women’s education, etc.
8. It also attacked untouchability and casteism but with limited success.

Question 31. State the characteristics of socio-religious reform movements of the 19th century.
Answer:

Characteristics of Socio-Religious Reform Movements in the 19th Century :
1. Introduction of Western Philosophy: The impact of the West began to operate through perceptible and imperceptible ways. It had its positive and negative aspects. Through actions and reactions, antagonism, and assimilation, western ideas began to penetrate thoughts and habits. The orthodox revolted outwardly but searched inwardly for a change. For the intellectuals, there was the need to rationalize the traditional society. To the learned, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity had common grounds on which to meet; the essence of all religions being the same
2. Awakening of Reform Movements: A wave of unrest swept during the early years of the 19th century. Of that unrest, the Indian Renaissance began to take shape. In the wake of that awakening, there also emerged the socio-religious reform movements
3. Clasification: These reform movements fall into two broad categories: reformist movements like the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Deoband movement, and Theosophical society. Both the reformist and the revivalist movements depended on a varying degree of an appeal to the lost purity of the religion
4. Difference Between Reform Movements: The only difference between one reform movement and the other was in the degree to which it relied on tradition or reason and conscience
5. Emphasis on Both Social and Religious Reforms: Another significant aspect of these reform movements was their emphasis on both religious and social reforms. This link was primarily due to two main reasons. Almost every social custom and institution in India derived sustenance from religious injunctions and sanctions. This means that no social reform could be undertaken unless the existing religious notions, which sustained the social customs, were also reformed. Secondly, the Indian reformers understood the close interrelation between the different aspects of human activities. Rammohan Roy believes that religious reform must precede demand for social reform or political rights.

Question 32. Write an essay on Ramakrishna Paramhansadeva.
Answer:

Ramakrishna Paramhansa :
1. Introduction: Sri Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhansadeva (1836-1886 A.D.) had a great role to play in the broad humanitarian religious propagation and reform movement. His impact on social conservatism and religious rigidity was a great gain for the nation. The simple, easy, broad view of life was a new light towards the darkened society. Sri Ramakrishna lighted the way as Avatar. Historian Toynbee said, ‘In this case, Ramakrishna has raised his uniqueness7
2. Early Life: Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin family of Kamarpukur in Hooghly. Later he was appointed as a priest in the Bhabatarini temple of Dakshineswar under the instructions of Rani Rashmoni. From this time, his depth ness towards religion started increasing and he became famous. Despite being a real Hindu, Ramakrishna said that God is one and only one and the goal is the same even if some call him Christ, Krishna, or Allah. So Mahatma Gandhi wrote about him “The story of Ramakrishna Paramhansa’s life is a story of religion in practice. His life enables us to see God face-to-face—in this age of skepticism. Ramakrishna presents an example of a bright and living faith that gives solace to thousands of men and women who would otherwise have remained without spiritual light.”
3. Disciples: Swami Vivekananda was the main disciple of Ramakrishna but people like Keshab Sen, Girish Ghosh, Vidyasagar, Nati Binodini, etc. came in close contact with him. Max Muller praised them very highly about him. This great man had a tremendous hypnotizing power. Bal Gangadhar Tilak said at one time, “If Sri Ramakrishna is a living Vedanta, then the commentator of that Vedanta will be Swami Vivekananda.”
4. Teaching: His main motto was an unprejudiced mind. So he emphasized spiritual thoughts, devotion, and self-realization. In his opinion, one can reach God through any of the methods like Bhaktiyoga, Gyanyoga, Rajyoga, and Karmayoga. In his opinion, it is not necessary to detach yourself from your house to realize God. He became a prodigy of humanity and mankind to all castes, races, and creeds. So, the famous French scholar Sylvian Levi remarked, “As Ramakrishna’s heart and mind were for all countries, his name too is a common property of mankind.”
5. Impact on People: Keshab Sen’s mind was changed when he came to see Ramakrishna in 1875 A.D. He became a non-believer in idolatry. Besides this, Keshab Sen was absorbed in realizing God for some time by forming Sadhanashram. People like Vijay Krishna Goswami, Balaram Basu, Girish Ghosh, Mahendranath Gupta, etc. were very much influenced by Ramakrishna. The highly confused and afraid public in the nineteenth century found within Ramakrishna the right path of truth and justice, the hope and inspiration of Hinduism, and the real picture and existence of religion. According to Amiya Kumar Majumdar, “He (Ramakrishna) stripped religion of its theological and sacerdotal garments and made it coeval with life.”
6. Conclusion: The contribution of Ramakrishna is well accepted by everybody in the upsurge of the cultural movement of Bengal in the 19th century. The philosophy of Ramakrishna was combined with Brahmo philosophy and the cultural movement got a definite shape. A spiritual personality like his is seldom found and has very rarely appeared in this world.

Question 33. What social legislations were passed by the British Government regarding Sati and widow remarriage?
Answer:
Sati:
1. Early Measures: The East India Company proceeded very cautiously against the abolition of Sati til! Raja Rammohan Roy represented the view of the rational Indian against evil. After hectic parleys at various levels, some attempts were made to ban evil. Lord Minto’s Government declared in 1812 that the practice of sati must be allowed in those states where it has religious approval. Certain circular orders were introduced in 1812, 1815, and 1817 which aimed at stopping the use of force in making a woman commit sati, preventing pregnant women or girls under puberty or mothers with infants, etc. But these circulars had no legal sanctity
2. Contribution of Bentincr: With the entry of Lord William Bentinck, there began a true era of reforms. By consulting many army officers, judges, and the executive, he felt satisfied that the abolition of sati could be possible. With the consent of the Council on 4th December 1829 by Regulation XVII of government, the custom of Sati was declared illegal and punishable by the criminal courts. He had successfully faced opposition from orthodox sections with the support of band reformers.

Widow Remarriage:
Contribution Of Vidya Sagar: The Abolition of Ati indirectly brought into prominence the face and future of the 19th century, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar began a campaign for widow remarriage. The Hindu shastras in his opinion did not prohibit widow marriage, rather they permitted it. His ideas were also brought out in the form of an English book entitled ‘Marriage of Hindu Widows’,

Act XV: Notable landlords like Maharaja Mahatab Chand of Burdwan and Maharaja Shrishchandra of Nadia also supported his efforts to bring legislation for it. Accordingly, on 26 July 1856, Act XV was passed legalizing widow marriage and giving the status of legitimacy to the children of the married widows. The act provoked the orthodox Hindus to submit a petition against it, but of no use.

Question 34. Write a note on Orientalist Anglicist controversy.
Answer:

Orientalist: Anglicist Controversy :
1. Division Among Committee Members: The General Committee of Public Instruction consisted of 10 members, divided into two groups over the issue of the medium of instruction. H. T. Princep led the Orientalists who advocated the policy of encouraging oriental literature and imparting education in vernaculars. On the other hand, the Anglicists favored the adoption of English as the medium of instruction giving importance to Western literature. The division among the members of the committee made it extremely difficult for it to function effectively
2. Macaulay’s Minute: Ultimately, both the parties in the committee submitted their dispute to the Governor-General-in-Council for orders. As a member of the Executive Council, Macaulay wrote his famous Minute on Education Policy dated 2 February 1835 and placed it before the council
3. Favouring the Anglicist Group: Macaulay supported the viewpoint of the Anglicist group. He showed great contempt for the Indian literature when he said, a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia/ Regarding the utility, importance, and claims of the English language, he wrote: ‘Whoever knows that language has ready access to all the vast intellectual wealth which all the wisest nations of the earth have created and handed in the course of generations. In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling class. It is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of the East’
4. Real Motive: Possibly, Macaulay aimed to create a class of persons who should be Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes, opinions, morals, and intellect/ In other words, he sought the production of ‘brown Englishmen’ to fit! the lower cadres in the company’s administration
5. Government Decision: The government of Lord William Bentinck in the resolution of 7 March 1835, accepted the viewpoint of Macaulay that, in the future, the object of the Company’s government should be the promotion of European literature and sciences, through the medium of English language and in future all funds were to be spent for that purpose.

Question 35. State the contributions of Raja Rammohan Roy in the field of spreading education.
Answer:

Ram Mohan Roy in the Field of Education :
1. Economic Reason for Supporting Education: The main factor that tipped the scale in favor of the English language and Western literature was the economic factor Indians wanted a system of education that could help them to earn their livelihood. Progressive Indian elements also favored the spread of English education and Western learning,
2. Futility of Oriental Education: Raja Ram Mohan Roy protested against the Government’s proposal to strengthen the Benaras Sanskrit College and establishment of more oriental colleges in Bengal. He wrote to Lord Amherst in 1823 that Sanskrit education could “only be expected to load the minds of youth with grammatical niceties which are of little or no practical use to their possessors or society. The pupils will there acquire what was known two thousand years ago, with the addition of vain and empty subtleties since then produced by speculative men.” He added. “Youths will not befit to be better members of society by the Vedantic doctrines which teach them to believe that all visible things have no real existence, that as a father, brother, etc… have no real entity, they consequently deserve no real affection and therefore the sooner they escape from them and leave the world, the better.”
3. Importance of Scientific Learning: Advocating the importance of modern scientific learning, he wrote, “The Sanskrit system of education would be the best calculated to keep the country in darkness if such had been the policy of the British Government. But as the improvement of the native population is the object of the Government, it will consequently promote a more liberal and enlightened system of instruction, embracing Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Anatomy with other useful sciences.”
4. Measures Advancement of Education: The protests of Raja Ram Mohan Roy did not go unheeded. The Government agreed to encourage the study of English as well as Oriental languages. A grant was sanctioned for the Calcutta Hindu College to be set up in 1817 by enlightened Bengalis, which imparted instruction mainly in the English language and emphasized the study of Western humanities and sciences. The Government also set up three Sanskrit Colleges, each at Calcutta, Delhi, and Agra. In addition, funds were set apart for the translation of European scientific works into Oriental languages.

Question 36. Describe the contribution of Brahmo Samaj in socio-religious reforms.
Answer:

Brahmo Samaj: The Brahmo Samaj played a notable role in the Indian Renaissance. H.C.E. Zacharias writes: “Rammohan Roy and his Brahmo Samaj form the starting point for all the various Reform Movements whether in Hindu religion, society or politics: which have agitated modern India”. The intellectual mind which had been cut off its moorings by the Christian propaganda found a way out in the Brahmo Samaj. In the field of religious reform, the main significance of Brahmo Samaj lay not in what it retained of traditional Hinduism but in what it discarded of the old beliefs of Hinduism.
Its overall contribution may be summed up thus :
1. It discarded faith in divine Avatars
2. It denied that any scripture could enjoy the status of ultimate authority transcending human reason and conscience
3. It denounced polytheism and idol-worship
4. It criticized the caste system
5. It took no definite stand on the doctrine of Karma and transmigration of the soul and left it to individual Brahmos to believe either way. In matters of social reform, Brahmo Samaj has influenced Hindu society. It attacked many dogmas and superstitions. It condemned the prevailing Hindu prejudice against going abroad. It worked for a respectable status for women in society—condemned sati, worked for the abolition of the purdah system, discouraged child marriage, and polygamy, crusaded for widow remarriage, provision of educational facilities, etc. It also attacked casteism and untouchability though in these matters it attained limited success.

Question 37. State the contributions of Raja Radhakanta Deb in the field of spreading Western education in India.
Answer:

Raja Radhakanta Dev :

1. Early Life: Radhakanta belonged to the aristocratic family of Shobhabazar. The aristocracy was established by his grandfather Munshi Nabakrishna. Radhakanta had his primary education at Calcutta Academy. He had learned both Sanskrit and French languages
2. Involvement with Hindu Collage: After his father Gour Mohan’s demise he was associated with the managing council of the Hindu College in 1818. He continued his involvement in this for the next 32 years of his life and in this period he contributed extensively towards the shaping of the college’s rules and regulations. He would help college students to pursue higher University education and also, if necessary, provide financial help for this purpose.
3. Contribution Towards Education: Radhakanta was the first person to emphasize the need for an engineering and agricultural college with the medium of instruction being Bengali. He was very zealous for the spread of women’s education. Through his magazine Tatwabodhini, and his Hindu Charitable Institution he tried to break the influence of Christian missionary activities. When he was at loggerheads with the government regarding the running of the Hindu College, he resigned from its management council in 1850. But Radhakanta’s interest in the spread of Western education was not a little bit diminished due to this incident.
4. Establishment of Metropolitan College: In 1853 along with help from Debendranath Tagore, Motilal Shil, and Rajendra Lai Dutta, he established the Metropolitan College. This was the first national college fully owned by an Indian. However, due to a paucity of funds, this college was later converted into a school.
5. Achievement: His work Shabdakalpadrum which ran into 8 volumes is highly appreciable. The British government awarded him the title of Raj Bahadur for this monumental piece of work. He was a member of the Zamindar Sabha and the Bengal British Society. The general idea prevalent in Britain is that Radhakanta was the first Hindu who had changed with time and was a great supporter of women’s education.

Question 38. Describe the history of Calcutta Medical College and also its medical education.
Answer:

Calcutta Medical College :
1. Establishment: With the initiative of Lord William Bentinck, on 28th January 1835 the Calcutta Medical College came into being in Calcutta. In Asia this is supposed to be the second medical college established by the EuropeAnswer: The first one was Ecole De Medicine at Pondicherry. On 2nd February 1835, the Madras Medical College was established on the same lines as Calcutta Medical College
2. Academics: After studying for nearly five and half years the students were awarded the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and the Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). The first principal of the college was M. J. Ramley (1835-1837). He was followed by David Hare (1837-1841), F. J. Mouat (1841-1851), and H. Goodway (1851-1856).
3. Admission: The first batch of 100 students was drawn from young boys in the age group of 14 to 20 years of age after a preliminary test. The first batch started its classes on 20th February 1835 in different venues like Hindu College, Hare School, or the Scottish Church College. Every student was given a stipend of one rupee
4. Graduation: After completion of studies in four to six years they were called Native Doctors. These doctors were then sent for general public service at a pay of Rs. 30 per month. Later on, this salary was increased to Rs. 40 after seven years and to Rs. 50 after 14 years
5. Notable Students: The first batch of students included Umacharan Seth, Rajkrishna Dey, Dwarkanath Gupta, and Nabin Chandra Mitra. On 29th June 1883, the first woman Kadambini Ganguly was admitted to the college. Next year Bidhumukhi Bose was admitted to the college. They were given a stipend of Rs. 20 every month. After the foundation of the Medical College, its two famous Indian physicians were Madhusudan Gupta (1800-1856) and Dr. Surya Kumar Chakraborty (1824-1874). In his later life, Surya Kumar got an MD degree from a foreign country and also passed the I.M.F. in the first position. Then he joins the Medical College as a professor.

Question 39. Write a note on the Indian Universities Act, of 1904.
Answer:

The Indian Universities Act, 1904: In September 1901, Curzon summoned the highest educational officers of the government throughout India and the representatives of various universities at a round table conference at Simla. The conference adopted 150 resolutions, which touched almost every conceivable branch of education. This was followed by the appointment of a commission under the presidency of Sir Thomas Raleigh on 27 January 1902, to enquire into the conditions and prospects of universities in India and to recommend proposals for improving their constitution and working. The commission was precluded from reporting on primary or secondary education. Based on the recommendations of the commission, the Indian Universities Act was passed in 1904.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 2 SAQs, important notes and answers”

The main changes proposed were as follows :

1. The universities desired to make provision for the promotion of study and research by appointing professors and developing laboratories and libraries.
2. The Act laid down that the number of fellows of a university should neither be less than 50 nor greater than 100, and a fellow should normally hold office for 6 years instead of life.
3. The fellows of the university were to be nominated by the government. The elective members at the Universities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay were to be 20 each and in the case of other universities, 15 only.
4. The government control over the universities was further increased by vesting the government powers to veto the regulations passed by the Senate of a university. The government could also make additions or alterations in the regulations framed by the Senate and even frame regulations itself over and above the head of the Senate.
5. The act increased university control over private colleges by laying down stricter conditions of affiliation and periodical inspection.
6. The Governor-General-in-Council was empowered to define the territorial limits of a university or decide the affiliation of colleges to universities.

Chapter 2 Culture: Characteristics And Discussion Very Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Name two important works of Kaliprasanna Singha.
Answer: Hutum Pyanchar Naksha and the translation of Mahabharata.

Question 2. What was Hindu Patriot?
Answer: Hindu Patriot was a weekly newspaper.

Question 3. When did the Sanskrit College start functioning?
Answer: 1st January 1884.

Question 4. Name the school established by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.
Answer: Anglo Sanskrit Free School in Virsingha Village.

Question 5. Name the first national college fully owned by Indians.
Answer: The Metropolitan College.

Question 6. Which Medical College came into being at the initiative of Lord Bentinck?
Answer: The Calcutta Medical College.

Question 7. Who were the first two women graduates from Calcutta University?
Answer: Kaumudini Ganguli and Chandramukhi Basu.

Question 8. Who was primarily responsible for the abolition of the Sati system?
Answer: Raja Rammohan Roy.

Question 9. Name one organization which was set up as a part of religious reform in the 19th-century Bengal.
Answer: Brahmo Samaj.

Question 10. Who was the first Bengalee to dissect a dead body?
Answer: Madhusudan Gupta.

Question 11. What was the original name of Swami Vivekananda?
Answer: Narendra Nath Dutta.

Question 12. Name the first Indian student of anatomy at Calcutta Medical College.
Answer: Madhusudan Gupta.

Question 14. Who gave the concept of Navavedanta? 
Answer: Swami Vivekananda.

Question 15. Who founded Gendaria Ashrama in Dhaka?
Answer: Bijoy Krishna Goswami.

Question 16. Where is Ramakrishna Math located?
Answer: In Belur.

Question 17. Name the Governor General who abolished the Sati system.
Answer: William Bentinck.

Question 18. Who was the author of the book ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’?
Answer: Dadabhai Naoroji.

“Culture Characteristics and Discussions WBBSE Class 10, SAQs guide”

Question 19. Write the name of the founder of the Asiatic Society.
Answer: Sir William Jones.

Question 20. Name a European philosopher who influenced Rammohan Roy.
Answer: Rousseau.

Question 21. Name a European philosopher who helped in the growth of Indian nationalism.
Answer: Montesquieu.

Question 22. Name the first English newspaper published in Bengal.
Answer: Bengal Gazette.

Question 23. Name the first newspaper published in Bengal.
Answer: Bengal Gazette.

Question 24. When was the ‘Bengal Gazette’ published?
Answer: In 1780.

Question 25. Name the first newspaper published in Madras.
Answer: Madras Courier (1780).

Question 26. When was the ‘Hindu Patriot’ published?
Answer: 1853.

Question 27. Who founded the Benaras Sanskrit College?
Answer: Jonathan Duncan.

Question 28. Name one of the founders of Hindu College.
Answer: Radhakanta Deb.

Question 29. Who directed the Company to spend yearly Rs. 1 lakh towards education?
Answer: British Parliament through Charter Act, 1813.

Question 30. When was the Company directed by the British Parliament to spend Rs. 1 lakh towards education in India?
Answer: In 1813.

Question 31. When was the Baptist Mission founded?
Answer: In 1818.

Question 32. Name an Orientalist supporter.
Answer: Sutherland.

Question 33. Name an Anglicist supporter.
Answer: Saunders.

Question 34. Who was the first Chancellor of Calcutta University?
Answer: Lord Canning.

Question 35. When was the Hindu College founded?
Answer: In 1817.

Question 36. When was the Committee of Public Instruction first appointed in Bengal?
Answer: In 1823.

Question 37. Who was appointed as the President of the Committee of Public Instruction in 1834?
Answer: Macaulay.

Question 38. When was English education officially introduced in India?
Answer: In 1835.

Question 39. When was the University of Calcutta established?
Answer: 24 January 1857.

Question 40. When did Lord Curzon pass the Indian Universities Act?
Answer: In 1904.

Question 41. When was the Atmiya Sabha founded by Rammohan Roy?
Answer: In 1815.

Question 42. When did the Atmiya Sabha come to be known as the Brahmo Samaj or Brahmo Sabha?
Answer: In 1828.

Question 43. When was the practice of Sati declared illegal?
Answer: In 1829.

Question 44. When was the Tatwabodhini Patrika published?
Answer: ln 1843.

Question 45. By what name were the followers of Derozio known?
Answer: Young Bengal.

Question 46. When was Ramakrishnadeva born?
Answer: In 1836.

Question 47. When was the first girls’ school established at Poona?
Answer: In 1851.

Question 48. When was the Widow Remarriage Association founded in Maharashtra?
Answer: In 1850.

Question 49. Who founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College?
Answer: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

Question 50. When was the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College founded at Aligarh?
Answer: In 1875.

Question 51. Who addressed an open letter to the graduates of Calcutta University in 1883?
Answer: A. O. Hume.

Question 52. Name the social reformer whose movement resulted in the abolition of ‘Sati’.
Answer: Raja Rammohan Roy.

Question 53. Who founded the Nababidhan Brahmo Samaj?
Answer: Keshab Chandra Sen.

Question 54. Who was the founder of Adi Brahma Samaj?
Answer: Maharshi Debendra Nath Thakur.

Question 55. Who was called the ‘first modern man of India’?
Answer: Raja Rammohan Roy.

Question 56. In which year was the Sanskrit College of Calcutta founded?
Answer: In 1824 AD.

Question 57. Who abolished the Vernacular Press Act?
Answer: Lord Ripon.

Question 58. Who were the founders of the Baptist Mission at Serampore?
Answer: William Carey, Marshman, and Ward.

Question 59. In which year was the School Book Society founded?
Answer: In 1817.

Question 60. Who founded the School Book Society?
Answer: David Hare.

Question 61. Which were the two parties involved in the controversy regarding the introduction of Western education in India?
Answer: Anglicist and Orientalist.

Question 62. During whose, Governor Generalship was the Calcutta Medical College established?
Answer: Lord William Bentinck.

Question 63. Who is called ‘Bharat Pathik’?
Answer: Rammohan Roy.

Question 64. Name a journal published by the Brahmo Samaj.
Answer: Sulabh Samachar.

Question 65. Name two newspapers published by Rammohan Roy.
Answer: Sambad Kaumudi, Mirat-ul-Akbar.

Question 66. Who started the anti-Sati movement?
Answer: Rammohan Roy.

Question 67. Who started the movement in favor of widow remarriage?
Answer: Iswarchandra Vidyasagar.

Question 68. Who was the editor of Tattwabodhini Patrika?
Answer: Debendranath Tagore.

Question 69. Name two textbooks written by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.
Answer: Varnaparichay and Kathamala.

Question 70. Name the college established by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.
Answer: Metropolitan College.

Question 71. Who founded the Hindu Female School (Bethune Girls’ School)?
Answer: John Drinkwater Bethune.

Question 72. ‘Go back to the Vedas’ Who said this?
Answer: Swami Dayananda Saraswati.

Question 73. Who wrote the book ‘Satyaratha Prakash’?
Answer: Swami Dayananda Saraswati.

Question 74. When was the Vernacular Press Act passed?
Answer: In 1878.

Question 75. Who founded a girls’ school at Poona in 1851?
Answer: Jyotiba Phule.

Question 76. Name two social reformers who worked for the welfare of women.
Answer: Rammohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Question 77. Where was the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College established?
Answer: Aligarh.

Question 78. Who founded the Ramakrishna Mission?
Answer: Swami Vivekananda.

Question 79. Who was the editor of Bengal Gazette?
Answer: Augustus Hickey.

Question 80. Who was the editor of Hindu Patriot?
Answer: Harish Chandra Mukherjee.

Question 81. Who was the editor of Amrita Bazar Patrika?
Answer: Sisir Kumar Ghosh.

Question 82. Name two newspapers edited by Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Answer: Kesari and Maratha.

Question 83. Who composed Anandamath?
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Question 84. Who introduced Western education in India?
Answer: Lord William Bentinck.

Question 85. When did Lord Bentinck establish Medical College in Calcutta?
Answer: In 1835.

Question 86. Mention the year of Wood’s Despatch.
Answer: 1854.

Question 87. Who was the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta?
Answer: William Coleville.

Question 88. Who was the first graduate of Calcutta University?
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Question 89. When was the Indian Education Commission (Hunter Commission) appointed?
Answer: In 1882.

Question 90. When was the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act passed?
Answer: In 1856.

Question 91. Who wrote ‘Bartaman Bharat’?
Answer: Swami Vivekananda.

Question 92. In which year was the Hunter Commission appointed?
Answer: In 1882 A.D.

Question 93. Who built Gurukul Ashram Vidyalaya in Haridwar ?
Answer: Swami Sradhananda.

Question 94. Who was the founder of Sadharan Brahma Samaj?
Answer: Shivnath Shastri (1878).

Question 95. Who was the leading personality of Adi Brahma Samaj?
Answer: Debendranath Tagore.

Question 96. Who was the founder of Indian Brahma Samaj?
Answer: Keshab Chandra Sen.

Question 97. Who was the founder of Nababidhan Samaj?
Answer: Keshab Chandra Sen.

Question 98. What was the main advice of Sri Ramakrishna?
Answer: The main advice of Sri Ramakrishna was “Jato mat, tato path”.

Question 99. Which was the first Bengali daily?
Answer: Sambad Prabhakar of Iswar Chandra Gupta (1830 AD) was the first Bengali daily.

Question 100. Who gave the title ‘Raja’ to Ram Mohan Roy?
Answer: Akbar Shah II.

Question 101. What was the role of Raja Rammohan Roy in the emancipation of women?
Answer: He tried to remove the primitive dogmas prevalent in society and spread education among women. He was also instrumental in stopping the practice of Sati or the burning of widows on the funeral pyre of the dead husband. He worked for the improvement of women’s class.

Question 102. What was ‘Young Bengal Association’?
Answer: The Young Bengal Association was started by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio as a movement against social evils existing in India. His followers were mostly students of Hindu College.

Question 103. What was Swami Vivekananda’s idea of religious reformation?
Answer: Swami Vivekananda, one of the most popular sages of modern India, used scientific analysis of Hinduism to oppose orthodox values of the religion. He changed the entire religious discourse to the ideals of Naba Vedanta.

Question 104. What was the outlook of the newspaper Hindoo Patriot?
Answer: The Hindoo Patriot addressed contemporary social problems. For example, in the opinion of the Hindoo Patriot, the Hindu marriage law imposed disability on the part of the girls in exercising their right to marry on their initiative. It remarked that the abolition of early marriage would destroy the system, it was also a newspaper with a national outlook.

Question 105. How did Lord Hardinge boost English education?
Answer: In 1844 Lord Hardinge gave further stimulus to English education by linking up knowledge of English with government employment. He declared that English-knowing Indians would be given preference in government employment. This made English education more popular.

Question 106. What important provision was made by the Charter Act of 1813 for the promotion of education in India?
Answer: The Charter Act of 1813 directed the Company to take the initiative to promote ‘knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India’. According to the Act, the government-sanctioned one lakh rupees for the promotion of education.

Question 107. What was the importance of Lord Macaulay’s minute regarding the Company’s education policy?
Answer: The Charter Act of 1813 directed the Company to set apart every year one lakh rupees for the promotion of knowledge among the IndiAnswer: But a debate among the members of the General Committee of Public Instruction prevented the money from being spent. Lord Macaulay, the President of GCPI, submitted his famous Minute to the Governor General supporting the cause of Western education in India. His Minute helped the government to adopt a definite education policy.

Question 108. What led to the social-religious reform movement in India in the 19th century?
Answer: The introduction of England education made a section of the Indians well acquainted
with liberal and progressive thoughts and ideas of the West. Their faith and beliefs were replaced by reason and judgment. This change in thoughts led to the socio-religious reform movement.

Question 109. Why did the British Government cut off the expense of higher education?
Answer: Anglo-Indian journals and papers had always expressed the view that English education among the middle class led to the growth of disloyalty towards the British Government. Being influenced by this view the government cut off the expense of higher education.

Question 110. What was the contribution of Keshab Chandra Sen to the movement of Brahmo Samaj?
Answer: Keshab Chandra brought to the Brahmo Samaj a dynamic force that it had never possessed before. His magnetic personality and his powerful oratory skills drew hundreds of young men. The Brahmo movement acquired wide popularity under the leadership of Keshab Chandra Sen.

Question 111. Why was the original Brahmo Samaj split up?
Answer: Keshab Chandra Sen was supposed to be more progressive in his religious outlook than Debendranath Tagore. So, there arose a difference between Debendranath and Keshab Chandra on the question of using sacred thread and performing rituals. Keshab Chandra came out of the old Brahmo Samaj and set up a new organization called the Bharatvarshiya Brahmo Samaj.

Question 112. Who introduced widow marriage by passing the Act?
Answer: Lord Dalhousie passed the Act of Widow Marriage at the request of Vidyasagar but Lord Canning gave it official recognition on 26th July 1856 A.D.

Question 113. What are the names of the first Bengali weekly and monthly magazines and newspapers?
Answer: The first Bengali weekly was Samachar Darpan and the monthly was Digdarshan. Marshman was the editor of both of them.

Question 114. Why is Derozio remembered?
Answer: Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-31), a young Eurasian teacher at the Hindu College, left a remarkable impression on his pupils as a thinker and a lover of truth. His students came to be known as the ”Young Bengal” or “Derozians”. He was the man who wrote the poem “To India my native land”. Derozio challenged the various evil activities of society.

Question 115. Name two Indian personalities who were influenced by the Western ideas of democracy and nationalism. How were the Young Bengal influenced by such ideas?
Answer: Raja Rammohan Roy and Professor Derozio were much influenced by the Western ideas of democracy and nationalism. The Young Bengal people were influenced by the Western ideas of democracy and nationalism. It is borne out by the fact that they translated into Bengali and circulated the Age of Reason of Thomas Paine.

Question 116. What was the role of the press in the growth of nationalist sentiments among the people of India? 
Answer: Vernacular and other Indian newspapers like Amrit Bazar Patrika, Somprakash, Sanjivani, etc. not only criticized the Government policy but also suggested alternative policies suitable to Indian interest and molded the public opinion against the Government.

Question 117. Who were the Evangelists? Who was the chief exponent of Evangelists?
Answer: Evangelists were a group of people in England who put pressure upon the British government for the spread of education in India. The chief exponent of Evangelism was Charles Grant.

Question 118. Who was Macaulay? When did he present his Minute?
Answer: Macaulay was the Law Member of the Governor-General’s Council. As the President of the Committee of Public Instruction, Macaulay presented his famous Minute in 1835.

Question 119. When was Calcutta University established? Who was its first Vice-Chancellor?
Answer: Calcutta University was founded on 24 January 1857. The first Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University was Sir James William Colvile.

Question 120. Who founded Atmiya Sabha and when? When did it become Brahmo Samaj?
Answer: Atmiya Sabha was founded by Rammohan Roy in 1815. Atmiya Sabha was transformed into Brahmo Samaj in 1828.

Question 121. Who founded Brahmo Samaj? What was the objective of its social reforms?
Answer: Rammohan Roy founded Brahmo Samaj in 1828. In social reform, the agenda of Brahmo Samaj was: the welfare of the womenfolk and abolition of the system of caste distinction. Besides, the Samaj also launched a movement against the practice of Sati.

Question 122. Why was the joining of Keshab Chandra Sen in Brahmo Samaj important?
Answer: The joining of Keshab Chandra in Brahmo Samaj was important on many grounds. By his oratory, the Brahmo movement earned popularity in various parts of the country. Further, Keshab Chandra added social service and reform alongside popularizing the Brahmo religion. According to Dr. R. C. Majumdar, Keshab Chandra Sen turned the Brahmo movement into an all-India movement.

Question 123. Who was Derozio? By what name were his followers known?
Answer: Derozio, a Portuguese-Indian by birth, was a teacher at the Hindu College. He looked upon India as his motherland and inculcated a deep love for the motherland among his students through his teachings. The students of Derozio were collectively known as the ‘Young Bengal’ or ‘Derozians’.

Question 124. What was the main point of Vivekananda’s speech at the Parliament of Religions?
Answer: Swami Vivekananda participated in a world religious conference held in Chicago in 1893. There he expounded the spirit of synthesis and universal JSM and humanism of Vedanta and created a deep and lasting impact on his western audience.

Question 125. What did Ramakrishnadeva have to say on social reform?
Answer: Ramakrishnadeva, a spiritual wonder, had no formal education. But he realized that the disparities of caste and creed were an ill in the Indian society. He believed that by obtaining self-knowledge and proper devotion to God men would no longer go by the levels of caste and creed.

Question 126. Name a book written by Vivekananda. What did Vivekananda aim at?
Answer: One of the many books written by Vivekananda is ‘Bartaman Bharat’. Vivekananda’s program of reform aimed at establishing a new social order based on freedom and equality. His ideal of a classless society helped the process of unity among the Indian people.

Question 127. Why was the Vernacular Press Act introduced by the British?
Answer: Viceroy Lord Lytton introduced the Vernacular Press Act in 1876. The sole purpose of the Act was to restrict the publication of newspapers in Indian languages. The printer or publisher of any paper was to execute a bond with the government.

Question 128. What was Wood’s Despatch?
Answer: Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control, announced the famous Education Despatch (Wood’s Despatch) in 1854. The Despatch among other things asked the British Government of India to assume responsibility for the education of the masses. According to the direction of the Despatch, universities were set up in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras in 1857.

Question 129. Mention two recommendations of Charles Wood for the expansion of the modern educational system in India.
Answer: The famous educational despatch of Sir Charles Wood (1854) recommended certain measures to be taken for the expansion of the modern educational system in India and two of its recommendations were:
(1)Three Universities were to be opened in the three presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.
(2)A Director of Public Instruction was to be appointed in each of the five provinces – Bengal, Bombay, Madras, the North West Frontier province, and the Punjab for systematic supervision of the education system. The Directors were to be assisted by several inspectors.

Question 130. Who was known as Young Bengal? What were the objectives of Young Bengal?
Answer: The students of Hindu college started a strong nationalist reform movement under the inspiration of their teacher, Derozio. This movement is known as Young Bengal. Thus, the followers of Derozio were known as Young Bengal.
Objectives of Young Bengal :
1. To judge everything by reason and not by tradition alone.
2. To oppose social evils and meaningless customs.

Question 131. Who introduced the Vernacular Press Act? Which right of the Indian people was infringed by this Act?
Answer: Lord Lytton passed the Vernacular Press Act. The rights of the Indians to freedom of speech and expression and the right to honest criticism of the British Government were infringed by this Act.

Question 132. Who was Macaulay? What was his suggestion for English Education in India?
Answer: Macaulay was the president of the Education Council. He said that by giving English education the British had to prepare a group in India who have their Indian blood and color but whose interests, conduct, intelligence, and thoughts were of English type.

Question 133. Name the prominent social reformers of the 19th century in India.
Answer: Raja Rammohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Swami Vivekananda, and Swami Ananda were the prominent social reformers of 19th-century India.

Question 134. Name two offshoots of Brahma Samaj in Bengal. Who were the founders of them?
Answer: Adi Brahma Samaj whose founder was Maharshi Devendranath Thakur and Indian Brahma Samaj whose founder was Keshav Chandra Sen.

Question 135. Who founded Nav Bengal? What was the importance of Nav Bengal?
Answer: The founder of Nav Bengal was Derozio. Nav Bengal encouraged the propaganda of English education and protested against child marriage, untouchability, and parda pratha.

Question 136. State the two most important social contributions of Iswarchandra Vidyasagar.
Answer:
1. Provided the right of education to women by opening many schools for women’s education.
2. Firmly supported widow remarriage.

Question 137. Name one social reform of the 19th century and its founder.
Answer: One main social reform of the 19th century was restriction over the Sati system and its founder was Raja Rammohan Roy.

Question 138. What was the real name of Vivekananda? Who was his spiritual Guru?
Answer: The real name of Vivekananda was Narendranath Dutta. His spiritual Guru was Ramakrishna Paramhansa.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 2 important SAQs, for board exam preparation”

Question 139. Under whose initiative was the Hindu College established?
Answer: Hindu College was established under the initiative of David Hare, Radhakant Dev, and other people in 1817. Later on, it was transformed to a Presidency College.

Question 140. What was declared by Bentinck in the matter of education in the 19th century?
Answer: In 1835, Lord William Bentick declared that the Government would devote the stipulated amount to promote European literature and science among the natives of India through the English medium alone.

Question 141. What were the two objectives behind the introduction of Western education by Macaulay?
Answer:

1. The main objective of Western education was to produce clerks for the British administration.
2. The stress on English also tended to create a gulf between the English-speaking educated Indians and the rest of the Indian population.

Question 142. State any two basic principles of Brahmo Samaj.
Answer: The basic principles of Brahmo Samaj were

1. Brahmo Samaj preached monotheism and universal brotherhood.
2. Worship should be acceptable for all faiths. It stood against casteism, Polygamy, and Sati and supported the cause of widow remarriage.

Question 143. Give in brief any two social reforms advocated by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
Answer: He prepared the general public mentally to ban the social evil of the Sati system and inspired Governor-General Lord Bentinck to formulate a law. He stressed the need for female education. He stressed the need for widow re-marriage.

Question 144. In which two significant ways did the Young Bengal Movement help in modernizing the youth of Bengal?
Answer:
(1) National educational institutions where literary, technical, or physical education was imparted were opened by nationalists.
(2) The students of Bengal practiced and propagated Swadeshi and took the lead in the picketing of shops selling foreign goods.

Question 145. When and under whose editorship was the publication of Bamabodhini Patrika started?
Answer: Bamabodhini Patrika was published by Umesh Chandra Dutta in the year 1863.

Question 146. What were the chief aims of Bamabodhini Sabha?
Answer: The chief aims of Bamabodhini Sabha were to educate Bengali women, particularly housewives, and to publish books for their moral development.

Question 147. When and under whose editorship was the publication of Masik Patrika started?
Answer: Masik Patrika was first published by Pyaricbandra Mitra and Radhanath Sikdar in the year 1854.

Question 148. When and under whose leadership was Hindu Patriot published?
Answer: Hindu Patriot was first published by Madhusudan Roy under the editorship of Girish Chandra Ghosh in 1853.

Question 149. Who was Harishchandra Mukherjee?
Answer: Harish Chandra Mukherjee was the publisher of Bengal Recorder & Hindu Patriot magazines.

Question 150. Name two main editors of Bengal Recorder.
Answer: Shreenath Ghosh & Harish Chandra Mukherjee were the two main editors of Bengal Recorder.

Question 151. Who and when founded the magazine Indian Field?
Answer: Indian Field magazine was published by Kishori Chandra Mitra in 1859.

Question 152. Which bills were debated in Hindu Patriot under the editorship of Krishna Das Pal?
Answer: Under the editorship of Krishna Das Pal, the Immigration Bill, Vernacular Press Act, Albert Bill, etc. were debated in Hindu Patriot.

Question 153. What is Hutum Pyanchar Naksha?
Answer: Hutum Pyanchar Naksha (Naksha of the Owl) is an ironic prose literature written by Kaliprasanna Singha.

Question 154. Who and when wrote the drama Nil Darpan?
Answer: Dinbandhu Mitra wrote Nil Darpan in 1858-1859.

Question 155. Who and when founded the National Theatre?
Answer: The National Theatre was founded by Girish Chandra Ghosh in the year 1872.

Question 156. Where and when was Nil Darpan performed first?
Answer: Nil Darpan was first performed in the National Theatre of Calcutta in 1872.

Question 157. Who and by whose efforts translated Nil Darpan into English?
Answer: Michael Madhusudan Dutta with the support of Kali Prasanna Singha, Girish Chandra Ghosh, and James Long translated Nil Darpan into English.

Question 158. What is called the Magna Carta of Indian education?
Answer: The Magna Carta of Indian education is the Wood’s Despatch because of its impressive change in the education system.

Question 159. Which educational institutions were set up by David Hare in India?
Answer: Hindu School, Hare School, School Book Society, and Calcutta School Society were set up by David Hare.

Question 160. When was Medical College established in Calcutta and Bombay?
Answer: Medical College was established in Calcutta in 1835 and in Bombay, it was established in 1861.

Question 161. When and by whose efforts was Bethune School founded?
Answer: Bethune School was established by John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune in 1862.

Question 162. Who and when founded the School Book Society?
Answer: The School Book Society was founded by David Hare on 6th May 1817.

Question 163. Who and when founded Secular Native Female School?
Answer: Secular Native Female School was established by Bethune with the efforts of Ram Gopal Ghosh and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in 1849.

Question 164. When and by whom was Science College established in Calcutta?
Answer: Ashutosh Mukherjee established Science College in Calcutta in 1904.

Question 165. When and by whose effort was Calcutta University was set up?
Answer: Calcutta University was established in 1857 by Charles Wood.’

Question 166. When were Mysore University and Benaras Hindu University established?
Answer: Mysore University and Benaras Hindu University were established in 1916.

Question 167. State the objectives of social reform movements of the nineteenth century.
Answer: The objectives of the social reform movements of the nineteenth century were :
1. Emancipation of women
2. To allow womenfolk equal rights with men
3. Abolition of casteism
4. Abolition of untouchability.

Question 168. Who wrote Hutum Pyachar Naksha and when was it published?
Answer: Kaliprasanna Singha wrote Hutum Pyachar Naksha which was published in 1862.

Question 169. What was the purpose of Gram Barta?
Answer: Kangal Harinath Mazumdar was the editor of Gram Barta Prakshika. Its objective was to inform the whereabouts of the villagers and villages of Santipur, Meherpur, Chakdaha, etc. to the British Government for immediate action.

Question 170. Why is Madhusudhan Gupta remembered?
Answer: Madhusudan dissected the dead body of a man and brought a revolution in orthodox Hindu society.

Question 171. Name the movie that was based on the life & thoughts of Lalan Fakir and state its year of release.
Answer: The life & thoughts of Lalan Fakir were made into a movie named ‘Moner Manush’ in the year 2010.

Question 172. Name two followers of Bijoy Krishna Goswami.
Answer: The two followers of Bijoy Krishna Goswami were Bipin Chandra Pal and Ashwini Kumar Datta.

Question 173. What were the impacts of missionaries in India?
Answer: The most important fields where remarkable developments were seen as a result of the missionary impact on India were education, vernacular literature, printing, and publication. These became very convenient evangelistic agencies in the hands of the missionaries. It is true that the educational endeavors of the missionaries, even though religiously motivated, did spread enlightenment among certain sections of society by dispelling their superstitions and making them feel equal and self-respectful in society.

Question 174. What was the role of the Charter Act of 1813 in spreading education?
Answer: The Court of Directors made a humble beginning towards the development of education in India in 1813 when the Charter Act (1813) provided for an annual expenditure of one lakh rupees ‘for the revival and promotion of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India and for the introduction and promotion of knowledge of sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories’.

The administrative needs of the company required Indians well-versed in the classical and vernacular languages.

WBBSE Chapter 2 Culture: Characteristics And Discussion Fill In The Blanks

Question 1. ______ Was the most popular Bengali magazine of the 19th century which focussed on women’s issues.
Answer: Bamabodhini.

Question 2. _______ belonged to the aristocratic family of Sobhabazar.
Answer: Radhakanta Deb.

Question 3. The original name of the Bethune School was ______
Answer: The Native Female School.

Question 4. ______ was the first multi-discipline, western-style university in Asia.
Answer: Calcutta.

Question 5. The Young Bengal Association was formed by ________
Answer: Henry Louis Vivian Derozio.

Question 6. Widow Remarriage Act was passed in ______
Answer: 1856.

Question 7. Radhanath Shikdar was a member of _______
Answer: Landholders’ Society.

Question 8. Imambada was built by _______
Answer: Nazi Mohammad.

Question 9. Hazi Mohammed constituted a Trustee in _____ to spend his wealth for the benefit of the general public.
Answer: 1806.

Question 10. Three Acts were passed in ______ AD.
Answer: 1872.

Question 11. ________  was seemed to be the father of modern education in India.
Answer: Charles Grant.

Question 12. Bamabodhini was a ________ magazine.
Answer: Monthly.

Question 13. Kishori Chandra Mitra established _________
Answer: Indian Field.

Question 14. National Theatre was founded by ________
Answer: Girish Chandra Ghosh

Question 15. In _________ A.D. Indigo Commission was established.
Answer: 1860 A.D.

Question 16. Harinath Majumdar was the founder of __________
Answer: Gramvarta Prakashika.

Question 17. Macaulay Minute was introduced in ______
Answer: 1835 A.D.

Question 18. Wood’s Despatch was passed in ___________
Answer: 1854 A.D.

Question 19. Calcutta Medical College was founded by _________
Answer: Lord William Bentinck.

Question 20. Asiatic Society was founded by _________
Answer: Sir William Bentinck.

Question 21. Calcutta School Society was founded in ________
Answer: 1818 A.D.

Question 22. Hindu College was later changed into ________
Answer: Presidency College.

Question 23. Sati Prohibition Act is also known as _________
Answer: Regulation XVII.

Question 24. Young Bengal was founded by _________
Answer: Derozio.

Question 25. Brahma Marriage Act was passed in _______
Answer: 1875 A.D.

Question 26. Anglo-Indian Hindu Association was established by _______
Answer: Derozio.

Question 27. Widow Remarriage Association was established by _________
Answer: Vishnu Shastri Pandit.

Question 28. The ideal of religious harmony was of _______
Answer: Ramakrishna Paramhansa.

Question 29. The propagator of New Vedanta was ________
Answer: Swami Vivekananda.

Chapter 2 Culture: Characteristics And Discussion True Or False

Question 1. The Asiatic Society was set up by Radhakanta Deb.
Answer: False

Question 2. After the passing of the Charter Act (1813), the Company agreed to spend one lakh rupees yearly on Indian education.
Answer: True

Question 3. Ecole de Medicine, Pondicherry was the first medical college of India.
Answer: True

Question 4. Swamiji said every religion has its path to reach God.
Answer: False

Question 5. Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘Let the New India awake through the plow’.
Answer: False

Question 6. Lalan Fakir is called the Baul Samrat.
Answer: True

Question 7. Bijoy Krishna Goswami was both a sage and a doctor.
Answer: True

Question 8.’Gram Barta’ is a Sanskrit magazine.
Answer: False

Question 9. It was not before 1813 that English education was introduced in India under the government initiative.
Answer: True

Question 10. The Evangelists were those who did not favor the introduction of English education in India.
Answer: False

Question 11. Bethune College emerged as an important institution for the higher education of women in Bengal.
Answer: False

WBBSE Chapter 8 2nd Part Of 20th Century: Post-Colonial India (1947-64) Very Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Which Department was formed to regroup the Native States?
Answer: The State Department.

Question 2. Who was called ‘The Iron Man of India’?
Answer: Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.

Read and learn all WBBSE Solutions For Class 10 History And Environment

Question 3. Who was the Viceroy of India when India gained independence?
Answer: Lord Mountbatten.

Question 4. Name a few books which tell us about the plight of refugees who came to India after partition.
Answer: ‘Gandhiji in Noakhali’ by Manoranjan Chowdhury, ‘Jukto Bonger Smriti’ by Annadashankar Roy, ‘Deshbhag Deshtyag’ by Sandip Bandyopadhyay, etc.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 8 SAQs, important questions and answers”

Question 5. Who were the members of the J.V.P. Committee?
Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramaiah.

Question 6. Why was the State Reorganisation Commission formed?
Answer: It was formed to identify the state boundaries in the post-independence period.

Question 7. Which areas were joined together to form the state of Kerala?
Answer: Malabar, Travancore and Cochin.

Question 8. Which states formed the PEPSU?
Answer: Patiala and East Punjab States.

Question 9. How many recognised languages were there in the constitution till 1964?
Answer: 14 recognised languages.

Question 11. Which article of the Indian Constitution gives special status to Kashmir?
Answer: Article 370.

Question 12. Which date is known as International Mother Tongue Day?
Answer: 21st February.

Question 13. Name the Operation taken up by the Government to free Goa.
Answer: Operation Vijay.

Question 14. Who was the Commander of ‘Operation Vijay’?
Answer: Major J.N. Choudhury.

Question 15. When was the Indian Independence Act passed?
Answer: 14th July 1947.

Question 16. When was Junagadh included in India?
Answer: February 1948.

“West Bengal Board Class 10 History Chapter 8, short answer questions, exam guide”

Question 17. When was Hyderabad included in India?
Answer: 26th January 1950.

Question 18. When was the State Department formed under Patel?
Answer: 1947.

Question 19. When did India become independent?
Answer: 15th August, 1947.

Question 20. When did Pakistan become independent?
Answer: 14th August, 1947.

Question 21. When did Andra Pradesh emerge as a State of India?
Answer: 1953.

Question 22. When was the State Reorganisation Commission formed?
Answer: 1954.

Question 23. When was Andaman and Nicobar Islands declared as a Union Territory?
Answer: 1955.

Question 24. When was Goa included in India?
Answer: 1961.

Question 25. When was All Bengal League Council formed?
Answer: In 1948.

Question 26. Name the first state to be established as a linguistic state.
Answer: Andhra Pradesh.

Question 27. On what basis the states were proposed to be recognised?
Answer: Language basis.

Question 28. What were the observations of the States Reorganisation Commission?
Answer: The SRC had made four observations. The three-tier system of states (parts A, B and C) would be removed, the institution of ‘Rajpramukh’ and special agreement with the former princely states should be abolished; the general control vested in the Government of India by Article 371 will have to be removed and only Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi and Manipur will remain Union Territories and other parts C and D territories will have to be merged with the adjoining states.

Question 29. What were the immediate problems of the influx of refugees from East Pakistan?
Answer: There was a huge pressure on the population of West Bengal, it was difficult to open so many relief camps and rehabilitate so many people, it was a daunting task to find proper livelihood and provide safety for so many refugees; there was massive food shortage which resulted in ‘Food Movement’ and there was also the problem of squatting and illegal occupation of land.

Question 30. Why did Shyamaprasad Mukhopadhyay form the party called ‘Janasangha’?
Answer: Shyamaprasad, who was a central minister, wanted to implement the policy of ‘exchange of people and property’ to solve the refugee problem, while Nehru vehemently opposed him. There was a great debate in the Lok Sabha. Shyamaprasad resigned from the post of minister after seeing Nehru’s attitude and formed a new party named ‘Janasangha’.

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Class 10 Geography	Class 10 Geography MCQs
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Class 10 Physical Science	Class 10 Science SAQs

Question 31. What do you understand by the ‘Nehru era’ and ‘Postcolonial Era’?
Answer: The post-colonial era, or the Nehru Era, began on 15th August 1947, the day India became independent. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964. independence came through riots, the partition of the country and the formation of Pakistan. Many a fault and defect of colonial days kept haunting the country even after independence. Pandit Nehru was at the centre of Indian politics and its Constitution till he died on 27th May 1964.

Question 32. How many Native States were there? What percentage of the total area of the country was it?
Answer: Before independence, there were 562 Native States in India. They constituted 48% of the total territory of the country.

Question 33. What announcement did Attlee make regarding the Native States?
Answer: British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced on 20th February 1947 that the Native States could maintain their sovereign status if they so wanted.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 8 SAQs, solved answers, for board exam preparation”

Question 34. Who is called the Iron Man of India and why?
Answer: Historians felt that Vallabh Bhai Patel was a successful statesman of the highest degree, even greater than Otto Von Bismark of Germany, and named him ‘The Iron Man of India’.

Question 35. What is Azad Kashmir?
Answer: Before independence, Kashmir was in India but the Pakistani raiders occupied l/3rd of the portion of Kashmir and called it ‘Azad Kashmir’.

Question 36. Who are refugees?
Answer: After the independence and partition of India in 1947, a huge humanity of homeless and destitute people had to leave East and West Pakistan in search of livelihood, food clothing-shelter and safety. Those people, who were compelled to leave their homeland and came to India like an avalanche, were called ‘Refugees’.

Question 37. What statement of Muhammad Ali Jinnah encouraged some of the rulers of the princely states to remain independent?
Answer: The princes of the native states also got encouragement from the open statement made by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. On 18 June 1947 he declared that ‘the States would be independent sovereign States on the termination of paramountcy’. The sly hint was that should they so desire, the princely states could retain their independence.

Question 38. Why did the ruler of Kashmir appeal to India for military assistance?
Answer: Sometime in October 1947, Pathan tribesmen led unofficially by the Pakistan army invaded Kashmir and proceeded towards Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. The Maharaja forthwith appealed to India for military assistance.

Question 39. What was the attitude of the Government of India regarding the rehabilitation of the refugees in West Bengal?
Answer: In the case of rehabilitating the refugees in West Bengal, a step-motherly attitude of the Government of India was noticeable. The refugees were shifted from the platforms of Sealdah station to hastily improvised government camps.

Question 40. When did the British Parliament give assent to the Indian Independence Act?
Answer: The British Parliament gave assent to the Indian Independence Act on 18th July 1947.

Question 41. When and under whose leadership was the State Ministry formed?
Answer: On 5th July 1947, under the leadership of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the State Ministry was formed.

Question 42. Name the Princely States assembled in Pakistan.
Answer: Khairpur and Bahawalpur were assembled in Pakistan.

Question 43. Which treaties were concluded for assembling princely states into India?
Answer: The treaties concluded for assembling princely states into India were

1. Instrument of accession,
2. Stand still agreement.

Question 44. How many princely States were there in India before independence?
Answer: Before independence, there were 562 princely states in India.

Question 45. Who was the first Indian Governor-General of Independent India?
Answer: Chakravarti Rajagopalchari.

Question 46. Who helped Sardar Patel in assembling the Princely States into India?
Answer: Sardar Patel was helped by Lord Mountbatten, Secretary of State Ministry V.P. Menon and Maharaja Patiyala in assembling the Princely States into India.

Question 47. Which Princely States denied assembling into India?
Answer: Janugadh, Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir were the States which denied assembly into India.

Question 48. When did Pakistan attack Kashmir?
Answer: Pakistan attacked Kashmir on 22nd October 1947.

Question 49. When did Maharaja Hari Singh ask for military help from India?
Answer: On 24th October 1947.

Question 50. When did the Nawab of Hyderabad sign the Standstill Agreement?
Answer: November 1947.

Question 51. When did Hyderabad accede to the Indian Union?
Answer: Indian military forces under the command of General J.N. Chaudhuri entered Hyderabad on 13 September (1949) and by the 16th the Nizam surrendered. In November, the Nizam formally joined the Indian Union. This was how Hyderabad was annexed to India.

Question 52. Who resigned against the Nehru-Liyaqat Treaty?
Answer: Bengali Cabinet Minister Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and K.C. Niyogi resigned from their posts against the Nehru-Liyaqat Treaty.

Question 53. Name two books written by the Bengali writer Taslima Nasrin.
Answer: Two books written by the Bengali writer Taslima Nasrin are
1. Lajja
2. Dwikhandita.

Question 54. When was the State Reorganisation Commission appointed?
Answer: The State Reorganisation Committee was appointed in December 1953.

Question 55. When was the State Reorganisation Bill passed?
Answer: The State Reorganisation Bill was passed in November 1956.

Question 56. How many States and Territories emerged after the proposal of the State Reorganisation Commission?
Answer: 16 States & 3 Union Territories emerged after the proposal of the State Reorganisation Commission.

Question 57. How many States and Union Territories emerged by the proposal of the State Reorganisation Bill?
Answer: 14 States & 6 Union Territories emerged after the proposal of the State Reorganisation Commission.

Question 58. Why was the State Reorganisation Commission formed?
Answer: The States Reorganisation Commission (1953) was formed to identify the state boundaries in the post-independence (1947) period. All the Indian states were divided into four categories. There were 9 States in part A, 9 in part B, and 10 in part C and Andaman and Nicobar Islands were kept in part D. States Reorganisation Commission was needed to determine the boundaries of these states.

Question 59. How was Goa included in the territory of India?
Answer: The government of India started ‘Operation Vijay’ on 17-18 December 1961 to free Goa, under the command of Major J. N. Chowdhury, which ended on 19th December. The Indian Army freed Goa, Daman and Diu. In 1961 Goa was included within the territory of India and on 12th August 1987, it became the 25th state of India.

Question 60. Name some books in which the partition of India has been depicted.
Answer: The vivid picture of the partition of India has been described in the books like ‘Tamas’ of Bhishma Sahni, ‘Train to Pakistan of Khshwant Singh, ‘Godan’ by Munshi Premchand, ‘Midnight Children’ by Salman Rushdie, ‘Andhra Manik’ of Mahasweta Devi, etc.

Question 61. What was the ‘Dhar Committee’?
Answer: The Constituent Assembly formed ‘The Linguistic Provincial Committee’ in 1948 under the leadership of Justice S. K. Dhar. It was known as the ‘Dhar Committee’.

Question 62. What was mentioned in the ‘Nehru-Liakat Agreement’?
Answer: As per this agreement, the Muslims who had left West Bengal and Assam came back in droves. Along with them, Muslims from East Bengal also came to India.

Question 63. What was Sardar Patel’s dual policy of carrot & stick?
Answer: Sardar Patel followed the dual policy of carrot and stick,
1. First, he tried to convince the princes about the advantages they would derive from being acceded to India.
2. In the cases where the appeal was not responded to, he did not hesitate to get those acceded through the application of force.

Question 64. State two proposals of the State Reorganisation Commission.
Answer: Of the proposals, two were found to be important. The first was to reorganize the states based on the languages of India. Thus, it was hoped, would make administration easier, and would replace the caste and religion-based identities. Second, it was also realized that states formed solely based on linguistic considerations were not to the larger interests of the Indian nation.

Question 65. What is the present figure of States and Union Territories in India?
Answer: Presently the Indian Union consists of 29 States and 7 Union Territories.

Question 66. Name the languages presently mentioned in the eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Answer: Presently, there are twenty-two languages referred to in the Eighth Schedule. The languages are:

1. Assamese,
2. Bengali,
3. Gujarati,
4. Hindi,
5. Kannad,
6. Kashmiri,
7. Malayalam,
8. Marathi,
9. Odia,
10. Punjabi,
11. Sanskrit,
12. Tamil,
13. Telegu,
14. Urdu,
15. Sindhi,
16. Konkani,
17. Manipuri,
18. Nepali,
19. Bodo,
20. Dogri,
21. Maithili and
22. Santhali.

WBBSE Chapter 8 2nd Part Of 20th Century: Post-Colonial India (1947-64) Short Answer Questions

Question 1. How did Andhra become the first linguistically reorganized state?
Answer:

Organisation of Andhra State: After the accession of the Princely States to India there was the question of their integration which proved to be a difficult task. The integration of the States, however, was effected swiftly by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. After the integration of the States, it was now imperative that the States be reorganized.

After the integration, there was no uniformity among the States territory-wise, population-wise or based on economic viability. On top of these, every unit became multi-lingual.

1. A proposal for the reorganization of States based on uniformity was generally accepted. Yet the opinion is in favour of the linguistic state.
2. A strong movement was launched in Andhra in favour of the separation of Andhra from the Madras Presidency. The movement was led by Patti Sriramalu, who was a great freedom fighter. He undertook fast into death over the demand for a separate Andhra State (province).
3. After he expired while on fast for fifty-eight days the movement took a serious turn. Under the situation, the Telegu linguist area was separated from the Tamil-speaking area. Thus was born Andhra Pradesh (1957). At the same time, there emerged Tamil Nadu is a state of Tamil-speaking people.

Question 2. What were the languages in the Constitution until 1964?
Answer:

Languages in the Constitution until 1964: Until 1964 there were 14 recognised languages in the Constitution mentioned in Articles 344 (1) and 351 of the 8th Scheduled of the Indian Constitution. The Home Minister Lai Bahadur Shastri planned to do it. Those are:

Assamese (Assam),

Bengali (West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar),

Gujarati (Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu),

Hindi (Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand),

Kannada (Karnataka),

Kashmiri, (Jammu and Kashmir),

Malayalam (Kerala, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry),Marathi (Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu),

Oriya (Orissa),

Punjabi (Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab),

Sanskrit (Uttarakhand),

Tamil (Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar, Pondicherry),

Telegu (Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Pondicherry),

Urdu (Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar). At present, in the Constitution of Independent India, there are 22 recognised languages.

These languages have been recognised in the eighth schedule of the Constitution of India. In 1950, while adopting the Constitution of India, these 14 languages were officially recognised.

Hindi and English are recognised as official languages, but nowhere in the Constitution, the term ‘National Language7 has been used. In 1964 there was a demand to have only Hindi as the official language instead of English, but it was not accepted.

Question 3. Explain the Kashmir problem.
Answer:

Kashmir Issue:

1. Introduction: Kashmir, a state with an overwhelming majority of the Muslim population under the rule of a Hindu prince, was geographically beneficial to both India and Pakistan.

The ruler of Kashmir, Hari Singh did not accede either to India or Pakistan. He was apprehensive of both democracy in India and communalism in Pakistan. He hoped to remain aloof from both and continue to exist as an independent ruler.

The popular political forces led by the National Conference and its leader Sheikh Abdullah, however, wanted to join India. The Indian political leaders took no steps to obtain Kashmir’s accession.

In line with their general approach, they wanted the people of Kashmir to decide, whether to link their fate with India or Pakistan. In this, they were supported by Gandhi, who declared in August 1947 that Kashmir was free to join either India or Pakistan by the will of the people.

2. Attack by Kashmir: But Pakistan not only refused to accept the principle of a plebiscite for deciding the issue of accession in the case of Junagadh or Hyderabad, in the case of Kashmir it tried to short-circuit the popular decision through a short-sighted action, forcing India to partially change its attitude with Kashmir.

On 22 October 1947, with the onset of winter, several Pathan tribesmen, led unofficially by Pakistani army officers, invaded Kashmir. They rapidly pushed towards Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir.

The ill-trained army of the Maharaja failed miserably to counter the invading forces who overran Uri and Baramula and reached the vicinity of the capital.

3. Appeal to India for Help: In a panic, on 24 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh appealed to India for military assistance. Nehru, even at this stage did not favour accession without ascertaining the will of the people. But Mountbatten, the Governor General opined that under international law India could send its armed forces to Kashmir only after the State’s formal accession to India. Sheikh Abdullah and Sardar Patel too insisted on accession.

4. Accession to India: On 26th October 1947, Maharaja acceded to India and also agreed to instal Abdullah as the head of the state’s administration. Even though both the National Conference and the Maharaja wanted firm and permanent accession, India, in conformity with its democratic commitment and Mountbatten’s advice, announced that it would hold a referendum on the accession decision once peace and law and order had been restored in the valley.

Question 4. Give an account of the inclusion of Hyderabad and Junagadh within India.
Answer:

Inclusion of Hyderabad and Junagarh:

1. Junagadh: Junagadh was an important State in the group of the Kathiawar States. It was bounded by other Indian States except for the South and South-West where the Arabian Sea lies. The State had no geographical continuity with Pakistan.

The Muslim Nawab of Junagadh wanted to accede to Pakistan, but his Hindu subjects compelled him to hand over the State to the Government of India. Its merger with the Indian Union was ratified by a plebiscite. In 1948, the Nawab of Junagadh fled to Pakistan and thus Junagadh was incorporated into India.

2. Hyderabad: Geographically, Hyderabad occupied a pivotal position in the heart of India. The State was surrounded by the Central Provinces in the North, Bombay in the West and Madras in the East and the South. Its population was nearly 60 million and the annual revenue was Rs. 26 crores.

Its area was more than 82000 square miles. It had its coinage, paper currency and stamps. Although the Hindus formed more than 85 per cent of the total population of Hyderabad, their representation in the Civil Services and the army was practically nil and the Government machinery was a monopoly of the Muslims.

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In the State of Hyderabad, the ruler Nizam wanted to maintain his independent identity. The Hindus of Hyderabad revolted against the Nizam. Internal anarchy in the State of Hyderabad made it necessary for the Government of India to take military occupation of it in September 1948.

The Nizam formally acceded to India in November 1949. The State was formally incorporated into the Indian Union on 25 January 1950. The administrative re-organisation of 1956 saw the trifurcation of the State and incorporation into the three neighbouring states of Andhra, Mysore and Bombay.

Question 5. What controversies arose regarding the solution to the refugee problem?
Answer:

Refugee Problem: Nehru had told Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy that it was wrong on the part of the Hindus to leave East Bengal. According to him, rehabilitation would not solve the problem. Many people, for the sake of argument, said that Nehru did not have the guts to solve the refugee problem properly. He could have said that unless the minority community was allowed to live in East Bengal, there would be war.

Moreover, he did not address the problem of East Pakistan in the same way as he did for West Pakistan. Dr. Roy, in a letter to Nehru, expressed his resentment at Nehru’s indifference to the refugee problem of East Bengal and the meagre help that was meted out. The reply which came from Nehru clearly showed his apathy towards the refugees in West Bengal.

Before partition, Congress leaders like Nehru and Gandhi had promised asylum to the refugees if they could not be ensured safety in their own country. However, later on, they completely denied having promised that. Nehru himself said, “Do not come to this country.

There will be a disaster if you come and I will not be able to do anything”. If people imposed themselves, they would be identified as ‘foreign guests’ or ‘illegal infiltrators’. So, it would be better to stay back in East Bengal with other Hindu people living there.

Sir Jadunath Sarkar, President of a conference of East Bengal refugees at University Institute Hall, said in his speech — “Add this new and dynamic branch to the old and dying tree of the refugees.

You will be able to stand up with renewed vigour and prosperity….this will be good for you….merge the populace. Otherwise, you will be doomed and the future of your children will also be bleak.” Sir Jadunath had foreseen something which Nehru did not see or perhaps did not want to see.

Question 6. How was partition depicted in autobiographies and memories?
Answer:

Partition Depicted in Autobiographies and Memoirs: We know the pathetic story of the partition of India from several autobiographical books like ‘Swaralipi’ of Sabitri Roy, ‘Epar Ganga Opar Ganga’ of Jyotirmoyi Devi, ‘Marginal Man’ of Prafulla Chakraborty, ‘Pitamahi’ of Santa Sen, ‘Chere Asha Gram’ of Dakshina Ranjan Basu, etc.

Ritu Menon’s ‘Borders and Boundaries: How Women Experienced the Partition of India’, Choudhury Khalikuzzaman’s ‘Pathway to Pakistan, Manik Bandyopadhyay’s ‘SwadhinatarSwad’, Selina Hossam’s ‘Japita Jiban’, Abu Issac’s ‘Suryadighal Ban’, Kaliprasad Mukherjee’s ‘Sikander Sandhane’, and the novels ‘Nilkantha Pakhir Khonje’ of Atin Bandyopadhyay, ‘Bipasha’ of Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, ‘Ardhek Jiban’ of Sunil Gangopadhyay,

‘Agun Pakhi’ by Azizul Haque and ‘Forgotten Atrocities’ by B. K. Gupta. From some autobiographical books and memoirs like ‘Supunboner Sari’ by Sankha Ghosh, ‘Keyapatar Nouka’ by Prafulla Roy, and essays by Santa Sen, we know the picture of the post-partition of India.

Annadashankar Roy, in his book ‘Jukto Banger Smriti’ or Memories of Undivided Bengal, said, ‘Provincial Government was like the beginning of another Muslim rule’.

Sandip Bandyopadhyay wrote in his book ‘Deshbhag Deshtyag’ or Partition and Leaving the Country that after partition 90 Sikh women, led by a single Sikh lady, committed suicide by jumping into a well, to save themselves from being murdered or raped.

Raja Singh killed 25 young girls, along with his daughter, to save their honour. Punjab and Rawalpindi resembled living hell after partition. We come to know about post-partition riots, murders, torture of women and sorry tales of the refugees from the memories of Kalidas Nag.

Books such as ‘Dhakar Chithi’ or Letters from Dhaka by Saralananda Sen, ‘Udbastu’ or Refugees by Hiranmoy Bandyopadhyay, ‘And the Uprooted’ the book written by Kanti Pakrashi, etc.

Bring out the emotional history of that time in front of the present generation. The vivid picture of the partition of India has been described in books like ‘Tamas’ by Bhishma Sahni, ‘Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh, ‘Godan’ by Munshi Premchand, ‘Midnight Children’ by Salman Rushdie, ‘Andhra Mani’ by Mahasweta Devi, etc.

Question 7. Write a note on the accession of Junagadh into India.
Answer:

Junagadh:

Introduction: Junagadh, a state on the southwestern end of Gujarat, consisted of the principalities of Manavadar, Mangrol and Babriawad. The Arabian Sea stood between it and Pakistan, and over 80% of its population professed Hinduism.

Possibly on the advice of his Dewan, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, prominent in the Muslim League, the Nawab of Junagadh Mahabhat Khan acceded to Pakistan.

Announcement of Accession: They announced the accession on August 15, 1947, when Pakistan had come into being. When Pakistan confirmed the acceptance of the accession in September the Government of India expressed outrage that Muhammad Ali Jinnah would accept the accession of Junagadh despite his argument that Hindus and Muslims could not live as one nation. Patel believed that if Junagadh joined Pakistan, the communal tension already simmering in Gujarat would exacerbate.

Plebiscite: Patel gave Pakistan time to void the accession and hold a plebiscite in Junagadh. Samaldas Gandhi formed a democratic government in exile, the Aarzi Hukumat (in Urdu : Aarzi: Temporary, Hukumat: Government) of the people of Junagadh.

Eventually, Patel ordered the forcible annexation of Junagadh’s three principalities. Junagadh’s court, facing financial collapse and no possibility of resisting Indian forces, first invited the Aarzi Hukumat, and later the Government of India to accept the reins. A plebiscite was convened in December, with approximately 99 of the people choosing India over Pakistan.

Chapter 8 2nd Part Of 20th Century: Post-Colonial India (1947-64) Long Answer Questions

Question 1. What was the response of the princely states to the call of Sardar Patel to accede to the Indian Union? How did Junagadh accede to the Indian Union?
Answer: Introduction: It was Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel who, with great skill and diplomacy, completed the accession of the princely states with the Indian Union.

Sardar Patel followed the dual policy of carrot and stick.

1. First, he tried to convince the princes about the advantages they would derive from being acceded to India.
2. In the cases where the appeal was not responded to, he did not hesitate to get those acceded through the application of force.

Response of the Princely States: Of the princely States that made an active response to the call of Sardar Patel, mention may be made of Bhopal, Coochbehar, Tripura, Manipur, etc.

Also, some states merged with the neighbouring provinces. These were: the princely state of Myurbhanj merged with Orissa (present Odisa), Kolhapur joined with Bombay, and Benaras with Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, many other small states acceded to India. By 15 August 1947 excepting the states of Junagadh, Jammu-Kashmir princely states joined India.

Accession of Junagadh: Junagadh was an important State in the group of the Kathiawar- States. It was bounded by other Indian States except the South and South-West where the Arabian Sea lies. The State had no geographical continuity with Pakistan.

The Muslim Nawab of Junagadh wanted to accede to Pakistan, but his Hindu subjects compelled him to hand over the State to the Government of India. Through a plebiscite, it decided to merge with the Indian Union. In 1948, the Nawab of Junagadh fled to Pakistan and thus Junagadh was incorporated into India.

Accession of Hyderabad: Geographically, Hyderabad occupied a pivotal position in the heart of India. The State was surrounded by the Central Provinces in the North, Bombay in the West and Madras in the East and South. Its population was nearly 60 million and the annual revenue was Rs. 26 crores.

Its area was more than 82000 square miles. It had its coinage, paper currency and stamps. Although the Hindus formed more than 85 per cent of the total population of Hyderabad, their representation in the Civil Services and the army was practically nil and the Government machinery was a monopoly of the Muslims. In the State of Hyderabad, the ruler Nizam wanted to maintain his independent identity.

The Hindus of Hyderabad revolted against the Nizam. Internal anarchy in the State of Hyderabad made it necessary for the Government of India to take military occupation of it in September 1948.

The Nizam formally acceded to India in November 1949. The State was formally incorporated into the Indian Union on 25 January 1950. The administrative reorganisation of 1956 saw the division into three parts of the State and incorporation into the three neighbouring states of Andhra, Mysore and Bombay.

Question 2. Write in short about the initiative undertaken for the rehabilitation of the refugees.
Answer: The initiative was undertaken for the rehabilitation of the refugees

1. Introduction: The partition of the country brought about many problems for India in its wake. One such tough problem was the rehabilitation of refugees who had come both from Eastern and Western Pakistan. India had hardly won her freedom when she was partitioned. One of her parts was cut off and a new country, known as Pakistan, was created out of it.

“Best SAQs for WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 8, important notes and answers”

2. Chaos and Anarchy: Soon there a reign of fear, fire, slaughter and murder in both parts. There was utter chaos and anarchy. Communal frenzy was at its highest pitch. There was unprecedented violence and bloodshed and massacre on a large scale. Within a short period about 5,00,000 people, both Hindus and Muslims were killed and millions were reduced homeless. Decency was thrown to the winds and most inhuman acts were committed.

3. Migration of Refugees: As a result of these riots, an unending flow of refugees began to pour into India from Pakistan. Soon this refugee problem became one of the major immediate problems facing free India. As many as 8.5 million people migrated to India.

4. Help to Refugees: Migration on such a vast scale was unprecedented in world history. Even the Second World War had not created a problem of such magnitude. But our national leaders did not lose heart and proved equal to the task.

Both the Government and the people rendered all possible help to these refugees. India’s problems were not only to give immediate relief to the displaced persons but also to resettle them in gainful occupations

5. Rehabilitation Programme: The Rehabilitation Ministry, which was specially created for this purpose, did great work in this respect. The economy of the task meant a great strain on the country’s economy which was already crippled by war and partition. But India tackled this problem quite successfully.

Relief camps were opened to give food and shelter to displaced persons. It was followed by a planned programme of rehabilitation. These refugees were accommodated in evacuee houses and newly constructed huts in urban areas. New townships and colonies were started for displaced persons.

6. Economic Assistance: Loans were given by the State Governments for starting businesses and industries. Vocational training centres were established to give vocational and technical training to the refugees. Lacs of displaced persons were provided with gainful employment in services and trades. Scholarships, fee concessions, etc.

Were given to the refugee students. Financial help was given to educational institutions imparting education to refugee students. The government also started industries in the new townships.

Agriculturists were given loans to help them resume their vocation. Those who had left the urban immovable property in Pakistan were given compensation. Various schemes were sanctioned for the selling up or expansion of medium and small-scale industries.

7. Conclusion: By these vigorous measures, the problem of rehabilitation which had threatened to ruin the economy of the country, was brought under control in about three years’ time.

Question 3. Give an account of the initiative and controversies regarding the inclusion of the native States within India.
Answer: Integration and reorganisation of States:

Introduction: The Cabinet Mission Plan recognised the right of the Princely States, on the lapse of the British Paramountcy, to “enter into a federal relationship with the succession of Government or Governments, or failing this, enter into particular political arrangements with it or them”.

The Mountbatten Plan and the Indian Independence Act did not change this arrangement. The Act declared that “the suzerainty of His Majesty over the Indian States lapses, and with it all treaties and agreements in force on that date .” On 15th August 1947 the States were, therefore, theoretically free either to join India or Pakistan or to “enter into particular political arrangements with either of them”.

Views of Congress and Mountbatten: This was the legal position. But the Congress did not recognise ‘the right of any State in India to declare its independence and to live in isolation from the rest of India’. The Congress invited the Princes to make their States ‘democratic units in the Indian Union, thereby serving the cause of their people as well as of India as a whole. In the National Provisional Government, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel headed the States Department. Patel and his chief aid V. P.

Menon appealed to the sense of patriotism of Indian Princes and urged them (i.e., used the tactics of Persuasion-cum-Pressure) to join the Indian Union based on the surrender of three subjects Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communication.

On his part, Lord Mountbatten played a very positive role when he threw the weight of his personality of an office behind the policy of Patel. An ‘Instrument of Accession’ was drawn up which was acceptable to the Princes. To the appeal of the Congress leaders Vallabh Bhai Patel and Menon, the Princes responded promptly and by 15 August 1947 all States (136) within the geographical limits of India—except Kashmir, Junagadh and Hyderabad—acceded to the Indian Union.

Accession of Junagadh: Hyderabad and Kashmir did not agree to sign an ‘Instrument of Accession Act’ with India. Junagadh was an important State in the group of Kathiawar States. It was bounded by other Indian States except the South and South-West where the Arabian Sea lies.

The State had no geographical continuity with Pakistan. The Muslim Nawab of Junagadh wanted to accede to Pakistan, but his Hindu subjects compelled him to hand over the State to the Government of India. Its merger with the Indian Union was ratified by a plebiscite. In 1948, the Nawab of Junagadh fled to Pakistan and thus Junagadh was incorporated into India.

Accession of Hyderabad: Geographically, Hyderabad occupied a pivotal position in the heart of India. The State was surrounded by the Central Provinces in the North, Bombay in the West and Madras in the East and South. In the State of Hyderabad, the ruler Nizam wanted to maintain his independent identity.

The Hindus of Hyderabad revolted against the Nizam. Internal anarchy in the State of Hyderabad made it necessary for the Government of India to take military occupation of it in September 1948. Tlie Nizam formally acceded to India in November 1949. The State was formally incorporated into the Indian Union on 25 January 1950.

Accession of Kashmir: The most important trouble spot was Kashmir. Kashmir, a state with an overwhelming majority of the Muslim population under the rule of a Hindu prince was geographically contiguous to both India and Pakistan.

But Pakistan not only refused to accept the principle of a plebiscite for deciding the issue of accession in the case of Junagadh or Hyderabad, but in the case of Kashmir, it tried to short-circuit the popular decision through a short-sighted action, forcing India to partially change its attitude regarding Kashmir.

Attacks by Pakistan: On 22 October 1947, with the onset of winter, several Pathan tribesmen, led unofficially by Pakistani army officers, invaded Kashmir. They rapidly pushed towards Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir.

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The ill-trained army of the Maharaja failed miserably to counter the invading forces who overran Uri and Baramula and reached the vicinity of the capital. In a panic, on 24 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh appealed to India for military assistance. Nehru, even at this stage, did not favour accession without ascertaining the will of the people.

India’s Military Interference: But Mountbatten, the Governor General opined that under international law India could send her armed forces to Kashmir only after the State’s formal accession to India. Sheik Abdullah and Sardar Patel too insisted on accession. On 26th October 1947, Maharaja acceded to India and also agreed to instal Abdullah as head of the state’s administration.

Even though both the National Conference and the Maharaja wanted firm and permanent accession, India, in conformity with its democratic commitment and Mountbatten’s advice, announced that it would hold a referendum on the accession decision once peace and law and order had been restored in the valley.

The intervention of the U.N.O: Fearful of the dangers of a full-scale war between India and Pakistan, the Government of India agreed, on 30 December 1947, on Mountbatten’s suggestion, to refer the Kashmir problem to the Security Council of the U.N.O., asking for the vacation of aggression by Pakistan.

The Security Council declared a ‘Cease Fire’ and appointed observers along the ‘Cease Fire Line’ which was later transformed into the ‘P.L.C.’, i.e., the Permanent Line of Control (31 December 1948). Kashmir remains a state within the Indian Union, although Pakistan retains her de facto control over the area which Pakistani troops occupied in 1947.

The problem of Integration of States: The integration of the States into new India’s political and administrative structure was one of the most complex problems facing independent India. Many small States which were too small for a modem system of administration were merged with adjoining provinces, i.e., 39 States of Orissa and Chattisgarh became part of either Orissa or Central provinces.

For geographical and administrative reasons Baroda and Kolapur were made parts of Bombay province; Gujrat State was also merged with Bombay province. The second form of integration of 61 states was the formation of seven central administrative areas.

In this category came the states of Himachal Pradesh, Vindhya Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, Bhopal, Billaspurand Kutch. The third form of integration of States was the Kathiawar, United States of Matsya, Union of Vindhya Pradesh and Madhya Bharat, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), Rajasthan and United States of Cochin- Travancore.

French and Portuguese Territories: The Unification of India was still incomplete without * the French and Portuguese enclaves. The French authorities were more realistic when they ceded Pondichery and Chandennagore to India on 1 November 1945.

However, the Portuguese Government maintained its hold on the enclaves of Goa, Daman and Diu. Indian authorities, however, maintained that Goa was one of the remaining outposts of colonialism. When negotiations and persuasions did not move the Portuguese Government, units of the Indian Army had to be mobilized and Goa, Daman and Diu were liberated on 19 December 1961.

Question 4. Give an account of the initiative and controversies about the reorganisation of states on a linguistic basis.
Answer:

The Organisation of States on a Linguistic Basis:

Introduction: The linguistic policies of the Nehru Government (1947-64) raised a lot of controversies. After the transfer of power, there was a demand for demarcating the state boundaries based on the language spoken by the people of that area. Nehru was not agreeable to this demand.

Selection of Hindi as National Language: The Constituent Assembly decided to declare Hindi as the National language, winning the voting by one vote only. Nehru implemented the decision, but controversy kept haunting him. Big industrialists belonging to Hindu, Parsi and Jain communities felt that by declaring Hindi as the National language, the Government was aiming at developing a centralised power structure in India.

The Constituent Assembly formed ‘Linguistic Provincial Committee’ in 1948 under Justice
S. K. Dhar. It was known as the ‘Dhar Committee’. In 1948, the J. V. P Committee, comprising Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramaiah was set up. It was the duty of the committee to re-organise the Indian states on a linguistic basis and without any controversy.

On 1st April 1949, the committee submitted its report saying that ‘No state will be formed right now based on language’. In the report of the Linguistic Provinces Commission, it was informed that ‘The narrow demand for linguistic provinces should be subdued till India becomes a Nation’.

Agitation of South Indians: The speaking Gandhian leader Patti Sriramalu, without paying any heed to these recommendations, started fasting with a demand to form a separate state of Andhra Pradesh with the 11 Telugu-speaking districts of Madras. Nehru was not much perturbed, instead, he was quite displeased.

When Sriramalu died while fasting, on 15th December 1952, his followers started rioting in the Telugu-speaking districts. So, the Centre was compelled to form a separate state of Andhra Pradesh on 18th December 1952.

Formation of Gujrat and Maharashtra: The States Reorganisation Commission was formed to reorganise the states. The important members of this Commission were Justice Faza! Ali, Hridaynath Kunjur and K. M. Panikkar. In 1956 Indian Parliament ended all controversies and passed the States Reorganisation Act. As per this Act, 14 states and 6 centrally administered areas were formed on a linguistic basis.

Telangana area from Hyderabad was joined with Andhra Pradesh in 1956. Andhra Pradesh emerged as Independent India’s first state formed on a linguistic basis. Similarly, Gujarat was separated from Maharashtra in 1956 for the same reasons. Malabar, Travancore and Cochin were joined together to form the state of Kerala.

States Reorganisation Commission rejected the demand to separate the Gujarati and Marathi-speaking areas of the state of Bombay. This again resulted in great turmoil. Finally, Bombay was joined with the state of Maharashtra Maharastra was recognized for the Marathi-speaking people and Gujarat was formed for the Gujarati-speaking people.

Union of Smaller States: During the linguistic reorganisation of states, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel joined the smaller native states with their neighbouring states. PEPSU was formed with Patiala and East Punjab States. In the same way, the union of Saurashtra, Rajasthan and Central Province was done.

However, since Manipur, Tripura and Nepal were not joined with any state, they continued to be the responsibility of the Central Government. Though some problems were solved through the reorganisation of states, but all the issues with the multilingual character of the country could not be solved.

Operation Vijay: The government of India started ‘Operation Vijay’ on 17-18 December 1961, to free Goa, under the command of Major J. N. Chowdhury, which ended on 19th December. The Indian army freed Goa, Daman and Diu. In 1961 Goa was included within the territory of India and on 12th August 1987 it became the 25th State of India.

Question 5. How did the Government of India try to solve the language problem after independence?
Answer:

The language problem: The language problem was the most divisive issue in the first twenty years of independent India, and it created the apprehension among many that the political and cultural unity of the country was in danger. The Indian constitution recognizes twenty-two major languages, including English and Sanskrit.

In addition, there is a myriad of languages spoken by the tribals and others, with or without their scripts. The model that independent India has adopted is not that of assimilation into or suppression of the many languages by any one of them.

The problem posed to national consolidation by linguistic diversity has taken two major forms.

These are discussed here in two separate sections:

1. The dispute over the official language of the union and
2. The linguistic reorganization of the states.

The Official Language: The controversy on the language issue became most virulent when it took the form of opposition to Hindi and tended to create conflict between Hindi-speaking and non-Hindi-speaking regions of the country.

The dispute was not over the question of a national language, that is one language which all Indians would adopt after some time, since the whim that one national language was essential to an Indian national identity had already been rejected overwhelmingly by the secular majority 6f the national leadership.

Recognition by the Constitution: According to the constitution, Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union and the international form of Indian numerals is to be used for the official purposes of the union. The constitution also authorised the continued use of the English language up to 25 January 1965, after which parliament could further consider the issue.

Official Language Act: Drawing authority from the constitution, the Official Language Act, of 1963 further provided for the continued use of English, in addition to Hindi for the official purposes of the union and also for the transaction of business in parliament. It also provides that English shall be used for purposes of communication between the union and a state which has not adopted Hindi as its official language.

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Hindi Became an Alternative Medium: Lai Bahadur Shastri, Nehru’s successor as Prime Minister, was unfortunately not sensitive enough to the opinion of non-Hindi groups. Instead of taking effective steps to counter their fears of Hindi becoming the sole official language, he declared that he was considering making Hindi an alternative medium in public service examinations. This meant that while non-Hindi speakers could still compete in the all-India services in English, Hindi speakers would have the advantage of being able to use their mother tongue.

Agitation of South Indians: Many non-Hindi leaders in protest changed their line of approach to the problem of the official language. While previously they had wanted a slowing down of the replacement of English, now they started demanding that there should be no deadline fixed for the changeover.

Some of the leaders went much further. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and C. Rajagopalachari, for example, demanded that the constitution should be amended and English should be made the official language of India. As 26 January 1965 approached, a fear psychosis gripped the non-Hindi areas, especially Tamil Nadu, creating a strong Hindi movement. On 17 January, the DMK organized the Madras State Anti-Hindi Conference which gave a call for observing 26 January as a day of mourning.

Coming of Indira Gandhi in the Debate: With the death of Lai Bahadur Shastri on January 1^66, Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister. As she had already won the trust of the people of the South, they were convinced that a genuine effort would be made to resolve the long-festering dispute. Other favourable factors were Jan Sangh’s mutiny Post of their anti-English fervour and the SSP’s acceptance of the basic features of the agreement worked out in 1965.

Amendment of Act: Despite facing economic problems and the weakening of the Congress’s position in Parliament in the 1967 elections, Indira Gandhi moved the bill to amend the 1963 Official Language Act on 27 November. The Lok Sabha adopted the bill on 16 December 1967 by 205 to 41 votes.

The Act provided that the use of English as an associate language in addition to Hindi for official work at the Centre and communication between the Centre and non-Hindi states would continue as long as the non-Hindi states wanted it, giving them full veto powers on the question.

A virtually indefinite policy of bilingualism was adopted. The parliament also adopted a policy resolution laying down that the public service examinations were to be conducted in Hindi and English and in all the regional languages with the provision that the candidates should have additional knowledge of Hindi or English.

Educational Aspect: The Government of India took another important step in 1967. Based on the report of the Education Commission in 1966, it was declared that Indian languages would ultimately become the medium of education in all subjects at the university level, though the time frame for the changeover would be decided by each university to suit its convenience.

Conclusion: After many twists and turns, a great deal of debate and several agitations, small and big, and many compromises, India had arrived at a widely accepted solution to the very difficult problem of the official and link language for the country. Since 1967, this problem has gradually disappeared from the political scene, demonstrating the capacity of the Indian political system to deal with a contentious problem on a democratic basis, said in a manner that promoted national consolidation.

Question 6. How did the idea of the linguistic reorganization of States become popular? When was the state of Andhra created?
Answer:

Introduction: The reorganization of the States based on language, a major aspect of national consolidation and integration, came to the forefront almost immediately after independence and partition in 1947. The boundaries of provinces in pre-1947 India had been drawn haphazardly as the British conquest of India had proceeded for nearly a hundred years.

With the involvement of the masses in the national movement after 1919, the Indian National Congress undertook political mobilization in the mother tongue and 1921 amended its constitution and reorganized its regional branches on a linguistic basis.

Since then, the Indian National Congress repeatedly committed itself to the redrawing of the provincial boundaries on linguistic lines. It was, therefore, more or less universally assumed that free India would base her administrative boundaries on the linguistic principle.

New Policy: The national leadership had second thoughts on the subject immediately after independence.

The national leadership felt that the most important task for the present was to consolidate national unity; and any effort undertaken immediately to redraw the internal boundaries might dislocate administration and economic development, intensify regional and linguistic rivalries, unleash destructive forces, and damage the unity of the country.

Hence, while still committed to linguistic states, Nehru and other leaders accorded the task of redrawing India’s administrative map a low priority. The task, they felt, could wait for some years.

The decision of the Constituent Assembly: The question of the linguistic reorganization of India was, however, raised quite early in the Constituent Assembly. Consequently, the Constituent Assembly decided not to include the linguistic principle in the constitution.

However public opinion was not satisfied, especially in the South, and the problem remained politically alive. To appease the vocal votaries of the linguistic states, the Congress appointed a committee (JVP) in December 1948 consisting of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya, President of the Congress, to examine the question afresh.

This committee advised against the creation of linguistic states for the time being, emphasizing unity, national security and economic development as the needs of the hour.

The decision of the Congress: Yet, the Congress leadership refused to oppose any popular demand. In the JVP report, as well as afterwards, the Congress leadership laid down that where the demand for a linguistic state was insistent and overwhelming and where other language groups involved were agreeable to it, a new state could be created if possible.

The JVP report was followed immediately by popular movements for the reorganization of states all over the country, which persisted with varying degrees of intensity till 1960.

Case of Andhra and Tamil Nadu: During British rule, the Andhra territory was merged with the Tamil-speaking Madras Presidency. They accept that a strong case for the formation of Andhra out of the Madras Presidency existed, particularly as the leadership of Tamil Nadu was agreeable to it.

But it did not concede the demand immediately, because the two sides could not agree on which State should take Madras (Chennai) city. The Andhra leaders were unwilling to concede Madras even though on linguistic as well as geographic grounds it belonged to Tamil Nadu.

Patti Sriramalu: On 19 October 1952, a popular freedom fighter, Patti Sriramalu, undertook a fast unto death over the demand for a separate Andhra which expired after fifty- eight days.

His death was followed by three days of rioting, demonstrations, hartals and violence all over the Andhra region. The Government immediately gave in and conceded the demand for a separate state of Andhra, which finally came into existence in October 1953. Simultaneously, Tamil Nadu was created as a Tamil-speaking state.

Conclusion: The success of the Andhra struggle encouraged other linguistic groups to agitate for their state or the rectification of their boundaries on a linguistic basis. Nehru was not in favour at that time of continuing with the redrawing of India’s internal administrative boundaries, but he was too much of a Democrat to sternly and consistently oppose the demands.

What concerned him were the timing, the agitation and violence with which linguistic provinces were being demanded and the harsh antagonism between various sections of the Indian people which underlay these demands. The creation of the state of Andhra is the first example of the division of India on a linguistic basis, and it has undoubtedly promoted the movement for such a division of India.

Question 7. What do you know of the States Reorganization Commission?
Answer:

The States Reorganization Commission:

Introduction: The reorganisation of the states based on language, a major aspect of national consolidation and integration, came to the forefront almost immediately after independence. The boundaries of the provinces in pre-1947 had been drawn haphazardly during British rule.

No heed was paid to linguistic or cultural cohesion so most of the provinces were multilingual and multicultural. The dispersed princely states had added a further element of heterogeneity.

However the leaders of the Indian National Congress felt the importance of the linguistic states as administrative units and since 1919, the Congress repeatedly committed itself to the redrawing of the provincial boundaries on linguistic lines.

J.V.P. Committee: The question of the linguistic reorganization of India was, however, raised quite early in the Constituent Assembly. However, the Constituent Assembly decided consequently not to incorporate the linguistic principle in the constitution. However public opinion was not satisfied, and the problem remained politically alive.

To appease the public, the Congress appointed a committee (JVP) in December 1948 consisting of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and PattabhaiSitaramayya, President of the Congress to examine the question afresh.

The committee advised against the creation of linguistic states, for the time being, emphasizing unity, national security and economic development as the needs of the hour.

Yet, the Congress leadership would not oppose any popular demand and they tacitly supported the demand for a separate state for the Telegu people. The demand had been popular for nearly half a century and had the support of all political parties. Andhra as a separate state finally came into existence in October 1953. Simultaneously, Tamil Nadu was created as a Tamil-speaking state.

States Reorganization Committee formed: The success of Andhra’s struggle encouraged other linguistic groups to agitate for their state or rectification of their boundaries on a linguistic basis. To meet the demand halfway and to delay matters, Nehru appointed in August 1953 the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), with Justice Fazi Ali, K.M.

Panikkar and Hridaynath Kunzru as members, to examine ‘objectively and dispassionately’ the entire question of the reorganization of the states of the Union. Throughout the two years of intensive work, the Commission was faced with meetings, demonstrations, agitations and hunger strikes.

Report of the Committee: The SRC submitted its report in October 1955. While laying down that due consideration should be given to administrative and economic factors, it was recognized for the linguistic principle and recommended redrawing of state boundaries on that basis. Despite the strong reactions to the report in many parts of the country, the SRC’s recommendations were accepted, though with certain modifications, and were quickly implemented.

States Reorganisation Act: The States Reorganisation Act was passed by parliament in November 1956. It provided for fourteen states and six centrally administered territories.

The Telangana districts of Hyderabad state were transferred to Andhra. Kerala was created by merging the Malabar district of the old Madras Presidency with Travancore-Cochin.

Certain Kannada-speaking areas of the states of Bombay, Madras, Hyderabad and Coorg were added to the Mysore state. Bombay state was enlarged by merging the states of Kutch and Saurashtra and the Marathi-speaking areas of Hyderabad with it.

The reaction of the Opposition: The strongest reaction against the SRC’s report and the States Reorganisation Act came from Maharashtra. The Opposition parties, supported by a wide spectrum of public opinion—students, farmers workers, artists, and businessmen—organized a powerful protest movement.

Under pressure, the government decided in June 1956 to divide the Bombay state into two linguistic states Maharashtra and Gujarat with Bombay City forming a separate, centrally administered state. Nehru now reverted in July to the formation of a bilingual, Greater Bombay. This move was, however, opposed by the people of both Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Bombay Issue: Given the disagreement over Bombay City, the government took the decision and passed the States Reorganisation Act in November 1956. But the matter could not rest there. In the 1957 elections, the Bombay Congress scraped through with a slender majority.

As Congress president, Indira Gandhi reopened the question and was supported by the Presidents. Radhakrishnan. The Government finally agreed in May 1960 to bifurcate the state of Bombay into Maharashtra and Gujarat, with Bombay City being included in Maharashtra, and Ahmedabad being made the capital of Gujarat.

Punjab Issue: The other state where an exception was made to the linguistic principle was Punjab. In 1956 the states of PEPSU had been merged with Punjab which, however, remained a trilingual state having three language speakers—Punjabi, Hindi and Pahari— within its borders.

In the Punjabi-speaking part of the state, there was a strong demand for carving out a separate Punjabi Suba (Punjabi-speaking state). While the Hindu communalists opposed the demand for a Punjabi Suba by denying that Punjabi was their mother tongue, the Sikh communalists put forward the demand as a Sikh demand for a Sikh state, claiming Punjabi written in Gurmukhi as a Sikh language.

Even though the demand was supported by the Communist Party and a section of Congress, it had got mixed up with religion. But Nehru as also the majority of the Punjab Congressmen felt that the demand for Punjab state was a communal demand for a Sikh majority state ‘dressed up as a language plea’.

Nehru and the Congress leadership were clear that they would not accept any demand for the creation of a state on religious or communal grounds.

Conclusion: Thus, after many years of continuous strife and popular struggles the linguistic reorganization of India was largely completed, making room for greater political participation by the people.

Question 8. What were the problems that cropped up due to the exodus of refugees? What measures were taken by the government to solve those problems?
Answer:

Refugee Problem: At the time of partition, because of the exodus of refugees, some immediate problems cropped up. For example

1. There was huge pressure on the population of Bengal in particular and India in general.
2. It was difficult to open so many relief camps.
3. There were problems in rehabilitating the refugees
4. It was a daunting task to find a proper livelihood and provide safety to so many refugees.
5. Massive food shortage took place, which culminated in the ‘Food Movement’ (1959).

The Government addressed the refugee problem on a war footing. For example, houses were constructed, shops were set up, and employment arrangements were made for them. The initiative was taken by the Government to get back any property which they had to leave behind in East Bengal.

It should be mentioned that even after ‘The Nehru-Liakat Agreement’ (Delhi Agreement) of 1950, the influx of refugees to India continued. After this agreement, the Hindu refugees came in smaller numbers, but it did not stop altogether.

As per this agreement the Muslims, who had left West Bengal and Assam, came back in droves. Along with them, Muslims from East Bengal decided to return to India. Nehru himself took the initiative to return their movable and immovable properties in East Bengal. Nehru did not have much confidence in Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal.

The controversy started when Nehru did not take much interest in returning the properties of the Hindu refugees that they had abandoned in East Bengal.

Perhaps, Nehru was interested in keeping the Muslims in good humour because of the ongoing Kashmir issue. The government had established a huge refugee colony in Dandakaranya, Madhya Pradesh, just like the refugee colonies of Jadavpur, Baghajatin, Ganguly Bagan and Bijoygarh in Calcutta.

There used to be long queues for everything in the refugee colonies, starting from getting an eligibility certificate, to the distribution of aid and getting vaccinated against cholera and other diseases. The 946 colonies which were set up couldn’t at all accommodate all the refugees.

Some of the people were sent to Government camps, but those camps also suffered from a scarcity of space. When Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy became the Minister in Charge of Relief and Refugee Rehabilitation, he solicited the help of Hironmoy Banerjee to address the problem immediately. These were, in short, the measures taken by the Government to solve the refugee problem.

Question 9. State the partition plan stated by Lord Mountbatten.
Answer: The partition plan stated by Lord Mountbatten

Mountbatten’s Plan: The indirect inclination to grant Pakistan was witnessed in the Cabinet Mission Plan, which motivated the Muslim League.

The Congress, on the other hand, was apprehended as a kind of Civil War between Hindus and Muslims in the event of failure to accept the demand of a separate Pakistan. There was hectic lobbying from both sides to influence the British minds about their respective demands.

When the country was in the grip of communal flux, the British government decided to quit India on a fixed date. The British Prime Minister Atlee declared, “His Majesty’s Government wishes to make it dear that it is their definite intention to take necessary steps to effect the transference of power to responsible Indian hands by a date not later than June 1948”.

This statement of Atlee posed a challenge to Indian statesmanship to prepare to receive the power, which the British were anxious to hand over and quit.

Lord Wavell was recalled and Lord Mountbatten was appointed the new Viceroy whose main task was to restore peace among the two warring sections, namely the Congress and the League. Descended from the royal family of England, and endowed with a genial personality, Mountbatten had an abundance of tact and goodwill.

By the end of March 1947, Lord Mountbatten arrived in India as the Viceroy who started consultations with all important political leaders including Gandhi and found that a compromise between the Congress and Muslim League was impossible based on United India, which led him to the alternative of achieving based on a partition of the country.

After a rapid series of 133 interviews with political leaders, he concluded that the Cabinet Mission framework could not be implemented.

Mountbatten realized that the partition of India was inevitable. V. K. Menon, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel suggested that the power be transferred to two Central governments of India and Pakistan based on the grant of Dominion Status. Gandhi urged Nehru not to accept partition. Finally, Mountbatten put his plan for the partition of India on 2 June. Congress accepted it.

The following are the features of the Plan:

The Country would be divided into two dominions namely, India and Pakistan.

The Constitution passed by the Constituent Assembly will not be applied to the regions which were not prepared to accept it.

The Plan envisaged the principle of self-determination for those parts of India which did not desire to remain within the Indian Union, provided that right was also granted to those parts of the provinces which desired to remain in the Indian Union.

According to this principle, the Punjab, Bengal, Sindh, Baluchistan, NWFP and the Muslim-majority district of Sylhet in Assam were given the right to decide whether or not to remain in the Indian Union.

In Sindh, the Assembly was to vote as a whole for the decision. In Baluchistan, a joint meeting of the representative institutions was to be held for the purpose.

There would be a referendum in the Frontier Provinces and in the district of Sylhet.

The Hindu majority districts of Bengal and Punjab were also given rights. In Punjab and Bengal, the representatives of the Muslim and Non-Muslim majority districts of their respective Legislative Assembly were given the right to decide separately whether they wanted to join India or Pakistan.

In the event of a decision for the partition of the provinces of the Punjab, Bengal and Assam, Independent Boundary commissions were to be appointed to fix the dividing lines between two dominions, namely the Indian Union and Pakistan.

Both the States were to be accorded the Status of a Dominion at the beginning with full right to leave the British Commonwealth at a later date if they chose.

The princely states would have the option to join either of the two dominions or to remain independent.

The British Parliament would pass an Act for the transfer of power before 15 August 1947. As the Plan was accepted by Congress and the Muslim League, Lord Mountbatten proceeded to implement the same.

The Hindu majority districts of the Punjab and Bengal decided to remain with the Indian Union. The N. W. F. P., Sindh, Baluchistan and the Muslim majority districts of the Punjab, Bengal and Sylhet decided to join Pakistan.

WBBSE Chapter 8 2nd Part Of 20th Century: Post-Colonial India (1947-64) Fill In The Blanks

Question 1. The army of the Nizam was called ______.
Answer: Rajakar.

Question 2. King _______ of Kashmir wanted to join the Union of India.
Answer: Hari Singh.

Question 3. After the partition of India, the huge number of people who had to leave East and West Pakistan were called ______.
Answer: Refugees.

Question 4. ______ was the Chief Minister of Bengal after Independence.
Answer: Bidhan Chandra Roy.

Question 5.’Dhakar Chithi’ was written by ______.
Answer: Saralananda Sen.

Question 6. India became independent in ______.
Answer: 1847.

Question 7. ______ is called the iron man of India.
Answer: Sardar Patel.

“WBBSE History and Environment Class 10 Chapter 8 SAQs, for exam preparation”

Question 8. Maharaja ______ formally acceded Kashmir to India on 20 October 1947.
Answer: Hari Singh.

Question 9. The ______ carried on depredations on the borders of Indian provinces bordering Hyderabad.
Answer: Razakars.

Question 10. Akali leader Master ______ demanded a separate homeland for the Sikhs.
Answer: Tara Singh.

Question 11. In ______ A.D. the Government decided to appoint State Reorganization Commission.
Answer: 1958 A.D.

Question 12. In _____ A.D. by separating some Telegu dialectical territory Andhra Pradesh state was formed.
Answer: 1953 A.D.

Question 13.______died on the 58th day of his fast into death.
Answer: Potti Sri Ramlu.

Question 14. _______ book was written by Taslima Nasrin.
Answer: Lajja.

Question 15. ______ assembled to Pakistan.
Answer: Kherpur.

Question 16. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was the first ______ of India.
Answer: Home Minister.

Question 17. Maharaja Patiala was the ______ of the Chamber of Princes.
Answer: Chancellor.

Question 18. The number of Union territorial states in independent India was _____.
Answer: Three.

Question 19. Ajmer became a part of the state.
Answer: Rajasthan.

Question 20. The capital of India is ______.
Answer: New Delhi.

WBBSE Chapter 8 2nd Part Of 20th Century: Post-Colonial India (1947-64) True Or False

Question 1. UNO has declared 21st February as International Mother Tongue Day.
Answer: True

Question 2. The States Reorganisation Commission was formed with Faizal Ali, K.M.Panikkar and Vallabh Bhai Patel.
Answer: False

Question 3. Travancore was the largest of the Native States.
Answer: False

Question 4. Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy was a Central Minister.
Answer: False

Question 5. Hindi is not the national language of India.
Answer: False

Question 6. West Bengal was the first state formed on a linguistic basis.
Answer: False

Question 7. K. M. Panikkar was a member of State Reorganisation Commission.
Answer: True

Question 8. PEPSU was formed with Punjab and Patiala.
Answer: True

Question 9. It was clearly stated by the national leaders that with the end of British rule, the only option left with the princely states was to accede to India or Pakistan.
Answer: True

Question 10. The Nawab of Hyderabad voluntarily acceded to the Indian Union.
Answer: False

Question 11. The renowned journalist, Kuldip Nayar, in an article, narrated the plight of the refugees from West Pakistan to Punjab.
Answer: True

Question 12. India became independent on 15th August 1947 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 13. The Unfinished Memoirs book was written by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Answer: True

Question 14. The first President of India was Jawahar Lai Nehru.
Answer: False

Question 15. The first state formed based on language was Hyderabad.
Answer: False

Question 16. The first Home Minister of India was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Answer: True

Question 17. India’s first Vice-President was Dr Sarwapalli Radha Krishnan.
Answer: True

Question 18. The king of Kashmir was Maharaja Patiala.
Answer: False

Question 19. Hyderabad is an independent country.
Answer: False

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 8 important SAQs, solved Q&A, and notes”

Question 20. The first state formed based on language was Andhra Pradesh.
Answer: True

Question 21. Junagarh assembled in Pakistan after independence.
Answer: False

Question 22. King Hari Singh was the Nawab of Hyderabad.
Answer: False

Question 23. Sheikh Abdulla was the leader of the National Conference.
Answer: True

Question 24. India complained to the United Nations Organisation about Pakistan.
Answer: True

Question 25. Major General Choudhuri became the President of Hyderabad.
Answer: False

Question 26. The writer of the book Witness To Partition – A Memoir was Balram Nanda.
Answer: True

WBBSE Solutions for Class 10 History and Environment

WBBSE Chapter 4 Early Stages Of Collective Action Short Answer Questions

Question 1. What were the results of the Great Revolt of 1857?
Answer:

Results of the Great Revolt of 1857

Though the Revolt of 1857 proved unsuccessful, it produced many far-reaching consequences. Some of the important results are mentioned as follows:

1. End of the Company’s rule: The British parliament in 1858 passed ‘An Act for Better Government’ by which the responsibility of the administration of India passed into the hands of the British parliament and the rule of the Company came to an end. The Board of Council was abolished. A secretary of state for India was appointed. The designation (post) of Governor General was changed to Viceroy.

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2. End of Peshwaship and Mughal rule: As Nana Saheb could not be traced after he escaped to Nepal, the office of Peshwa was abolished. The title of the Mughal emperor was also abolished after the death of Bahadur Shah II.

3. Change In British policy towards Indian states: To appease the native princes, the English declared that they would honor all the treaties and agreements signed between the Company and native rulers. The doctrine of lapse was canceled. The Indian princes were assured that their territories would never be annexed.

4. Reorganisation of the Army: The percentage of English soldiers was increased to create a favorable ratio against Indian soldiers. Indians were removed from important posts like artillery and other higher posts.

5. Queen’s Proclamation: The transfer of power from the Company to the crown was declared by Queen’s proclamation which was read by Viceroy Canning on 1st Nov. 1858 at Allahabad. The Indians were assured of religious toleration. The government promised not to make discrimination based on caste, creed, and religion. The government also promised to work for the material and moral progress of India.

Thus, the sacrifices of great Indian leaders like Lakshmi Bai, Kunwar Singh, Tatia Tope, Naha Saheb, etc. developed feelings of nationalism among IndiAnswer: According to Tara Chand, “The memory of 1857 substantiated the later movement, infused courage into the hearts of the fighters”.

Read and learn all WBBSE Solutions For Class 10 History And Environment

Question 2. Mention the causes of the failure of the Great Revolt of 1857.
Answer:

Causes of the failure of this revolt

(1)Local limitations: Though the sepoys revolted over a large area from Eastern Punjab to Western Bihar, it did not affect the entire sub-continent. It was not felt elsewhere except in some portions of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bundelkhand, Oudh, Bengal, and Bihar. There was no revolt in Sind, Rajasthan, Nepal, or South India. So this localized nature of the revolt made it less powerful.

(2)Lack of public support: Though there was public support for the revolt in many places like Jhansi, Oudh, and Delhi, people of the other areas were reluctant to sympathize with the sepoys. The king of Gwalior, Scindhia, and his minister Dinkar Rao, Jang Bahadur of Nepal, the Nawab of Hyderabad, the Begum of Bhopal, the king of Jodhpur had helped the British to subdue the rebels. Besides, the kings and the common people of Patiyala and Sind supported the British.

(3)Lack of definite aim: The leaders could not place a definite aim before the sepoys. As there was no national interest or proper planning, the revolt could not start together at all places. It occurred at different times in different places. So though the revolt was strong enough, it ultimately broke down.

(4)Aloofness of Martial Races: The martial races of India like Sikhs, Gurkhas, Rajputs, etc. either supported the English or kept themselves aloof which led to the failure of the revolt.

Question 3. Analyze the political causes of the Great Revolt of 1857.
Answer:

Political causes of the Great Revolt :

1. Colonial Domination: The company had spread its domination over the whole of India over 100 years step by step.

2. Lord Wellesley: Lord Wellesley followed the policy of the subsidiary alliance to bring the native powers under the Company’s grip. Tipu Sultan preferred to resist the English than to sign a subsidiary alliance and he was defeated and killed. Sindhia, Ghosle, etc. were forced to sign the subsidiary treaty.

3. Lord Dalhousie: Dalhousie annexed the kingdoms of Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, Jaipur, etc. by doctrine ine of lapse.

4. Conspiracy of Indian Muslims: According to Rav Duff, the revolt of 1857 was a result of the conspiracy of Indian Muslims. The Indian Muslims were full of discontent because Compathe  replaced Bahadur Shah II by itself besides the Company snatched the titles of Mirza and Mir and also deprived them of their jobs and pensipensions

Corrupt Police: The police officers were involved in deep corruption. According to William Edward, “People hated the police as leopards”.

6. Annexation of Oudh: Dalhousie committed plunder by annexing Oudh on the pretext of bad government. Thousands of officials, soldiers, etc. who served under the Nawab became citizens. Such jobless people and their family members joined the revolt to bring down the company’s rule.

Question 4. Discuss the military causes of the Great Revolt of 1857.
Answer:

The military causes of the Great Revolt of 1857 were:

(1) Low Salary: The Indian sepoys were not appointed to high posts in the army and were not given handsome salaries.

(2) Discrimination: Indian soldiers were considered inferior to the English soldiers and their salaries were less than that of an average English soldier. Their food was bad and they were treated with contempt by the British officers.

(3)Travel across the sea: The General Service Enlistment Act, 1856 of Lord Canning decreed that the members of the Bengal Army should give an undertaking to the effect that they would serve anywhere in the world. This hurt the sentiments of the Hindu sepoys because according to the religious beliefs of the Hindus, travel across the sea was forbidden.

(4) Annexation of Oudh: The Bengal Army consisted mostly of soldiers from Oudh. The annexation of Oudh sent a wave of resentment among them and inflamed their feelings.

(5) Greater Number: The number of Indian soldiers was five times that of the British troops. It encouraged Indian soldiers to take arms against the English.

(6) Enfield Rifle: The introduction of a new type of rifle, called Enfield Rifle, among the sepoys, drove them to the path of rebellion

(7) Failure of the British: The failure of the British army in the First Afghan War (1839) and the Crimean War (1854-56) emboldened the Indian sepoys and the desire to defeat them rose in their minds.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 4 SAQs, Early Stages of Collective Action, important questions”

Question 5. Why were the Indian sepoys aggrieved at the introduction of the Enfield Rifle?
Answer:

Enfield Rifle: The Indian sepoys in the army of the East India Company had some specific grievances against the British Government. The most important factor that intensified the hatred of the Indian sepoys against the British was the introduction of the Enfield Rifle.

The Enfield Rifle needed a paper cartridge smeared with grease to keep the bullets effective. Before the cartridge could be loaded in the rifle, its outer cover had to be bitten off. This the sepoys were reluctant to do as they had reason to believe that the grease was made from the fat of pigs and cows.

The cow was held sacred by the Hindus and the pig was considered unclean by the Muslims. There developed a firm conviction among the sepoys that it was a trick to convert them to Christianity. Thus the Indian sepoys were aggrieved at the introduction of the Enfield Rifle.

Question 6. Analyze the economic causes of the Sepoy Mutiny.
Answer:

Economic Causes: One of the important causes responsible for the Sepoy Mutiny was the long hundred years of economic exploitation by the English East India Company. After the victory of Plassey, the English began to plunder the wealth of India and started to send it to their homeland.

The Grant of Dewani to the Company in 1765 and in the later years the new land revenue policies such as the Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari Settlement, and Mahalwari Settlement introduced by the Company brought permanent ruin to agriculture and peasants of the country.

Question 7. Write a short note on Queen’s Proclamation, 1858 A.D.
Answer:

Queen’s Proclamation, 1858 A.D

Introduction: Queen Victoria was reigning in England when the sepoy revolt took place in India in 1857. The mismanagement of East India Company and the constant news of suffering with pain at the hands of the Company made the Queen think and then make a complete decision to bring an end to the Company’s rule and also to transfer the power of administration in India into the hands of the Government of England.

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This was made public in India by Queen Victoria’s Proclamation. This proclamation was read by Lord Canning in a Grand Durbar at Allahabad on November 1, 1858. It declared the principles on which the Government of India was to be conducted in the future. It showed the feelings of generosity, benevolence, and religious tolerance to India.

The Indian princes were assured that their rights and honor would be respected. They were also told that the treaties that they had entered into with the Company would be honored and their right of adoption would be recognized. The government assured that it would not interfere in the social and religious matters of Indians.

Promises to the people of India: The proclamation also laid down that the people of India would be considered eligible for all public offices provided they were fit for them. The Government would make no distinction of caste, color, or creed in this matter. The people would be given the freedom to follow their social customs and the freedom to practice their religion. It is easy easier to implement. “The period of administration by the crown was thus a period of broken pledges”.

“West Bengal Board Class 10 History Early Stages of Collective Action, short answer questions”

Question 8. Discuss the Hindu-Musiim unity during the Great Rebellion of 1857.
Answer:

Hindu-Musiim Unity During the Revolt of 1857: The Great Rebellion of 1857 showed unprecedented unity and coordination of the Indian people. The Hindus and the Muslims fought shoulder-to-shoulder against the British. In Delhi, a proclamation was issued that expressed the urgent need for Hindu-Musiim unity.

The sepoys proclaimed Bahadur Shah 2 as the Emperor of Hindustan and he appealed to all Hindus and Muslims to join hands in driving out the British from India. Karl Marx remarked, “Mussalmans and Hindus, renouncing mutual antipathies, have combined against the common masters that disturbances beginning with the Hindus have acted in placing on the throne of Delhi a Muhammedan Emperor”.

The British tried their best to create communal tension among the two communities. Aitchison, a senior British official commented: “In this instance, we could not play off the Muhammedans against the Hindus.” Thus, it may be said that the Hindus and Muslims displayed unity and amity between them, and herein lies the strength of the Great Rebellion of 1857.

The Hindu and Muslim sepoys unitedly stood against the introduction of greased catricartridgeadur Shah Jafar prohibited ‘Kurbani’ to maintain Hindu- Muslim unity in the year of sepoy mutiny. The Hindu leaders were Lakshmi Bai, Tantia Pope, Nana Saba, etc. The Muslim leaders were Bahadur Shah 2, Barakat Khan, etc.

Question 9. Discuss the religious and social causes of the Revolt of 1857.
Answer:

Religious causes:

1. Indians had a lurking suspicion that they would be converted to Christianity

2. The English had begun to interfere in religious affairs by abolishing both the sati system and child marriage and encouraging widow remarriage.

3. The religious sentiments of the people were further hurt when a tax was levied on property held by temples and mosques.

Social causes: It is known from the text ‘Siyar-ul-Mutakherin’ that social discrimination took a bad shape on the eve of the revolt.

1. The British people used to hate the Indians as Black Skinned

2. The British looked down upon Indian customs and rituals and considered Indians no better than barbarians

3. The introduction of Railways, Telegram, and Western education created suspicions in the minds of the Indians

4. Lord Cornwallis once said, “Each person in Hindustan is a downtrodden and heathen one”

5. Entry of Indian people was prohibited in restaurants, and clubs specially reserved for Britishers. It was written at the entrance of many European nightclubs- “No entry for dogs and Indians”

Question 10. What was the immediate cause of the Great Revolt of 1857? Write the causes of the failure of the Revolt. Or, What was the immediate cause of the Great Revolt of 1857? State three reasons for the failure of this revolt.
Answer:

Immediate Cause: The episode of the greased cartridges constituted the immediate cause of the revolt of 1857. The new Enfield Rifle introduced by the British had a greased paper cover in its cartridge that had to be bitten off before it was loaded. The rumor that the paper was made of beef and pig fat enraged both the Hindu and Muslim sepoys who burst out in rebellion.

Causes of failure of this revolt:

(1)Local limitations: Though the sepoys revolted over a large area from Eastern Punjab to Western Bihar, it did not affect the entire sub-continent. It was not felt elsewhere except in some portions of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bundelkhand, Oudh, Bengal, and Bihar. There was no revolt in Sind, Rajasthan, Nepal, or South India. So this localized nature of the revolt made it less powerful.

(2)Lack of public support: Though there was public support for the revolt in many places like Jhansi, Oudh, and Delhi, people of other areas were reluctant to sympathize with the sepoys. The king of Gwalior, Scindhia, and his minister Dinkar Rao, Jang Bahadur of Nepal, the Nawab of Hyderabad, the Begum of Bhopal, the king of Jodhpur had helped the British to subdue the rebels. Besides, the kings and the common people of Patiala and Sind were supporting the British.

(3)Lack of definite aim: The leaders could not place a definite aim before the sepoys. As there was no national interest or proper planning, the revolt could not start together at all places. It occurred at different times in different places. So though the revolt was strong enough, it ultimately broke down.

Question 11. State the limitations of early political associations.
Answer:

Limitations of Early Political Associations: The early political associations did not raise any demand more than mild administrative reforms. Secondly, these early associations were mostly dominated by zamindars or upper-class men who had no wide social base. Hence they lacked mass character and were mostly local.

Thirdly, the landlord and the aristocratic class who controlled these associations had no intention of transforming them by opening the doors of these organizations to the middle class and others and giving them a democratic character. The limitations of these early associations were patent. The British- Indian Association of Bengal had 68% zamindar members and altogether 85% rich, aristocratic members.

The membership fee was Rs. 50.00 which was too high for the middle-class Bengalees. The Bombay Association and Madras Native Association had no deep patriotic character and lost their appeal. Hence, the middle-class Indians felt the need for a political association that would be truly representative, democratic, and nationalist in outlook. Out of the sentiment, three important presidential associations were formed by English-educated, middle-class IndiAnswer: These associations spread political consciousness among the people and gave a new tone to political demands.

Question 12. Give an account of the attitude of educated Bengali society towards the Sepoy Mutiny.
Answer:

Attitude of the Educated Bengali Society Towards the Revolt of 1857 :
The Bengali intelligentsia was apathetic to the Revolt of 1857. This is such a ticklish problem that no one has been able to offer any satisfactory explanation.

Promotion of Self-Interest: One thing that may be relevant to note is that the Bengali intellectuals, in the mid-eighteenth century, were very much conscious of their interest. As such it will not be fair to say that they merely echoed the sentiments of the British rulers in taking a negative attitude towards the rebels of 1857. in any case, their hostile attitude towards the Revolt of 1857 cannot be overlooked.

Issue of Enfield Rifle: In Bengal, Barrackpore, near Calcutta was the center of the initial spark of the Revolt of 1857. The revolt broke out over the religious question that there was a conspiracy to destroy the religions of the sepoys (over the Enfield Rifle issue). This was in tune with the cry of the orthodox Hindus of the city of Calcutta who had long suspected that the British wanted to destroy their religion and caste and convert them to Christianity. The intellectuals of Bengal, who were against orthodoxy and fanaticism, considered the rebel sepoys as the allies of social reaction. Under the circumstances, the Bengali intelligentsia had no option but to oppose the rebellion.

Socio-Economic Reasons: There were also socio-economic reasons for which the Bengali intelligentsia opposed the Revolt of 1857. The intellectuals belonged to middle-class well-to-do families that had been the product of the colonial structure. Their economic status was raised because of trade and commerce, and their intellectual status was due to their English education. In the success of the Revolt of 1857, the return of the old social order with all the reactionary principles and ideals was recognized by the Bengali intelligentsia. Hence, the Bengali intelligentsia did not sympathize with the rebels of 1857.

Conclusion: It has been pointed out by Sri Benoy Ghose that the growing political consciousness of the English-educated Bengali middle class also shaped their hostility towards the Revolt of 1857. The educated Bengali middle class saw no hope in the Revolt of 1857. Thus they condemned the rebels of 1857.

Question 13. Why was the 19th century called the Age of Associations?
Answer:

Age of Associations:

1. Introduction: Political consciousness was a direct outcome of nationalism that developed in the nineteenth century. The main purpose of organizing meetings was to develop political consciousness as it spread its activities and also to discuss various socio-political issues

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 4 SAQs, exam preparation, solved answers”

2. Organisation During the Early Decades: Several organizations were formed during the period from 1828 to 1830. The Academic Association formed by Derozio was open to all independent discussions. In Calcutta, the Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge was formed by Pyarichand Mitra, Debendranath Tagore, and their two hundred associates. The whole of the nineteenth century has seen the formation and development of many such associations. So, Cambridge historian Dr Anil Sil, in his book ‘The Emergence of Indian Nationalism; Competition and Collaboration in the Late Nineteenth Century, has called this period “an age of associations”

3. Organisation During the Second Half: In the second half of the nineteenth century several political organizations emerged. They were instrumental in the development of political consciousness. Some of the well-known political organizations were: ‘Puna SarbojonikSabha’ of Gopal Hari Deshmukh (1867), ‘Madras Mahajan Sabha’ (1884), ‘Madras Native Association (1852) and ‘East India Association, London’ of Dadabhai Naoroji and K. R. Kama (1866).

In 1871 a branch of the East India Association was formed in Bombay. Rangaiyya Naidu, the President of Mahajana Sabha (1884), spread the popularity of his association among small towns and villages. In 1885, Firoz Shah Mehta, Badruddin Tayebji, and KashinathTrimbak Telang formed ‘The Bombay Presidency Association’. In 1886 Rajnarayan Basu formed a ‘Secret Samity’ in Midnapore and Jyotirindra Nath Tagore established ‘Sanjeebani Sabha’. ‘India Reform Society’ and ‘London Indian Society’ (1865) were formed through foreign initiative.

Question 14. Write about Swamiji’s ‘Bartaman Bharat’.
Answer: Bartaman Bharat (of Swami Vivekananda):

1. Harmony Among All Classes: The Bartaman Bharat amplifies and elaborates our ideas on society. It is stated that human society is governed by the four castes — the priests, soldiers, traders, and laborers. The priestly rule is exclusive on hereditary grounds; the military rule is tyrannical and cruel.

The commercial rule is crushing and blood-sucking. But the traders go everywhere and they are good disseminators of ideas. The rule of the laborers has the advantage of distributing physical comforts.

But it has the disadvantage of lowering culture. In the Bartaman Bharat, Vivekananda predicts forming a state (Title page, 1905 edition) in which the knowledge of the priest period, the culture of the military, the distributive spirit of the commercial, and the ideal of equality of the last (laborers) are brought into harmony.

2. Establishment of an Ideal State: Vivekananda considered it an ideal state. Bartaman Bharat ends with a calling to give up imitating the Western lifestyle in dress and manners. People should cherish the feeling of self-respect and a sense of pride in being Indian. The closing paragraph of the Bartaman Bharat is titled by Vivekananda as Swadesh Mantra, an incantation (magical chant) for the homeland. It is addressed to every Indian.

It is a call to arise and awake to the national ideal of identity with the Indian heritage. The Indian people, even if they are the poorest and the lowest, should take pride in having been born Indian. Patriotism and nationalism for Vivekananda was never a matter of political strategy, rather it had to do with spiritual belonging to one’s culture and history. Religion and nationalism became interchangeable for Vivekananda.

Question 15. What was the importance of the novel ‘Anandamath’ from the Nationalist perspective?
Answer:

Anandamath (of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee): Anandamath of Bankim Chandra bears historic worth in the narrative of nationalism in modern India

1. Subject Matter: Written in the shadow of the memory of the Sannyasi Rebellion, the novel centers around the organization of the satans (or children of Mother India). Now that the Mother is in the chains of foreigners, her children vow to tear asunder the bondage. The novel narrates how the children of the Mother take up arms against the rule and domination of the aliens

2. Bande Mataram: It is in Anandamath that the Indian people get the famous song Bande Mataram. The opening stanza of the song is full of appreciation for the Mother’s natural endowments. In the song, the sacredness of the land has been raised to a religious level. The song combines patriotism with religious fervor

3. Inspiring the Revolutionaries: Anandamath was a Bible for secret revolutionaries. They modeled their societies on the organization founded by Satyananda, the hero of the novel. Some people accused Bankim Chandra as the propounder of the principle of aggressive Hinduism. But the fact remains that he was the seer of modern Indian nationalism and even politics. The mantra was Bande Mataram and politics was a commitment to leading a life of religion,

4.  Conclusion: The concept of Bharatmata emerges from Anandamath. As for women’s participation in the national struggle, one finds a young lady, Shanti, who could jump and ride on a horse as any horseman. Thus, in many ways, Anandamath played a crucial role in developing national awareness.

Question 16. What was the role of Rabindranath’s ‘Gora’ in awakening nationalist feeling?
Answer:

 

Influence of Gora: The novel ‘Gora’ by Rabindranath Tagore is more than a hundred years old. ‘Gora’ was written before ‘Gitanjali’. ‘Gora’ is the only novel by Rabindranath Tagore where the character Gora is the main protagonist. This feature is absent in any of his other novels.

Through the character of Gora, the writer has expressed his opinion that rebellion does not exist in the outside world, but lies within one’s self. However, the novel is not about a fine analysis of the Bengali language and Bengali people, but there is more to it. India is a diverse land that abounds in multiple races, languages, and ideals, and iora, we find a unification of all these diverse forces.

Gora was written when the writer’s age was 47 to 49 years. The wonderful reminiscences of Jibansmriti have not been written then. The easygoing style of writing brought out the spirit of Gora in a wonderful way. In the novel ‘Gora’, the helplessness and traditional beliefs of the Hindu religion have come to the forefront time and again. At a later stage, it was revealed that Gora was born a westerner. His father had to give up ritualistic practices because of Gora’s staunch beliefs.

Again, we find, that the same Gora preferred to take a holy dip at the confluence of the three rivers instead of the holy Ganges. It is written in the novel, “I am yours and you are mine”.

Gora thinks, ‘Undifferentiated Brahman can also be found in particular. He is infinite, at the same time undifferentiated; he who is infinite is also formless. No faithful Indian will ever deny that God has surpassed even the Infinite.’

Gora, being a traveler, is bound to move forward toward the future having expressed himself in this way. Many thinkers feel that Gora is none other than Rabindranath himself.

“Early Stages of Collective Action WBBSE Class 10 SAQs, with detailed solutions”

Question 17. State the importance of the cartoons of Gaganendranath Tagore.
Answer: Gaganendranath Tagore:

1. Introduction: Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) was the elder brother of Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951). He learned painting from a Japanese artist and a Bengali artist. However, unlike Abanindranath, he did not follow Indigenous tradition; instead, we find the influence of French Cubism in his drawings

2. Criticism of Colonialism: Through his cartoons, he criticized colonialism in contemporary society. He criticized certain sections of the British Indian colonialist society and the ‘babu culture’ of Western-educated people through his cartoons and he inspired affection for traditional Indian culture among the Bengali gentry

3. Inspiring Nationalism: His cartoons should not be taken at face value, because they inspired nationalism among all sections of society. Gaganendranath emerged as a cartoonist in the second half of the nineteenth century. His cartoons mocked, satirized, and caricatured the then-British rule and helped to inspire nationalism: Montague-Chemsford reforms were criticized by a cartoon as a weak rule.

This is why Lord Chelmsford became angry to see the Cartoon of Gaganendranath Tagore. He compared the Western education system in India with the factory. His book ‘Reform Screams’ was published in 1922. His cartoons were published in ‘Prabasi’ and ‘Modern Review’. The single-coloured or bi-coloured cartoons mirrored the Bengali society of that time.

4. Conclusion: It was not just in Bengal, but also in the whole country that the importance of cartoons increased manifold under Gaganendranath. Hence, he is often called the father of modern nationalist Bengali cartoons. Bengali cartoons became very popular in illustrated magazines like ‘Panchananda’, ‘Bibhor’, ‘Bangabashi’, ‘Sachitra Bharat’, etc. Rabindranath Tagore was the inspiration for Bengali cartoonists like Jatindranath Sen, Rebati Bhushan, Chandi Lahiri, Debashish Deb and Amal Chakraborty.

Question 18. Describe the characteristics of Anandamath.
Answer:

Characteristics of Anandamath: The great writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838-1898) helped in the development of militant nationalism in India through his essays and novels. His essay ‘Krishnacharitra’ stressed the need to establish the kingdom of Krishna in India. This emotion was refined and exquisitely expressed in his novel ‘Anandamath’. Written in 1882, this was the first historical novel by Bankim Chandra. ‘Debi Chowdhurani’ written in 1884 was second in the line of such novels.

Militant Nationalism: In ‘Anandamath’ he promoted militant nationalism. In ‘Anandamath’ he has portrayed the self-sacrifice of a group of patriots. This book influenced the youth to develop patriotism and groomed them into militant nationalism. Barrister Promothonath Mitra used the term ‘Anushilan Samiti’ (1902) in this book. For the revolutionaries of the ‘Anushilan Samiti’, ‘Anandamath’ was like a nationalist Bible.

In this novel, the two characters of ‘Shanti’ and ‘Bhabananda’ are extremely strong of mind. At the request of Surendranath Banerjee, Bankim Chandra composed the song ‘Bande Mataram’ in 1875, which was later included in ‘Anandamath’ as a guiding force. Through the song ‘Bande Mataram’ in this novel, Bankim Chandra portrays a real-life picture of India, our motherland. So, ‘Anandamath’ is considered to be an immortal creation of Bankim Chandra.

Question 19. Write a note ort Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha.
Answer:

Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha :
1. Introduction: As English education was more widely diffused in Calcutta, it is not surprising that the first political association sprang up here. Gradually the politically conscious people of Bengal felt that for political movement it was necessary to set up a permanent association. In 1836 a humble attempt was made in Bengal to organize political deliberations by the foundations of the Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha. The Sabha of Bengal is regarded as the first political association in India

2. Activities: Details about the activities of the association are not available. But whatever little is known from its reference in different contemporary newspapers is very interesting. Its meeting used to be held every Thursday. In the beginning, discussions were held on various subjects like religion, philosophy, etc. In a letter published in the 17th December edition of the Jnananneshan, a newspaper published in Calcutta and edited by Dakshina Ranjan Mukherjee, it was said that the members agreed to deliberate over matters that would hamper the country’s welfare

3. Discussion on British Administrative Policies: The members of the Sabha also discussed the imposition of tax on rent-free lands by the British administrators in India. Reporting the discussion held in a meeting of the weekly paper Sambad Prabhakar (editor: Iswar Chandra Gupta) wrote that Ramlochan Ghosh, a government employee, had sent a letter to the Secretary of the Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha in which he supported the government’s decision tax.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 4 SAQs, Early Stages of Collective Action, important questions”

The letter was placed in the meeting for discussion. The members agreed that as a government employee, Ramlochan was quite justified in supporting the government’s action in the matter. But a different resolution was adopted. It was resolved that a meeting should be convened to decide the propriety of sending a memorandum signed by four to five thousand people irrespective of religious faith as a protest against the governmental measure.

It is not known if any such meeting was held at all. Dr. R. C. Majumdar expressed the opinion that nothing followed the resolution adopted in the meeting. Despite the failure of the Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha, it must be admitted that the Sabha helped in organizing later on the formation of political associations.

Inspired by the example of the Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha, many such associations came to be established. Sambad Prabhakar in its 2 March 1852 edition, reported about the failure of all the associations that followed the Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha. The associations could not survive because of the ‘lack of unity’ (Bangla Desher Itihas Vol. IV : p 508: Ramesh Chandra Majumdar).

Question 20. Explain the inner meaning of the cartoon under the title University Machine.
Answer:

University Machine: The outlook of the cartoon is that of liberalism of the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first twenty years of the twentieth century. In the above context, a better-known cartoon of Gaganendranath may be taken up for discussion. One of the famous cartoons was the ‘University Machine’.

The cartoon University Machine shows a clock striking at 10.30 am. The smoke comes out of the chimney, while the students strike at the gate. The university building is in the shape of a very large heavy book. Pressed between them, after the courses are done, the students come out flattened and crippled.

One would also notice the two figures in silhouette standing on two pillars. One of them appears to be in European costume, while the other is in an Indian turban. They have probably helped in founding the university. They are no longer moving forces but are now shadowed out. The crowd at the gate is in Bengali dress. The cartoon has an undercutting of sadness despite the satire.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 4 SAQs, for board exam, important notes”

Question 21. Discuss the role of peasants in the Great Revolt of 1857.
Answer:

Peasant Participation in the Revolt of 1857: No uniform pattern of peasant participation in the disturbed areas can be discerned. However, in most of Oudh and Western U.P., the peasants forgot the oppressive hands of the local zamindars and joined the local feudal leadership in a bid to uproot foreign imperialism.

Canning’s announcement of confiscation of proprietary rights in the soil was meant to punish those who had taken an active part against the Government. The post-1857 settlement was made with the taluqdars of Oudh, restoring most of the land to them; rather the position of the taluqdars was strengthened by conferring on them some magisterial and revenue powers.

The interests of the occupancy peasants were ignored and the Chief Commissioner even refused to extend the provisions of the Bengal Rent Act of 1859 to Oudh. Rather, the peasants of some areas like the Meerut division were made to pay some additional taxes as a punitive impost for participation in the revolt.

Question 22. Write short notes on 1. Bahadur Shah, 2. Nana Sahib, 3. Tantia Tope, 4. Rani of Jhansi and 5. Kunwar Singh.
Answer:

1. Bahadur Shah: Bahadur Shah Jafar was the last emperor of the Mughal Empire. After the death of his father, Akbar II came to the throne. He too had taken part in the revolt of 1857 AD. But he was defeated, had been imprisoned, and sent to Rangoon. Two of his sons were butchered. He expressed his heartfelt feelings which escaped his lips on his death through an Urdu couplet. “So unfortunate did Jafar throve at his burials and Got deprived of two yards of land in native land”.

Exiled to Rangoon: The last days of his life were spent at Rangoon and he was sorry since he had no claim even on his right for burial in his native land. These lines reflect his patriotism. The rebellious people of the revolt of 1857 had acknowledged him as their emperor. However, due to his weak personality and senility right from the very inception, he began slipping down the ladder of success.

2. Nana Sahib: Nana Sahib was the foster son of Peshwa Baji Rao II. When the Peshwa died in 1851, the English stopped Nana Sahib’s pension. Hence Nana Sahib got furious over the Britons and he imprisoned the British soldiers at Kanpur. The British commander Wheeler staying for three weeks in the prison supplicated Nana Sahib not to put him to death. Wheeler along with the other soldiers was released.

“West Bengal Board Class 10 History Early Stages of Collective Action, short answer questions”

But as soon as they were about to cross the Ganges by boat, a volley of bullets fell upon them which calmed down the anger of the Indian soldiers, and caused the death of 400 British soldiers. The commanders Neel and Havelock invaded Kanpur and captured it.

But soon after as a result of the endeavours on the part of Nana Sabib and Tantiya Tope, Kanpur was recaptured. But once again in December 1857, the British army under the leadership of Sir Collin Campbell captured Kanpur. At last, being disappointed Nana Sahib marched towards Nepal. There he met his death.

3. Tantiya Tope: Tantiya Tope was the commander of Nana Sahib who was famous for his discretion, variance, and qualities like courage, etc. He put his heart and soul into Nana Sahib to defend Kanpur. Guerilla warfare was his device of fighting with which the British soldiers were unfamiliar. Hence, he was peerless in his fighting skills.

Many notorious British commanders shuddered at his sight. Support to the Rani of Jhansi: He lent whole-hearted support to the Rani of Jhansi. The army fighting under the leadership of Sir Collin Campbell defeated and captured him. The brave commander was hanged to death in 1858.

4. Rani of Jhansi: The Rani of Jhansi too was the victim of the crooked policy of the British Government. The Britons had challenged her right to adoption and merged her territories with the British empire. Hence, Laxmi Bai played an active role in the revolt of 1857 AD. On seeking help from Tantiya Tope, the commander of Nana Sahib, and from other Afghan chiefs, the Rani took possession of Gwalior. She fought hard with the Britons in the dreadful fight of Kalpi.

She kept butchering the enemy till her last breath. In her praise, even the British commanders spoke lavishly that the Rani of Jhansi was the bravest opponent fighter. There is no denying the fact that though she was a woman she fought as men in bravery. Therefore, some poets expressed her feelings, “The manly queen who fought so valiantly was the queen of Jhansi.”

5. Kunwar Singh: Kunwar Singh, a ruined and discontented zamindar of Jagdishpur near Arrah was the chief organizer of the Revolt in Bihar. This young man of years unnerved the Britons. Kunwar Singh not only harassed the Britons in Bihar but also joined Nana Sahib and kept in constant conflict with the Britons in Central India while they were returning, the Britons besieged them near Arrah.

They defeated the Britons but received many deep wounds during the battle, consequent upon which he died later on 27th April 1858. His brother rushed forward to enflame the fire ignited by him. But he also could not face the Britons for a long time.

Question 23. Given an account of the growth of political associations in Bengal.
Answer:

Growth of Political Associations in Bengal:

Introduction: Raja Rammohan Roy was the pioneer of political movements in India. He was greatly influenced by Western ideas. He was a widely read man. His extensive studies had freed his mind from the bigotry that characterized an average Bengali. His sympathies in the domain of politics were cosmopolitan and his heart went in sympathy for popular movements all over the world. In 1821 the Raja celebrated in Calcutta the establishment of a constitutional government in Spain.

Raja Rammohan Roy’s contribution: Rammohan Roy was the first Indian to persuade the English to focus their attention on the grievances of India and to ask for remedial measures. He demanded liberty of the press, the appointment of Indians in civil courts and other higher posts, the codification of law, etc. It was generally believed that some of the beneficent provisions in the Charter Act of 1833 were due to his lobbying in England.

Bangabhasa PrakasikaSabha: The task of organizing political associations was, however, done by the associates of Rammohan Roy. The first such association called “Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha” was formed in 1836. This Sabha deliberated on topics connected with the policy and administration of the Government and sought redress by sending petitions and memorials to the Government.

Zamindary Association: In July 1838 the “Zamindary Association”, more popularly known as the “Landholders’ Society” was founded to safeguard the interests of the landlords. Although limited in its objectives, the Landholders’ Society pioneered the start of organized political activity and the use of methods of constitutional agitation for the redressal of grievances. The Landholders’ Society of Calcutta cooperated with the British India Society founded by Mr Adams in London in July 1839.

Bengal British India Society: In April 1843 another political association under the name of the Bengal British India Society was founded with the object of “the collection and dissemination of information relating to the actual condition of the people of British India…and to employ such other means of peaceful and lawful character as may appear calculated to secure the welfare, extend the just right, and advance the interests of all classes of our fellow subjects”

However, the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society did not flourish well and on 29 October 1851 the two associations were merged into a new one named the British Indian Association. This Association was dominated by members of the landed aristocracy and its chief aim was safeguarding their class interests.

However, the Association became a hub of liberalists and when the time came for the renewal of the Charter of the East India Company, it sent a petition to the Parliament praying for the establishment of a separate legislature of a popular character, separation of judicial from executive functions, reduction in the salaries of higher officers, abolition of the salt duty, abkari and stamp duties, etc.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 4 SAQs, exam preparation, solved answers”

The prayers of the Association were partially met and the Charter Act of 1853 provided for the addition of six members to the Governor-General’s Council for legislative purposes. The British Indian Association continued its existence as a political body down to the 20th century, even though it was subservient to the more popular Indian National Congress.

Indian League and Indian Association: By the 1870s there were signs of change inside Indian society. In the Presidency towns, higher education was well established and the members of the new professions were acquiring a status and developing new ambitions. A new elite had grown in all the Presidencies whose aspirations and status were incomparable. These were good developments for the formation of more popular and broad-based associations.

In September 1875 Babu Sisir Kumar Ghose founded the Indian League with the object of “stimulating the sense of nationalism amongst the people” and encouraging political education. Within a year of its foundation, the Indian League was superseded by the Indian Association founded on 26 July 1876 by Ananda Mohan Bose and Surendranath Banerjee.

The Indian Association hoped to attract not only “the middle classes” but also the masses and therefore kept its annual subscription at Rs. 5 as opposed to the subscription of Rs. 50 p.a. fixed by the British Indian Association. Soon the Indian Association became ‘the center of the leading representatives of the educated community of Bengal’.

“Best SAQs for WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 4, Early Stages of Collective Action”

Chapter 4 Early Stages Of Collective Action Very Short Answer

Question 1. Name a few English people who called the Sepoy Mutiny a National Revolt.
Answer: Tory leader Disreily and English thinkers like J.B. Norton, Alexander Duff, Maleson, Bol, James, Outram, and Holmes.

Question 2. Who formed the Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge?
Answer: Pyarichand Mitra, Debendranath Tagore, and two hundred other like-minded people.

Question 3. What was the name of the society formed by Kalinath Chowdhury, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, and Dwarkananth Tagore?
Answer: Bangabhasha Prakashika Sabha.

Question 4. Which was the largest political institution in the pre-Congress era?
Answer: Bharat Sabha or Indian Association.

Question 5. Name a few old kinds of literature that helped in the growth of nationalist feelings by influencing Indian Literature.
Answer: ‘Pamela’ by Samuel Richardson, ‘Hard Times’ and ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens, ‘Germinal’ by Emil Zola, ‘Mayor of Casterbridge’ by Thomas Hardy, and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe.

Question 6. Name the famous painting by Abanindranath Tagore which greatly inspired nationalist feelings among Indian people.
Answer: Bharat Mata.

Question 7. Who wrote ‘Anandamath’?
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Question 8. Who said these words: ‘The soil of India is my heaven, India’s well-being is my well-being’?
Answer: Swami Vivekananda.

Question 9. Who is called the father of modern nationalist Bengali cartoons?
Answer: Gaganendranath Tagore.

Question 10. Who was given the title of the ‘Empress of India’ in 1877?
Answer: Queen Victoria.

Question 11. Who organized a special court in Allahabad as a representative of Queen Victoria?
Answer: Lord Canning.

“Early Stages of Collective Action WBBSE Class 10 SAQs, with detailed solutions”

Question 12. Who was the editor of the journal ‘Sangbad Prabhakar’?
Answer: Ishwar Chandra Gupta.

Question 13. Who established ‘Bharat Sabha’?
Answer: Surendranath Banerjee.

Question 14. Which was the first historical novel of Bankim Chandra?
Answer: Anandamath.

Question 15. Who was the editor of the journal ‘The Bengalee’?
Answer: Surendranath Banerjee.

Question 16. Who said these words ‘The soil of India is Heaven to me’?
Answer: Swami Vivekananda.

Question 17. Who introduced the Enfield Rifle?
Answer: The British.

Question 18. Name a Rani who valiantly fought against the British.
Answer: Lakshmi Bai.

Question 19. When was the Azamgarh Proclamation issued?
Answer: 1857.

Question 20. The Queen’s Proclamation was issued in the name of which Queen of England?
Answer: Victoria.

Question 21. Who was the Mughal Emperor at the time of the Great Mutiny (1857)?
Answer: Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah.

Question 22. Who was the Governor-General of India at the time of the Great Revolt of 1857?
Answer: Lord Canning.

Question 23. Write the name of a leader of the Great Revolt of 1857.
Answer: Nana Saheb.

Question 24. In which year did the Sepoy Mutiny break out?
Answer: In 1857 AD.

Question 25. What was the immediate cause of the Revolt of 1857?
Answer: Introduction of Enfield Rifle.

Question 26. What was the new type of rifle introduced by the British for the use of the Indian sepoys?
Answer: Enfield Rifle.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 4 SAQs, for board exam, important notes”

Question 27. Who was the first martyr of the Revolt of 1857?
Answer: Mangal Pandey.

Question 28. Name two women leaders of the Sepoy Mutiny.
Answer: Rani Laxmi Bai and Begum Hazrat Mahal.

Question 29. Who led the Revolt of 1857 in Lucknow?
Answer: Begum Hazrat Mahal.

Question 30. Who was the leader of the Revolt of 1857 at Jhansi?
Answer: Rani Laxmi Bai.

Question 31. Who was the leader of the Revolt of 1857 at Kanpur?
Answer: Nana Saheb.

Question 32. Name two centers of the Sepoy Mutiny.
Answer: Meerut and Barrackpur.

Question 33. Who was the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao 2?
Answer: Nana Saheb.

Question 34. Whom did the mutineers proclaim the emperor of Hindustan?
Answer: Bahadur Shah 2

“Early Stages of Collective Action WBBSE Class 10, SAQs guide, exam-focused”

Question 35. In which year was the Queen’s Proclamation issued?
Answer: In 1858.

Question 36. Who was the Queen of England at the time of the transfer of power?
Answer: Victoria.

Question 37. Where did the revolt of 1857 break out?
Answer: At Meerut in UP.

Question 38. When was the Act for Better Government of India passed?
Answer: In 1858 AD.

Question 39. Who was the first Viceroy of India?
Answer: Lord Canning.

Question 40. Name a leader of Bihar in the Revolt of 1857.
Answer: Kunwar Singh.

Question 41. What was the nature of the Revolt of 1857?
Answer: Popular revolt.

Question 42. Who passed the Act for the Better Government of India?
Answer: British Parliament.

Question 43. By what name is the Act of 1858 known?
Answer: Queen’s Proclamation of India Act or Better Government of India.

Question 44. When did the East India Company’s rule in India come to an end?
Answer: In 1858 AD.

Question 45. In which year did Queen Victoria get the title ‘Empress of India’?
Answer: Queen Victoria got the title ‘Empress of India’ on 1st January 1877 AD.

Question 46. Under which Act, did the Company’s rule end?
Answer: The rule of the company was ended by an Act for the Better Government of India, which was passed on 2nd August 1858 AD.

Question 47. In which year the Board of Control and Court of Directors were abolished?
Answer: These were abolished in 1858 AD.

Question 48. Who started the Sepoy Mutiny and when and where?
Answer: The Sepoy Mutiny was started by Mangal Pandey on 29th March 1857 AD in the military base at Barrackpore.

Question 49. Which revolt was initiated at Bhagmidi field?
Answer: Santhal revolt.

Question 50. Name the last Governor General of East India Company.
Answer: Lord Dalhousie.

Question 51. When was the proclamation of Queen Victoria published?
Answer: The proclamation of Queen Victoria was published on 1st November 1858 A.D.

Question 52. What is the meaning of the word Viceroy?
Answer: The meaning of the word Viceroy is Royal representative.

Question 53. In which year did the ruling of the Viceroy start in India?
Answer: The Ruling of Viceroy started in India in 1858 A.D

Question 54. Name the Patrika in which the first modern Indian cartoon was published.
Answer: Amrit Bazar Patrika.

Question 55. Name the first Indian Cartoon Magazine.
Answer: Dechi Sketch Book.

Question 56. In which year was Dechi Sketch Book published?
Answer: 1850.

Question 57. What kind of magazine was Dechi Sketch Book?
Answer: Monthly Magazine.

Question 58. In which year was Zamindar Sabha formed?
Answer: In 1837.

“Best SAQs for WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 4, Early Stages of Collective Action”

Question 59. Which organization is regarded as the first political association of Bengal?
Answer: Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha.

Question 60. Who was the first chairman of Bangabhasha Prakashika Sabha?
Answer: Gaurishankar Tarkabagish.

Question 61. Who called the Queen’s proclamation a political bluff?
Answer: Bipin Chandra.

Question 62. Who called the period of Queen Victoria the ‘era of broken pledges’?
Answer: R.C. Majumdar.

Question 63. Who formed Puna Sarbojonik Sabha?
Answer: Gopal Hari Deshmukh.

Question 64. Who formed ‘The East India Association, London’?
Answer: Dadabhai Naoroji and K. R. Kama.

Question 65. Who formed ‘The Bombay Presidency Association’?
Answer: Firoz Shah Mehta, Badruddin Tayebji, and Kashinath Trimbak Telang.

Question 66. Who formed ‘Sanjeebani Sabha’?
Answer: Jyotirindra Nath Tagore.

Question 67. Who declared the revolt of 1857 as ‘The National Revolt’?
Answer: Disraeli, the leader of the Tory party.

Question 68. Which historian thinks that the revolt of 1857 was feudal?
Answer: R. C. Majumdar.

Question 69. Name the largest political institution in the pre-congress era.
Answer: Indian Association or Bharat Sabha.

Question 70. Who wrote the book Eighteen Fifty-Seven (1857)?
Answer: Surendra Nath Sen wrote the book ‘Eighteen Fifty-Seven’, (1857).

Question 71. What do you understand by collective action?
Answer: “United we stand”: Thus goes the proverbial saying. This power develops through collective action. Numerous institutions and organizations have been formed for the development of united and collective power. Initially, it was the rich and socially higher classes of people, influenced by Western education, who took the initiative for some united movement. Later on, the movement became universal among people irrespective of their race, caste, or creed.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 4 SAQs, important questions, and answers”

Question 72. Who announced the Queen’s Proclamation and when?
Answer: Lord Canning after being appointed as the first Viceroy of India, representing Victoria, the Queen of England (1837-1901), organized a formal court in Allahabad. In this court, on 1st November 1858, he read out a proclamation on behalf of the Queen. This came to be known as “The Proclamation of the Queen”

Question 73. What was the ‘Queen’s Proclamation’?
Answer: Queen Victoria of England announced a proclamation after the Sepoy mutiny promising to provide some facilities and benefits to India This was made just to pacify them. Her representative Lord Canning announced this as the Queen’s proclamation in the Allahabad Conference.

Question 74. What was the purpose of the Hindu Mela?
Answer: The main purpose of the Hindu Mela was to re-establish the dignity of the ancient Hindu religion and inspire people in the ideal of patriotism and freedom movement.

Question 75. Name the authors of the two novels ‘Gora’ and ‘Anandamath’.
Answer: Gora was written by Rabindranath Tagore and Anandamath was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Question 76. Describe the painting ‘Bharat Mata’ by Abanindra Nath Tagore.
Answer: Abanindranath’s Bharatmata has four hands. A special characteristic of this painting is that the nationalist spirit flows through it. She wears saffron clothes and appears as a woman saint. On her two left hands, she holds a book and a bunch of paddies. On the two right hands, we find a pair of white clothing and a sting of Rudraksha (sacred beads).

Question 77. Why is the 19th century called the Age of Associations?
Answer: The whole of the nineteenth century has seen the formation and development of many associations. So, Cambridge historian Dr. Anil Sil, in his book ‘The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Late Nineteenth Century’, has called this period “an age of associations”.

Question 78. Who was the main founder of Bharat Sabha and what was the name of its main journal?
Answer: Surendranath Banerjee was the main founder of Bharat Sabha. Its main journal was ‘The Bengalee’.

Question 79. Why was Gaganendra Nath called the father of Bengali cartoon pictures?
Answer: The single-coloured or bi-coloured cartoons mirrored the Bengali society of that time. It was not just in Bengal, but the importance of Indian cartoons increased manifold under Gaganendranath. Hence, he is often called the father of modern nationalist Bengali cartoons.

Question 80. Mention two causes of failure of the Great Revolt of 1857.
Answer: The causes of the failure of the revolt of 1857 are as follows:

(1)Local limitations: Though the sepoys revolted over a large area from Eastern Punjab to Western Bihar, it did not affect the entire sub-continent. It was not felt elsewhere except in some portions of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bundelkhand, Oudh, Bengal, and Bihar.

(2)Lack of public support: Though there was public support for the revolt in many places like Jhansi, Oudh, and Delhi, people of other areas were reluctant to sympathize with the sepoys. The king of Gwalior, Sindhia, and his minister Dinkar Rao, Jang Bahadur of Nepal, the Nawab of Hyderabad, the Begum of Bhopal, and the king of Jodhpur had helped the British to subdue the rebels.

Question 81. In 1857 who was declared to be the ‘Emperor of Hindustan’ by the rebel sepoys? Where was he banished later on?
Answer: Bahadur Shah 2, the then Mughal Emperor, was declared the ‘Emperor of Hindustan’ by the rebels of 1857. The British suppressed the Revolt of 1857 within a very short time. Immediately after that, the British had done away with the very existence of the Mughal emperor in India. Bahadur Shah 2 was banished from India to Rangoon, present Yangon.

Question 82. What international events encouraged the Revolt of 1857?
Answer: When the resentment against the British was growing among the Indian sepoys, news of some international events helped to generate a sense of self-confidence in them. The setback of the British soldiers in the first Afghan War (1839) and the Crimean War (1854) indirectly helped the sepoys to be so determined as to rise in revolt against the British.

Question 83. Name two centres other than Meerut which became important for rebel activities. How did the Rani of Jhansi fight the British?
Answer: Lucknow and Kanpur were the two important centers of the Revolt of 1857. Rani of Jhansi, to recover her kingdom Jhansi from the British herself, took command of her army. She wrested Gwalior from the British with the help of Tanya Tope.

Question 84. Who was known as the ‘Tiger of the Revolt of 1857’? Where did he hoist his flag?
Answer: Kunwar Singh was known as the ‘Tiger of the Revolt of 1857’. He was a big zamindar of Jagadishpur in Bihar. He hoisted his flag at the top of his royal palace at Jagadishpur.

Question 85. What was the immediate cause of the Revolt of 1857?
Answer: The episode of the greased cartridges constituted the immediate cause of the revolt of 1857. The new Enfield Rifle introduced by the British had a greased paper cover in its cartridge that had to be bitten off before it was loaded. There was a rumor that the paper was made of beef and pig fat. This enraged both the Hindu and Muslim sepoys who burst out in rebellion.

Question 86. Name two historians who called the revolt of 1857 A.D. a Sepoy Revolt.
Answer: Sir John Silly & Charles Robert said that the revolt of 1857 was just a sepoy mutiny.

Question 87. Who said the revolt of 1857 A.D. was the First War of Indian Independence?
Answer: S.C.Bose & V.D. Savarkar said that the revolt of 1857 was the first war of Independence.

Question 88. What information do we get from the caricature of Gaganedra Nath Tagore?
Answer: Through his cartoons, he criticized colonialism in contemporary society. He criticized certain sections of the British Indian colonialist society and the ‘babu culture’ of Western-educated people through his cartoons and was able to enhance the fondness for traditional Indian culture among the Bengali gentry.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Early Stages of Collective Action, short answer questions”

Question 89. When was Nana Sahab declared the Peshwa of Kanpur?
Answer: Nana Saheb was declared Peshwa of Kanpur on 6th June 1857.

Question 90. When and who founded the Landholders’ Society?
Answer: The Landholder’s Society was founded in 1838 by Dwarkanath Tagore.

Question 91. Who were the members of the Landholders” Association?
Answer: Radhakanta Dev, Rammohan Roy, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, and Dwarkanath Tagore were the members of the Landholders” Association.

Question 92. Where were the branches of the Indian Association?
Answer: The Indian Association had branches in Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Meerut.

Question 93. Who and when founded the Hindu Mela?
Answer: Hindu Mela was founded by Navgopala Mitra in 1867.

Question 94. Who and when founded the National Gymnasium?
Answer: The National Gymnasium was founded by Nabagopala Mitra in the year 1868.

Question 95. Who were the main students of the National Gymnasium?
Answer: The main students of the National Gymnasium were Bipin Chanda Pal, Sundari Mohan Das, Rajchandra Chaudhury, and Swami Vivekananda.

Question 96. Who and when founded the Bengal British Association?
Answer: George Thomson founded the Bengal British India Society in 1843.

Question 97. Who and when founded the British Indian Association?
Answer: Raja Radhakanta Deb founded the British Indian Association on 2nd October 1851.

Question 98. Which journal reported the failure of Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha? Why did it fail?
Answer: Sambad Prabhakarin its 2 March 1852 edition reported about the failure of all the associations that followed the Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha. The associations could not survive because of their ‘lack of unity”.

Question 99. Who and where founded the East India Association?
Answer: Dadabhai Naoroji founded the East Indian Association in London.

Question 100. Who and when founded Poona Sarvajanik Sabha?
Answer: Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was founded in 1867 by Gopal Hari Deshmukh.

Question 111. Who and where founded the Indian League?
Answer: The Indian League was founded by Sisir Kumar Ghosh in 1875.

Question 112. Who and when founded the Bombay Association?
Answer: Jagannath Shankar in 1852 founded Bombay Association.

Question 113. Who and when founded the Calcutta Students” Association?
Answer: The Calcutta Students” Association was founded by Anand Mohan Bose in 1875.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Early Stages of Collective Action, short answer questions”

Question 114. Who and when founded the National India Association?
Answer: The National India Association was founded by Mary Carpenter in 1857.

Question 115. Who and where founded the Indian Society?
Answer: Ananda Mohan Bose founded the Indian Society in London.

Question 116. Who and when founded Madras Mahajan Sabha?
Answer: Madras Mahajan Sabha was founded by Raghavachari and S. Ayyer in 1884.

Question 117. Who and when founded the Bombay Presidency Association?
Answer: The Bombay Presidency Association was founded by Firozshah Tayabbji in 1885.

Question 118. Who and when wrote the novel Anandamath?
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote the novel Anandamath in 1882.

Question 119. Who and when wrote Bartaman Bharat?
Answer: Swami Vivekananda wrote Bartaman Bharat in 1905.

Question 120. What is the subject matter of Bartaman Bharat?
Answer: In “Bartaman Bharat”, not only did Swami Vivekananda talk about the awakening of lower caste people, he thought deeply about the awakening of lower caste people, the poor, and the downtrodden people. He implored people to remove the caste barrier and consider every Indian as a brother.

Question 121. What is ‘Gora’?
Answer: Gora was a novel written by Rabindranath Tagore in the year 1910.

Question 122. When and in which magazine Gora was published serially?
Answer: From 1907 to 1909 Gora was published serially in the magazine named ‘Pravasi’.

Question 123. What is the subject matter of the novel Gora?
Answer: Gora, written at the beginning of the twentieth century, dealt with doubts and conflicts in the minds of the Bengalees about social, moral, and national issues.

Question 124. Who and when painted the picture of Bharat Mata?
Answer: Abanindranath Tagore in 1905 painted the picture of Bharat Mata.

Question 125. In which magazines were the cartoons of Ganendranath Tagore published?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore’s cartoons were published in ‘Prabasi’ and ‘Modern Review magazines.

Chapter 4 Early Stages Of Collective Action Fill In The Blanks 

Question 1. In Bengal _______, near Calcutta, was the center of the initial spark of the Revolt of 1857.
Answer: Barrackpore.

Question 2. One of the aims of the Indian Association was to rally the masses in the great ________ movements of the day.
Answer: Political.

Question 3. The Indian League of ______ was merged with Bharat Sabha.
Answer: Sisir Kumar Ghosh.

Question 4. Jatiyo Mela set up by Rajnarayan Basu and Nabagopal Mitra was later renamed as _________.
Answer: Hindu Mela.

Question 5. The song Vande Mataram was composed by ________.
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Question 6.’Gora’ was written by ________.
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

Question 7. The first modern cartoon was published in _______.
Answer: Amrita Bazar Patrika.

Question 8. Sepoy Mutiny took place in ______.
Answer: 1857.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 4 SAQs, important questions, and answers”

Question 9. Zamindar Sabha was established in _______.
Answer: 1837.

Question 10. ________ organized Hindu Mela.
Answer: Naba Gopal Mitra.

Question 11. ________ wrote Bartaman Bharat.
Answer: Swami Vivekananda.

Question 12. Anandmath’s novel was written by ______.
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Question 13. _________ painted the figure of Bharat Mata.
Answer: Abanindra Nath Tagore.

Question 14. S. N. Sen wrote the book ________.
Answer: 1857 (Eighteen Fifty-Seven).

Question 15. The book “The Great Revolt’ was written by ________.
Answer: Ashok Mehta.

Question 16. Victoria’s Proclamation was read out on ________.
Answer: 1 November 1858 A.D.

Question 17. The doctrine of Lapse was introduced by _______.
Answer: Lord Dalhousie.

Question 18. The Sepoy Mutiny in Meerut was started on _________.
Answer: 10 May 1857 A.D.

Question 19. Queen of Jhansi fought with _________.
Answer: Sir Hirose.

Question 20. National Gymnasium was established in ________.
Answer: 1868 A.D.

Question 21. Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was founded by ________.
Answer: Justice Ranade.

Question 22. National India Association was founded at ________.
Answer: London.

Question 23. Bombay Association was formed by __________.
Answer: Jagannath Shankar.

Question 24. The book Naba Hullode was written by _______.
Answer: Gaganendra Nath Tagore.

Question 25. Emon Korbo Ar Korbo Na was written by ______ .
Answer: Jyotindra Nath Tagore.

Chapter 4 Early Stages Of Collective Action True Or False

Question 1. Considering the nature of the rising the old school of historians found it difficult to call the Revolt of 1857 the ‘War of Independence’.
Answer: True

Question 2. Despite failure, the Bangabhasa Prakashika Sabha paved the way for the foundation of the Indian National Congress.
Answer: True

Question 3. Abanindranath’s paintings were designed as an organized protest against foreign influences.
Answer: True

Question 4. The Sepoy Mutiny was an uprising of the soldiers.
Answer: True

Question 5. On 1st December 1877, Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India.
Answer: False

Question 6. The British rulers and Indian Zamindars could come together under the banner of Bharat Sabha.
Answer: False

Question 7. Bharat Sabha was established in 1836.
Answer: False

Question 8. Bharat Mata’ was a famous painting drawn in the backdrop of the Sepoy Mutiny.
Answer: False

Question 9. The 18th century is called the Age of Associations.
Answer: False

Question 10. Bangabhasha Prakashika Sabha was a religious institution.
Answer: False

Question 11. The other name of the Landholders’ Society was Zamindar Sabha.
Answer: Ture

“Early Stages of Collective Action WBBSE Class 10, SAQs guide, exam-focused”

Question 12. Hindu Mela was organized in 1876 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 13. Hindu Mela was a national fair.
Answer: True

Question 14. According to V.A. Smith, the revolt of 1857 was a Sepoy Mutiny.
Answer: True

Question 15. Dr. R. C. Majumdar called the revolt of 1857 a National Revolt.
Answer: False

Question 16. Ashok Mehta wrote the book ‘The Great Revolt’.
Answer: True

Question 17. Queen Victoria’s Proclamation was announced in 1857 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 18. The first Viceroy of India was Lord Canning.
Answer: True

Question 19. Bangabhasha Prakashika Sabha was founded in 1834 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 20. Zamindar Sabha was founded by Dwarkanath Tagore.
Answer: True

Question 21. Indian Association was founded on 26 July 1876 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 22. The founder of the Indian Association was Surendranath Banerjee.
Answer: True

Question 23. All India National Conference was called forth in 1885 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 24. Indian National Congress was founded in 1855 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 25. The last Mughal emperor was Bahadur Shah 2.
Answer: True

Question 25. The founder of the Indian League was Firoj Shah Mehta.
Answer: False

Question 26. The founder of the Indian National Congress was A. O. Hume.
Answer: True

Question 27. National Gymnasium was founded by Naba Gopal Mitra.
Answer: False

Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives Fill In The Blanks

Question 1. ________ declared freedom of the press in the year 1835.
Answer: Charles Metcalfe.

Question 2. __________ was the first English newspaper in Bengal.
Answer: Bengal Gazette.

Question 3. The readers could have easy access to knowledge because of _______.
Answer: The printing press.

Question 4. The university set up by Rabindranath Tagore was called _______.
Answer: Visva Bharati.

Question 5. ________ established the Indian Statistical Institute at Baranagar.
Answer: Prashanta Kumar Mahalanobis.

Question 6. ________ was the founder of IACS.
Answer: Mahendra Lai Sarkar.

Question 7. The National Council of Education was set up in ______.
Answer: 1906.

Question 8. Against the publication of ______ Lord Lytton passed the Vernacular Press Act.
Answer: Somprakash.

Question 9. _______ published the Bengal Gazette.
Answer: James Augustus Hickki.

10. ______ bought the Hindu Patriot.
Answer: British Indian Association.

Question 11. Digdarshan was published under the leadership of ______.
Answer: Marshman.

Question 12. Bangadutta newspaper was published in ______.
Answer: 1830 A.D.

Question 13. The editor of Indian Mirror was _______.
Answer: Keshab Chandra Sen.

Question 14. Amrit Bazar Patrika turned into a daily newspaper in ______.
Answer: 1851 A.D.

Question 15. Bangabasi magazine was published by _______.
Answer: Jogendranath Bose.

Question 16. _______ published the English magazine named Bengalee.
Answer: Surendra Nath Banerjee.

Question 17. Al Hilal magazine was published under the leadership of ______.
Answer: Abul Kalam Azad.

Question 18. Bombay Gazette was published in _______.
Answer: 1816 A.D.

Question 19. The founder of ‘U.N. Roy and Sons was ______.
Answer: Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury.

Question 20. South Asia’s first printing press was established in ______.
Answer: 1913 A.D.

Question 21. Calcutta Medical College was founded in ______.
Answer: 1835 A.D.

Question 22. The founder of Bose Institute was ______.
Answer: Jagdish Chandra Bose.

Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives True Or False

Question 1. ‘Bengal Chemicals’ was set up by Jagdish Chandra Bose.
Answer: False

Question 2. Prof. C. V. Raman was associated with Calcutta Science College.
Answer: False

Question 3. Rabindranath Tagore was opposed to the colonial system of education.
Answer: True

Question 4. Shantiniketan Ashram was set up by Rabindranath Tagore.
Answer: True

Question 5. Sambad Kaumudi was published in the Bengali language.
Answer: True

Question 6. Raja Rammohan Roy edited the magazine, Chandrika.
Answer: False

Question 7. Somprakash was a daily newspaper.
Answer: False

Question 8. Bengal Gazette was published in 1816 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 9. The publication of Bangadutta was started in 1857 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 10. Somprakash was banned by the Vernacular Press Act.
Answer: True

Question 11. The publication of Indian Mirror was started in 1861 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 12. The language of the magazine Amrit Bazar Patrika was Bengali.
Answer: True

Question 13. The founder of ‘The Bengal Gazette’ was William Bolts.
Answer: False

Question 14. The editor of Calcutta General was James Augustus Hikki.
Answer: False

Question 15. The book Chheleder Ramayan was printed in Wood Block printing.
Answer: True

Question 16. The first printing press in South Asia was U.N. Roy and Sons.
Answer: True

Question 17. Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury was the father of the printing press in India.
Answer: True

Question 18. Calcutta Medical College was founded in 1847 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 19. Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science was established in 1876 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 20. C.S.I.R. was established in 1947 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 21. Shantiniketan Ashram was founded by Debendra Nath Tagore.
Answer: True

WBBSE Chapter 7 Movements Organized By Women, Students, And Marginal People In 20th Century India: Characteristics And Analyses Very Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Which day was declared as International Women’s Day?
Answer: 4th March 1975.

Question 2. Which class of women were more active during the Anti-partition of Bengal Movement?
Answer: The women of higher caste and educated or western-educated women.

Read and learn all WBBSE Solutions For Class 10 History And Environment

Question 3. Who formed the ‘Bhagini Sena’ or army of sisters?
Answer: Matangini Hazra.

Question 4. Which institutions were opened at the initiative of Deepali Sangha?
Answer: A girls’ High School, an Adult Education Centre, and 15 primary schools.

Question 5. What was the women’s brigade in ‘Azad Hind Fauj’ known as?
Answer: Jhansi Brigade.

Question 6. When did the students’ movement begin in India?
Answer: In the second half of the nineteenth century.

Question 7. What was the reason for the students’ strike all over the country on 6th April 1919?
Answer: Protest against the Rowlatt Act.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 7 solutions, Movements by Women, Students, and Marginal People”

Question 8. What was the character of the student movement in the post-World War II period?
Answer: The anti-Fascism nature of the students’ movement became popular.

Question 9. What was the main achievement of Surya Sen?
Answer: The Chittagong Armoury Raid was the main achievement of Surya Sen.

Question 10. Who is called the Margaret Thatcher of India?
Answer: Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Question 11. When was International Women’s Day observed for the first time?
Answer: 8th March 1975.

Question 12. Which period is called the ‘Women’s Decade’?
Answer: 1975-854.

Question 13. Who Founded the “Sebasadan”?
Answer: Ramabai Ranade.

Question 14. Name one woman who participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer: Renuka Roy.

Question 15. Who started the ‘Beerashtami Brata’?
Answer: Sarala Devi.

Question 16. Who is known as the ‘Cuckoo of India’?
Answer: Sarojini Naidu.

Question 17. Who is also known as the ‘Nightingale of India’?
Answer: Sarojini Naidu.

Question 18. Who formed Sakhi Samity?
Answer: Swarma Debi.

Question 19. Who formed ‘Lakhmir Bhandar’?
Answer: Sarala Devi Chowdhurani.

Question 20. Name the publisher of the magazine ‘Suprabhat.’
Answer: Kumudini Mitra.

Question 21. Name a book written by Sarojini Naidu.
Answer: The Golden Threshold (1905).

Question 22. Name the first woman President of the Indian National Congress.
Answer: Sarojini Naidu.

Question 23. Who formed Mahila Parishad (1905)?
Answer: Ramabai Ranade.

Question 24. Who founded Nari Karma Mandir?
Answer: Urmila Devi.

Question 25. Who formed Bhagini Sena?
Answer: Matangini Hazra.

Question 26. Name the 73-year-old woman who participated in the Quit India Movement.
Answer: Matangini Hazra.

Question 27. Name a revolutionary woman of Anushilan Samity.
Answer: Nivedita.

Question 28. Who is known as the mother of Indian revolutionary ideas?
Answer: Mrs. Vikaji Rustamji Kama.

Question 29. Who formed Azad Hind Fauj?
Answer: Subhash Chandra Bose.

Question 30. Who was named as ‘Captain Lakshmi’?
Answer: Lakshmi Sehgal.

Question 31. Which lady was convicted in the ‘Titagarh Conspiracy Case’?
Answer: Parul Mukherjee.

Question 32. Who established Deepali Sangha?
Answer: Leeia Nag (Roy).

Question 33. When was Deepali Chhatri Sangha founded?
Answer: 1926.

Question 34. Name the first female students’ organization in India.
Answer: Deepali Chhatri Sangha.

Question 35. Name a magazine edited by Leela Roy.
Answer: Jayashri (1931).

Question 36. Name the first revolutionary woman of India to become a martyr.
Answer: Pritilata Waddedar.

Question 37. Who was called by Tagore as ‘Agnikanya’?
Answer: Kalpana Dutta.

Question 38. Name the woman involved in the Dynamite Conspiracy Case.
Answer: Kalpana Dutta.

Question 39. Which woman committed suicide by eating potassium cyanide?
Answer: Pritilata Waddedar.

Class 10 Maths	Class 10 Social Science
Class 10 English	Class 10 Maths
Class 10 Geography	Class 10 Geography MCQs
Class 10 History	Class 10 History MCQs
Class 10 Life Science	Class 10 Science VSAQS
Class 10 Physical Science	Class 10 Science SAQs

Question 40. Who was hanged after the end of the trial of the Lahore Conspiracy Case?
Answer: Bhagat Singh.

Question 41. Who was the first student martyr from Punjab?
Answer: Khusiram.

Question 42. Under whose leadership was the All Bengal Students’ Association (ABSA) formed?
Answer: Jyotindra Mohan Sengupta.

Question 43. Under whose leadership was the Bengal Presidency Students’ Association formed?
Answer: Subhash Chandra Bose.

Question 44. Name the students’ organization formed by Biswanath Mukhopadhyay.
Answer: Bengal Students’ League.

Question 45. Who called the students in a Rakshabandhan Ceremony to join the boycott movement?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

Question 46. Who was known as Deshapran?
Answer: Birendranath Sashmal.

Question 47. Who formed the Anti-Circular Society?
Answer: Sachindra Prasad Basu.

Question 48. When was the Anti-Circular Society formed?
Answer: On 4th November 1905.

Question 49. Which circular forbade the slogan of Vande Mataram?
Answer: Carlyle Circular.

Question 50. Who formed ‘Bengal Volunteers’?
Answer: Hemchandra Ghosh.

Question 51. Name the autobiography of Bina Das.
Answer: Srinkhal Jhankar.

Question 52. Name a member of Chhatri Sangha.
Answer: Bina Das.

Question 53. Who formed ‘Satya Shodhak Samaj’ (1873)?
Answer: Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.

Question 54. Who founded the Dalit Mission Society?
Answer: V.R. Shilde.

Question 55. Who announced the Communal Award?
Answer: Sir Ramsay Mcdonald.

Question 56. Name the publisher of Harijan Patrika.
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

Question 57. Who started Harijan Movement?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi.

Question 58. Name the editor of ‘The Pataka’.
Answer: Raicharan Biswas.

Question 59. Who founded Matka Maha Sangha.
Answer: Promoth Ranjan Thakur.

Question 60. When was the Women’s Federation of India formed?
Answer: 1954.

Question 61. Who initiated the Quit India Movement?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi started the Quit India Movement.

Question 62. Quit India Movement started in which year?
Answer: Quit India Movement started on 9th August 1942 A.D.

Question 63. Who appealed “Do or Die”?
Answer: Gandhiji appealed “Do or Die.”

Question 64. The report of Quit India was first published in which paper?
Answer: The report of Quit India was first published in Harijan Patrika.

Question 65. Who was called Gandhiburi during the time of the Quit India Movement?
Answer: Matangini Hazra of Midnapore was called Gandhiburi.

Question 66. Who gave leadership to the Quit India Movement after Gandhiji was arrested?
Answer: Abbas Tayebhji gave leadership to the Quit India Movement first and then Sarojini Naidu after the arrest of Gandhiji.

Question 67. Who gave leadership to the Jhansi Brigade?
Answer: C.nt. Laxmi Swaminathan gave leadership to the Jhansi Brigade.

Question 68. Write the name of one woman leader who participated in the Chittagong Armoury Raid.
Answer: Kalpana Dutta.

Question 69. Which day was observed as “Rashid Ali Day”?
Answer: 13th June.

Question 70. Name a woman leader of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Answer: Sarojini Naidu.

Question 71. In which year was Chittagong Armoury raided by Surya Sen?
Answer: In 1930.

Question 72. Name the woman revolutionary who attempted the life of the Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson.
Answer: Bina Das.

Question 73. What was the full name of ‘B.V’.?
Answer: Bengal Volunteers.

Question 74. Name one revolutionary of the ‘corridor warfare.’
Answer: Binoy Bose.

Question 75. What was the real name of Masterda?
Answer: Surya Sen.

Question 76. When did the student community of Calcutta start a movement for the release of Captain Rashid Ali?
Answer: In 1946.

Question 77. What were the features of the students’ movement before 1919?
Answer: Students’ movement during this period were marked by two important features, viz. their extreme enthusiasm about boycotting British goods, enhanced anti-British feeling all around, and the young student community was greatly influenced by revolutionary movements, the Russian Revolution and equality and socialist ideals.

Question 78. What was ‘Bengal Volunteers’?
Answer: Bengal Volunteers or B.V. was a social welfare organization, with its head office in Dhaka, set up by Hemchandra Ghosh. He was inspired by Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, and Brahmabandhab Upadhyay. The B.V. party also participated in many covert revolutionary activities. Later, all the members joined the Forward Bloc party of Subhas Chandra Bose.

Question 79. How did the students participate in the Quit India Movement?
Answer: The students joined the movement without caring about the government’s threat of arrests or paying any heed to any restrictions. Students’ movement took a violent form throughout India. Since the Students Federation run by Congress was banned, it was led by the Communist Party, Forward Bloc, and RSP. They actively participated in various social service and relief activities. Student movement spread like a huge wave from Kashmir to Kanyakumari during this time.

Question 80. Name two military women of the Tebhaga Movement.
Answer: Ila Mitra, Rina Guha, and others were fire-brand leaders of the Tebhaga Movement (1948-49).

Question 81. Name two student leaders of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer: Two student leaders of the on-Cooperation Movement were Birendranath Sashmal and Biren Dasgupta.

Question 82. Name two revolutionaries of Bengal Volunteers.
Answer: Two revolutionaries of Bengal Volunteers were Hemchandra Ghosh and Leela Nag (Roy).

Question 83. How did the womenfolk of Bengal observe the day of the Partition of Bengal on 16 October 1905?
Answer: The day of partition (16 October 1905) was observed by the women throughout Bengal as the day of protest. About five hundred women gathered on the day of partition in North Calcutta to watch the foundation of the Federation Hall, which was a symbol of unity of the Bengali people.

Question 84. Narrate the incident that immortalized Midnapur of West Bengal during the Quit India Movement.
Answer: The incident that immortalized Midnapur in the history of the freedom movement was the lead given by Srimati Matangini Hazra, a 73-year-old widow, in capturing the court and the police station of Tamluk.

Question 85. Mention the daring feat of revolutionary Pritilata Waddedar of Chittagong.
Answer: On 24 September, Pritilata led seven young boy-revolutionaries to make a daring attack upon the Europeans at the Assam-Bengal Railway European Club in Chittagong hills.

Question 86. Mention two of the causes of the failure of the Quit India movement.
Answer:
1. unarmed people without leaders and proper organization fought against the British police and military firings.
2. The movement was not supported by all political parties.

Question 87. Who was Rashid Ali? Why was there mass agitation for him?
Answer: Rashid Ali had been a Captain of INA. He was given a life term by the court martial. So, there was mass agitation in Calcutta against the verdict.

“West Bengal Board Class 10 History Chapter 7, solved questions and answers”

Question 88. What is known as “Corridor War”?
Answer: There were three revolutionaries of Bengal volunteers. The trio made a daring attempt to raid the heart of the British rule, the Writers Building, and thus involved themselves in what is known as corridor warfare. In this venture,e they had to clash with the police, and at last, to evade arrest, Badal killed himself, Benoy die,d and Dinesh was hanged to death.

Question 89. Mention any two ways in which the Quit India Movement was different from earlier mass movements.
Answer: On August 8, 1942 the Congress adopted the historic “Quit India Resolution’ which declar,,ed among other the,ings that the immediate ending of the British rule in India was an urgent necessity. It was further resolved that the Congress was to launch a movement on the lines suggested by Gandhiji. It may be noted here that Gandhiji was now in a militant mood and was in favor of a mass struggle on the widest possible scale. In a historic speech, Gandhiji raised the slogan ‘Do or die.’

Question 90. What was the reaction in the country centering on the trial of Captain Rashid Ali?
Answer: Captain Rashid Ali of Azad Hind Fauj was imprisoned for 7 years. Students of Calcutta strongly protested for the release of Rashid Ali. Political leaders also joined in this movement. Rashid Ali Day was observed on 12 February 1946. Police resorted to firing. Armed forces were also asked to control the movement, which resulted in the death of 86 people, and 300 were injured.

Question 91. With which movement is the name of Matangini Hazra associated? Where did she give proof of her bravery?
Answer: The name of Matangini Hazra is associated with the Quit India Movement of 1942. A rare instance of bravery was shown by Matangini Hazra, a peasant widow of 72 years. She led a massive crowd marching towards the Tamluk thana (in Purba Medinipore) to hoist a flag.

Question 92. Who and when killed Governor Jackson?
Answer: Governor Jackson was killed by Bina Das in February 1932.

Question 93. Who and where founded Swadesh Bandhav Samiti?
Answer: Swadesh Bandhav Samiti was formed by Ashwini Kumar Dutta in Barisal.

Question 94. By which Act women got the right to vote in politics?
Answer: Due to the Montague-Chemsford Reforms Act of 1919,, women got the right to vote in politics.

Question 95. When and why was the All India Women Conference established?
Answer: All Indian Women Conference was established in 1927 to provide freedom to women in social & political spheres.

Question 96. Mention the name of the foreign women who participated in the Swadeshi and Boycott movement.
Answer: Mrs. Annie Besant participated in the Boycott and Swadeshi movement.

Question 97. When and why did women celebrate Rakhi Diwas?
Answer: Influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and as a protest against the partition of Bengal, women folk started celebrating Rakhi Diwas in 1905.

Question 98. In which states there was a protest against the partition of Bengal?
Answer: Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar were the places where there was protest against the partition of Bengal.

Question 99. Name the women who participated ithe n the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer: Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Basanti Devi, Suniti Devi, and Kasturba Gandhi were the main leaders who participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Question 100. Who and why formed Nari Karma Mandir?
Answer: Nari Karma Mandir was formed by Urmila Devi to promote the use of ‘Charkha.’

Question 101. Name two female members of the Satyagraha Committee.
Answer: The Satyagraha Committee consisted of two female members, namely :
1. Urmila Devi
2. Hemprabha Das.

Question 102. What was the role of Sarojini Naidu inthe  the Civil Disobedience Movement?
Answer: The women who participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement were Kurshid Behen, Mridula Saralabhai, Sarojini Naidu, and Aruna Asaf Ali.

Question 103. When did the Quit India Movement start?
Answer: Quit India movement was started on 9th August 1942.

Question 104. Who is known as Old Gandhi?
Answer: Matangini Hazra.

Question 105. Name the women who participated in the Quit India Movement.
Answer: The women who participated in the Quit India Movement are Matangini Hazra, Veena Das, Shashibala, Pratima Devi, and Ujjwala Mazumdar.

Question 106. Who and when edited the magazine Bande Mataram?
Answer: Bande Mataram magazine was edited by Madam Cama in 1909.

Question 107. Who and when founded Dipali Sangha?
Answer: Depali Sangha was formed by Leela Roy in 1924.

Question 108. What was the publication of Dipali Sangha?
Answer: Jaishree Patrika was published by Leela Roy in 1930.

Question 109. Mention the names of some leading female revolutionaries of Bengal.
Answer: The leading female revolutionaries of Bengal were Pritilata Waddedar, Veena Pani Roy, Kalpana Dutta, etc.

Question 110. When and under whose leadership was the Jhansi Brigade formed?
Answer:Thef Jhansi Brigade was formed under the leadership of Lakshmi Swaminathan in 1943.

Question 111. When and where wathe s the Swadeshi Movement declared?
Answer: Swadeshi movement was declared on 7th August 1905 in Town Hall, Kolkata.

Question 112. Who and when killed the Commissioner Rand of Poona?
Answer: Commissioner Rand of Poona was killed on 22nd June 1897 by Damodar Hari Chapekar and Balkrishna Hari Chapekar.

Question 113. Who and when formed Mitra Mela?
Answer: Nav Gopal Mitra formed Mitra Mela in 1899.

Question 114. Name two revolutionary families of Bengal.
Answer: Anushilan Samiti and Yugantar Dal were two revolutionary families of Bengal.

Question 115. Mention the namess of the organizations who voiced against casteism.
Answer: Brahma Samaj, Arya Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, etc,. raised voices against casteism.

Question 116. Name two institutions set up by Ambedkar against casteism.
Answer: All India Depressed Class Association and The Depressed Class League were two associations formed by Ambedkar against casteism.

Question 117. When and by whose efforts Untouchabilityiity Act passed?
Answer: The Untouchability Act was passed in 1955 with the efforts of Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

Question 118. Who and when founded Bahiskrit Hitakarni Sabha?
Answer: Bhim Rao Ambedkar founded Bahiskrit Hitakarni Sabha in 1924.

Question 119. Who and when formed Anusuchit iati Parasangha?
Answer: B. R. Ambedkar formed Anusuchit Jati Parasangha in 1924.

Question 120. Who and when formed the Independent Labour Party?
Answer: Independence Labour Party was formed by B. R. Ambedkar in 1936.

Question 121. Who and when established Janjati Sangha?
Answer: B. R. Ambedkar established Janjati Sangha in 1942.

Question 122. Who was the President of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly?
Answer: B. R. Ambedkar was the President of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly.

Question 123. Who announced the Communal Award, and when?
Answer: Ramsay MacDonald announcedthe  the Communal Award in 1932.

Question 124. Who and when published the magazine Harijan?
Answer: Harijan magazine was published by M.K. Gandhi in 1939.

Question 125. When and where did the Namashudra Movement start?
Answer: The Namashudra Movement was initially started in 1870 in the Ba’khergunj and Faridpur districts of West Bengal.

Question 126. Who formed Namassej Samaj?
Answer: Namassej Samaj was formed by the people of the Namasudra caste.

Question 127. What was the Carlyle Circular?
Answer: In 1905,, a circular, known as the Carlyle Circular, was issued that threatened to penalize those schools and colleges whose students would take part in the Swadeshi agitation.

Question 128. What was the reason behind the formation of the Anti-Circular Society (1905)?
AnswerToto encourage the students to participate in the Swadeshi movement, Sachindra Prasad Basu organized the Anti-Circular Society (1905). Besides encouraging the students, the Society made necessary arrangements for imparting education to those students who had been expelled by the government authorities under the Carlyle Circular.

Question 129. What were the contributions of Bina Das to the national freedom movement?
Answer: In her early days, Bina Das was one of the organizers of a student body at the political level. This was the Chhatri Sangha that started in Calcutta in 1928. Bina Das was instrumental in organizing the women students of different colleges of Calcutta for participation in the Satyagraha during the Civil Disobedience Movement. In 1932, Bina Das attempted the life of Stanley Jackson, the then Governor of Bengal. The attempt, however, misfired.

Question 130. State the principal characteristic of the women’s participation in the Anti-Partition of Bengal Movement.
Answer: The principal characteristic feature of the women’s movement during the Anti-Partition of Bengal Movement was that urban women of higher castes, the wealthy, and the bourgeois class were the main leaders of the movement. But they all aimed at promoting national interest.

Question 131. What was the Age of Freedom of Captive Women?
Answer: It is noted in history that men and women had fought together in armed revolutionary movements in India. If we analyze the characteristic features of the movement, it will be observed that women started showing interest in the armed revolution towards the last part of the nineteenth century. This era was called the ‘Age of Freedom of Captive Wome.’.

Chapter 7 Movements Organized By Women, Students, And Marginal People In 20th Century India: Characteristics And Analyses Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Why is Matangini Hazra so memorable?
Answer:
Matangini Hazra:

1. Introduction: The Quit India Movement took the shape of an intensified mass movement in Midnapore. On 29th September 1942 A.D, nearly 20,000 people made a procession to besiege the Government court and police station in Tamluk under the leadership of Matangini Hazra, a 73-year-old lady. She was holding the national flag in her hand and was singing the song ‘Vande Mataram.’

2. Police Action: Under her leadership, the movement in Tamluk took a sharp shape. Ultimately, police had to open fire to resist this procession. Matangini succumbed to a bullet injury in one hand, but she carried on the movement bravely to capture the Red House. At last, she fell to the ground, with a bullet shot in her chest.

But still, she was singing ‘Bandamatara..’ Her follower Ramchandra Bera was also self-sacrificed. Matangini’s death could not stop the movement and inspired thousands of Matanginis to carry on the movement. Many women of Mahishadal joined this Quit India Movement.

3. Formation of National Government: At this time, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee of Hindu Mahasabha resigned from the post of minister in protest of the torture made on the women. Being inspired by the sacrifice of Matangini Hazra, Ajay Mukherjee, Sushil Dhara, and Satish Samanta formed the Tamralipta National Government on 17th December 1942 A.D. The Army of this Government was known as Lightning Squad.

4. Gandhibur: The bravery and gallantry of Matangini Hazra are still very much fresh in the minds of the people of Tamluk, Patashpur Bhagabanpur, Mahishadal, Sutahata, Nandigram, etc. She became a prophet to the people of Midnapore and Bengal. So many people called her ‘Gandhiburi’ by comparing her achievements with Gandhi

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 7 Q&A, Women, Students, and Marginal People Movements”

5. Conclusion: According to Nehru, nearly 10,000 people died in Midnapore during the Quit India Movement, as per official record, and nearly 60,000 people were arrested. Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee wrote — “There was a deliberate challenge thrown out to the Governmen.”. Basically, due to Matangini Hazra, the Quit India Movement was so important.

Question 2. Why is Khudiram Bose so memorable in the freedom movement of India? Or, Why is Khudiram Bose so memorable?
Answer: Khudiram Bose (1889-1908 A.D.):

 

1. Introduction: Khudhiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki of the Yugantar group were appointed to assassinate Mr. Kingsford, the naughtorious Majistrate of Muzzafarpur,, but they wrongly killed Mrs. Kennedy and her daughter by a bomb in 1908. Khudiram was hanged to death in 19,08 and Prafulla Chaki committed suicide.

2. Yugantar Dal: During the days of the Bengal Partition movement, Khudiram distributed anti-British leaflets openly while it was strictly banned. After that, he joined Yugantar Dal. At this time, he was given the responsibility to murder the notorious District Magistrate Kingsford. This magistrate accused Aurobindo on the charge of sedition.

Under the instruction of Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki took responsibility for murdering Kingsford. On 30th April 1908 A.D., Khudiram charged a powerful bomb to a horse cart ,,which they mistook as Kingsford’s. But unfortunately, that cart was carrying the innocent wife and daughter of Mr. Kenned,y and they died in the bomb explosion.

After this Muzaffarpur murder, Prafulla Chaki committed suicide out of fear of being arrested. Khudiram was arrested, tried, and hanged on 11th August 1908 A.D., at 6 a.m.

Question 3. Why is Surya Sen memorable?
Answer: Surya Sen (1893-1934 A.D.):

1. Introduction: Surya Kumar Sen (1893-1934 A.D.) was more known as ‘Master’ to the revolutionists. He was born in the Gairala Village of Chittagong in 1893 A.D. He passed B.A. from Baharampur College and was appointed as a teacher of Mathematics at Umatara High School. After that, he married Pushpalcuntala, a village woman.

But he could not lead a peaceful and happy domestic life because this 41-year-old teacher was all along engaged in revolutionary activities.

2. Indian Republican Army: The greatest event in the life of Surya Sen was the formation of the Indian Republican Army with 64 revolutionists on 1st April 1930 A.D. On 18th April 1930 A.D., they were divided into four teams and raided the Government Armoury in Chittagong, the Police Armoury, Telephone, and Telegraph Offices, and destroyed the rail lines.

They burnt the armory after looting. He procured one ‘Swiss gun’ from this armory. However, it could not be used due to the non-availability of ammunition. The main members of his team were Loknath Bal, Ambilka Chakravorty, Ganesh Ghosh, Ananta Singh, etc.

3. Chittagong Armoury Raid: After the raid of Chittagong Armoury, Surya Sen, along with his followers, took shelter in Jalalabad hills. After four days of being besieged, a violent battle took place between government soldiers and the soldiers of the Indian Republican Army. Many revolutionists died in this battle.

After that, they scattered around in different directions and started guerilla warfare. This is known as the ‘Jalalabad war of Independence Freedom Fight’

4. Result: 11 members of his team died in this battle. Harigopal Bal (Tegra), the youngest member of the team, died in this battle. He was only 13 years old. On the other side, 57 government soldiers died in that battle. The British soldiers had to retreat. In the meantime, they formed the ‘Provisional Independent Government of India’.

Kalpana Dutta and Pritilata Waddedar, the teammates of Surya Sen, murdered a high-ranking British officer while attacking one European club in Jalalabad. Pritilata was seriously wounded but committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide just to avoid arrest. After that, many members of the team died in the battle of Karnafuli.

While hiding in Gairala village, he was arrested by the police on 2nd February 1933 A.D. He was hanged on 12th January 1934 A.D. in Chittagong jail. This news was published in Panchajannya Patrika the next day. It is said that his dead body was not handed over to his relatives but was thrown away in the deep sea by carrying it in a ship.

After 10 years after the death of Surya Sen, Subhas Chandra Bose, as a descendent of Surya Sen, organized the last revolutionary insurgence in Bengal. Sir Samuel Hore said that the Chittagong Armoury raid wass a unique event in the history of revolution. Surya Sen, popularly known as ‘Master Da,’ made a plan of armed rebellion by looting the armory and sacrificing his life for the cause of the nation.

Question 4. Why is Bhagat Singh so memorable?
Answer:

Bhagat Singh (1907-1931):

Introduction: Shaheed-I-Azam Bhagat Singh is a glaring personality in the armed revolution of India. He was inspired by revolutionary ideology while studying at Lahore National College. His uncle, Ajit Singh, was a famous revolutionary.

Revolutionary Activities: Bhagat Singh came in contact with Chandra Sekhar Azad and took the membership of the Hindustan Republican Party in 1923. Later on, he and his fellow revolutionaries formed “Nawjawan Bharat Sabh,a” which was later renamed as “Hindustan Socialist Republican Association” with the socialistic ideology of the Russian Revolution.

1. Bhagat Singh, Ashfaqullah, Dinanath, et,,c. were involved in the Kakori Conspiracy case.
2. Bhagat Singh assassinated Mr. Sunders, the superintendent of police who was responsible for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
3. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutta threw bombs on the floor of the central legislative Assembly in 1929 while the discussion on the ‘Trade Dispute Bill’ and ‘Public Safety Bill’ was going on. These bills were against public interest.

Lahore Conspiracy Case: Thus he was arrested and hanged to death along with Sukhdev and Rajguru in 1931. Before stepping onto the hanging platform, Bhagat Singh shouted, “Inqulab Jindabad”. Bhagat Singh dreamt of a socialisd republic of India. According to Sita Ramayiyya, “Bhagat Singh’s name was widely known all over India and was as popular as Gandhiji.”

Question 5. Write a note on the Chittagong Armoury Raid.
Answer:

Chittagong Armoury Raid

Introduction: There was a revival of terrorism during the 30’s of the 20th century. The Chittagong group of revolutionaries, headed by Surya Sen, popularly known as Master Da, brought about a new birth of terrorism. Surya Sen formed the Indian Republican Army with his followers.

Followers: Among his followers, the names of Lokenath Bal, Ganesh Ghosh, Ananta Singh, and the two women Pritilata Waddedarand Kalpana Dutta must be mentioned.

Action plan:

Occupation of 2 main armories in Chittagong,

Destruction of the telephones and telegraph system in the city,

Armoury Raid: The revolutionaries raided the Chittagong Armoury on 18th April 1930 and looted the arms and ammunition stored there,e but they forgot to take the bullets. Hence,, their guns were of no use.

After the loot, they set it on fire and took shelter in the jungle of Jalalabad Hills. There was a severe battle between the revolutionaries and the British army. Surya Sen escaped,, but later on, he was arrested and sentenced to death.

Importance: Though the attempt didn’t succeed, the heroic fight of Surya Sen and his associates kindled the spirit of sacrifice among the young revolutionaries of India. The Chittagong incident enthused the entire nation and was a major boost for revolutionary activities.

Question 6. Why is Binoy-Badal-Dinesh remembered?
Answer:

Terrorist activities took up by Benoy, Badal, and Dinesh: Benoy Krishna Bose, Badal (alias Sudhir) Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta were the three distinguished members of the Bengal Volunteers and are more well known by the term “Benoy-Badal-Dine.”.” After committing a series of terrorist murders and bombings, these famous B.B.D were again engaged in killing Colonel Simpson, the inspector-general of the prison.

The famous Benoy- Badal-Dinesh, after taking responsibility for killing Colonel Simpson, entered the Writers’ Building on December 8, 1930, and finally shot Simpson. In history, this is known as the “Corridor warfare,” in which all three were cornered. Badal Gupta died immediately,y and Benoy Bose died a few days later.

Dinesh Gupta was brought to trial and was hanged to death by the order of the Court. Benoy, Badal, and Dinesh will remain immortal in the hearts and souls of all Indians for their heroic activities, unselfish deeds, and even more for their unparalleled love for their motherland. Binay Krishna Basu, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta, popularly known as B.B.D., gave a new impetus to the revolutionary movement in Bengal.

Corridor Warfare: Binay came to Calcutta and joined Bengal volunteers, a revolutionary group of Bengal. He me Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta. Binay, Badal, and Dinesh planned to attack the Writers’ Building in disguise dress on 8th December 1930 and shot dead Mr. Simpson, the inspector general of police.

The British police under Charles Tagert surrounded Writer’s Building, where a historic battle took place between the revolutionaries and British Police. This battle is known as Corridor warfare. Binay committed suicide, Badal swallowed poiso,,n and Dinesh was arrested and hanged to death. Thus, Binay, Badal, and Dinesh gave a new impetus to the revolutionary activities in Bengal.

Question 7. What was the contribution of the student community to the Quit India Movement?
Answer:

Students Movement During Quit India Movement:

1. Introduction: Quit India Movement started on 9th August 1942 and ended in 1944. During this time, Gandhiji gave his call, ‘If you want to remain unwavering in your struggle till independence is achieved, then shun schools and colleges and forget about studies for the time being and get ready for the ultimate fight.’
2. Strikes and Processions: Students were very much at the forefront of the Quit India Movement. In the movement, the students of all schools and colleges of Bengal observed general strikes despite police atrocities on them. The Amrita Bazar Patrika reported that many students laid down their lives in the ’42 Movement.
3. Militant Activities: However, despite Gandhiji’s non-violence, the Quit India Movement did not proceed along non-violent lines everywhere in the country. In Bengal, militancy had been growing among the common people, and the tendency was heightened under the influence of students’ activities.
4. Students of Midnapur: In the city of Calcutta, the schools and colleges remained closed after 9 August 1942, the day the Quit India (or ’42) Movement began. However, the narrative of the student’s participation would never be complete without mentioning the militant action of the youths of Midnapur.
5. The students of Tamluk, Contai (Kanthi), and Midnapur became restive. Young students like Pulin Sen, Birendranath Mai, Srimati Abha Maiti, and many others found Gandhiji’s call an opportunity for open rebellion. They began to spread the message of militant action and emerged as a leading political force.

Question 8. Write what you know about Kalpana Dutta.
Answer:

Kalpana Dutta:

Kalpana Datta (later Kalpana Joshi) was an Indian independence movement activist and a member of the armed independence movement led by Surya Sen, which carried out the Chittagong Armoury Raid in 1930. Late,r she joined the Communist Party of India and married Puran Chand Joshi, then General Secretary of the Communist Party of Ind,ia in 1943.

Armed Independence Movement: The Chittagong Armoury Raid was carried out on 18 April 1930. Kalpana joined the “Indian Republican Army, Chattagram bra,”h,” the armed resistance group led by Surya Sen in May 1931. In September 1931, Surya Sen entrusted he,r along with Pritilata Wadded,ar to attack the European Club in Chittagong.

But a week before the attack, she was arrested while carrying out a reconnaissance of the area. She went underground after her release on bail.

On 17 February 1933, the police encircled their hiding place, and Surya Sen was arrested, but Kalpana was able to escape. She was finally arrested on 19 May 1933. In the second supplementary trial of the Chittagong armory raid case, Kalpana was sentenced to imprisonment for life. She was released in 1939.

Question 9. Write what you know about Lakshmi Sehgal.
Answer:

Lakshmi Sehgal:

Introduction: Lakshmi Sehgal, also known as Captain Lakshmi (born October 24, 1914, in Madras, Madras Presidency, British India), was an activist of the Indian independence movement, an ex-officer of the Indian National Army, and the Minister of Women’s associations in the Azad Hind Government.

Political Activities: Lakshmi Sehgal later became involved in politics in independent India, was allocated as a member of parliament in the Upper House, and later ran for President as a left-wing candidate. Lt. Col. Swaminathan is commonly referred to as Captain Lakshmi in India, referring to her rank at the time of individual taken prisoner in Burma, as widely reported in Indian newspapers at the end of the war and which captured the public thoughts, as opposed to her not widely known support in the last days of the Azad Hind.

Service of POWs: In 1942, during the historic surrender of Singapore by the British to the Japanese, she worked hard to serve the prisoners of war who were hurt during the skirmishes. In the process, she came in contact with many Indian Prisoners of War (POWs) who were thinking of forming an Indian liberation army.

INA and Lakshmi Sehgal: Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore on July 2, 1943. In the next few days, at all his public meetings, Netaji spoke of his determination to raise a women’s regiment, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, which would also “fight for Indian Independence and make it complete”.

Lakshmi wasted no time in joining the new regiment, called the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. She was given the rank of a Colonel. The unit had the strength of a Brigade. In a regular army, this women’s army unit was the first of its kind in Asia. Lakshmi was active both militarily and on the medical front.

She played a heroic role not only in the fighting. Later, she became the Minister-in-Charge of the Women’s Organization in Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind (Provisional Government of Free India), led by Subhas Chandra Bose.

Arrest: Lakshmi Sahgal held this portfolio over and above her command of the Rani of the Jhansi Regiment. Lakshmi was captured and brought to British India on March 4, 1946, where she received a heroine’s welcome. The British realised that keeping her a prisoner would prove counter-productive, and she was later released.

Question 10. Write a note on Leela Roy.
Answer:

Leela Roy

Leela Roy (maiden name Leela Nag) was a radical leftist Indian politician and reforme, and a close associate of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Early Life: She was born in Panchgaon of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Her father was Girish Chandra Nag. She passed the B.A. degree in English from Bethune College with ‘A Padmavati gold medal’ and passed the M.A. from Dhaka University with first class in English literature. She got married to Anil Roy (13.5.1939), and they joined the ‘Forward Bloc’ of Netaji.

Activities: Leela Nag formed a rebellion organization called Deepali Sangha,, where combat training was given. Pritilata Waddedar took courses from there. She took part in the Civil Disobedience Movement and was imprisoned for six years.

In 1938, she was nominated by Congress Presidet, Subhas Chandra Bose to the National Planning Committee of the Congress. In 193,9 she married Anil Chandra Roy. On Bose’s resignation from Congress, the couple joined him in the Forward Bloc.

In 1941, when there was a serious outburst of communal rioting in Dhaka, she,, along with Sarat Chandra Bose, formed the Unity Board and National Service Brigade.

In 1942, during the Quit India Movement, both she and her husband were arrested,, and her magazine was forced to cease. On her release in 1946, she was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India.

“Movements Organized by Women, Students, and Marginal People WBBSE Class 10 solutions”

During the partition violence, she met Gandhi in Noakhali. Even before Gandhiji reached there, she opened a relief center and rescued 400 women after touring on foot 90 miles in just six days. After the Partition of India, she ran homes in Calcutta for destitute and abandoned women and tried to help refugees from East Bengal.

Question 11. What were the contributions of Pritilata Waddedar in the Indian freedom struggle?
Answer:

Early Life: Pritilata Waddedar (5 May 1911 – 23 September 1932) was a Bengali revolutionary nationalist. After completing her education in Chittagong, she attended Bethune College in Kolkata. Pritilata graduated in Philosophy with distinction. After a brief stint as a school teacher, Pritilata joined a revolutionary group headed by Surya Sen.

Revolutionary activities: Pritilata decided to join the Indian independence movement. Surya Sen had heard about her and wanted her to join their revolutionary group. On 13 June 1932, Pritilata met Surya Sen and Nirmal Sen in their Dhalghat camp.

A contemporary revolutionary, Binod Bihari Chowdhury, objected that they did not allow women to join their group. However, Pritilata was allowed to join the group because the revolutionaries reasoned that women transporting weapons would not attract as much suspicion as men.

Inspiration from Ramkrishna Biswas: Surya Sen and his revolutionary group decided to kill Mr. Craig, Inspector General of Chittagong. Ramakrishna Biswas and Kalipada Chakravarty were assigned to this task.

But they mistakenly killed the SP of Chandpur and Traini Mukherjee instead of Craig. Ramakrishna Biswas and Kalipada Chakravarty were arrested on 2 December 1931. After the trial, Biswas was ordered to be hanged till death and Chakravarty to be exiled to Cellular Jail.

Their family and friends lacked the amount of money required to travel from Chittagong to Alipore Jail of Calcutta. Since, at that time, Pritilata was staying in Kolkata, she was asked to go to Alipore Jail and meet Ramkrishna Biswas.

Activities in Surya Sen’s group: Along with the revolutionary group of Surya Sen, Pritilata took part in many raids like attacks on the Telephone and Telegraph offices and the capture of the reserve police line.

In the Jalalabad battle, she took the responsibility of supplying explosives to the revolutionaries. She led a 15-man team of revolutionaries in a 1932 attack on the Pahartali European Club, which had a sign board that read “Dogs and Indians not allowed.” The revolutionaries torched the club and were later caught by the British police. To avoid getting arrested, Pritilata consumed cyanide and died.

Question 12. Write a brief note on students’ participation during the struggle for freedom in India.
Answer:

Students’ Participation in India’s Freedom Struggle: India, like all other developed nation,s has a long history of student movement. The youth participation during the struggle for Indian independence surely deserves a mention in any article on students’ contribution to social causes. During the time of independence, Mahatma Gandhi called up the students of the country to participate actively in the struggle for freedom.

Young students from all over the nation sacrificed their careers and plunged into the street,ts protesting against the wrongs of the British government. Young leaders like Nehru led the movement, and we know how students left the British schools and colleges and did away with foreign products.

During the partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon, it was the students who took the lead. Popularly known as the Swadeshi Movement, it was majorly led by the students who went for a total boycott of British goods and sought to revive the traditional and domestic products of the country.

It was the students who stopped using British papers and picketed the shops selling British goods. Even during the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Civil Disobedience Movement, and the Quit India Movement, which finally forced the British to leave this country, we see massive student participation. Patriots like Bhagat Singh, Khudiram Bose, and many others who gave up their lives for independence also came from student backgrounds.

Question 13. What were the aims of the formation of the Anti-Circular Society?
Answer:

Formation: Sachindra Prasad Basu formed the Anti-Circular Society on 4th November 1905. Sachindra Prasad, a follower of Rashtraguru Surendranath Banerjee, formed this society when he was a 4th-year student of Ripon College. So, Sachindra Prasad Basu was arrested by the police and sent to Rawalpindi prison.

Purpose: The main purposes of forming the Anti-Circular Society were:

1. To formulate a national education policy based on the new feeling of nationalism,
2. To boycott foreign education and make people interested in Indigenous education,
3. To inculcate interest in Swadeshi education,

To enthuse national leaders to formulate national education policy as a protest against the partition of Bengal, (v) to help the rusticated students to continue their education. The Carlyle Circular forbade the slogan of ‘Vande Mataram’ of Salutations to the Mother.

People joined the Anti-Circular Society as a protest against this also. An important branch of this society was the Defence Association, its president and secretary were Aurobindo Ghosh and Sukumar Ghosh, respectively. Its only mouthpiece was ‘Sanjibani’ edited by Krishna Kumar Mitra.

Question 14. State the character of students’ participation in the armed revolutionary movement.
Answer:

Students’ Participation in Armed Revolutionary Movement: Some special characteristic features of students’ participation in the armed movement of the twentieth century can be noted,

Remained in the Forefront: Since the leadership of the Students’ Movement was in the hands of national leaders, the students remained at the forefront of national and armed revolutionary movements. They used their gut feelings and initiative to make instant decisions and run the movement whenever necessary.

During the National Freedom Movement, when there were differences of opinion between the leftists and the rightists, the students remained united in their progressive and leftist ideals and sacrificed a lot for the cause. In the changed circumstances, it was the students from Bengal who participated in the armed movement with secular and non-communal attitudes.

Students’ Terrorism: The young revolutionaries did not try to plan a violent revolution in the country involving the masses. The idea of the young revolutionaries was to strike terror in the hearts of the alien rulers.

Though the immediate goal was to put an end to the British rule, the revolutionaries could not set forth any alternative plan of government that would take over immediately after the British withdrawal. The student revolutionaries mostly belonged to middle-class families, and the,s a vast majority of common people remained outside its purview.

Swadeshi and Boycott Movements: During the Swadeshi Movement, a boycott of foreign goods and the awakening of extreme nationalism inspired the students to participate in the armed movement. The students were also influenced by Socialism, Russian Revolution, Democracy, and Revolutionist ideas and started participating in the armed movements.

Nature: The nature of the armed students’ movement was based on revolutionary ideals. So they were in contact with secret organizations of the revolutionaries. That way,, neither Congress nor Communists nor any other political party could influence them. Whenever there was a change in the political scenario, the character of the armed revolutionary students’ movement also changed.

Question 15. Write a note on Bengal Volunteers.
Answer: Bengal Volunteers:

Introduction: Hemchandra Ghosh, a young man from Barishal, formed ‘Bengal Volunteers’ (B. V.) in 192, with a handful of local youth. The head office of this organization was in Dhaka. He was inspired by Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, and Brahmabandhab Upadhyay in forming this group. He got help from revolutionaries like Khagen Das, Suren Barman, and Krishna Adhikari.

Three Organisations: While maintaining the secrecy of their revolutionary activities, the B.V. party formed three social welfare organizations during 1921-22, namely, ‘Social Welfare League’ ‘Sri Sangha’ and ‘Dhruba Sangha,’ to undertake various public welfare activities. Many young men from Dhaka and a lady worker named Leela Nag (Roy) became members of the B. V. party. The monthly journal of this party was called ‘Benu.’

Other Members: Hemchandra Ghosh was the chief whip of the party. However, no one person was responsible for anything in the party. The members worked together as a group.

Apart from Hemchandra, the other important organizers were Haridas Dutta, Satya Gupta, Supati Roy, Satyaranjan Bakshi, Meera Dasgupta, and Jyotish Joardar. B.V. Party had some branches all over Bengal.
The members of the B. V. Party started ‘Operation Freedom’ in 1930 to protect against the oppression of police on prisoners.

Corridor Warfare: Binoy, Badal, and Dinesh started their Writers’ Building campaign on 8th December 1930 and killed the Inspector General of prison, Mr. Simpson. It was reported by The Statesman as ‘Corridor Warfare’. Between 1930 and 1935, there were some revolutionaries in the party.

They were Dinesh Gupta (founder of B. V. in Midnapur), Binoy Basu (killer of Simpson), Produoy Bhattacharya and Nripen Dutta (killers of Douglas), Anath Bandhu Panja (killer of Barge), Moti Maliick (killer of the village guard) and Bhabani Bhattacharya (killer of the Governor of Lebong). Many members of B.V.

Were jailed in the Andamans and Bangladesh. In 1937, all the members of B.V., under the leadership of Hemchandra himself, joined the Forward Bloc party of Subhas Chandra Bose.

Question 16. Write the contributions of students in the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer:

Contribution of Students in Non-Cooperation Movement:

1. Introduction: At the Annual Conference of Congress at Nagpur in December 1920, it was decided to start the Non-Cooperation Khilafat Movement to achieve independence. Hindu-Muslim unity and awakening were a direct outcome of this decision.

2. Students’ Activities: During the movement, this student mostly engaged in boycotting schools and colleges, strikes, street corner meetings, non-cooperation, and non-violence.

The non-communal character of students’ movement was intact till then. Many students who joined the Non-Cooperation Movement promised themselves that they would not return to their classes till independence was achieved.

3. Leadership: In Bengal, during the Non-Cooperation Movement, it was decided to launch strikes and boycotts under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose (1921).

‘Deshapran’ Birendranath Sashmal led the school and college students of Midnapur in the Non-Cooperation Movement. The main characteristic feature of the students’ movement in Bengal during the Non-Cooperation Movement was that the national students’ organization was yet to be formed.

4. Calcutta Students Association: Two years after the Non-Cooperation Movement, ‘The Calcutta Students Association’ (1924) was formed under the leadership of Biren Dasgupta. Non-Cooperation Movement was a success,s although there were no student organizations present at that time.

The students followed Gandhiji in his path of non-violent satyagraha and introduced mass following in anti-British protests. This was possible because of the non-communal character of the movement.

Question 17. Write the role of women in the Quit India Movement.
Answer: Role of Women in the Quit India Movement: Women’s participation in the Quit India Movement took various forms in rural and urban areas of the country. While in the rural areas, the peasant women protested against the prevalent land system in city areas, the message of the fight for freedom was propagated through radio transmitters,

Rural Areas: In the rural areas, the peasant women joined the men in lodging protests against the hike in land revenue and other taxes imposed illegally. Also, the women protested against the landholders’ rights.

Midnapur: In the Midnapur district of West Bengal, during the Quit India Movement, the peasants attacked the police stations, and even the communication network was disrupted by destroying telegraph lines

Matangini Hazra: The incident that immortalized Midnapur in the history of the freedom movement was the lead given by Srimati Matangini Hazra, a 73-year-old widow, in capturing the court and the police station of Tamluk.

Usha Mehta: Usha Mehta, a patriot to the very core of her heart, set up a radio transmitter known as the Voice of Freedom. She intended to circulate information about the war of freedom amongst the people of the country. Usha persisted with her task of broadcasting until she was arrested by the British police (12 November 1942) on the charge of sedition.

Contribution of Devadasis: Apart from these, Devdasis from West Godavari and Maharashtra and women from red-light areas in Bengal, in the interests of the movement, gave up their jewelry and personal belongings in response to a call from Gandhiji. This was another aspect of the movement.

Sarojini Naidu: Sarojini Naidu, also known as the ‘Nightingale of India,” while leading the campaign to capture Dharsana salt godown in May 1930, told her women force, “The honor of India is now in your hands, so do not resort to violence under any circumstances.” The role of the ‘Mahila Atmarakhsha Samity’ or Women’s Self-Defence Society deserves credit. In the history of the women’s movement, the role of women’s organizations in preventing famine and directing the freedom movement will be remembered at all times.

Question 18. Discuss the women’s participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Answer: Women’s Participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement: The Non-Co-operation Movement was suspended by Gandhiji in 1922. However, its suspension found its stronger follow-up in the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930). Participation of women in the Civil Disobedience constituted an important chapter in the history of women’s struggle in the freedom movement.

Role in Picketing: Between 1930 and 1932, women in many places played an important role as they conducted picketing in front of the shops selling foreign goods

Various Forms of Agitation: Women’s participation in the Movement, however, took various forms. While Parsee and Christian women residing in Bombay advocated female education, the Gujarati women, under the influence of Gandhiji, aimed at the attainment of Swaraj and women’s freedom.

In Bengal: In Bengal, women leaders like Kumudini Bose, Latika Ghosh, and Hemalata Tagore made sincere efforts to promote women’s welfare and training of women in some useful crafts.

In U.P.: Swarup Rani Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru’s mother, burdened with age, did not hesitate to vote for Khadi in the streets. Thus, Gandhiji’s Civil Disobedience found wonderful response from the Indian womenfol.k

Contribution of Devadasis: Apart from these, Devdasis from West Godavari and Maharashtra and women fromred-lightt areas in Bengal, in the interests of the movement, gave up their jewelry and personal belongings in response to the call from Gandhiji. This was another aspect of the movement.

Sarojini Naidu: Sarojini Naidu, also known as the ‘Nightingale of Indi,,’ while leading the campaign to capture Dharsana salt godown in May 1930, told her women-force, “the honor of India is now in your hands, so do not resort to violence under any circumstances.”

Equality of Women: Certain events like the International Conference on Equality of Women in Geneva (1931), the proposal of women’s equality adopted by the Communist Party of China, and ‘The Asian Women Equality Congress’ in Lahore helped to spread women’s rights issues in Civil Disobedience Movement.

WBBSE Chapter 7 Movements Organized By Women, Students, And Marginal People In 20th Century India: Characteristics And Analyses Long Answer Questions

Question 1. Write about the role of women in the armed revolutionary movement in India. What was the role of Deepali Sangha in this connection?
Answer:

Role of Women in the Armed Revolutionary Movement:

Introduction: It is noted in history that men and women had fought together in the armed revolutionary movement in India. If we analyze the characteristic features of the movement, it will be observed that women started showing interest in armed revolution towards the last part of the nineteenth century.

This era was called the ‘Age of Freedom of Captive Women.’ Women had actively taken part in armed movements during the period from the first decade of the twentieth century to the third decade.

Reason For Women’s Participation: The women were self-confident and were ready to sacrifice themselves. That was the reason for their participation in the movement. The spread of education helped to arouse such a revolutionary spirit among women.

Women’s movement, as a protest against the wrongful oppression of women, had two main branches: one was a nonviolent protest, and the other was an armed revolutionary movement.

Various Activities: The women were inspired by the regeneration, the spread of education among women, nationalist feelings, and patriotism in general, and joined the armed movement to free the Motherland from captivity. Gandhiji iterated in the journal ‘Young India’ that it was essential for women to join the movement to free their Motherland.

The direct role of women in this movement was to boycott all foreign goods, picketing, and fasting. While indirectly, it was their duty to secretly supply arms to the revolutionaries, pass information from one source to another, safeguard houses, and protect the revolutionaries from police in different ways.

Mrs. Vikaji Rustamji Kama, who is known as the mother of Indian revolutionary ideals, told a gathering outside India in 1910, “Remember, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. These soft hands build the national character. So, please do not ignore these strong hands”.

Women’s Brigade in Azad Hind Fauj: The women’s brigade of Azad Hind Fauj was called the ‘Jhansi Brigade.’ Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose vested the leadership of this women’s brigade in Smt. Lakshmi Swaminathan (24.10.1914-23.07.2012). Later, she became Lakshmi Sehgal.

She was a true revolutionary in the Indian Freedom Movemen, who was the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind Government. Towards the end of World War II, she was imprisoned in a jail in Burma under the name of ‘Captain Lakshmi’.

Lakshmi, who hailed from the Malabar region, had passed the MBBS Examination at ‘Madras Medical College’ before she took charge of the women’s brigade of Azad Hind Fauj at Netaji’s call.

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Dr. Lakshmi Swaminathan took charge of the ‘Jhansi Brigade,’ comprising 856 women, on 16th July 1943. Her crusade against the British started on 23rd October. Lakshmi Swaminathan made the ‘Jhansi Brigade’ ever stronger by recruiting voluntary women from Burma and Malay. In March 1946, Lakshmi Swaminathan was arrested and kept in the Red Fort, Delhi.

Armed Movement During Anti-Partition of Bengal Movement: Women started leaning towards armed movement during the Anti-Partition of Bengal Movement in 1905. From 1910, upper-class, educated women started forming various social organizations.

Bina Das got her inspiration for the armed movement from the students’ organization of which she was a member. In Komilla, school students Suniti Chowdhury and Shanti Das assassinated District Magistrate Stevens on 14th December 1931 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Parul Mukherjee was convicted in the ‘Titagarh Conspiracy Case’ and sentenced to three years in jail. But from the time of World War II, many peasant women became involved in the movement. FromTebhaga Movemen,t the nature of women’s participation had undergone a sea change.

Adivasi, Tribal, Namashudra, Scheduled Caste, and Muslim women followed the path of armed resistance, ignoring the police and administration’s brutalities. Ila Mitra, Rina Guha, and others were fire-brand leaders of the Tebhaga Movement (1948-49).

Deepali Sangha (1923): In December 1923, Leela Nag (Roy) {2.10.1903.-11.06.1970} established ‘Deepali Sangha’ in Dhaka consisting of 12 members. She passed the B. A. degree in English from Bethune College with a ‘Padmavati gold medal’ and passed the M. A. from Dhaka University with first clast in English literature. She got married to Anil Roy (13.5.1939), and they joined the ‘Forward Bloc’ of Netaji. The organization had played a vital role in the emancipation of women of Bengal. With the initiative of Deepali Sangha.

1. A Girls’ High School.
2. An Adult Education Centre and
3. 15 Primary Schools were opened.

These educational institutions were run by the ladies of Deepali Sangha. Apart from this, Deepali Sangha also organized exercise and physical education for women.

One of the main aims of Deepali Sangha was to inculcate the spirit of patriotism among women. Leela Roy founded ‘Deepali Chhatri Sangha’ in 1926, the first female students’ organization in India, and introduced the practice of politics among women.

She founded ‘Chhatri Bhavan’ in 1930 and edited a monthly magazine ‘Javashri’ in 1931. She was arrested in 1931 and was imprisoned up till 1938.

Question 2. Write about the characteristic features of the student’s movement in the twentieth century.
Answer:

Introduction: The student movement began in India in the second half of the nineteenth century. The editor of Hindu Patriot, Harish Chandra Mukherjee, and eminent writers like Girish Chandra Ghosh, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, and Rangalal Banerjee wielded the pen to instill patriotism among the students.

Characteristics and Features:

1. Anti-British Political Movement: If we analyze the growth of the students’ movement during the twentieth century, one of the most notable features that will be observed is that, from the Partition of Bengal to World War I (1905-1918), the main basis of students’ movement was an anti-British political movement.

Spontaneous protests of individuals culminated in a united and well-organized student movement. The students of Brajamohan College, founded by Aswini Kumar Dutt,a took part in the freedom movement in 1905. Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki were accused of their attempt at the murder of Kingsford.

2. Leadership and Secular Character: They also conducted the movements by themselves whenever it was needed. During the freedom movement, when there were idealistic differences of opinions between the left and the right-winged politics, the students got involved whole-heartedly.

The students’ movement of this time was also noted for its secular and non-communal character. It was free from all kinds of conservative ideas and the influence of national leaders. The students primarily protested against unfair dealings, injustice, discrimination, and deprivation in society.

3. Boycott and Revolutionary Activities: Their self-sacrifice, service, fearlessness, and truthful, progressive nature gave a unique character to the students’ movement.

Students’ Movement before 1919 had two main features, namely, during the Swadeshi period, their extreme enthusiasm about boycotting British goods helped to enhance anti-British feelings all around; and secondly, the young student community was greatly influenced by revolutionary movements, Russian Revolution (1917) and equality and socialist ideals.

4. Agitation of College Students: The students’ movement during 1918 and 1939 was marked by different features. According to a Government Report, 190 national schools and colleges and their 15,000 students joined the anti-partition movement.

Jatin Das, the President of the Students’ Union of Bangabasi College, died in Lahore Jail after 64 days of fasting. At that ti,me the founder of ‘Nao Jawan Bharat Sabha’, a college student Bhagat Singh was hanged on 23rd March 1931 at the end of the trial “Lahore Conspiracy Case” (1929-31).

From the movement protesting against the Rowlatt Act of 1919 to the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1933, the students started a larger movement through their organization and independent demands.

5. Movement of, by, and for the Students: We can say that it was a movement of the students, for the students, and by the students, directed towards the well-being of the people in general. On 6th April 1919, a students’ strike took place across the country from Lahore to Kanyakumari and from Bombay to Calcuta, against the Rowlatt Act.

Gandhiji was arrested during the strike. Students from all communities, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh, brought out processions and organized meetings.

6. Students’ Organisations: Khusiram was the first student martyr from Punjab who died from police bullets. Over time, the need for their political agenda and organization was felt among the students, so student organizations like Lahore Students’ Union (1927), Ali India Students’ Federation (1936), Delhi Students’ Union (1931) and Indus Students’ Union were formed.

Students’ Movement of Bengal was a part of the National Movement, yet it lacked proper direction because the student leaders became divided into two groups in 1929.

All Bengal Students’ Association (ABSA) was formed under the leadership of Jyotindra Mohan Sengupta,, and the Bengal Presidency Students Association was formed under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose.

7. Difference of Opinion: Differences of opinion and clashes between the leftists and the rightists marked the students’ movement in the post-World War II period. The character of the movement itself changed because of the political scenario in this period. AntiFascist students’ movement became the order of the day.

This continued from 1935 to 1946. However, this movement did not take place in all the provinces of India. On 27th November 1933, Romain Rolland warned the students of India about the dangers of Fascism. This supplied oxygen to the anti-Fascist students’ movement in India.

Question 3. Write about the role of students in the Anti-Partition of Bengal Movement. Assess the students’ movement of the twentieth century.
Answer:

Students Movement during the Anti-Partition Movement of Bengal:

1. Introduction: When Lord Curzon planned to partition Bengal (16th October 1905), the students’ movement went into turmoil, not only in Bengal but also in other places. The most important aspect of the movement was that the Hindu and Muslim students fought together.

2. Procession and Boycott: At the initiative of Ripon College (present Surendranath College) of Calcutta, 5,000 students took out a procession and had a meeting in College Square as a protest against the partition of Bengal.

Barristers Abdul Rasul and Liaquat Hossain addressed the meeting. During the Anti-Partition of Bengal Movement (1905-11), students, teachers and intellectuals assimilated. Another important aspect of the students’ movement during this period was a boycott of all foreign goods and picketing.

3. Revolutionary Activities: A significant characteristic of the students’ movement at that time was revolutionary activities and secret organizations like Anushilan Samity and Jugantar Dal. Khudiram Basu, a student of Hamilton School of Midnapur, in an attempt to assassinate Magistrate ‘Butcher’ Kingsford, inadvertently killed Miss and Mrs. Kennedy (1908).

Students’ Movement in Bengal at that time was led by people like Surendranath Banerjee, Ananda Chandra Roy, Aswini Kumar Dutta, Ambika Charan Majumdar, Umesh Chandra Gupta, Kishorimohan Chowdhury and Anathbandhu Bipin Chandra Pal.

So, while analyzing the students’ movement, it can be said that the Government was under great pressure and had to remove their capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 191,2 and the decision for partition of Bengal was annulled on 12th December 1911.

Significance: The students’ movement in the twentieth century had a tremendous significant,ce which can be noted from the following points

Empowerment to Freedom Movement: The students’ movement empowered the Freedom Movement of India.

1. Anti-British Movement: Although it was primarily directed by the students, the movement always manifested itself as an anti-British movement
2. Growth of Students’ Politics: While the students’ movement was,, on one hand, helpful in the growth of students’ politics, on the other hand, it helped to consummate India’s Freedom Movement
3. Inspiration: The progressive, spirited, fearless, self-sacrificing,  and revolutionary nature of the movement had kept many national leaders in a spirited form.
4. Students Organisation: Inspired by the movement, many student organizations were established,d, and they kept their mark in the country through their service and social work.
5. All India Students Federation: Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, while addressing a meeting of the Students’ Federation in December 1944 at Mohmmad Ali Park, told the gathering, “All India Students’ Federation deserves to be commended for their services during famine and epidemic.”
6. Evolution of Future Political Personnel: Many eminent politicians, leaders, ministers, and administrators have evolved out of students’ movements and students’ politics. Whatever way the students’ movement of the twentieth century is presented in the pages of history, barring a few exceptions, it was a good thing that happened in our country.

Question 4. Write about the development of Dalit politics in twentieth-century India.
Answer:

Dalit Politics in Twentieth-Century India:

Introduction: ‘Dalit’ is a Hindi word. It has been used in India for a very long time. The extremely poor people, who are deprived of human rights because of forceful oppression, are called ‘Dalits’. In a journal edited by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Depressed Classes of British rule have been called ‘Dalit’.

Initial Activities: The Dalit people of India have been prey to economic, social, political, and cultural deprivation as a result of century-old apartheid issues. The first person to start a movement in Maharashtra was Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (1872), who formed ‘Satya Shodhak Samaj’ in 1873. Dalit politics and movement started taking shape and extended with the initiative of his follower, Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.

From 1924 to 1930, he transformed the Dalit Movement into a radical movement’ The main purpose of his movement was to end the social problems and deprivation faced by the Dalit people. Ambedkar led and organized movements like the Choudar Lake Movement and Kalaran Satyagraha.

Demand for Separate Electorate: V. R. Shield founded ‘The Dalit Mission Society’ in 1906. Its president, N. G. Chandravarkar, demanded from the British a separate electorate for the backward Dalits. In 1918, the India Dalit conference was held. But Dr. Ambedkar officially convened the first ‘All India Dalit Conference’ on 30th May 1920.

Religious Discrimination: The untouchable Dalits were not allowed inside Kalaram Temple in Nasik. As a result, the Dalit Movement was given a religious character. A memorandum was signed in the presence of Sankaracharya of Kanch,i and it was decided that the Dalits would be allowed to enter the temple and also hold the holy ropes during Rath Yatra Festival. But, finally, the upper caste Fiindus did not allow that to happen. Ambedkar, along with lakhs of followers, embraced Buddhism on 14th August 1956. He felt that Buddhism was the true alternative to Brahmanical practices.

Inspiration From Black Panther Rebellion: During the 1960s, the movement to safeguard the rights of the Dalits had started. It was mainly to safeguard social and economic rights. This movement was influenced by the ‘Black Panther Rebellion’ of America. In India, the Dalit ‘Panther’ had a militant political agenda.

Demand of Protesters: The protesters demanded equal distribution of land, an increase in the rates of daily wages, a chance for free schooling of children, and stopping economic oppression. Later on, the ‘Bahujan Samaj Party’ (BSP) adopted the programs like ‘Dalit- Culture Preservation Bill’ and ‘Ambedkar Village Programme’

Growth of Dalit Movement: On 9th July 1972, Namdeb Dhamal, Daya Pawar, Ramdas Sorte, J. V. Pawar, and Arjan Dangle started a movement called ‘Dalit Panther’. Dalit literature movement spread across India through ‘The D.S-4 Movement’ and through ‘The Republican Party of India’ (RPI) formed by Ambedkar.

D.S-4 stands for’Dalit-Shoshit-Samaj-Sangharsh-Samity’. This movement had been very popular in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Dalit thoughts received national stature through the fortnightly journal ‘Dalit Voice’,’edited by the national journalist V.T. Rajshekhar and published from Bangalore.

Gayle Omvet, in his book ‘Dalit Vision,’ has vividly analyzed the social and political reality faced by the Dalit community. The Dalit Movement of Prof. Yashwant Manohar and its effect on Dalit literature had spread across the country, including Bengal.

Question 5. Write about the controversy between Gandhi and Ambedkar about the rights of the Dalit people. Discuss the origin of the Namasudra movement regarding this.
Answer:

Debate Between Gandhi and Ambedkar Regarding Dalit Rights: There is little doubt that both Gandhi and Ambedkar were very much aware of the problem of the untouchability of the Dalits. Yet there was a sharp difference between the two regarding the Dalit issue.

1. Little in Common: There was little in common in the perception between the two that came to the forefront in the early 30s of the nineteenth century
2. Difference because of Minority: Gandhiji refused to view the Dalits as a minority who should be given political safeguards. Rather, he considered it essentially a social problem, and that was to be tackled by the Hindu community itself.

Contrarily, Ambedka,r describing the dalits as ‘slav,”, advocated for communal representation of the dalits on the ground that ‘untouchability constitutes a definite set of interests which the untouchables alone can speak for.’

3. Split of Opinion: Throughout the 1920s, Ambedkar had a soft spot for Gandhi as he took him as one different from the elitist Brahmanic leaders he (Ambedkar) hated. The real break between the two surfaced during the events of the Round Table Conference of 1932.
4. Separate Electorate: In the two Round Table Conferences, Ambedkar ended up supporting a separate electorate for the untouchables (dalits).

Communal Award and Poona Pact: But this proved to be too much for Gandhiji. For him, the untouchables were a part of Hinduism, and a separate electorate for them would create a division in Hinduism. Subsequent Communal Award and Gandhi’s fast unto death led to the Poona Pact of 1932. It must, however, be remembered that Ambedkar’s agreement in signing the Poona Pact was by no means due to his ‘change of heart’.

It was Gandhi’s ‘pressure tactics’ that compelled Ambedkar to soften his stand and accept the compromise formula of the Poona Pact. Later on, Ambedkar expressed his unhappiness over the issue,e and this, in the long run, increased his bitterness towards Gandhiji.

Namasudra Movement: The poor and uprooted oppressed, untouchable peasants of East Bengal were called ‘Namasudra.’ To protest against the oppression of the upper class was the main cause of the Namasudra Movement. Harichand Thakur (1812-1878) was the founder and leader of this movement in Faridpur. His disciples are called ‘Matua,’ whose aim is to create self-respect and self-consciousness among the ‘Namasudras.’

Harichand told the Matias to observe ‘Twelve Orders’ or conducts during the movement against exploitation by the Brahmins, Zamindars, Priests, etc. He advised the Namasudras to take education and said, “No loss for lack of food, but education is a must for the children”.

Harichand’s son Guruchand (1846-1937) demanded to change the name of the Chandalas to ‘Namasudra’ in 1881. His demand was recognized in the census report of 1911. Therefore, he is called the father of the Namasudra reform movement.

Question 6. What was the role of womenfolk in the Anti-Partition Movement of 1905?
Answer:

Role of Women in the Anti-Partition Movement: One of the remarkable features of the Swadeshi movement, an integral part of the anti-partition movement, was the participation of women. Yet it was limited in extent, as pointed out by Professor Sumit Sarkar; except Saraladebi Choudhurani, no one dreamt of including women in the movement.

1. Role of Sarala Debi: Sarala Debi spread the gospel of nationalism in Punjab and maintained close links with the Suhrid Samiti of Mymensingh (in present Bangladesh), a secret revolutionary society.

2. Other Women: Recent research, however, revealed that apart from Sarala Deb,i many other women were drawn into the political struggle during the anti-partition agitation. Srimati Hemantakumari Choudhury was the one who edited the journal Antahpur between 1901 and 1904.

3. Protest: The womenfo,lk in gene,ral also did not turn a deaf ear to the anti-partition movement. The day of Partition (16 October 1905) was observed by women throughout Bengal as the day of protest. About five hundred women gathered on the day of Partition in North Calcutta to watch the foundation of the Federation Hall, which was a symbol of unity of the Bengali people.

4. Ashalata Sen: In Dacca, an eleven-year-old little girl, Ashalata Sen, under the inspiration of her grandmother, Nabashashi Sen, went visiting house after h,ouse encouraging women to join the Swadeshi cause

5. Role of Common Women: There are several other instances where even the housewives came out into the open and led processions on the streets. In a similar vein, a good number of women of Khulna attended a meeting addressed by Kaliprasanna Kavya- shared, where the assembled women broke their glass bangles, symbolizing the boycott of foreign goods. Women also played an important role in the revolutionary phase of the anti-partition movement.

Role of Women In the Armed Revolutionary Movement: In the revolutionary struggle, the participation of women presented a different picture than that of the non-violent struggle.

1. No Encouragement: Women’s involvement in the non-violent struggle had the support and encouragement of Gandhiji. However, the women who participated in the armed struggle joined it on their own. That is to say, there had been no encouragement from any quarter to enthuse the women to join the revolutionary struggle.
2. Secret Societies: In fact, the revolutionary secret societies made no concerted efforts to encourage the participation of women as Mahatma Gandhi had done with non-violent activities.
3. Constraints: Another important point to be noted is that direct participation of women in the revolutionary movement was not feasible also due to certain constraints. First, women were not allowed by their male relatives to join the revolutionary secret societies. Second, the risk was too high to allow women to participate in revolutionary feats on an equal basis with men.
4. Silent Help: However, in general, the indirect participation of women helped the revolutionaries silently from the background.

7. Write about the participation of women in the Non-Cooperation Movement. What was the importance of Sarojini Naidu’s appointment as the Congress President?
Answer:

Participation of Women in the Non-Cooperation Movement: During 1920-22, many women throughout the country joined the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Gandhiji laid stress on women’s participation through the Khadi movement. He felt that it was important for poor rural women to participate in the khadi and cottage industry because that would make them economically independent.

So, during the Non-Cooperation Movement, the restrictions and parochial ideals of the women’s movement had dispersed to a great extent. Gandhiji said that unless the women worked side by side with men, Mother India would never be freed from her chains.

This time,e Annie Besant, Heerabai Tata, Sithibai Tata, Begum Hamid Ali, Rajkumari Amrita Kaur, and Dr. Muthulaxmi Reddy, a popular physician of Madras, moved demanding voting rights for women. Dr. Reddy put forward a bill to abolish the devadasi system first. She was the first woman member of the Legislative Assembly of India.

“Best solutions for WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 7, Women and Students Movements”

At this time, the leaders of ‘The Young Women’s Christian Association’ and ‘The Women Indian Association’, like Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Kamaldevi Chattopadhyay (1903-1988), and Renuka Roy, became icons of the Non-Cooperation Movement. Kamaladevi was the first secretary and later president of the All India Women Conference’ (ASWC). Renuka Roy, a follower of Gandhiji, became a member of parliament and was the first woman minister of West Bengal.

Gandhiji wrote in an article that it was essential for women to participate in the Non-Cooperation Movement because of the following reasons:

1. Impact of Colonialism: Colonial economics has affected the self-dependence and social stand of women.
2. Importance of outside connection: It was essential for the women to leave the confinement of their households and connect with the outside world
3. Non-Cooperation Movement: Participation of women in the Khadi movement would pave the way for their participation in the nationalist movement, the spinning wheel being the symbol of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
4. Encouragement by men: The women were encouraged by men folk to join the movement.

It was not restricted to women of higher class and middle class, but even women from poor backgrounds became interested in spinning and weaving.

6. Boycott and Swadeshi: The negative and positive agenda — boycott of foreign goods and promotion of indigenous industry — greatly inspired women.

Kamala Nehru, the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru, joined the movement. During the movement, 80,000 people were arrested, of which 17,000 were women. Urmila Devi, daughter of Basanti Devi, founded Nan Karma Mandir (1921) in Calcutt,a and Neli Sengupta took the leadership of the Steamer strike.

Similarly, Prabhabati Bose, mother of Subhas Chandra Bose, presided over the women’s State Union to propagate the ideals of the movement in remote villages.

Sarojini Naidu: Sarojini Naidu became the Congress President in 1926. She was the first Indian woman to become the Congress President. The entry of Sarojini Naidu to the high post served as an inspiration to the womanhood of India. The Non-Cooperation Movement was abruptly called off by Gandhiji because of the Chauri Chaura incident. Yet Indian women’s interest in politics did not subside.

Question 8. Write in short about the role of students in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Write in short about the women’s wing of the Indian National Army.
Answer:

Role of Students in the Civil Disobedience Movement:

Introduction: Towards the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement, 1930, students’ unions started developing in places like Kanpur, Lucknow, Aligarh, Allahabad, Bareilly, Barabbabi, Khurja, Meerut and Dehradun after the formation of the Students’ Federation in Uttar Pradesh. These students were revolting off and on, which cannot be called a students’ movement in the strict sense of the term. Gandhiji had said, “In recent years, students were seen at the forefront of any revolution that had taken pla.””.

Nationalist Activities of Students: Indications of the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement were clear from the demand for Complete Independence raised in the Lahore Congress (1929). In the wake of the demonstration against the coming of the Simon Commission in 1927, the students of most of the colleges of Calcutta and the suburbs went on strike. It is mention-worthy that the girls of Bethune College, for the first time, joined the strike.

With the outbreak of the Civil Disobedience movement, the student community of Bengal became a formidable force. Between 1930 and 1933,, as many as fifteen thousand students were imprisoned by the British on the charge of violating section 144 or for picketing in front of business establishments.

A remarkable role was played by the students of Midnapur during this phase of the freedom movement. In Taml,uk thousands of students went on strike for long 6 months. During her prosecution, Bina Das said, ‘At all places and all times, students’ community will inspire people to protest against unfairness and injustice/ She wanted the students’ movement to have a revolutionary character.

Women’s Wing of INA: Lakshmi Swaminathan made the ‘Jhansi Brigade’ ever stronger by recruiting voluntary women from Burma and Malay. A woman soldier of the Jhansi Brigade once commented, “We are all ready to die. There is no woman in this brigade who is scared of death”. In March 1946, Lakshmi Swaminathan was arrested and kept in the Red Fort, Delhi.

Question 9. Discuss the role of foreign women in the freedom movement of India.
Answer:

Introduction: Besides the hundreds and thousands of Indian women who dedicated their lives to the cause of their motherland, several noble and courageous foreign women saw in India – its religion, its philosophy, and its culture, hope for the redemption of the world. They thought that in India’s spiritual de,theshall world would find its grave.

Sister Nivedita: Sister Nivedita was one among the hosts of foreign women who were attracted to Swami Vivekananda and Hindu philosophy. Born in Ireland on 28 October 1867, she arrived in India in January 1898 in search of truth. She was impressed by the ideals of womanhood in India.

Activities: On the death of her spiritual Master, Swami Vivekananda, she freed herself from the obligations of the Monastic Order, spoke, and wrote against the British policy in India. She attacked Lord Curzon for the Universities Act of 1904 and the partition of Bengal in 1905.

She held the British responsible for the disastrous state of the Indian economy; she attended the Benares Congress in 1905 and supported the Swadeshi Movement. She helped Nationalist groups like the Dawn Society and the Anushilan Samiti.

She was a member of the Central Council of Action formed by Aurobindo Ghosh and took up the editorship of the Karma yogin when he left for Pondicherry. She propagated the cause of India throughout America and Europe. Swami Vivekananda described her as a real lioness. Rabindranath Tagore regarded her as Lok-Mata and Aurobindo Ghosh as Agni-Shikha.

The Mother: Mira Alphonse, the Mother, was born in Paris in 1978. She had shown the depth of vision and fragrance of expression even in her early childhood. She came to India in 1914 and met Sri Aurobindo. She was associated with the work of Sri Aurobindo when he started a philosophical monthly named Arya on August 15, 1914, to express his vision of man and his divine destiny.

Activities: She took charge of the Ashram in Pondicherry in 1926. She was the inspirer of Auroville, the international town near Pondicherry. It was to serve as a meeting place for the followers of Sri Aurobindo.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Movements by Marginal People, Women, and Students, solved answers”

Mira Behn: Mira Behn, or Mira as she was most often called, was the Western world’s acknowledgment of guilt and the will to atone for it. Gandhi did not evoke her. The most he did was to tell her she could come if she wished.

This is how Madeleine Slade, brought up in an affluent environment of a proud aristocracy, came to serve the cause of India’s freedom by identifying herself completely with the life and work of Gandhi, who promised to Romain Rolland that he would leave no stone unturned, to assist her to become a bridge between the East and the West.

Daughter of a British Admiral, Madeleine Slade renounced the life of luxury and worked in the service of India. She accompanied Gandhi to England in 1931 and undertook a tour of America and Britain in 1934 to enlist sympathy for the Indian cause. She suffered imprisonment in 1932-33 and 1942-44 for the cause of India’s Independence.

Dr. Annie Besant: Dr. Annie Besant, along with Charles Bradlaugh, it is said, did more than anyone had done in a hundred years to break down the barriers of bigotry and prejudic, and won the greatest victories of their times for the freedom of speech and liberty of the press which Britain enjoys today.

Question 10. Discuss the role of some prominent women in India’s struggle for freedom.
Answer:

The role of some prominent women in India’s struggle for freedom

Introduction: The entire history of the freedom movement is replete with the saga of bravery, sacrifice, and political sagacity of the great men and women of the country. This struggle, which gained momentum in the early 20th century,y threw up stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Lala Lajpat Rai, Motilal Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad, C.

Rajagopalachari, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Subash Chander Bose. Their number and stature often give us an erroneous impression that it was only a men’s movement. But it is not so. Many prominent women played a leading role in the freedom movement.

Sarojini Naidu: Sarojini Naidu was known as the “Cuckoo of India.” She was a distinguished poet and a renowned freedom fighter. Her father was the Principal of Nizam College. At that time, Nizam was not in favor of Women’s education, hence Sarojini was sent to Madras for schooling.

She topped the matriculation examination at the age of twelve. Sarojini Naidu was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress. A dramatic meeting with another respected leader of the time, Gokhle, in 1906 was to change her life forever. His response to her fiery speech brought into her life the impact of a visionary who saw in her oratory the brilliance of a leader of the future. The period from 1917 to 1919 was the most dynamic phase of Sarojini’s career.

During this time, she campaigned for the Montague Chelmsford Reforms, the Khilafat issue, the draconian Rowlatt Act, and the Satyagraha. When Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement, she proved a faithful lieutenant. In 193,0 when Mahatma Gandhi chose her to lead the salt Satyagraha, stories of her courage became legend.

Google advised her to spare all her energy and talents for the nation’s cause. She gave up writing poetry and fully devoted herself to the emancipation of women, education, Hindu-Muslim unity, etc. She became a follower of Gandhi and accompanied him to England. Whenever she was in England, she openly criticized British rule in Ind,ia which caught the attention of scholars and intellectuals.

Aruna Asaf AM: Aruna Asaf Ali, a radical nationalist, played an outstanding role in the historic Quit India Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on August 9, 1942, and was a prominent leader of the underground movement. She published bulletins, went from place to place, and even met Mahatma Gan,dhi avoiding arrest. She edited Inqilab, a monthly journal of the India National Congress.

Kasturba Gandhi: The Life Companion of the Father of the Nation contributed her mite to the freedom movement in a subtle manner. As the closest associate of Gandhiji during his epic struggle in South Africa and India, she suffered in no small measure.

Vijay Lakshmi Pundit: Vijay Lakshmi Pundit was the daughter of Motilal Nehru, who was the president of Congress and brother of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister.

She was inspired by Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi and impressed by Sarojini Naidu. She entered the Non-Cooperation Movement to fight against the British rule. Vijay Lakshmi represented India in many conferences abroad. She attended numerous public lectures and challenged the British-dominated delegates’ rights to represent India therein.

She was a great fighter and took part in many of the freedom movements. She was arrested in 1932 and sentenced to one year’s rigorous imprisonment. She was arrested in 1940 and yet again during the Quit India Movement in 1942.

Madam Cama: Madam Cama fought for the freedom of India till her last breath in her wayand helped many revolutionaries with money and materials. She unfurled the first National Flag at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart (Germany) in 1907. She traveled to a lot of places, including Americ,a and propagated among Americans about Indians struggling for Independence.

Swarup Rani and Kamala: The mother of Jawaharlal Nehru, Swarup Rani Nehru,, cheerfully gave her husband and children to the country’s cause, and herself, old and trail, entered the prayer at its thickest. Jawaharlal’s brave wife, Kamal,a kept smiling all through the long years of her brief life.

Kamala Nehru was a flame that flickered briefly in the raging storm of the freedom movement in India. Not everybody knows that she braved lathi charges, picketed liquor shops, and languished in jail for the cause of Indian independence.

She influenced her husband Jawaharlal and stood by him in his determination to plunge into the movement started by Mahatma Gandhi to free the motherland from the clutches of the British rulers.

Kamala Nehru was the first among the group of volunteers to sell contraband salt during the Salt Satyagraha. All through the long months of 1930, the Desh Sevika Sangh, which she led along with Kasturba Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu, did hard jobs like policing the disturbed areas in Bombay. While the men were in jail, they took over.

Padmaja Naidu: Sarojini’s daughter,r Miss Padmaja Naidu,, devoted herself to the cause of the nation like her mother. At the age of 21, she entered the national scene and became the joint founder of the Indian National Congress of Hyderabad. She spread the message of Khadi and inspired people to boycott foreign goods.

She was jailed for taking part in the Quit India movement in 1942. After Independence, she became the Governor of West Bengal. During her public life spanning over half a century, she was associated with the Red Cross. Her services to India and especially her humanitarian approach to solving problems will always be remembered.

Indira Gandhi: The most remarkable woman in modern India was Indira Gand, who, from her early years,s was active in the national liberation struggle. During the 1930 movement, she formed the ‘Vanar Sena,’ a children’s brigade to help freedom fighters.
She became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1938.

Soon after her return to India in March 1941, she plunged into political activity. In the eventful years of her leadership as Prime Minister, Indian society underwent profound changes. She was unremitting in her endeavor for the unity and solidarity of the nation.

A staunch defender of the secular ideals of the Constitution, she worked tirelessly for the social and economic advancement of minorities. She had a vision of a modern, sself-reliantnot, and dynamic economy. She fought boldly and vigorously against communalism, obscurantism, revivalism, and religious fundamentalism of all types.

She laid down her life in defense of the ideals on which the unity and integrity of the Republic are founded. The martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi for upholding the unity of India will reverberate across the centuries.

Chapter 7 Movements Organized By Women, Students, And Marginal People In 20th Century India: Characteristics And Analyses Fill In The Blanks

Question 1. Gandhiji laid stress on women’s participation in the non-violent Non-Cooperation Movement through _______movement.
Answer: Khadi.

Question 2. Sarojini Naidu was also known as the _______.
Answer: Bulbul of India.

Question 3. The first woman martyr of the Quit India Movement was _______.
Answer: Pritilata Waddedar.

Question 4. _______ was the first student martyr from Punjab.
Answer: Khusiram.

Question 5. Students’ Association was formed at Calcutta at the behest of _______.
Answer: Surendranath Banerjee.

Question 6. ‘Lakshmi Bhandar’ was formed by ______.
Answer: Sarala Devi.

Question 7. ______ was called the ‘Nightingale of In.’a’.
Answer: Sarojini Naidu.

Question 8. ______ Barua led the Quit India Movement in the Brahmaputra Valley.
Answer: Kanaklata.

Question 9. Leela Nag founded the _______ Sangha.
Answer: Deepali.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 7 solutions, important questions and answers”

Question 10. Smt. Lakshmi Swaminathan led the _______ Brigade.
Answer: Jhansi.

Question 11. A good number of women of Khulna who attended a meeting addressed by ______ Kavyavisharad broke their glass bangles, symbolizing the boycott of foreign goods.
Answer: Kaliprasanna.

Question 12. The year 1932 was marked by the heroic activities of the young revolutionaries of ______.
Answer: Chittagong.

Question 13. ______ organized the Anti-Circular Society.
Answer: Sachindra Prasad Basu.

Question 14. In ______ A.D,,. Matangini Hazra revolted.
Answer: 1942.

Question 15. On 20th September 1942, ______ was shot dead in taneffort to host Tiranga.
Answer: Kanaklata Barua.

Question 16. The female students of ______ in Kanpur showed valor in the revolt of 1942 A.D.
Answer: Kanya Kubj School.

Question 17. Namashudra Movement started in ______ and of Bengal.
Answer: Bakraganj, Faridpur.

Question 18. ______ edited the magazine, Bahiskrit Bharat’.
Answer: Ambedkar.

Question 19. Communal Award was declared by ______.
Answer: Ramsay Macdonald.

Question 20. Harijan Magazine was edited by ______.
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi.

Question 21. The British started the policy of ______ in India.
Answer: Divide and Rule.

Question 22. The All India Depressed Class Federation was founded in _______.
Answer: 1920 A.D.

Question 23. In ______ A.D., Vi that Bhai Patel efforted to eradicate casteism.
Answer: 1917.

Question 24. Surya Sen was hanged on _______.
Answer: 12th January 1934 A.D.

Question 25. On ______, Rashid Ali day was observed.
Answer: 12th February 1946 A.D.

Question 26. National Education Council was established by ______.
Answer: Sadguru Das Banerjee.

Question 27. Mitra Mela was founded in ______ A.D.
Answer: 1899 A.D.

Question 28. The Prince of Wales came to India in ______ A.D.
Answer: 1921 A.D.

Question 29. Non-Cooperation Movement was started in _______ A.D.
Answer: 1920 A.D.

Chapter 7 Movements Organized By Women, Students, And Marginal People In 20th Century India: Characteristics And Analyses True Or False

Question 1. Leela Nag was associated with Deepali Sangha.
Answer: True

Question 2. The students’ movement before World War I was secular and non-communal in character.
Answer: True

Question 3. Women did not participate in armed revolutionary activities.
Answer: False

Question 4. Deepali Sangha was the first Girl Students’ Organisation.
Answer: True

Question 5. Surendra Nath Banerjee was against ‘Chhatra Samity’.
Answer: False

Question 6. Kingsford was called ‘The Butcher’.
Answer: True

Question 7. The ‘Vande Matram’ slogan was encouraged at the Carlyle Circular.
Answer: False

Question 8. The head office of the B.V. Party was in Dhaka.
Answer: False

Question 9. The womenfolk did not participate in the anti-partition agitation.
Answer: False

Question 10. Many students in Calcutta demonstrated before the Prince oWales s who came on a visit.
Answer: True

Question 11. Captain Rashid was an officer in the Indian National Army.
Answer: True

Question 12. Guruchand Thakur introduced the Mathura religion among the Namasudras of Bengal.
Answer: False

Question 13. Nari Karma Mandir was founded by Urmila Devi.
Answer: True

Question 14. Khurshid Bahan was the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi.
Answer: False

Question 15. Matangini Hazra was the chief revolutionary of Bengal.
Answer: True

Question 16. The Namashudra Movement was started in the Bakrganj district of Bengal.
Answer: True

Question 17. Ambedkar was related to the Mahar caste.
Answer: True

Question 19. The Namashudra Movement was started by higher class society.
Answer: False

Question 20. Bahishkrit Magazine was published in Gujarat Magazine.
Answer: False

Question 21. Sri Gangaram initiated the widow remarriage in Lahore.
Answer: True

Question 22. Ambedkar founded the Hindu Widow Home in South India.
Answer: False

Question 23. Annie Besant started the Home Rule Movement.
Answer: True

Question 24. Sarojini Naidu participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Answer: False

“Movements by Women, Students, and Marginal People WBBSE Class 10, exam-focused solutions”

Question 25. Kanaklata Barua did not participate in the Quit India Movement.
Answer: False

Question 26. The mother of Indian revolutionary activities was Madam Bhikaji Kama.
Answer: True

Question 27. Abhinav Bharat was founded by Ram Prasad Bismil.
Answer: False

Question 28. Bina Das killed Jackson.
Answer: True

Question 29. Dipali Sangha was founded in Dhaka.
Answer: True

Question 30. Kalpana Dutta was married to Puran Chand Joshi.
Answer: True

Question 31. The Headquarters of Azad Hind Fauj was in Kohima.
Answer: False

WBBSE Solutions for Class 10 History and Environment

WBBSE Chapter 6 Peasant, Working Class And Left Movements In 20th-Century India Very Short Answer

Question 1. What was the Moplah Revolt?
Answer: The Moplah Revolt of Malabar was a militant farmers’ rebellion in which thousands of Muslim farmers died.

Question 2. What was the name of the party established by the leftist leader Singaravellu?
Answer: Hindustan Workers’ and Farmers’ Party.

Question 3. Which organisation was formed by Aswini Kumar Dutta to solve problems in the villages and to safeguard the interests of the peasants?
Answer: Swadesh Bandhab Samity.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 6 SAQs, Peasant, Working Class, and Left Movements”

Question 4. What was the most important aspect of the farmers’ rebellion during the non-cooperation movement?
Answer: The fight against feudalism was the most important aspect of the farmers’ rebellion during the non-cooperation movement.

Question 5. Who was the founder of ‘Ayodhya Kisan Sabha’?
Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru.

Question 6. What was the outcome of the Bardauli Movement?
Answer: The government was forced to reduce the taxes of the farmers by 6.03%.

Question 7. Who was the leader of the farmers’ movement in Bengal?
Answer: Deshapran Birendranath Sasmal.

Question 8. Where did the worker’s strike work for the first time as a part of the labour movement?
Answer: The workers of Calcutta Tram Company stopped work and called a strike as a part of the labour movement in Bengal.

Question 9. Name the two bills that were passed by the Government to oust foreign Communists and ban workers’ strikes respectively.
Answer: Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill.

Read and learn all WBBSE Solutions For Class 10 History And Environment

Question 10. Who was the Viceroy of India when the Civil Disobedience Movement began?
Answer: Lord Irwin.

Question 11. Who and when founded the Home Rule League?
Answer: Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant in 1916.

Question 12. Who started the Civil Disobedience Movement?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi.

Question 13. What was the date of Dandi March?
Answer: 12th March 1930.

Question 14. Where is Dandi?
Answer: In Gujarat.

Question 15. In which year did the Civil Disobedience Movement start?
Answer: In 1930.

Question 16. In which year was the Civil Disobedience Movement withdrawn?
Answer: In 1934.

Question 17. In India where was the first triumph of the technique of Satyagraha achieved?
Answer: Champaran.

Question 18. When did Gandhiji start the Champaran Satyagraha?
Answer: In 1917.

Question 19. When did Gandhiji organise a workers’ strike at Ahmedabad?
Answer: In 1918.

Question 20. Who founded the All India Home Rule League (1916)?
Answer: Annie Besant.

Question 21. When was the Non-Co-operation Movement started?
Answer: In 1920.

Question 22. Who was the first Vice President of AITUC?
Answer: Joseph Baptista.

Question 23. What was the main aim of the Bakasto movement?
Answer: The main aim of the Bakasto movement was to get back the lands from the landlords which were taken away due to non-payment of taxes during the Great Depression.

Question 24. What are Bakasto lands?
Answer: The lands which were taken away from the farmers by the landlords due to nonpayment of taxes during the Great Depression, are called ‘Bakasto Land’.

Question 25. When was the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party formed?
Answer: In 1925.

Question 26. Who founded the Indian Federation of Labour?
Answer: Manabendranath Roy.

Question 27. Who was the leader of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party in Bengal?
Answer: Naresh Sen Gupta.

Question 28. Who formed the Indian Trade Union Federation?
Answer: Dewan Chamanlal under the leadership of V.V. Giri.

“West Bengal Board Class 10 History Peasant and Working Class Movements, short answer questions

Question 29. Who called World War II an imperialist war?
Answer: Leftists.

Question 30. The hen was Rashid Ali Day observed?
Answer: 1st February 1946.

Question 31. What was the real name of M.N. Roy?
Answer: Narendra Nath Bhattacharya.

Question 32. Who was the leader of the Riang Rebellion?
Answer: Ratan Mani.

Question 33. Who formed Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar in Medinipur?
Answer: Ajoy Mukherjee.

Question 34. Who formed the Bengal Relief Committee?
Answer: Shyama Prasad Mukhopadhyay.

Question 35. Who was given the title of ‘Deshapran’?
Answer: Birendranath Sashmal.

Question 36. Who was the leader of the peasant movement in Faizabad?
Answer: Baba Ramachandra.

Question 37. Who formed Swadesh Bandhab Samity (1906)?
Answer: Ashwini Kumar Dutta.

Question 38. Who formed the ‘Young Comrades League’?
Answer: Oharani Goswami.

Question 39. When was All India Kisan Sabha formed?
Answer: April 1936.

Question 40. In which year was the Communist Party of India formed?
Answer: 1925.

Question 41. Who formed the Hindustan Labourer Peasant Party (1923)?
Answer: Singaravellu.

Question 42. Name one journal published by Birendranath Chattopadhyay.
Answer: Atmoshakti.

Question 43. Name one journal of Abani Mukherjee.
Answer: Dhumketu.

Question 44. Who started Champaran and Kheda Satyagrahas?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi.

Question 45. Who organised the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS)?
Answer: Sahajanand Saraswati.

Question 46. When was the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) organised?
Answer: In 1929.

Question 47. Who started the ‘no-revenue and no rent campaign?
Answer: The peasants of U.P.

Question 48. Name the first peasant organisation on an all-India basis.
Answer: All India Kisan Sabha.

Class 10 Maths	Class 10 Social Science
Class 10 English	Class 10 Maths
Class 10 Geography	Class 10 Geography MCQs
Class 10 History	Class 10 History MCQs
Class 10 Life Science	Class 10 Science VSAQS
Class 10 Physical Science	Class 10 Science SAQs

Question 49. Name the first proper trade union set up in India.
Answer: Madras Labour Union.

Question 50. Who formed the Madras Labour Union?
Answer: B.P. Wadia.

Question 51. When was AITUC formed?
Answer: 1920.

Question 52. Who wrote Indian Struggle?
Answer: Subash Chandra Bose.

Question 53. Who was the chairman of the All India Congress Socialist Party?
Answer: Sampurnanand.

Question 54. Where was the Communist Party of India formed?
Answer: Tashkent (in the erstwhile Soviet Union).

Question 55. Who was the leader of the communist groups in Bombay?
Answer: S. A. Dange.

Question 56. Who was the leader of the communist groups in Bengal?
Answer: Muzaffar Ahmed.

Question 57. Who was the founder of the Madras Labour Union?
Answer: B.P. Wadia founded the Madras Labour Union in 1919 A.D.

Question 58. Who first observed “May Day” in India?
Answer: The union leader Singaravellu Chettiar first observed May Day in India in 1923 A.D.

Question 59. What are the names of the two foreigners accused of the Meerut Conspiracy Case?
Answer: The names of the two foreigners are Benjamin Bradley and Phillip Spratt.

Question 60. Who first formed the communist party in a foreign country?
Answer: Manabendra Nath Roy first formed the communist party in Tashkent in 1920 A.D.

Question 61. Who was the founder of the Communist Party of India?
Answer: The communist leader Muzaffar Ahmed of Kanpur founded the Communist Party of India in 1925 A.D.

Question 62. Who was the editor of ‘Langal’ Patrika?
Answer: Poet Nazrul Islam was the editor of Langal Patrika.

Question 63. Who formed the Congress Socialist Party and when?
Answer: Jayprakash Narayan formed the Congress Socialist Party in 1934 A.D.

Question 64. Who was the founder of the Unionist Party of Punjab?
Answer: Fazli Hossein is the founder of the Unionist Party of Punjab.

Question 65. In which year was the ‘All India Kisan Sabha’ founded?
Answer: All India Kishan Sabha was founded in 1936 A.D.

Question 66. Who is the founder of ‘Ayodhya Kisan Sabha’?
Answer: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the founder of Ayodhya Kishan Sabha’.

Question 67. Who was the leader of the Bardouli Kishan movement?
Answer: Vallabh Bhai Patel was the leader of the Bardouli Kisan movement.

Question 68. Name two famous peasant leaders of Andhra.
Answer: Prof. N. G. Ranga and T. Prakasham were the leaders of Andhra.

Question 69. Who organized the Moplah revolt and where?
Answer: The Moplah revolt was organized by the poor Muslim peasants of Malabar, Kerala.

Question 70. Where and under whose presidentship was the Ail India Kishan Sabha’s first session held?
Answer: Under the presidency of Sahajananda Saraswati, the first session of All India Kisan Sabha was held in Lucknow.

Question 71. Who is the founder of ‘The Kisan Praja Party’?
Answer: Fazlul Haque and Akram Khan were the founders of the Kisan Praja Party.

Question 72. What is the full name of E.M.S. Namboodripad?
Answer: Full name of E.M.S. Namboodripad is Ellikulla Manakkel Sankaran Namboodripad.

Question 73. Why did the farmers’ rebellion during the Anti-Partition Movement take a communal character?
Answer: Whenever farmers demanded justice and protested against the landlords, the Government labelled it as communal unrest. It was easy for the Government to instigate the poor farmers, who were mostly Muslims, against the landlords and money-lenders, who were mostly Hindus.

Question 74. How was the Communist Party of India formed?
Answer: Leftist politics were greatly influenced by the Russian Revolution and the Communist Party of India was formed by Manabendranath Roy, Abani Mukherjee and others in Tashkent in 1920. The Communist Party was set up in India in the year 1925.

Question 75. What was the ‘Meerut Conspiracy Case’?
Answer: Around the third decade of the twentieth century, to weaken the communist movement, 33 leftist trade union leaders were convicted under a false lawsuit in the ‘Meerut Conspiracy Case’ (1929-33) and jailed. Because of this verdict, the Communist Party of India, the Young Workers’ League and 12 other trade unions were banned in India in 1934.

Question 76. When was the partition of Bengal announced and given effect to?
Answer: The movement started in the wake of the decision to partition of Bengal announced on 20 July 1905. The partition was to be effective on and from 16 October 1905.

Question 77. What do you know about the Eka movement?
Answer: The Eka Movement or Unity Movement is a peasant movement which surfaced in Hardoi, Bahraich and Sitapur during the 1920s by the leaders of Congress and Khilafat leaders. The main reason for this movement was higher rent, which was generally higher than 50% in some areas. Soon leadership of the movement changed from Congress to Madari Pasi, a low-caste leader who was not inclined to accept non-violence.

Question 78. State the objectives of AITUC.
Answer: The objectives of the AITUC were: To coordinate the activities of all the labour organizations in all trades and all provinces of India, and generally to further the interest of Indian labour in economic, social and political matters.

Question 79. State the objectives of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party.
Answer: The objectives of the WPP were to strive for a broad anti-imperialist front for the achievement of complete independence with the ultimate aim of establishing socialism in the independent country.

Question 80. Where and by whom was the Communist Party of India formed?
Answer: The Communist Party of India was formed by Manbendranath Roy, Abani Mukherjee and others in Tashkent in 1920.

Question 81. Name the people convicted in the Meerut Conspiracy Case.
Answer: The people who were convicted in the Meerut Conspiracy Case were M. A. Dange, M. S. Mirajkar, Nimbakar, Ghate, Gangadhar Adhikari, Dharani Goswami, Gopen Chakraborty, Shibnath Banerjee, Muzaffar Ahmed, Kazi Nazrul Islam, P. C. Joshi, Maqbul Fida among others and British communist leaders like Benjamin Bradley and Phillip Sprat.

Question 82. Name some of the disguised names of M. N. Roy.
Answer: Some of his disguise names were ‘M. N. Roy’, ‘Hari Singh’, ‘Dr. Mahmud’, ‘D. Garsia’, ‘Mr. Banerjee, etc.

Question 83. Where were the labour movements observed during the Quit India movement?
Answer: The vibes of that labour movement could be felt at Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bombay, Nagpur, Jamshedpur, Madras, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

Question 84. Who formed Red Trade Union Congress and when?
Answer: Somnath Lahiri and Ranadive left the association with Congress and formed the ‘Red Trade Union Congress’ (RTUC) in 1931.

Question 85. Who formed AITUF?
Answer: V. V. Giri and N. M. Joshi left AITUC and formed ‘All India Trade Union Federation'(AITUF).

Question 86. Who and where formed Indian Mill Workers’ Union?
Answer: On August 1906, Aswini Kumar Bandopadhyay formed the Indian Mill Workers’ Union in Budge Budge.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 6 SAQs, Left Movements in 20th-Century India, solved answers

Question 87. Name four prominent people who started organising labour movements.
Answer: Four important people who came forward to organise the labour movements were Prabhat Kumar Roychowdhury, Premtosh Basu, Aswini Kumar Bandopadhyay and Apurbo Kumar Ghosh.

Question 88. What were the main reasons for the labour movement during the anti-partition movement?
Answer: The main reasons were:

1. Escalation of price
2. National deprivation and insult
3. Active support of the nationalist leaders and
4. The campaign and development of public opinion by the nationalist journals in the interests of the labourers.

Question 89. Who and when founded Mazdoor Mahajan Sabha?
Answer: Gandhiji started the first labour movement by forming ‘Mazdoor Mahajan Sabha’ in 1917.

Question 90. Who was known as Ujaliparaj?
Answer: The higher caste people of Bardauli were known as ‘Ujaliparaj’ or ‘the fair-skinned folks’.

Question 91. What was the main characteristic feature of the peasant movement during the Quit India Movement?
Answer: During the Quit India Movement the main characteristic feature of the peasant movement was to mobilise mass movement against the repressive policies of the Government.

Question 92. Discuss the objectives of the All India Kisan Sabha.
Answer: The objectives of the All India Kisan Sabha were :
1. The protection of peasants from economic exploitation.
2. The abolition of landlordism, such as the zamindari and the taluqdari systems.
3. Reduction of revenue and rent.
4. Moratorium on debts.
5. Licensing of money lenders.
6. Minimum wages for agricultural labourers.
7. Fair price for commercial crops.

Question 93. What was the Hat Tola Movement?
Answer: In north Bengal districts the Hat Tola Movement was launched. The landlords collected a levy from the peasants who sold rice, paddy, vegetables, cattle in fairs, and hats (weekly markets). The peasants refused to pay this levy. Sometimes the landlords came to a compromise with the peasants and exempted poor peasants from paying the levy.

Question 94. Name some prominent leaders of All India Kisan Sabha.
Answer: N.G. Ranga, Swami Sahajanand, Narendra Dev, Indulal Yagnik and Bankim Mukherjee were some of the prominent leaders of the All India Kisan Sabha.

Question 95. Discuss the drawbacks of the communist movement of India.
Answer: The Communist Movement of India had some drawbacks:
1. It suffered from a paucity of funds.
2. The British Government was very hostile towards the Communist Party of India because of its revolutionary character and affiliation with the Communist International.
3. There was a paucity of cadres.
4. The privileged upper strata of Indian society opposed Communism.

Question 96. What were the issues involved in the Eka movement?
Answer: The issues involved were:
1. High rents—50 per cent higher than the recorded rates;
2. Oppression by thikadars (in—charge of revenue collection);
3. Practice of share-rents.

Question 97. What were the measures adopted by the government to suppress the labour movements?
Answer: The Government resorted to two kinds of approaches to control the labourers’ movement destroy the movement through oppression on one hand, and sympathise with the workers by forming various enquiry commissions on the other.

Question 98. When was AITUC formed? Who was the first President of AITUC?
Answer: The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was formed in 1920, in which Bal Gangadhar Tilak had an important role to play. The first President of AITUC was Lala Lajpat Raj.

Question 99. Name some important contributaries of AITUC.
Answer: Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Motilal Nehru, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah were the major contributors to AITUC.

Question 100. Name the leaders of the Eka Movement.
Answer: The two most famous leaders of the Ekta movement were Passi Madari and Saheb.

Question 101. Why was Bardoli Satyagraha important?
Answer: The satyagraha constituted an important chapter in the history of the freedom movement of India. Bardoli Satyagraha became the symbol of peasants’ protests in the country. The movement united a variety of Indian people irrespective of their class, creed, caste and religion. As pointed out by Prof. Mridula Mukherjee, “Bardoli confirmed the Indian people were indeed on the way to becoming a nation.”

Question 102. What was the purpose of the leftists to form a political party other than Congress?
Answer: The purpose was:

1. To keep Congress on its toes and
2. To keep the reactionary forces in Congress at bay so that in future the Communist Party can assume leadership at the national level.

Question 103. Who formed the Congress Socialist Party?
Answer: In 1934Jayprakash Narayan and Acharya Narendra Deb formed the Congress Socialist Party with leaders of both the Congress and the Left parties.

Question 104. What was the reason behind the formation of Ayodhya Kisan Sabha?
Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru formed the ‘Ayodhya Kisan Sabha’ in 1920 to control the militant behaviour of the farmers.

Question 105. When and by whom was the Labour Swaraj Party founded?
Answer: In 1925 ‘The Labour Swaraj Party was formed under the leadership of Muzaffar Ahmed and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar in Kanpur.

Question 106. When and where did the Tebhaga Movement start?
Answer: The Tebhaga Movement was started in different parts of Bengal like Dinajpur, Rangpur, Jalpaiguri, Mymensingh, Medinipur, Khulna and 24 Paraganas in 1924.

Question 107. Name two leaders of Congress who joined the peasant movement in Punjab.
Answer: Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh were the two Congress leaders who joined the peasant movement in Punjab.

Question 108. When and where was the Telangana movement started?
Answer: Telangana movement was started in Travancore in 1946.

Question 109. When and under whose leadership was the peasant movement in Darbhanga started?
Answer: In 1919-20 under the leadership of Swami Vidyananda the peasant movement in Darbhanga was started.

Question 110. Who and when founded the Bombay Mill Owners’ Association?
Answer: N. M. Lokhande in 1830 founded the Bombay Mill Owners’ Association.

Question 111. Who and when founded the Indian National Congress?
Answer: A. O. Hume in 1885 founded Indian National Congress.

Question 112. When and under whose presidency was the first session of Congress held?
Answer: In 1885 under the presidentship of Umesh Chandra Banerjee the first session of Congress was held.

Question 113. Who was the main leader of the Tebhaga movement?
Answer: Kamparam Singh and Bavan Singh.

Question 114. When and under whose leadership was the peasant movement in Mewar started?
Answer: In 1920 under the leadership of Vijay Singh Pathik, Maniklal Verma, Ramanarayan and Baba Sitaram Das the peasant revolt in Mewar was started.

Question 115. When and by whose initiative was Uttar Pradesh Kisan Sabha was organised?
Answer: Uttar Pradesh Kisan Sabha was organised in 1918 by Gauri Shankar Mishra, Indra Narayan Dwivedi and Madan Mohan Maulvi.

Question 116. When and where was Awadh Kisan Sabha organised?
Answer: Awadh Kisan Sabha was organised in October 1920 in Pratapgarh.

Question 117. When and under whose leadership was peasant movement started in United Province?
Answer: Peasant movement in the United Province was started in 1919 byJhinguri Singh, Durgapal Singh and Baba Ramchandra.

Question 118. When and under whose leadership was the Bardoli Peasant Satyagraha started?
Answer: Bardoli Satyagraha was started in 1928 under the leadership of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.

Question 119. Name the women who participated in the Bardoli Peasant Satyagraha.
Answer: Kasturba Gandhi, Mani Ben Patel, Sharda Ben Shah, Sharda Mehta, etc. were the women participants of the Bardoli Satyagraha.

Question 120. When and under whose leadership was the Civil Disobedience movement started?
Answer: Civil Disobedience movement was started in 1930 by Mahatma Gandhi.

Question 121. Where were the main centres of the peasants’ movement in Punjab?
Answer: Amritsar, Hoshiyaarpur, Jalandhar, Layalpur and Sekhpura were the main centres of peasants’ movements’ in Punjab.

Question 122. When and under whose leadership peasants’ movement started in Orissa?
Answer: Peasant movement was started in Orissa in 1935 under the leadership of Malti Chaudhury.

Question 123. Who and when started Quit India Movement?
Answer: Quit India Movement was started by Mahatma Gandhi on 9th August 1942.

Question 124. Who and when founded Indian National Trade Union Congress?
Answer: Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in 1947 founded Indian National Trade Union Congress.

Question 125. Who were the main leaders of the Indian Independence Committee?
Answer: B. Chattopadhyay and Dr Bhupendranath Dutta were the main leaders of Indian Independence Committee.

Question 126. What was the early name of Indian Independence Committee? When was it founded?
Answer: The former name of the Indian Independence Committee was Berlin Committee. It was founded in 1914.

Question 127. Who and when founded Forward Bloc?
Answer: Subhash Chandra Bose in 1939 founded the Forward Bloc.

Question 128. What was the ‘no-revenue & no rent campaign?
Answer: According to Bipan Chandra, the no-revenue was a call to the zamindars not to pay revenue to the British Government, and the no-rent was a call to the tenants not to pay rent to the zamindars.

Question 129. Name some of the labourer leaders of the Swadeshi Movement.
Answer: Aswini Kumar Banerjee, Premtosh Bose, Apurba Kumar Ghosh, etc. were some of the labourer leaders of the Swadeshi movement who were active in a large number of strikes.

Question 130. What were the main features of the working class movement during the Noncooperation Movement?
Answer: The significant features in this phase of the working class movement were:
1. The working class set up its own organization on an all-India basis to defend its class rights, and
2. The working class in this period got involved in the mainstream of national politics in a significant way.

Question 131. Who were the leaders of the peasant movement at the time of the Non-cooperation movement?
Answer: Under the guidance of Congress leaders like Madan Mohan Malviya, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and others, the movement of the peasantry became a part of the national struggle for independence.

Question 132. What was the main aim of the labour movement?
Answer: The main purpose of the labour movement was to protest against the oppression and deprivation of the workers in the hands of the factory owners.

Question 133. Compare labour movements and peasant movements.
Answer: While the target of the farmers was the landlords, money-lenders and government, the target of the workers was the entrepreneurs.

Question 134. When and by whom was Raiyat Sabha formed?
Answer: In 1933-34, N. G. Ranga, B. M. Naidu and T. Prakasham formed the ‘Raiyat Sabha’ for the protection of the farmers.

Question 135. Name some centres of the Quit India Movement.
Answer: Delhi, Lucknow, Jamshedpur, Madras, Bangalore, etc. were some of the main centres of the strikes.

Question 136. Cite two examples of the workers’ movement during the Quit India movement.
Answer: In some places, the strikes continued for longer periods. The Tata Steel Plant was shut down for thirteen days. In Ahmedabad, the textile workers continued the strike for three and a half months.

Question 137. What were the contributions of Indian Independence League?
Answer: In 1928 the Indian Independence League was formed jointly by Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. The organization pressured Congress and Gandhiji to start a movement for the attainment of Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence). It is worthy of mention here that the League contributed an iot to the launching of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Question 138. What were the objectives of All India Congress Socialist Party?
Answer:

The objectives as adopted in the meeting were:

1. All powers to the people who are associated with the production
2. Socialization of industries and all other productive organizations
3. State control over foreign trade
4. Abrogation of the zamindary and the raja-maharaja system
5. Distribution of land to the peasants
6. State to recognize the right to work
7. Wages to be paid according to one’s needs.

Question 139. What were the works of Communist Party of India?
Answer: From the very beginning the Communist Party’s main was to organize peasants and workers and to work through them.

Question 140. What were the problems of the Indian working class?
Answer: The Indian working class suffered from all forms of exploitation- low wages, long working hours, unhygienic conditions in factories, employment of child labour and absence of all amenities- from which the British labour force suffered in the early stages of industrialisation and capitalism in England and the West plus the evils of a rapacious colonial rule.

Question 141. What measures were taken by the Government to curb the activities of the Trade Unions?
Answer: Alarmed at the increasing strength of the Trade Union movement and its control under extremist hands, the Government of India sought to contain its activities by legislative restrictions. A Public Safety Bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly in 1928 but could not get majority support and had to be issued in the form of an ordinance in 1929. The Trade Disputes Act (1929) provided, among other provisions, for compulsory appointment of Courts of Enquiry and Conciliation Boards for settling industrial disputes, made strikes illegal in public utility services (like Postal Service, Railways, Water and Electricity Departments) unless each individual worker planning to go on strike gave advance notice of one month to the Administration and, above all, forbade trade union activities of coercive or purely political nature and even sympathetic strikes.

Question 142. Discuss the role of the working class in the non-cooperation movement.
Answer: The working class population spontaneously participated in the movement. In 1921, the workers organised about 321 strikes in which 6 lakh workers participated. As the jute mill owners of Bengal due to the slump in demand of jute in the international market after the war retrenched workers and gave 4 days of work per week to existing workers at a low rate, workers’ strikes in Bengal jute mills were widespread. Swami Vishya Nanda and Swami Darshana Nanda organised strikes among coal mine workers of Raniganj and Jharia.

Question 143. Who was adversely affected as a result of the creation of private property on land?
Answer: As a result of their land becoming private property, the peasants were the worst sufferers. The peasants could be evicted from land at any time by the zamindars who were the owners of the land. Fragmentation of land as a result of the creation of private property in the land also led to the misery of the peasants.

Question 144. What are the two causes of the ruination of the peasantry?
Answer: Under the new land settlements introduced by the British, it was the peasants who were the worst sufferers. One important cause of the peasants’ suffering was that they came under the grip of the Mahajan, money-lenders, etc. who were oppressors. The second important cause of the peasants’ suffering was due to the fact that under the new land settlement their rights on land were not recognized.

Question 145. What was the Partition of Bengal?
Answer: Partition of Bengal was the division of the Presidency of Bengal by Viceroy Lord Curzon into two divisions—Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam.

Question 146. In which year was the Partition of Bengal revoked?
Answer: The Partition of Bengal was revoked in 1911.

Question 147. Which areas did the East Bengal province comprise?
Answer: Eastern Bengal and Assam are comprised of the eastern districts of Bengal proper. Assam with a population of 31 million. Dacca was the capital of the new province.

Question 148. Which areas did the Western Bengal province comprise?
Answer: Bengal comprised of the western districts of Bengal proper, Bihar and Orissa with a population of 54 million. Calcutta was made its capital.

Question 149. How did the idea of the Swadeshi Movement help Indians to be united against the British?
Answer: The Swadeshi Movement drew a large section of society into active participation in the freedom movement. The zamindars who had previously remained loyal to the British took part in the movement. Women and students actively participated and Muslims joined in despite British measures to prevent them from participating.

Question 150. Name some of the leaders of the Anti-Partition agitation.
Answer: Moderates-Surendranath Banerjee, B.C. Pal, Ananda Mohan Bose; Assertives-Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Ajit Singh, Syed Hyder Raza, Chidambaram Pillai.

WBBSE Chapter 6 Peasant, Working Class And Left Movements In 20th-Century India Short Answer Questions

Question 1. What were the main objectives of the formation of Kisan Sabha? Or, Write an essay on Kisan Sabha.
Answer:

Establishment and Founding Members:

For the sake of rising peasant movements an all-India organisation, namely the ‘All India Kisan Sabha’ was founded on 15th January 1936 A.D at Meerut. Under the leadership of (Ulladulla Monakkel Sankaran) E. M. S Namboodripad, the cause was felt.

Accordingly, ‘All India Kisan Congress’ was founded on 16th April 1936 A.D. Jawaharlal Nehru of Congress, Jayprakash Narayan and Acharya Narendradeb from the Socialist Congress, Namboodripad from the Communist Party and many notable figures joined the Kisan Sabha.

Swami Sahajananda Saraswati and N. G. Ranga were its first General Secretary and President respectively. The notable figures present in its first session at Lucknow were K. M. Asharaf, Indulal Yagnik, Sohan Singh Yash, Mohanlal Goutam, Ram Manohar Lohia, Sudhin Sarkar, Kamal Pramanik and others.

Demands of Kisan Sabha: In a manifesto, the demands of the Kisan Sabha in August, 1936A.D. were:

1. Freeing the Indian peasants from all sorts of exploitations and establishing their economic and political rights.
2. Abolition of the zamindari system.
3. Fifty per cent decrease in land rent and revenue.
4. Right to collect timber and cattle fodder from the woods.
5. Distribution of land among the landless peasants.

Nationalistic Activities: In the Faizapur session of the Congress the manifesto was accepted. On 14th July 1937 A.D. in Niyamatpur, Gaya Kishan Congress founded ‘All India Kisan Sabha’. In 1939 A.D. its number of members increased to 8,00,000. On 27-28th March, 1937A.D. at Patrasayer, Bankura, the provincial session of the Kisan Sabha was organized. After this the ‘Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha’ was founded, and it started a movement against the abolition of the peasants. Another similar movement in Bihar was known as the ‘Bakashat Movement’. According to Russian Historian Gregori Katovosky, the All India Kisan Sabha strengthened the National Movement.

Question 2. Write a short note on AITUC
Answer:

AITUC:

All India Trade Union Congress: AITUC is the first largest labour organisation in India. It was formed in 1920 A.D. The full form of AITUC is “All India Trade Union Congress”. The main role was played by persons like B. P. Wadia of Madras, N. M. Joshi of Maharastra, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Joseph Baptista, Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab, etc. for the formation of this organisation. Lala Lajpat Rai, in his presidential speech at the first AITUC conference, invited everybody to come forward and become politically conscious and powerful against the British. In the second conference of AITUC, President Dewan Chamanlal demanded ‘Swaraj’. AITUC played a great role in strengthening the labour movement in India.

 

Question 3. Write a short note on Meerut Conspiracy Case.
Answer:

Meerut Conspiracy Case:

1. Spread of Working Class Movements: The working class movement was widely spread by the formation of the Communist Party of India (1925 A.D). The communist leaders formed the workers’ party at this time to encourage the movement of the workers. This movement became much more militant during the anti- Simon Commission movement in 1928-29 A.D. The workers of the cotton mills of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and particularly of Bombay organised a long-term movement. Among the striking workers of the ‘Girni Kamgarh Union’ of Bombay, 25,000 workers tolerated the torture of the police and continued their movement

2. Militant Activities: Many communist and working-class leaders helped this militant movement of the working class when anti-labour acts like ‘Trade Dispute Bill’ and ‘Public Safety Act’ (1929 A.D) were passed. At this time, the Government brought a false complaint against the working class leaders and the Communist Party of India

3. Starting of the Case: On 20th March 1929 A.D, the Government started the Meerut Conspiracy Case against 33 working-class leaders. The leaders who had accepted long imprisonment by this trial were Muzaffar Ahmed, Sripad Amrit Dange, Gangadhar Adhikari, Sivnath Shastri, Dharani Goswami, P. C. Joshi, Mirajkar, Makbul Huda and two foreign leaders like Benjamin Bradley and Philip Spratt, etc.

4. Reaction and Results: Pandit Jawaharial Nehru called the Meerut Case as “offensive and attacking the policy of the Government towards the labour movement.” The British labourers also called it as ‘Judicial Scandal’. Meerut Conspiracy Case was one of the most long-lasting cases in Indian history. Persons like Prof. Harold John Laski, Scientist Sir Einstein, H. G. Wales, Remain Rolland, etc. protested against the Conspiracy Case. Due to Meerut Conspiracy Case, the political scenario in India was changed so also the labour movement in India became slow to some extent.

Question 4. Give an account of the Kisan Movement with special reference to the Tebhaga Movement.
Answer:

Kisan Movement with special reference to Tebhaga Movement:

1. Militant Activities of Kisan Sabha: The new development in 1946-1947 was an upsurge in the countryside in several regions, most notably Bengal, parts of Kerala, and Telangana in Hyderabad state. Everywhere the Communist-led Kisan Sabha was moving towards more militant forms of action, and reaching out below the level of the revenue or rent repaying, land holding peasantry towards share-croppers, landless labourers and tribals.
2. Demand for Tebhaga: In September 1946, the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha gave a call to implement through mass struggle the Floud Commission recommendation of Tebhaga – two-thirds of the crop, instead of half or even less, for the sha-ecopper (Baradar, bhagchashi or Madhya) working on land rented from tears. Communist cadres, including many urban student militants, went out into the countryside to organise the bargadars, who had become a major and growing section of the rural population as poor peasants lost land through depression and famine and were pushed down to the level of sharecroppers—they numbered 60 of villagers in some pockets which became tebhaga strongholds
3. Spread of Tebhaga Movement: The movement caught on suddenly from harvest time in November, with the central slogan of ‘nij khamare Dhan talo’—sharecroppers taking paddy to their own threshing floor and not to the Jotedar’s house as before, so as to enforce tebhaga. North Bengal became the storm centre, particularly the Thakurgaon sub-division of Dinajpur and adjoining areas of Jalpaiguri, Rangpur and Malda. Tebhaga pockets also developed in Mymensingh (Kishorganj), Midnapur (Mahishadal, Sutahata and Nandigram and 24 Parganas, (Kakdwip), while the Hajongs in north Mymensingh who had won a reduction in their tanka (produce rent) in 1937-1938 now demanded its conversion into cash so as to gain from higher prices.
4. Limitations of the Movement: The North Bengal base was principally among Rajbansis, mostly Madhya and poor peasants, but also included some big tears. Muslims did not participate in considerable numbers in the tebhaga bases, despite Kolkata and Noakhali producing leaders like Muhammad Dasesh, Niamat Ali, and even some maulvis who quoted the Koran to condemn jotedar oppression. But the whole of South-East Bengal remained untouched, including the old Kisan Sabha stronghold of Tipperary. Jordans and police violence were sought to be countered by volunteers with lathis. But lathis are not and when the League Ministry balanced its sop of a bargadar bill with intensified repression from February 1947, the movement faced a crisis which proved fatal.

Twenty Santals were killed near Balurghat (Dinajpur) in a clash with the police and Sunil Sen lists 49 peasant martyrs in all. Some peasant militants wanted arms, but the Communists did not have them and in any case, had not really envisaged an all-out armed struggle. Socially, too, limitations were emerging; tribal elements pressed for greater militancy but middle and poor peasant support declined, while in the North Bengal towns the professional groups which were the mainstay of the National Movement were extremely hostile. The Communists planned a general strike on 28 March 1937, but meanwhile, the Hindu Mahasabha campaign for Bengal Partition was gaining strength, and renewed riots in Kolkata from 27 March ended all prospects of sympathetic actions in urban areas.

Question 5. What do you know of the peasant movement in Telangana?
Answer:

The peasant movement in Telangana: Where Tebhaga and Punnapra-Vayalar had gone to the brink of armed struggle but failed to cross it, Telengana between July 1946 and October 1951 saw the biggest peasant guerrilla war so far of modern Indian history, affecting at its height about 3000 villages spread over 16,000 square miles and with a population of three million.

Hyderabad under the Asafjahi Nizams was marked by a combination of religious-linguistic domination by a small Urdu-speaking Muslim elite over a predominantly Hindu Telegu, Marathi and Kannada language group, the total absence of political and civil liberties, and the grossest forms of feudal exploitation, particularly in the Telengana region where Muslims and high-caste Hindu desks and Jagirdars extorted Vetti jail or forced labour and payments in kind from lower caste and tribal peasants and debt-slaves.

Land grabbing by the doras (landlords) had worsened peasant conditions from the Depression days. Unlike tebhaga, and to a much greater extent than in Travancore, the Communist-led agrarian revolt thus retained, till the entry of the Indian army in September 1948, the broader dimensions of a national-liberation struggle against the Nizam and his Razakar hands, though a limiting factor was the aloofness or hostility of the urban Muslim population, including even a substantial section of the working class.

Another decisive advantage was the slack manner in which the Arms Act had been enforced in the state, in every contrast to British India. Till September 1948, funds for buying arms could be collected more or less openly in the neighbouring Andhra districts of Madras, since everyone — including the Congress—wanted to resist the Razakars and block the Nizam’s bid to set up an independent Muslim-dominated state.

Police Repression: The situation changed quickly after September 1948, and indeed the police action was probably undertaken in large part as a move to halt the Communist advance. The rout of the Razakars gave a lot of arms to the guerrillas, but now they have to face the much better equipped and disciplined regular Indian army, while the slogan of overthrowing the Government of newly-independent India naturally had very much less appeal than the earlier anti-Nizam struggle.

The Communists now quickly lost the active support of better-off peasants, and energetic and often very ruthless military action drove them out of the settled plains of Nalgonda, Warrangal and Khammam into the deep forests of the Nallamallai hills across the Krishna to the south and to the Godavari region to the north-east.

Here they established some new bases among Chenchu and Koya tribals, whom they rescued from the oppression of forest officials and trader money-lenders.

Achievements: The positive achievements, direct or indirect, of the Telangana struggle, were not inconsiderable. Peasant guerrillas, more than any other factor, brought down the autocratic feudal regime of India’s biggest princely state, frustrating the compromise bid of the November 1947 stand-still agreement made by Patel and V. P. Menon. The destruction of Hyderabad state also cleared the way for the formation of Andhra Pradesh on linguistic lines a few years later, thus realising another old aim of the national movement in this region. The peasants also did win some enduring gains, Vetti could not be restored, not all the redistributed land was lost, the Congress regime had to abolish jagirdari system in 1949 and impose at least a theoretical ceiling, and it is significant that Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement began precisely in Nalgonda.

Question 6. Write what you know about Manabendranath Roy and the leftist movement of India.
Answer:

Manabendranath Roy and the leftist movement of India

M. N. Roy and the Leftist Movement in India: Manabendranath Roy (1887-1958), a Bengali by birth, delivered a speech at the May Day celebrations at Moscow in 1920. His real name was Narendranath Bhattacharya. The Communist Party of India (1920) was established by him in Tashkent. He was a pioneer of the communist or leftist movement in India. He returned to India in 1930 and got directly involved with the leftist movement in India.

Radical Democratic Party and Indian Federation of Labour: The famous Indian communist leader Manabendranath Roy (M.N.Roy), after coming back from the ‘Third International’ organised in Russia, was bent on starting a new party in India, in order to bring together all the leftist powers, he even invited Congressmen, who believed in leftist ideals, to various conferences. Then, in 1939, he set up ‘The League of Radical Congressmen’ by joining both the left-wing and right winged people. However, it did not last long because of the hostility of Gandhian leaders in Congress. Finally, he resigned his membership from Congress and with like-minded people, he formed the ‘Radical Democratic Party’ in 1940. This party supported the British in World War II and tried to win the confidence of the working class in India. His labour organisation ‘The Indian federation of Labour’ tried to mobilise public opinion in favour of the World War. But this party did not have an important role to play in the National Movement or national politics of India. He went to Bavaria of Germany with the disguise name “C. Martin”. Some of his other disguise names were ‘M. N. Roy’, ‘Hari Singh’, Dr. Mahmud’, ‘Dr. Mahmud’, ‘D. Garsia’, ‘Mr. X’, ‘Mr. Banerjee, etc.

Question 7. How was the Communist Party of India formed?
Answer:

Communist Party of India:

1. Establishment: It may certainly be taken for granted that the Communist Party of India (CPI) was first set up at Tashkent (in the erstwhile Soviet Union) in October (or November), 1920 [The Communist Party of India and Its Formation Abroad: p65: Muzaffar Ahmed). From there M.N. Roy (Manabendranath Roy), one of those who founded the Party, used to send various literature, pamphlets and books to India, to inspire and develop Marxian ideology amongst the Indians.
2. Emergency of Communist Groups: Meanwhile various communist groups emerged in different parts of the country such as in Bengal under the leadership of Muzaffar Ahmed; in Bombay under S.A. Dange and others. Similar groups also came into existence in Lahore (Punjab), Madras and many other places. Attempts to coordinate the activities of the different groups under a central organization, however, were not very successful before 1925.

3. Kanpur Conspiracy Case: In 1924 efforts to organize a Communist Party received a setback when all the leading communist leaders were apprehended by the British police and brought to trial under the ‘Kanpur Conspiracy Case’. Those who were charged by the British police included M.N. Roy, Nalini Gupta, Muzaffar Ahmed, Dange, Shaukat Usmani and many others.

“Peasant, Working Class, and Left Movements WBBSE Class 10 SAQs, with solutions”

4. Formation of the Party: However, the very next year (1925) a conference was held at Kanpur in which different communist groups participated. The consequence of this conference was the birth of the Communist Party of India (CPI). M.G. Ghate was later appointed its General Secretary.

Question 8. Discuss the outcome of the Bardoli agitation.
Answer:

The outcome of the Bardoli Agitation:

1. Terms of Settlement: On 18 July 1928 Wilson offered terms to Patel whereby the peasants of Bardoli paid the full assessment of the differences between the old and new revenue demands and abandoned the satyagraha first so that a special inquiry into only the disputed facts regarding revenue settlement in Bardoli taluka could be conducted.
2. Demands of Patel: Patel once again rejected them and insisted on the release of all prisoner satyagrahis, restoration of forfeited lands (whether sold or not) to original landowners and appointment of an impartial committee as his pre-conditions for withdrawing the agitation.
3. Withdrawal of the Movement: The withdrawal of the movement was not a happy affair. Verbally the government agreed that its pre-conditions of Patel would be fulfilled but informally it was decided that the full enhancement of rent would not be paid. Nobody took the Governor’s declaration seriously when he declared that he had secured an unconditional surrender. In fact, it was the peasants who laughed at the last.
4. Importance: The Bardoli satyagraha influenced not only other peasant movements in the country, but it also provided a new strength to the national freedom movement.
Gandhiji very rightly observed on the success of the Bardoli agitation: “Whatever the Bardoli struggle may be, it clearly is not a struggle for the direct attainment of swaraj. That every such awakening, every such effort, as that of Bardoli will bring swaraj nearer and may bring it nearer even then any direct effort is undoubtedly true”.
5. Criticisms: The Bardoli movement has been criticised from varying perspectives. D.N. Dhanagare has raised the issue as to what extent the satyagraha was a reality or a myth created by the GandhiAnswer: On a broader plane, it could be safely said that the Bardoli agitation was more a national issue for experimenting with satyagraha as a method for freedom struggle. Definitely, not much attention was paid to the basic problems of the peasants.

Question 9. Write a note on Eka movement.
Answer:

Eka Movement: Towards the end of 1921, peasant discontent surfaced again in the districts of Hardoi, Bahraich and Sitapur, with grievances relating to the extraction of a rent that was generally 50 per cent higher than the recorded rent. Congress and Khilafat leaders provided the initial thrust to the peasant grievances and the movement grew under the name Eka or unity movement.

With grass-root leadership not in favour of non-violence taking over the movement, the authorities succeeded in bringing it to an end. The Kisan movements were also overshadowed by the Non-Cooperation Movement in UP. In 1918, the UP Kisan Sabha was set up by Gouri Shankar Misra and Indra Narain Dwivedi whose effort was blessed by Madan Mohan Malaviya.

The Kisan Sabha played very active role in championing the cause of nationalism in 1919, 1920 and 1921 and we notice a change like a peasant activity towards violence and looting.

In the region of Avadh, peasant discontentment surfaced again under the leadership of the Eka or unity movement but the relation between the Eka movement and the nationalist movement minimized due to the refusal of Eka leaders to follow the discipline of the nationalist movement.

Question 10. Write a note on Bardauli Satyagraha.
Answer:

Bardauli Satyagratha:

1. Introduction: The movement by the Gandhian protesters, which was started in Bardauli Taluk of Surat District in Gujarat, is known as the ‘Bardauli Movement7

2. Higher Caste People of Bardauli: The wealthy Patidars of Bardauli came from the Sunabi-Patidar community of farmers. They got their land cultivated by the Ramdas who came from ‘durable clan7 or weaker clan. They were also known by the name ‘Kaliparaj7 or the dark-skinned folks and made up only 50% of the total population. The higher caste people of Bardauli were known as ‘Ujaliparaj7 or ‘the fair-skinned folks7

3. Oppression: The people of higher castes indulged in oppression, exploitation, forced labour and raping the women of the dark skinned people. Oppression by the money-lenders was a matter of regular occurrence. Moreover, the rate of taxes was increased to 22 %(1927) although the price of cotton had gone down considerably

4. Movement: Under these circumstances, the Gandhian idealists Mehta Brothers (Kunwarji Mehta and Kayanji Mehta) requested Vallav Bhai Patel to organise a tax boycott movement. Slowly Bardauli came to the forefront of national politics. Gandhiji called the lower caste people of this area as ‘Raniparaj7 or ‘forest dewellers7. These people participated in this movement

5. Support of the Movement: The workers of the cotton mills of Ahmedabad handed over a subscription of Rs. 1300/- to the participants of the movement. The leaders of the Girni Kamgar Union of Bombay also extended their help. Even the communists gave mental support to the movement

6. Result: The consequence was that instead of adopting a policy of suppression, the Government set up an enquiry committee to investigate the matter and subsequently reduced the rate of taxes from 22% to 6.25%.

Conclusion: In spite of the success of the non-violent Satyagraha Movement of Bardauli, R. S. Nimbakar, leader of the ‘Worker and Peasant Party7 of Bombay, felt that the Congress had led the movement with narrow and limited views. Historian D. N. Dhanagare said that this movement was directed in the interests of the higher caste Patidars instead of being a fight against the oppression by the landlords.

Question 11. Give an account of the labour movements during the anti-partition movement.
Answer:

Labour Movement During the Anti-Partition Movement:

Introduction: Swadeshi and Boycott, the two weapons of the anti-partition movement, were together a landmark in the history of the labour movement. Contemporary official survey has addressed the ‘industrial unrest7 during the period as a remarkable characteristic. A number of strikes broke out sharply. Many of the leaders of the Swadeshi inspired the labourers to unite and organize themselves into unions. With the growth of the labour force, a section of the nationalist leaders felt the need to talk with the British authorities and urge upon them to take measures to protect the labourers7 interest against the exploitation by the capitalists. Support of the Congress: The Benaras Congress made an emphatic protest against the partition of Bengal as also the repressive measures adopted by the British government. Though Congress as an organization did not openly assist the workers’ movement, many of the Congress leaders enthusiastically supported labour strikes and the formation of trade unions.

Leaders of the Movement: Aswini Kumar Banerjee, Premtosh Bose, Apurba Kumar Ghosh, etc. were some of the labour leaders of the Swadeshi movement who actively participated in a large number of strikes.
Strikes: A wave of strikes broke out in engulfing East Indian Railway, the Clive Jute Mills and other establishments. Tilak made Bombay workers to go for a strike and Chidambaram Pillai organized a strike of the Tuticorin Coral Mill.
Workers’ Union: Immediately after the formation of the Printers’ Union the first real Labour Union came into being. In July 1906, a strike of clerks of the East Indian Railway was followed by the formation of the Railwaymen’s Union.

Socialistic Tendency: The anti-partition movement also witnessed the faint beginnings of a socialist leaning among some of the nationalist leaders. In fact, they were imbued with the Marxist ideas that had been developing in Europe. Some extremist leaders openly urged for following the ‘Russian method’ of political general strike in India.

Question 12. Give an account of the Civil Disobedience Movement and the role of working class in that movement.
Answer:

Role of Working Class in Civil Disobedience Movement:

Introduction: During the Civil Disobedience Movement the labour movement gained a foothold in the political thinking of the country. This is shown by the fact that workers all over the country participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Contribution of the Congress: During the Civil Disobedience under the leadership of Gandhiji a Communist Party document (1930) openly stated that virtually Congress was the only organization which was carrying on the fight against British imperialism and, therefore, the workers began to follow the lead of the Congress. Indeed, during the Civil Disobedience, the Congress (in Bombay) raised the slogan that “workers and peasants are the hands and feet of the Congress” The GIP Railwaymen’s Union undertook satyagraha in support of Gandhiji’s breach of the salt law.

Communist Influence: Communist influence in the trade union movement became strong in 1928 after a period of a slump. In Bombay, the communist-led Girni Kamgar Union (GKU) organized a massive six-month-long strike of the textile workers. The Communist influence spread rapidly in Bombay and Bengal to the workers in the railways, paper mills, jute mills, etc. In Madras, the workers of the Burma Oil Company were strongly influenced by communism.

Govt. Repression: The British Government in India became alarmed at the growing unrest among the workers. It also became thoroughly convinced that the intensive labour movement was a result of the socialist and communist ideas propagated to the workers by the Communist Party of India (CPI). In their efforts to hold back the growth of communist influence, the British Government put under arrest all the leading communist and trade union leaders. The leaders imprisoned included Mirajkar, Joshi, Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A. Dange, etc. They were brought to trial under the ill-famed Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929).

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Consequence: Subsequently, the labour movement in India lost its strength considerably due to the split in the AITUC as also due to other factors. Nevertheless, workers participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement all over the country. The textile workers in Sholapur in Maharashtra went on rampage after the British police resorted to firing in order to stop an anti-British procession. During the movement, the mill workers of Calcutta, the dock workers of Karachi and the mill workers of Madras heroically clashed with the police. The British Government ruthlessly suppressed the insurgents. Many of the workers were sentenced to long-term imprisonment and several others were sentenced to death.

Question 13. Describe labour movements during Quit India movement.
Answer:

Labour Movements During Quit India Movement:

Introduction: In 1942, during Quit India Movement, a pan India mass movement started against nationwide British imperialism. The Communist Party of India stood aloof from it. The communist leaders instructed the working class not to participate in Quit India Movement. But, they neglected that instruction and joined the movement.

At the Onset: On 9th August 1942, at the onset of Quit India Movement, when Gandhiji and other prominent leaders were arrested, the workers observed general shutdown and strikes for one whole week without being instructed by anybody. The vibes of that labour movement could be felt at Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bombay, Nagpur, Jamshedpur, Madras, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. In Jamshedpur, the labourers of Tata Iron and Steel Company kept the factory closed for 13 consecutive days.

During the Movement: During Quit India Movement, the workers iterated that until and unless a national government was formed, they would not rejoin their duties. Just like the workers of TISCO, thousands of workers in the garment factories of Ahmedabad continued their strike for 90 days in support of the Quit India Movement.

Less Communist Influence: It is noted that, during Quit India Movement, the labourers invariably avoided the communists or were scared of them. Consequently, lesser number of labourers were found joining the movement where there was greater communist influence. However, in some places, ordinary communist leaders moved out of their party lines and joined with the labourers in Quit India Movement. From May to July of 1942, the leaders of Tram Workers’ Union in communist-dominated Calcutta, ignored party dictates and many times joined the strikes.

Question 14. Discuss the anti-partition movement and the peasantry.
Answer:

Anti-partition movement and the peasantry: A novel genre of farmers’ rebellion developed during the Anti-Partition Movement. Rabindranath Tagore, in his lecture named ‘Swadeshi Samaj’, said, people would become more powerful and independent if ‘cooperative farming and jointly owned farms develop in all the villages’.

Swadesh Bandhab Samity: Aswini Kumar Dutta formed the ‘Swadesh Bandhab Samity’ (1906) to solve problems in the villages and to safeguard the interests of the peasants, which solved 523 local issues. Till 1907, this organisation had established at least a thousand branches.

Farmers’ Rebellion: During the AntiPartition Movement, the farmers’ rebellion was communal, because whenever the farmers demanded justice and protested against the landlords, the Government labelled the farmers’ rebellion as communal unrest. It was easy for the Government to instigate the rebelling farmers, who were mostly Muslims, against the landlords and moneylenders who were mostly Hindus. During 1906-07, farmers’ unrest took the form of communal riots in Komilla and Mymensingh.

Muslim Agitation: The Muslim farmers tore off the loan agreement papers of the Hindu moneylenders. At that time the Muslims published and distributed a booklet called ‘Nabab Saheber Subichar’ and wanted help from Nawab Salimullah. Rabindranath Tagore, in his novel ‘Ghare Baire’, described how the British took advantage of the helplessness of the poor Muslim peasants.

Inter-Caste Struggle: During the Anti-partition Movement, the scheduled caste Hindus, like the Namashudra, had not given much importance to the Nationalist Movement like the poor Muslim farmers. The Hindu farmers were oppressed by the higher caste people to such an extent that the Nationalist Movement led by people of higher caste did not have much appeal to them. Dr Sumit Sarkar in his book ‘The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal’ opines that since there was no agriculture-based program during the Anti-partition Movement, the peasants did not participate in a movement led by the middle class.

Question 15. Write a note on the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party.
Answer:

Workers’ and Peasants’ Party: In 1925, ‘The Labour Swaraj Party’ was formed under the leadership of Muzaffar Ahmed and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar in Kanpur. It was later renamed as ‘Peasants and Workers Party’. In 1928, a group of politicians with communist leanings formed the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party.

The party was active in Bengal, Bombay, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Naresh Sen Gupta was the leader of this party in Bengal. He demanded the abolition of the zamindari system.

The Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (1928) was constituted by unifying local organisations like Singaravellu Chettiyar’s ‘Labour Swaraj Party’ (1925) formed by Muzaffar Ahmed and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar in Bengal and ‘Congress Labour Party’ (1926) of Bombay.

Two British communists, Philip Sprat and Benjamin Bradley took a lot of initiative in the formation of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party. This party led to a huge increase in the influence of communism within the Indian National Congress. However, the members did not associate themselves with the ‘Communist League’.

However, they were extremely successful in mobilising the trade union movement. Two famous mouthpieces were the ‘Langal’ edited by Kazi Nazura! Islam and ‘Ganabani’ of Muzaffar Ahmed.

Question 16. Discuss the role of peasants in the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer:

Role of Peasants in the Non-Cooperation Movement: Peasants were drawn to the Non-Cooperation Movement in vast numbers. The Congress volunteers organised the peasants from their village bases
1. Organisation of Courts: They organised about 866 private mediation courts in rural Bengal as an alternative to British courts of law. In these courts, suits were quickly disposed of.

2. Contribution of Gandhiji: Gandhiji made a deep appeal in the hearts of the peasants due to his saintly life and his sincere concern for the KisAnswer: They responded to his call and joined the movement shouting ‘Gandhiji Ki Jai’. There is a view advocated by Mazid Siddiqi that the peasant movement had already started in U. P. Jhimguri Singh had already started the Kisan movement in U. P. which the Congress leaders utilised for the NonCooperation Movement. Baba Ramchandra had already started the Kurmi Kisan Sabha which was merged with the U.P. Kisan Sabha, the latter was dominated by Congressmen. The no-rent movement of the U.P. Kisans was disliked by Gandhiji and middle-class Congressmen.
3. Marxist View: According to Gyanendra Pande, when Gandhiji recalled the satyagraha movement, it acted as a stabbing at the back of the U.P. peasants, whose interest was sacrificed for the sake of political advantage of the Congressmen who received patronage from landlords. Opinions vary on this Marxist interpretation. However, Pratapgarh, Faizabad and Raibarelli districts of U.P. were hot-beds of the Kisan movement
4. Movement in Bengal and Other Places: In Bengal Biren Sasmal of Midnapore organised the middle-class and lower-middle-class peasants to boycott the union board and Chowkidari tax. In Pabna land settlement work of the Government was boycotted. In Andhra, Gujrat, and Bardouli the peasants joined the satyagraha and boycott in a big way. Except for the Chauri Chaura incident, the peasants who formed the core of the NonCooperation Movement remained non-violent and wonderfully disciplined.

Question 17. What were the circumstances favouring the growth of Left ideologies in India?
Answer:

Circumstances favouring the growth of Left ideologies in India: Leftism in India grew out of the special politico-economic circumstances prevailing in India towards the end of the First World War and was inextricably intertwined with the mainstream of the nationalist movement.

These circumstances were :

1. The First World War brought in crippling financial burdens, rising prices of necessities of life, famine conditions and manipulative profiteering—all exposing the evils of imperialist-capitalist domination.
2. The romantic appeal of the revolutionary ideas of Marx coupled with the reflected glory of the new regime in the U.S.S.R. fired the imagination of the Indian intellectuals, political leaders, terrorists and even workers and made them conscious of a new ideology loaded with socio-economic content.
3. Gandhiji’s slogans of Swaraj and Swadeshi and his attempt to carry the message to every nook and corner of India gave a new orientation to the political movement. Even the workers and peasants were drawn into the mainstream of national life. The new development provided a fertile ground for the inauguration of an organised and ideologically inspired socialist movement.
4. A volatile section of the new generation of the educated middle class with the spectre of unemployment staring them in the face had lost faith in 19th-century liberalism and all that it stood for and was attracted towards was individualistic terrorism or the new revolutionary socialist ideology.

Question 18. Write a note on the formation and growth of Kisan Sabha.
Answer:

Formation of Kisan Sabha:

Background: A section of the farmer leadership saw the inner contradictions in Congress’s agrarian policy. The peasant movements launched by Congress were primarily aimed at seeking relief against excessive government land revenue demand and were thus solicitous for the interests of the zamindars and landed magnates.

The Congress was virtually indifferent to inter-agrarian relations, i.e., relations between landlords on the one hand and tenants, cultivators and agricultural labourers on the other hand, under Permanent Settlement and in ryotwari areas the relations between the rich farmer and sharecroppers or landless labour.

The propaganda of the Communists and other left parties created class consciousness among the peasants and provided the nucleus for the formation of Kisan Sabhas.

Organisation: In the 1920s Kisan Sabhas were organised in Bengal, Punjab and U.P. In 1928 the Andhra Provincial Ryots Association was formed. However, the first All India Kisan Sabha was formed at Lucknow on 11 April 1936.

Objectives and Demands: The Kisan Sabha explained its objective of “securing complete freedom from economic exploitation and achievement of full economic and political power for peasants and workers and all other exploited classes.” It also demanded a moratorium on debts, abolition of land revenue and rent from uneconomic holdings, reduction of land revenue and rent, licensing of money-lenders, minimum wages for agricultural workers, fair prices for sugarcane and commercial crops and irrigation facilities. It also envisaged the abolition of zamindari and vesting of the ownership land in the tiller of the soil. All these objectives were to be achieved by proper organisation and active participation in the national struggle for independence.

Kisan Sabha Agitation: The Kisan Sabha launched anti-settlement agitation against zamindari ‘zulunV in Andhra Pradesh. In U.P. and Bihar heroic struggles were launched against zamindars’ exploitation. In 1936 agitation started against Bakasht (self-cultivated land) movement in Bihar. Bakasht was zamindar’s special land which was cultivated by tenants on condition that they would pay a certain portion of the produce as rent to the land owner. The zamindars sought to bring more and more land under this category in a bid to prevent tenants from claiming occupancy rights. There was large-scale eviction of tenants on one or the other plea in 1937. The Kisan Sabha organised the evicted tenants and they offered satyagraha, thereby preventing others from cultivating land. Violent clashes occurred resulting in many casualties. The All India Kisan Sabha organised a Bihar Kisan Day on 18 October 1937 against police repression on satyagrahis.

Growth of Kisan Sabha: The growth of Kisan Sabhas also worked as pressure on the Indian National Congress. The Congress struck a radical posture in the agrarian programme at its Karachi and Faizpur sessions. The Faizpur Congress adopted resolutions on the need for reduction of rent and revenue abolition of feudal dues and levies, fixity of tenure, moratorium on debts and need for statutory provisions for ensuring living wage and suitable working conditions for the agricultural labourers.

Chapter 6 Peasant, Working Class And Left Movements In 20th-Century India 8 Marks Questions And Answers:

Question 1. Write an essay on the Labour Movement in India from 1918 to 1934 A.D. Or, Describe the Labour Movement in India between the two World Wars. Or, Give a brief account of the Labour Movement in India from 1918 to 1934 A.D.
Answer:

Introduction: The Industrial revolution occurred in England in the eighteenth century. With its impact of it, industrial development in India started in the nineteenth century. During this time, various industries started coming up and side by side the labour and the owner class also came up.

As a result of two “Factory Acts” passed in 1881 A.D. and 1891 A.D., the exploitation of the labourers by the owners started increasing day by day. As a consequence, the disturbed labour class called the first strike in a tea garden in Assam under the inspiration of Dwarakanath Ganguly in 1860 A.D.

A vivid description of the exploitation by the owners is mentioned in the book ‘Slave Trade in Assam’ written by Dwarakanath. In 1903 A.D. the press labourers in Madras went on strike for six months. With the demands for extra wages for extra jobs in 1908 A.D.

As a protest against Tilak’s arrest, thousands and thousands of labourers went on strike. But, no all-India labour organisation was formed till then. Industrialisation and civilisation started growing in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta due to huge foreign investments made in India.

Traditional Leaders of Labour Strikes: In the majority of the cases, the exploitation done by the owner class was boundless due to Government support. During the days of the partition movement in 1905 A.D., some labour strikes were organised with the support of Chittaranjan Das, Bipin Chandra Pal, Prabhat Kusim Raychowdhury Apurba Kumar Ghosh, Liyakat Hossain, Aswini Kumar Banerjee etc.

Gandhiji probably understood the situation and hence formed ‘Mazdoor Mahajan’ (1917 A.D.) with 18,000 labourers. Gandhiji fought against the mill owners of Ahmedabad and solved the problem to a great extent with respect of the fixation of duty hours to eight, reasonable wages, health problems of the labourers, etc.

Like the mill labourers of Ahmedabad, nearly 5,000 labourers of the ‘Great Indian Peninsular Railway’ workshop and ‘Parole’ workshop went on to strike. Before coming to Indian politics, Gandhiji’s influence as a union leader was undoubtedly a significant event.

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During the War Period: Due to the First World War (1914-18 A.D.), the situation of the labourers became intolerable and worse due to extensive lay-off, unemployment, price hikes and industrial depression during the post-war period. The most dangerous phenomenon was that the Government imposed a 50 per cent tax on the workers to meet the war expenditure. As a result, the overall situation of the workers became unbearable.

So famous labour leader B. P. Wadia formed the ‘Madras Labour Union’ in 1909 A.D. to make the labour movement on an all-India basis.

The labourers of Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Bihar, Assam, etc. started more intensified strikes. So, historian Rajni Palme Dutt thinks that “Due to the influences of the Russian revolution, the First World War, and other international revolutions, the Labour Movement in India was sufficiently matured and efficient also.

The economic condition and the international events played equally”. The labour movement reached its peak during the non-cooperation movement of Gandhiji in 1920 A.D.-1922 A.D. Initially with the endeavour of AITUC nearly 200 labour strikes occurred in 1920 A.D.

Western Influence: The influence of the Western socialist ideology was there behind the democratic concentration of this labour movement, over and above many important leaders also helped to make this movement a success. Many of these leaders were members of AITUC. Joseph Baptista, N. M. Joshi, B. P. Wadia, Nariman, Dmabandhu Andrews, Motilal Nehru, Syed Abdullah Brelvi, Ballavbhai Patel, Bomkesh Chakravarty, J. N. Baneqee, Hemanta Sarkar, etc. were of those eminent leaders. Singaravellu Chettiar, the famous labour leader first observed ‘May Day’ in India on 1st May 1923 A.D.

Before that, May Day was observed in Chicago of America for fix the working time of the workers to eight hours. But in India, it was found that torture by the police increased and laying off of the striking workers even after the observation of May Day. It may be assumed easily that the practical and real picture was always absolutely different. After a long time, in 1956 A.D. the “Trade Union Act” was passed and the various activities of the AITUC were recognised and the common interest of the labour class was preserved.

Communism in Labour Movement: In December 1925 A.D. the “Communist Party of India” was formed by Muzaffar Ahmed and a new dimension was noticed in the history of the labour movement. On the basis of the socialist ideologies of Karl Marx, the communist leaders provocative the helpless workers to go for a strike against the exploiting owner class. There were some publicity media organised by C.P.I. for the welfare of the workers. Besides this, there were also other communist leaders like Hemanta Sarkar, P C. Joshi, Mirajkar, etc. whose contributions made the labour movement successful.

During the Civil Disobedience Movement: In 1930-31 A.D., during the time of civil disobedience, the workers of the cotton mills of Sholapur, being very much tortured by the owners and the Government, started militant movements. Some labour leaders like Srikrishna Sarada, Qurban Hossain, Malappa Dhane Shesthy and Jagannath Sindhre were sentenced to death because some people were killed by the agitating workers. On the other hand, Fazlut Haque of Bengal formed ‘Bengal Praja Party’ in 1926-28 A.D. and communist organisations like ‘The workers and Peasants Party’ started travelling in Bengal, Bombay, Punjab, Central provinces, Madras, etc. against the extreme exploitation of the zamindar class. The Government brought false charges against many communist leaders as the labour movement turned into an armed and militant movement.

Congress Socialist Party: In the context of the Meerut Conspiracy Case, when the trend of the labour movement was decaying, Jayprakash Narayan and Acharya Narendra Dev united the ideas of communist and Congress parties and formed the ‘Congress Socialist Party’. Jayprakash Narayan played a unique role in uniting the labour movement with the movement for independence. A new phase was initiated when Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose of Congress joined the leftist labour movement. ‘The National Trade Union federation’ set up by Jamunadas Mehta and V. V. Giri had jointly started the labour movement with the Congress Socialist Party.

Conclusion: Historian Sumit Sarkar says that the movement which was started by Congress, received its militancy by the working class struggle. In that way, the working class movement was a progressive trend in the history of the freedom movement. Subhas Chandra Bose was eager to fulfil the economic freedom and other demands of the working class and to form a Government with the workers, as parallel to the British Government. The working class movement was non-violent, as it was guided by the ideal of communism. Sumit Sarkar had acknowledged, “As for labour, its concrete achievements in the building up of a fairly strong, countrywide trade union movement should not be underestimated’- -Modern India.

Question 2. Write a note on the Trade Union Movement.
Answer:

Trade Union Movement: Many workers were employed in the industries and the tea gardens which were established under native and foreign entrepreneurs in India. According to the statistics given by R. P. Dutt, there were 3,49,810 industrial workers in India in 1894. The workers in every sector were mercilessly exploited. The workers started to agitate against this exploitation. We can divide the workers’ movement into three phases.
(1) The First Phase: The years 1850-1900 were the early phase of the working-class movement. During these years a number of humanitarian and socially minded persons tried to organise the workers.
(2)The Second Phase: The second phase of the working class movement may be traced between 1901-1914. The workers showed their political consciousness as well as awareness of their wretched condition in the Swadeshi movement of 1905. They organised strikes in different factories owned by English mill owners. Strikes were held at Asansol and Jamalpore railway workshops. The workers of the Indian Government Press at Calcutta held strikes in 1905. The workers of East India Railway struck work in 1906 for higher wages and better housing. In 1907 began the all-India railway strike which paralysed most railway workshops. The Government used the army to break the strike by creating terror. Bal Gangadhar Tilak created a deep impression on the Bombay labour movement. The workers held strikes in 1908 as a protest against his arrest and common people organised hartals. Tilak was imprisoned for 6 years. The Second Factory Act was passed in 1911 by which working hours for 12 hours were fixed. But the mill owners tried to defy the Act.
(3)The Third Phase: The third phase spread over the year 1915-1917. It was a period of full-fledged trade union movement and awakening of class consciousness among the workers. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 created a deep impression on the Indian working class. The workers realised that there was no hope of liberation of the workers till India became free of colonial rule. The workers became vocal against the Rowlatt Act. During the Non-Cooperation Movement, the workers responded in different parts of the country by organising strikes.

Madras Labour Union: B. P. Wadia founded the Madras Labour Union in 1918 which, according to many, was the first real trade union of India. In that sense, B. P. Wadia may be truly called the founder of trade unions in India. Calcutta Tram Workers Union was founded in 1919. Gradually a good number of trade unions were founded in different industries. The foundation of All India Trade Union Congress in 1920 was a landmark. Lala Lajpat Rai presided over the A.I.T.U.C. at Bombay in 1920

Influence of Communism: During these years the trade union movement was generally conducted by national bourgeois leaders. They failed to work as a whole-time worker for the trade union movement and to devote themselves constantly to labour welfare and raising the wage of the labourers. The Indian Communists belonging to the C.P.I. were influenced by the philosophy of Marxism and the Russian Revolution. They devoted themselves to guiding the trade union movement in a militant fashion and as a weapon of class struggle. The working class movement largely passed under the control of the Communists. Gopen Chakravarty, Dharani Goswami, and Bankim Mookherjee were famous Communist labour leaders.

They formed 1918 the All India Workers and Peasants Party. Amrita Sri Pada Dange made a name by labour organisations and trade union activities among Bombay workers. Muzaffar Ahmed too made a name in the Bengal trade union movement. Dance and other Communist leaders pointed out that unless the workers could get political rights, they cannot win real economic rights. They, therefore, preached the doctrine of a Government to be formed by peasants and workers. Rightist labour leaders viewed the workers’ movement as a purely economic movement. Dance and other Communist leaders formed the G.K.U. or Girni Kamgarh Union at Bombay, which was the largest among the textile workers.

Question 3. Trace the growth of socialist ideas in Indian national politics in the 1920s and 1930s.
Answer:

Left-wing and Socialist Trends in Indian Politics: There were many circumstances which formed the growth of the left and socialist movements in India.
(1) The First World War brought in crippling financial burdens, rising prices of necessities of life, famine conditions and manipulative profiteering—all exposing the evils of imperialist-capitalist domination.
(2) The success of the Russian Revolution in 1917 fired the imagination of Indian intellectuals, political leaders, terrorists and even workers and made men aware of a new ideology.
(3) Gandhiji’s slogans of Swaraj and Swadeshi and his efforts to carry the message to the people gave a new orientation to the nationalist movement in the country. Even the workers and peasants were drawn into the mainstream of national life. Those developments helped the growth of the socialist movement.

Divisions of the Left Movements: Left movements in India developed into two main streams
1. Communism which functioned as a branch of the International Communist Movement and was by and large controlled by the Comintern.
2. The Congress Socialist Party functioned as the left wing of the Indian National Congress and drew inspiration from the philosophy of Democratic Socialism. Both these movements drew support from the anti-imperialist sentiments prevalent in India.

The Communist Party of India: The revolutionaries played a glorious role in the struggle for India’s freedom. Later on many of the revolutionaries embraced Marxism. Mr Manabendra Nath Roy or Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya went to Mexico in 1919 where he came in contact with a Bolshevik revolutionary Michael Borodin and embraced Marxism. He participated in the Second International in Russia in 1920 as an Indian delegate.

Role of M.N.Roy: A few former revolutionaries from India like Abani Mookherjee, Muhammad Ali, etc. led by M. N. Roy founded the C.P.I. at Tashkent in 1920. This party got recognition from the Comintern in 1921. Mr M. N. Roy sent a long memorandum from Tashkent to the Ahmedabad Congress session proposing the conversion of the Congress to an organ of class struggle for the liberation of the workers and the peasants. M.N. Roy found that organising a proletarian movement in India from Tashkent was difficult. He transferred the headquarters of his party to Berlin and started to publish two journals “The Vanguard” and “India in Transition”. Other revolutionaries abroad who went to Berlin from India, men like Birendra Nath Chatterjee, Bhupendra Nath Datta and Barkatullah were drawn to Marxism in Berlin. Some of the leaders of the Gadar Party, men like Ratan Singh were also indoctrinated to Marxism.

Urge for Communist Revolution: Mr M. N. Roy commissioned Nalini Gupta to inspire Dange and other Marxists in India to form an open organisation with peasants and workers and under its cover to start a secret communist organisation in order to bring a need of forming a socialist organisation of workers and peasants. Even though most of the Marxists and Communists had no faith in the compromise policy of the old guards of the Congress, still they were one with the main current of national movement till 1928.

Kanpur Conspiracy Case: However, the British Government turned hostile to the Indian Communists for their contact with the Soviet Union and for preaching communism in India. Leading communist leaders like Muzaffar Ahmed, S. A. Dange, Shaukat Osmani and Nalini Gupta were imprisoned under the Kanpur Conspiracy Case, of 1924. In 1925 an open conference at Kanpurthe ruly Indian Communist Party was formed under the leadership of Satya Bhakta. Sringara Vellu was the chairman of the conference and Hazrat Mohani was the chairman of the reception committee. The Kanpur conference led to the birth of a communist organisation under dedicated leaders who made the life-long struggle for preaching communist ideas in this country.

Peasants’ and Workers’ Party: From 1925-27 the Indian Communists functioned under the banner of an organisation named the ‘Peasants’ and Workers’ Party’. From that time the Indian communist workers identified themselves with the labour movement. When Shapurji Shaokatwalah returned to India from England in 1927, the communist movement in India became stronger than before. In 1937 the Bengalee students became involved in the communist movement and they launched violent demonstrations for the release of political prisoners. The Students Federation of India (S.F.I.) was founded at this time. The communist ideas were strong among the urban workers and students.

Left-wing in Congress: From the third decade of the 20th century there was clearly a left-wing swing in Congress politics. Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, two young Congress leaders were deeply influenced by socialist ideas. These two leaders forced Congress to adopt the demand of complete independence and they linked the peasants’ and workers’ movement with the Congress-led nationalist movement. The election of Jawaharlal Nehru as the President of the Congress in 1929,1936 and 1937 and of Subhas Chandra Bose in 1938 and 1939 clearly showed the left-wing tendency within the Congress fold. Subhas Chandra Bose’s attempt to seek re-election for the Congress Presidentship in 1939, sharply divided the Congress into the ‘leftist’ and ‘rightist’ camps. He also laid emphasis on the industrialisation of India and planned economic growth on the Soviet pattern.

The Congress Socialist Forum formed by the youth wing of the Congress was a faction of the Congress. The members of this Forum did not believe in Gandhiji’s principle of peaceful compromise between the employer and the workers and between the landlord and the peasant. The leaders of the Socialist Forum formed their organisation when they were imprisoned in the Nasik prison in 1933. The Congress Socialists took a middle course between Congress conservatives or Rightists and the extreme Leftists or Marxists. They gave freedom struggle a priority as their goal. But while carrying the struggle they advocated socialist reforms as another goal. Pandit J. Nehra supported this group without identifying himself with it. In U.P. the Congress Socialist Forum made a great impact in the election of the Provincial Congress Committee.

The local Congress was burdened with the programmes of land reform, and industrial dispute problems of the subjects of native states. The Congress Socialist Party condemned the Government of India Act, of 1935. It was because of the Socialist pressure that the Congress Election Manifesto of 1936 contained a programme for the removal of socioeconomic grievances of the people. The CSP supported the Quit India Movement and took a leading part in organising the Revolt of 1942. Apart from the Socialists, the left-wing followers of Subhas Chandra Bose founded the ‘Forward Block’ in 1939. When Subhas had to resign from the Presidentship of the Congress in 1939, M. N. Ray, the pioneer of the Communist movement in India, organised the Radical Democratic Party in 1940 after his complete disillusionment with Marxism.

Question 4. Write a note on ‘Gandhiji and the peasant movements’.
Answer:

Gandhiji and Peasant Movements: Gandhiji’s entry into Indian politics marked a change in the politico-economic life of India. In his anxiety to broaden the social base of the Congress, he carried his message to the villages and sought to involve the peasants in the nationalist struggle.

Champaran and Kheda Satyagrahas: The European indigo planters of Champaran, a district in the north-western part of Bihar, practised all types of oppression on the local Bihari peasants not very dissimilar from the earlier malpractices of planters in Bengal. Gandhiji assisted by Rajendra Prasad and others started an open enquiry into the real condition of the peasants. He taught the peasants of Champaran the virtues of Satyagraha which consisted of open, disciplined, nonviolent non-cooperation with injustice against the indigo planters. The British Government of Bihar took offence at Gandhian moves and prohibited them from pursuing their enquiry and arrested Gandhiji. Later on, the Government developed cold feet and appointed an Enquiry Committee (June 1917) with Gandhi as one of its members. The ameliorative enactment, the Champaran Agrarian Act freed the tenants from the special imposts levied by the indigo planters. Unfortunately, however, the Congress leaders did not follow up the matter to its logical conclusion by freeing the Champaran peasants from the excessive rents charged by the zamindars and exorbitant interest rates charged by the money-lenders.

The Kheda campaign was chiefly directed against the Government. In the spring of 1918 crop failures and drought brought misery to the peasants of Kheda in Gujarat. The Bombay Government, however, insisted on its pound of flesh in the form of land revenue. The land revenue rules provided for the remission of land revenue if the crop yield was less than 25 per cent of the normal, the cultivators claimed that to be the case which the Government officials denied. Gandhiji organised the peasants and enlisted the support of all classes. Peasants in large numbers offered Satyagraha and suffered imprisonment for defying unjust laws. The Satyagraha lasted till June 1918. The government had to concede to the just demands of the peasants. Judith Brown has estimated that the government did collect nearly 93 per cent of the assessment.

Impact: The Champaran and Kheda struggle established Gandhiji as the leader of the masses and opened the eyes of the educated kisans to the political possibilities of peasants’ mass action.

The Mappila (Moplah) Uprising, 1921: The Muslim leaseholders (kanamdars) and cultivators (verumpattamdars) of South Malabar (Kerala state) were popularly known as Moplahs. They were mainly converted t< from lower caste Hindus like Tia. S< they were descendants of the Arabian IV who had settled during the 8th and 9th CE on the Malabar Coast. The Moplahs most to agriculture and worked as tenants or r (bonded labour) of Hindu landlords. In the century the Moplah agrarian grievances centred around excessive land re-demand, insecurity of land tenure, renewal and extra landlord exactions) resulted in 22 outbreaks between 1836 and II talukas or south Malabar) in which the rebels killed numerous police and government officials and some Hindu landlords. In the 19th century, the British rulers always branded Moplah peasants’ strikes as communal outbursts and suppressed the rebels. The Moplah rebellion of 1921 stemmed from twin grievances of the Moplah Muslim peasantry (continued landlord oppression) and the British government’s anti-khilafat policies. In April 1920 Malabar District Congress held at Manjeri struck a pro-peasant stance and passed resolutions demanding tenancy reforms.

Merged with Khilafat Movement: In 1921 the Moplah peasants’ movement and the Khilafat movement got inextricably merged into one. The Khilafat movement became a worldwide protest movement of the Muslims against the harsh treatment meted out by the victorious Allied Powers to the Sultan of Turkey (the Khalifa of the Muslim community) and the dismemberment of the Turkish empire. The Indian Muslims under the leadership of the Ali Brothers whipped up anti-British hysteria and created a rebellious mood against the Government. The volatile Moplahs declared Ali Musaliar, a highly respected priest and a local Khilafat leader, as the Raja and Khilafat flags were unfurled over government buildings in the Ernad taluka of south Malahar.

In October 1921 the Government authorities sent a strong contingent to deal with the rebellion. Surrounded, the desperate Moplahs misled by rumours and suspecting Hindu complicity with the government, resorted to the inhuman killing of innocent Hindu men, women and children. By the end of the year 1921, the government crushed the rebellion resulting in the killing of 2,337 Moplahs and the wounding of another 1652, though the unofficial figure put the number of casualties at 10,000. In addition, about 3000 Moplahs were sentenced to transportation for life to the Andaman jails. The Moplah rebellion was ruthlessly crushed, which so greatly demoralised the community that thereafter they dared not take part in any peasant revolt or national political activity till the British rule lasted in India.

Question 5. Discuss the relationship between leftists and Congress in 20th-century India.
Answer:

Relationship between Leftists and Congress During the 2.0th Century:

Introduction: In the history of the farmers’ rebellion, Champaran in Bihar and Kheda in Gujarat are of great importance. During this time, because of the Congress’ connection with the farmers, many Gandhian leaders like Rajkumar Shukla, Rajendra Prasad and Jamunalal Bajaj joined the farmers’ movement. As a result, the Government was forced to withdraw the Teen Kathiya system and promulgated the Champaran Cultivation Law in 1918. The 1920s decade was of great historical importance as far as the farmers’ movement is concerned because it was known as the golden era of leftist organisation. A greater connection of Congress and Leftist politics with the farmers can be noted during this time. Gandhiji considered it to be a reasonable idea to connect with the farmers’ movement in the larger interests of a national movement. During the non-cooperation movement, a certain spice trader from Udaipur called himself a representative of Mahatma Gandhi and joined the farmers’ movement. The Moplah Revolt (1873-1921) of Malabar was a militant farmers’ rebellion. Gandhiji was shell-shocked at the death of 10,000 Muslim farmers in this rebellion in 1921.

The disagreement of Views: In the 1920s the leftist powers played an important role in strengthening the organisation of the farmers’ movement. In 1922, the leftist leader Manabendranath Roy, in his books India in Transition and What Do We Want, called the Gandhian Philosophy as ‘a pathetic and frustrating expression of reactionary forces.

Leftist Support to Farmers’ Movement: The leftist parties covertly supported the farmers’ movement while maintaining contact with the Indian National Congress, thereby strengthening the left organisations in the country. Dance had mentioned it in his journal Socialist.

Difference between the Leftists and the Congress: The leftist leader Singaravellu strongly criticised the Gaya Congress Session (December 1927) and the decision to withdraw from the Non-Cooperation Movement. Under these circumstances, the leftists took up a new political strategy and initiated the formation of a political party with people from both inside and outside the Congress. The purpose was:
1. To keep Congress on its toes and
2. To keep the reactionary forces in Congress at bay so that in future the Communist Party can assume leadership at the national level.

Relation with the Peasants’ Movement: Hence, the leftists tried to strengthen the peasant movement while maintaining a cordial relationship with Congress. In 1923, Singaravellu formed the ‘Hindustan Labourer—Peasant Party’ and having accepted the leadership of the Congress, expressed his willingness to work as a workers’-farmers’ wing of the National Congress. Muzaffar Ahmed established the Labour Swaraj Party in 1925 and the Congress Labour Party was established in 1926 for the same purpose. Later these local organisations were united together and the Workers and Peasants Party was formed in the interests of the farmers’ movement at the national level.

Question 6. Give an account of the correlation between Congress and Leftists during Labour Movement in India.
Answer:

Congress and Leftists During Labour Movement:

Introduction: If we analyse the development of the farmers’ movement in twentieth-century India, it can be observed that it had a close link with the National Congress and leftist politics. Since the NonCooperation Movement, the leftists worked with Congress through legal methods on one hand, while silently giving strength to their organisation with support from the labourers. But it was Gandhiji who started the first labour movement by forming ‘Mazdoor Mahajan Sabha’ in 1917.

Connection Through Labour Movement: The Congress had a strong organisational base for quite some time, but the leftist political organisation started after World War I, with the influence of the Russian Revolution (1917). During 1928-29 the labourers’ organisations, at the initiative of the leftists, called several strikes of immense political significance. Gandhiji, in the interest of mass movement, had extended his support to these strikes. In this way, a connection developed between Congress and the leftists through the labour movement. Communistic ideals developed among the workers because of their connection with the leftists.

Influence of Leftists on Congress: The ‘Workers and Peasants Party7 had an important role to play in bringing together Congress and the leftists during the labour movement. Because of the establishment of this party, leftist influence on Congress increased by a great amount. So, ‘Barn Sanghati’ or solidarity with the left was declared within the Congress. ‘Girni Kamgarh Union’ of Bombay led a successful labour movement with the influence of this party. In December 1929, a contingent of thousands of workers, led by leftists, went to the Calcutta conference of Congress with a demand for ‘Puma Swaraj’ or complete independence. Jawaharlal Nehru and Motilal Nehru formed the ‘Meerut Defence Committee to support the leftists in the Meerut Conspiracy Case. But during the Non-Cooperation Movement, the leftists kept aloof from Congress despite workers’ strikes. The leftists formed the ‘Anti-Gandhi League’ in 1934 and strengthened the labour movement. But, in the 1937 elections as per the law for the governance of India, 1935, the leftists supported the Congress. As a result, Congress formed a council of ministers in some provinces and thwarted the rights of the workers. However, later, Congress and the leftists were found jointly supporting the labour movement. Yet, on 22nd February 1946, when there was a mutiny on the ship called ‘Talwar’ in Bombay, Congress took action against the striking workers.

Question 7. Discuss the character and characteristics of the participation of leftist politics during the Anti-Colonial Movement in 20th century India.
Answer:

Introduction: People from all sections of society developed apathy against the oppression and deprivation policies of the British. Subsequently, leftist politics grew in power using this favourable condition in their favour.

Character: Leftist politics got a well-defined character with the influence of the Russian Revolution (1917) and with the formation of the Communist Party of India by Manbendranath Roy, Abani Mukherjee and others in Tashkent in 1920. However, after the Communist Party was set up in India in 1925, the character of anti-colonial leftist politics changed.
Connection with Movements: Whenever anti-colonial national freedom movements led by the bourgeois class assumed revolutionary character, it received the full support of leftist politics. Hence, we can say that leftist politics had a direct connection with the NonCooperation movement, Anti-Simon Commission Movement (1928) or Civil Disobedience Movement. But the leftists could never accept the reformatory bourgeois in the Congress party.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Peasant, Working Class, and Left Movements, short answer questions”

Militant Tendency: Many politicians joined the left politics having lost their faith in Gandhian principles. It was not just independence, but economic and social equality that gained importance in leftist politics. The leftists wanted to reform and control the Congress and make it a member of’Anti-Colonial League’, thereby strengthening the anti-British movement even further. Hence, during the Anti-Simon Commission Movement, the left and the Congress, along with other political parties, fought together. This made the movement more militant and progressive at the same time.

Government Suppression: It must be noted that, in the beginning, the communist organisation was not very strong in the rural areas. So, the rural farmers often became prey to the State’s terrorism. The British colonists were somewhat weary of the leftist politics and its organisation, despite the shortcomings of communism. For that reason, the Government introduced two suppressive bills, namely the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill, to oust foreign communists from India and ban workers’ strikes respectively.

Vacuum in Leadership: During the Civil Disobedience Movement, there was a vacuum in the leadership of leftist politics. J. P. Hythcox and J. S. Mathur said that between 1930 and 1931, 70 strikes had failed. The reasons for this failure were
1. Extreme leftist ideals
2. All strikes were not conducted by the left
3. Many trade union leaders were behind bars and
4. Presence of reformatory leaders.

Anti-imperialist Front: In March 1925, the Communist Party of India prepared to adopt a united front to start an anti-imperialist movement. Leftist politics aimed to form a united front from top to bottom and to strengthen the united nationalist revolutionary movement. The leftists felt that an anti-imperialist front could make the anti-colonial movement a success. When World War II started in 1939, the leftists called it an Imperialist War. So, taking advantage of the war, the leftists intensified their anti-colonial movement. The leftists initiated mass movements in Kanpur, Patna, the Punjab, Andhra and Malabar regions in 1940.

Characteristics:
1. During the first decade of the twentieth century leftist politics had hardly any organised existence. There was some organised form after World War I.
2. The birth of leftist politics was from the Russian Revolution. So, an armed revolutionary movement started against the British imperialist power which speeded up the nationalist movements of the Congress.,
3. The leftists converted the anti-colonial movement into a mass movement. The main feature of their movement was to raise an uncompromising war against the British
4. Mass awakening started through participation in the anti-colonial movement of leftist politics. They had helped in bringing success to India’s freedom struggle, sometimes by giving a lot of importance to Congress and sometimes by joining it.
5. The leftists supported various labour organisations and used the strikes as tools of the anti-imperialist movement
6. The leftists kept their protests alive sometimes by supporting Congress and sometimes criticizing it.

Question 8. Give an account of the role of the working class in the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer:

Role of the Working Class in the Non-Cooperation Movement:

Introduction: The nationalist interest in organizing the labourers slumped towards the end of 1908 and remained so till the inauguration of the Non-Co-operation Movement, 1919-1920. However, there was a resurgence of working-class activities between 1919 and 1922.

Features: The significant features in this phase of the working class movement were:
1. The working class set up its organization on an email-India basis to defend its class rights, and
2. The working class in this period got involved in the mainstream of national politics in a significant way.

During the War Period: The working class movement in India entered into a new phase at the close of the First World War (1919).
The industrial labourers by that time had become conscious about the effective weapon of the strike in fulfilling their various demands. The working class could not stay away from the mass awakening created by Gandhiji’s participation in the national freedom struggle. The price hike following the World War worsened the living conditions of the working class. All this brought the working class into full activity and opened a new era of the labour movement.

Formation of AITUC: The most important development of the period was the formation of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in 1920. Lala Lajpat Rai was the first elected President and Diwan Chaman Lai, its General Secretary. The objectives of the AITUC were: to coordinate the activities of all the labour organizations in all trades and all provinces of India, and generally to further the interest of Indian labour in economic, social and political matters.

Relation with Congress: The formation of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was welcomed by Congress. Not only that but to assist the AITUC the Congress formed a committee consisting of some prominent Congress leaders at the Gaya session of the Indian National Congress held in 1922. C.R. Das was the President of the Gaya Congress. Towards the closing days of Non-Cooperation, the two Congress leaders led a powerful strike on the East Indian Railway. The strike lasted for a few months (February to April). After 1922 there was again a slump in the working class movement under the leadership of the nationalist leaders and the Congress.

The next wave of the working-class movement was spurred by the Leftists. Socialist influences in Indian politics between 1921 and 1924 gave an impetus to the working class movement. Various socialist and communist groups that had emerged in different places were also engaged in organizing labour movements. Despite the British Government’s action restraining the activities of the communists, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP) was formed in 1927. The WPP devoted itself, among other things, to the growth of class consciousness amongst the working class. The objective of the WPP was to strive for a broad anti-imperialist form for the achievement of complete independence with the ultimate aim of establishing socialism in the independent country. Though the WPP was short-lived, its units in some of the provinces emerged as the political party of the working class.

Question 9. Write about the attitude of the Congress towards the peasantry during the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Answer:

The attitude of the Congress towards the Peasantry During the Civil Disobedience Movement:

Introduction: Indication for a new mass movement was clear from the demand for ‘Complete Independence’ raised in the Lahore Session of Congress. The revival was inevitable as the governmental repression of the freedom fighters had mounted contrary to the assurance given to Gandhiji by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India. With the violation of the Salt Law on 6 April 1930 at Dandi (in Gujarat) began the Civil Disobedience Movement under the leadership of Gandhiji. People irrespective of their class, creed, sex and religion joined the movement. Peasants were also not lagging.

Economic Ruination of Peasants: The Great Depression of 1929 adversely affected the Indian peasantry. An increase in the revenue demand also pressed them very hard. Bardoli Satyagraha created a new enthusiasm amongst the peasantry. All this gave a new impetus to the Indian peasants.

Kisan Sabha: Economically ruined peasants of Bihar were organized into Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) under the initiative of Sahajanand Saraswati in 1919. In the course of time, Kisan Sabhas were established in other parts of the country as well.
Encouragement to Peasants’ Movement: The Civil Disobedience Movement by Congress, under the leadership of Gandhiji, served as an encouragement to the peasants’ movement. During the Civil Disobedience years, the peasants of U.P. (United Province at that time, later on Uttar Pradesh) began a new type of movement. It was a ‘no-revenue and no rent campaign. It was a double-edged weapon against the British.

No Revenue and No-ent Campaign: According to Bipan Chandra, the no-revenue was a call to the zamindars not to pay revenue to the British Government, and the no-rent was a call to the tenants not to pay rent to the zamindars. Under the initiative of Jawaharlal Nehru, the U.P. Congress Committee lent its full support to the no-rent campaign of the peasants.

Demand for Reduction of Land Tax: The U.P. Congress also passed a resolution to the effect that the national programme should include a reduction of land tax. In such a situation the All India Congress Working Committee accepted most of the resolutions passed by the U.P. Congress Committee, which satisfied both the peasants and the zamindars.

Workers’ and Peasants’ Party: The first Left-wing peasant organization in India was not conceived as an exclusive peasant body, it was bracketed with ‘workers’. Thus the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP) came into existence in early 1927, under the leadership of people like S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, P.C. Joshi and others. Initially, it functioned as a left-wing within Congress. It rapidly gained strength within Congress at the provincial and national levels. It was, however, not before 1929 that the WPP emerged as a genuine peasant organization.

Congress Socialist Party: In 1934 the Congress left-wingers established the Congress Socialist Party. The Congress Socialists had considerable influence amongst the peasants of north India, especially in Bihar and the United Province, UP (present-day Uttar Pradesh).

Conclusion: In short, it may be said that the agrarian policy adopted by the Congress Socialists was more radical than that of the Congress. This will be evident from the resolutions they adopted in the meetings and the demands made by them. The demands included the abolition of the zamindari system, recognition of occupancy rights of the tenants, to freeze of the debts of the peasants and to formulation of ‘agrarian wages’.

Question 10. Describe the peasant movement during the Quit India Movement.
Answer:

Peasants Movement During Quit India Movement:

Introduction: During the Quit India Movement, the main characteristic feature of the peasant movement was to mobilise mass movement against the repressive policies of the Government. When the Quit India Movement spread throughout the length and breadth of the country, the peasant class could come in contact with this movement. The Quit India Movement turned into a people’s war because of the participation of the peasant class.

Matangini Hazra: The farmers set fires to many police stations while laying siege on others. On 29th September, a group of 20,000 people tried to occupy the police station and court in the town of Tamluk. The people of Medinipur would never forget the bravery of Matangini Hazra, the 73-year-old woman from a peasant family in the village of Alina. In six police station areas, in the Tamluk sub-division of Medinipur District, Peasant Movement turned into a mass movement because of the participation of the peasant class. Bidyut Bahini: A large number of armed farmers of ‘Bidyut Bahini’ founded by Ajoy Mukherjee, Satish Samanta and Sushil Dhara, ignored police firing and occupied Sutahata and Nandigram police stations. Other Leaders: Birendranath Sashmal gave his leadership to the farmers and also their saviour. So he was named ‘Deshapran’ (patriot). On 20th November 1942, Shyama Prasad Mukhopadhyay, the then Finance Minister of Bengal, resigned from the council of ministers protesting against Government oppression and police atrocities in Contai and Tamluk sub-divisions, demanding an independent enquiry. He formed ‘The Bengal Relief Committee and saved people during the famine of 1943.

Spread of Movement: The Peasant Movement of Tamluk and Contai urged the farmers and lower-class people of Birbhum, Bardhamaan, Howrah, Hooghly, and Dinajpurto to take action. Dhaka, Faridpur and Barishal gave a mass appeal to the Quit India Movement, in the revolts of Dhaka, students, youth, the middle class and the working class joined the farmers.

Economic Aspect: In states such as the Punjab, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where the progress of agriculture was comparatively higher, the rich and influential farmers, in the interests of their own class, remained aloof from the Quit India Movement. The excitement at the national level and the deplorable financial crisis were the primary features of this time. Small farmers and agricultural workers were badly affected by the famine of 1943, post-war inflation, price escalation of basic goods, etc. For these reasons, it was quite justified tor the farmers of this class to join the movement. The quit India Movement was withdrawn after Gandhiji was released from prison on 8th August 1944. But the farmers’ movement had not lost its steam.

Analyses: Active participation of the farmers at various places transformed Quit India Movement into a mass uprising. The heat of the movement could be felt in every state, district, sub-division and village. In Orissa, a new independent government called ‘Chashi- Muliya Raj’ was formed under the leadership of Pabitra Mohan. In Medinipur ‘Tamraiipti Jatiya Sarkar’ was formed by Ajoy Mukherjee and in Madhya Pradesh ‘Swadhin Jatiya Sarkar’ (independent national government) was formed. The ‘Patri Sarkar’ formed in Maharashtra also looked after the interests of the farmers.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 6 SAQs, important notes, and solved answers”

Question 11. Discuss the formens’ rebellion during the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer:

Farmers” Rebellion During Non-cooperation Movement:

Introduction: During the Non-Cooperation Movement of Gandhiji, farmers’ movements from different corners of India added a new force to the Nationalist Movement. Fight against feudalism was an important aspect of farmers’ rebellion at that time. This particular movement by the farmers was stronger and more organised. The farmers of Bijolia managed to wrestle out some benefits even from big landlords. When the Bhil Tribes joined forces with the farmers and started a joint movement, the Maha Rana repressed them in a violent way.

Influence of Congress: During Non-Cooperation Movement, the farmers’ rebellion was indeed a mass movement. Jawahar Lai Nehru’s autobiography, The Discovery of India, tells us that the political ideals of Congress had influenced the farmers’ movement in India. So, the Congress endeavoured to establish a cordial relationship between the landlords and the farmers, request the Government to formulate laws in the interests of the farmers, to form village Panchayats (local self-government) and to promote cooperation between the rulers and the ruled. In Sultanpur, Faizabad, Pratapgarh and Raiberailley of Uttar Pradesh, the peasants burned down the houses of the landlords and courted arrests in the hands of the police. Jawaharlal Nehru formed the ‘Ayodhya Kisan Sabha’ in 1920 in order to control the militant behaviour of the farmers.

Farmers’ Movement in Bardauli: The farmers’ movement of Bardauli in Gujarat was known for other characteristic features. There, at the request of the head- men of 60 villages, Vallav Bhai Patel started the ‘Boycott paying taxes’ movement as a protest against the atrocities of the landlords. Both common and higher classes of farmers as well as many women like Patel’s daughter Maniben Patel Bhaktiba, Mithuben Petit, Sardaben Shah and Sarda Mehta joined in a united movement against the oppression of the landlords. As a result, the Government reduced the rate of taxes there to 6.03%. The Bardauli Farmers’ Movement was comparatively stronger and better organised.

Farmers’ Movement in Bengal: The Farmers’ Movement in Bengal was in the hands of the worthy leader ‘Deshapran’ Birendranath Sashmal. In 1920 he started revolts in Medinipur to stop ‘Chowkidar Taxes and to boycott ‘Union Board’. In 1921, the leaders of the Non-Cooperation Movement gave a call to the jute farmers to stop the cultivation of jute in the bordering areas of Rajshahi, Nadia and Pabna-Rashidabad in Bengal. Some swear Prasad Chowdhury, a devoted follower of Deshbandhu, led this militant farmers’ movement. Flere it may be mentioned that sharecroppers and sub-lease holders of Dhaka, Pabna, Khulna, and Nadia fought in order to gain rights over the land they tilled.

Analyses: The leftists strengthened the peasant movement during Non-Cooperation Movement. The Peasant Movement had its own agenda and characteristics, but it added a new perspective to the anti-British national movement. The most important was the role of the farmers in the mass movement in India. During this time of the twentieth century, some peasants’ associations and local organisations inspired the peasant movement. Peasant Movement was a grand success against feudal oppression at the time of the NonCooperation Movement. However, the farmers could not adhere to the non-violent policy of Gandhiji at all times. So, he never supported the farmers who adopted the method of violent protests. He just recognised the participation of the farmers in the interests of the mass movement.

Question 12. Discuss the Kisan Sabha agitations of the twentieth century.
Answer:

Kisan Sabha Agitations: In different regions, provincial Kisan Sabhas were already formed by the 1920s. But the need for a central organization of the peasants was felt by the socialists and the communists. Their efforts led to the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) in 1936. By 1937 branches of the All India Kisan Sabha were formed in different provinces. N.G. Ranga, Swami Sahajanad, Narendra Dev, Indulal Yagnik and Bankim Mukherjee were some of the prominent leaders of the All India Kisan Sabha.

Objectives: The objectives of the Kisan Sabha were:
1. The protection of the peasants from economic exploitation.
2. The abolition of landlordism, such as the zamindari and the taluqdari systems.
3. Reduction of revenue and rent.
4. Moratorium on debts.
5. Licensing of money lenders.
6. Minimum wages for agricultural labourers.
7. Fair price for commercial crops.
8. Irrigation facilities, etc.

Protests and Demands: In their meetings and demonstrations the Kisan Sabha popularised these demands and put pressure on the government to concede to these demands. In its second annual meeting at Faizpur, the AIKS urged all anti-imperialist forces in the country and especially the kisans and workers to develop their day-to-day struggle against the exploiters, as represented by the British Government in India, the zamindars and landlords and industrialists and money-lenders.

Bakasht Movement: The Kisan Sabha launched a new type of movement which was directed mainly against the landlords. In Bihar, there was a popular movement in 1937-38, which was known as the Bakasht Movement. Bakasht means self-cultivated. The landlords often evicted the tenants from Bakasht land. With the formation of the Congress ministry in 1937, the Kisan Sabha thought that the time had come to force the issue of Bakash; it launched the Bakasht Movement during which the peasants fought against eviction. There were clashes between the landlords and the peasants.

Agitation in Bengal: In Bengal also the Kisan Sabha was active. In the Burdwan district the Canal Tax was imposed on the peasants after the construction of the Damodar Canal. The Kisan Sabha organized a satyagraha movement for the reduction of Canal Tax. The government partly accepted the demand of the Kisan Sabha and the movement was withdrawn. In north Bengal districts, the Hat Tola Movement was launched. The landlords collected a levy from the peasants who sold rice, paddy, vegetables, cattle in fairs and hats (weekly markets). The peasants refused to pay this levy. Sometimes the landlords came to a compromise with the peasants and exempted poor peasants from paying the levy.

Share Croppers’ Movement: In 1939, there was a movement of the sharecroppers. They were poor peasants who tilled the land of the landlord and gave a portion of the produce to the landlord. But they had no security of tenure and could be evicted by the landlord. In 1939, the tenants took the crop from the field to their threshing floor. Previously, they had to carry the crop to the landlord’s granary, where the crop was threshed and then divided between the sharecropper and the landlords. The movement became strong in the Dinajpur district in north Bengal. The government came to a compromise with the peasants. It was decided that in the future paddy would be stored in a place to be decided by the landlord and the sharecropper. Thus, the movement was successful and the peasants learnt the power of organization. Similarly, there were peasant struggles in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh during this period. N. G. Ranga played a vital role in organizing the peasants in Andhra Pradesh.

Chapter 6 Peasant, Working Class And Left Movements In 20th-Century India Fill In The Blanks

Question 1. The All India Trade Union Congress was formed in _______.
Answer: 1920.

Question 2. Mahatma Gandhi withdrew from the Non-Cooperation Movement after the ______.
Answer: Chouri Choura massacre.

Question 3. The ‘Labour Swaraj Party’ was formed under the leadership of ______.
Answer: Muzaffar Ahmed and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar.

Question 4. Manabendranath Roy was a _______ leader.
Answer: Leftist.

Question 5. The principal demand of the _______ Movement was that the farmers would pay taxes with money and not with their cultivated crops.
Answer: Eka.

Question 6. There was a peasant revolt in Bastar against the cultivation of _______.
Answer: Jhum.

Question 7. Surendranath called for a peasant movement in the journal _______.
Answer: Bengali.

Question 8. Rahul Sanskrityayan supported the peasants during the ______ Movement.
Answer: Civil Disobedience.

Question 9. Royal Commission of Labour was formed in ______.
Answer: 1931.

Question 10. During the anti-partition agitation, the Muslim peasants of Barisal (now in Bangladesh) were led by ______.
Answer: Aswini Kumar Datta.

Question 11. The Home Rule League members were the supporters of ______.
Answer: Congress.

Question 12. By early ______ the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party came into existence.
Answer: 1927.

Question 13. The ______ Congress made an emphatic protest against the partition of Bengal as well as the repressive measures adopted by the alien government.
Answer: Benaras.

Question 14. The Tebhaga movement was started in ______.
Answer: 1946 A.D.

Question 15. Punappra Vayalar movement was started in _______ A.D.
Answer: 1946 A.D.

Question 16. Bombay Mill Hands Association was founded by ______.
Answer: N. M. Lokhande.

Question 17. There was a strike in the Great Indian Peninsula Railway in _______ A.D.
Answer: 1899 A.D.

Question 18. Warli movement was started in ______ A.D.
Answer: 1945 A.D.

Question 19. Kamparam Singh was the leader of the _______ movement.
Answer: Tebhaga.

Question 20. ______ founded the Muslim League.
Answer: Aga Khan.

Question 21. Eka movement was started in _____ region.
Answer: Awadh.

Question 22. Awadh Sabha was formed in ______ A.D.
Answer: 1920 A.D.

Question 23. All India Kisan Congress was formed in _______.
Answer: Lucknow.

Question 24. Malabar Peasant Movement was started in ______ A.D.
Answer: 1937 A.D.

Question 25. Darbhanga Peasants Movement was started in _______ A.D.
Answer: 1919 A.D.

Question 26. Workers’ and Peasants’ Party was formed in _______.
Answer: Calcutta.

Question 27. The first President of the All India Workers’ and Peasants’ Party was _______.
Answer: Sohan Lai Joshi.

Question 28. All India Trade Union Congress was established in ________ A.D.
Answer: 1920 A.D.

Question 29. Partition of all Bengal was annulled in _______.
Answer: 1911.

Question 30. The capital of India was shifted from Kolkata to Delhi in ______.
Answer: 1912.

Chapter 6 Peasant, Working Class And Left Movements In 20th-Century India True Or False

Question 1. During the farmers’ movement, Congress and the leftists worked together.
Answer: True

Question 2. Gandhiji started the first labour movement by forming ‘Mazdoor Mahajan Sabha’.
Answer: True

Question 3. Strikes and trade unions were important features of the labour movement during the Quit India Movement.
Answer: False

Question 4. No agricultural policy was adopted during the Anti-Partition of Bengal Movement.
Answer: True

Question 5. Manabendra Nath Roy was a leftist leader.
Answer: True

Question 6. V.V. Giri founded the Indian Trade Union Federation.
Answer: True

Question 7. The growing discontent against British rule led to the launching of Non- the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer: True

Question 8. In the Eka (or Ekta) Movement the peasants took vows before a symbolic representation of the river Ganges.
Answer: True

Question 9. The Madras Labour Union set up by B.P. Wadia in 1918 was the first trade union to prosper in India.
Answer: True

Question 10. The Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929) encouraged the activities of the communists.
Answer: False

Question 11. The peasants did not participate in the Non-cooperation Movement.
Answer: False

Question 12. The peasants did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Answer: False

Question 13. The leftists supported the workers’ movement.
Answer: True

Question 14. The movement of Mahatma Gandhi was based on the ideals of Truth and Nonviolence.
Answer: True

Question 15. The Tebhaga movement was started in Bengal.
Answer: True

Question 16. Congress was formed by Lord Cornwallis.
Answer: False

Question 17. The immediate cause of the Telengana movement was the murder of Communist leader Kamaraiya.
Answer: True

Question 18. The partition of Bengal was done by Lord Curzon.
Answer: True

“Peasant and Working Class Movements WBBSE Class 10, SAQs guide, exam-focused”

Question 19. The Non-Co-operation Movement was started in 1930 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 20. The women of Bardoli had given the title Sardar to Patel.
Answer: True

Question 21. The civil Disobedience movement was started in 1930 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 22. Champaran Satyagraha was started in 1919.
Answer: False

Question 23. The Quit India movement was started in 1942 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 24. All India Peasant Organisation was founded in 1936 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 25. Trade Union Dispute Act was formed in 1929 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 26. Railway Men’s Union was founded in 1935 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 27. Philip Spratt was a leading Communist leader.
Answer: True

Question 28. Manabendra Nath Roy was a leading congress leader.
Answer: False

WBBSE Solutions For Class 10 History And Environment

WBBSE Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives Short Questions And Answers

Question 1. Write a note on Bose Institute.
Answer:

Bose Institute

Introduction: Bose Institute is a research institute in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Plant Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Animal physiology, Immunotechnology, Bioinformatics, and Environmental science. The institute was established in 1917 by Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose, who was the founder of modern scientific research in India. Bose Institute was a pioneer in developing the concept of interdisciplinary research in India in synch with global trends. Its alumni have achieved renown in India and the world.

Read and learn all WBBSE Solutions For Class 10 History And Environment

Establishment: Acharya J. C. Bose founded the Institute in 1917 to investigate fully “the many and ever-opening problems of nascent science which includes both life and non-life sciences”. Acharya Bose’s early career included many marvelously inventive and pioneering experiments on electromagnetism which, in J. J. Thomson’s words, marked “the dawn of the revival in India of interest in researches in the Physical Sciences”, and on the commonality of the response of plants and inorganic materials to electric and mechanical stimuli. Those early successes lay behind the stated purpose. Bose’s successors remained true to that purpose.

Activities: Dr. D. M. Bose and Dr. Biva Chowdhury were the first to experimentally record Meson tracks. They made further pioneering contributions to the susceptibility measurement of paramagnetic compounds.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 5 SAQs, Alternative Ideas and Initiatives, important questions”

The Institute actively participated in the pioneering discovery of Cholera Toxin and its role in the pathogenesis of Cholera by Prof. S. N. De. This led to a breakthrough in the understanding of the molecular mechanism of toxin-receptor interaction in microbial pathogenesis.

Prof. B. B. Biswas and his group demonstrated a multiplicity of RNAP from higher plant sources. It is, therefore, not surprising to find Bose Institute’s research activities today spanning a wide compass, a feature that makes it unique amongst all research institutes in India.

The Institute’s 600 staff and students mostly work out of two campuses in the city of Kolkata, which house its various academic departments and sections, together with a Library and other service units.

The J.C. Bose Museum is a special attraction on the Main Campus. It contains a fine collection of manuscripts, instruments, etc. that record Bose’s life and work; these are on permanent display. In addition, there are four special-purpose Field Stations.

Recent Research: In recent years the impact of scientific research has been assessed on objective criteria, e.g. Citation Index, Impact factors, and Peer Review.

When the research activities in India were independently assessed by the National Information System for Sciences And Technology (NISSAT) of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the research work from Bose Institute was rated High impact in Biology and Biomedical research areas.

Question 2. Discuss the contributions of Charles Wilkins in the field of the printing press in Bengal.
Answer:

Charles Wilkins:

1. Introduction: Charles Wilkins is perhaps one of the most significant figures in the history of printing in Bengal at his time. He was a writer employed by the East India Company. In 1770 he sailed to India where he quickly distinguished himself by showing extraordinary proficiency in Persian, Sanskrit, and Bengali

2. ‘A Grammar of the Bengali Language’: In 1778 Governor General Warren Hastings asked him to prepare the earliest known set of Bengali types for N. B. Halhed’s A Grammar of the Bengali Language. The success of the enterprise and Hicky’s scurrilous attacks on the Company led the Company to feel that it would be better off setting up its press rather than employing a contract printer. Accordingly, Wilkins was asked to draw up a plan for a press.

3. Past at the Company’s Press: In December 1778 he was given the authority of the first superintendent of the Honourable Company’s Press. The Press began its operations in Malda, 175 miles north of Calcutta, and only shifted to Calcutta in 1781 when Wilkins was appointed the Persian and Bengali translator of the Committee of Revenue. He printed about thirteen works

4. Exemplary Work: In the preface to Halhed’s works Wilkins is applauded for having been a metallurgist, engraver, founder, and printer. He also exemplified how good printing is a collaborative exercise. The well-known gem-and-seal engraver Joseph Shepherd as well as the Bengali blacksmith Panchanan Karmakar were employed to help him with the designing and cutting of types, and the casting of fonts.

Question 3. Write a note on the National Council of Education.
Answer:

National Council of Education:

1. Introduction: The National Council of Education was one of the three universities in modern India set up by the British in Calcutta in 1861 which were instruments of spreading Western philosophical thought among the elite in India and creating in the words of Lord Macaulay, “a class of Indians who would be Indian in blood and color but western in thought and ideas.”

2. Universities Act, 1904: This initiative was furthered by the passing of the Universities Act of 1904. This resulted in the reorganization of Calcutta University’s Senate and Syndicate by the nomination of more white members into them, which in turn, would enable the government to control her policies. The government also decided to stop helping financially many private Indian colleges, which had come up lately and were regarded by the Government as hotbeds of nationalist agitation. The measures stirred the educated middle class to move for alternative systems of education

3. Criticism of Calcutta University: The nationalists in the freedom struggle of India dubbed the Calcutta University, another pillar of India’s education movement, as “Goldighir Ghulamkhana”, or the slave house of Goldighi, concerning the lake adjacent to Calcutta University, and the number of graduates it churned out who were used in British merchant offices as clerks. Hence, the need for setting up an institution that would impart education along with inspiring nationalist ideas was strongly felt by the luminaries of the period

“West Bengal Board Class 10 History Alternative Ideas and Initiatives, short answer questions”

4. Nationalist Agitation: The real impetus though was provided by the partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon, the then Governor-General of India, into East Bengal on the one hand (the area that was eventually to become Bangladesh in 1971) and West Bengal and Odisha on the other. The youth of Bengal actively participated in the Swadeshi movement, and the participation of university students drew the ire of the Raj. R.W. Carlyle prohibited the participation of students in political meetings on the threat of withdrawal of funding and grants. The decade preceding these decrees had seen Bengali intellectuals increasingly calling for Indigenous schools and colleges to replace British institutions

5. Establishment of National Council of Education: On 16 November 1905, the Landholders’ Society organized a meeting at Park Street, attended by around 1500 delegates, including Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick, and Brajendra Kishore Roychowdhury. The idea of the National Council of Education was raised and developed here. In a meeting held on 9 November 1905 at the Field and Academic Club, Subodh Chandra Mullick pledged one lakh rupees for the foundation of a National University in Bengal. The objective of setting up the institution was to challenge British rule over education by offering education to the masses ‘on national lines and under national control’.

Generous sums of money were also donated by Brojendra Kishore Roy Choudhury, Maharaja Suryya Kanto Acharya Choudhury, and Rashbihari Ghosh, who was appointed the first president of the university. Aurobindo served as the first Principal of the college. The organization in its beginning period was intimately associated with the nascent revolutionary nationalism in Bengal at the time. It was during his time as Principal that Aurobindo started his nationalist publications Jugantar, Karmayogin, and Bande Mataram. The student mess at the College was frequented by students of East Bengal who belonged to the Dhaka branch of the Anushilan Samiti and was known to be the hotbed of revolutionary nationalism, which was uncontrolled or even encouraged by the college.

Question 4. Give an account of the growth of the Bengali printing press from the middle of the 19th century.
Answer:

Early Development:

Growth of the Bengali Printing Press from the Middle of the 19th Century: From 1780 to 1790, a total of 19 weekly and 6 monthly magazines were published from various printing presses in Calcutta. Gangakishore Bhattacharya was the first Bengali publisher and bookseller in Calcutta who published the book ‘Annadamangal’ of Bharatchandra. In 1800, the total number of printed books on Calcutta was 650. Gradually the number of other types of books printed and sold also increased rapidly. Barnaparichaya of Vidyasagar (1855) was published from 1869 to 1880 – a total number of 50,000. In 1885-1886 there were 1094 printing presses in India, of which 229 were in Bengal.

Contribution of Vidyasagar: The commercial initiative of the Bengali Press in the latter half of the 19th century was taken by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. He had tried to bring about the commercial advantages of the Press in Bengal. It must be said that he had a great influence on the Bengali publication industry of those days.

He along with his friend Madanmohan had founded the Sanskrit Press in 1847 at Patoldanga 62, Amherst Street. He became the absolute owner of the press in 1856. This press published many copies of this and his other work regularly. For instance, nearly 50,000 copies of his work Barnoparichay were sold in the year 1856.

He also opened the Sanskrit Press Depository, the first book shop in College Street. Those days he used to earn a princely sum of three to four thousand rupees every month by just selling his educational books.

For this reason, he is considered the first commercial book vendor of modern Bengal. However, later on, he transferred the exclusive rights of his bookstore to Brajanath Mukherjee in 1864.

In 1885 in the autumn of his life, he opened another book store Kolkata Pustakalay on 24, Sukia Street. His own and other copyrighted books were published and sold from this place. For these reasons, Vidyasagar is also called Vidyabanik or the commercial educationist.

Serampore Press: In the second half of the 19th century, Serampore Press was printing books in 34 languages. Here William Kerry printed the first Bengali book. He was assisted in this work by William Ward and Marshman. These persons were nicknamed as Serampore Trio.

Battle Publishers: Besides this, many low-priced books and photographs for the common man were published by the Battala Publishers (1840-70). The printers were mostly located in Chitpur, Shobha Bazaar, Kumartoli, Jorashankho, Mirzapur, Simla, and Sealdah.

Question 5. Give an account of the talent of Upendrakishore in the area of printing.
Answer:

Upendrakishor Roy:

1. Introduction: Upendrakishore Roy Choudhury (12th March, 1863-20th December 1915) was better known as Upendrakishore Roy. He was a prominent Bengali writer, artist, violin player, and composer and was also an entrepreneur.

He was the son-in-law of Dwarkanath Ganguly, the author of the book ‘Slave Trade in Assam, father of famous writer Sukumar Roy, and the grandfather of the eminent Oscar-winning cinema director Satyajit Ray. He was one of the active members of the Brahmo Samaj.

He had very close relations with the Jorashanko Thakurbari family. He was the first person to introduce color printing in Bengal after it was started in Western countries.

2. Professional Training and Carrer: Though he was born in the Kishorganj district of Bangladesh, his professional life was spent in Calcutta. He pioneered the introduction of the modern halftone blocks in South Asia.

He had realized that the use of wooden blocks for printing his book Cheleder Ramayan was very outdated. So he went to England and learned the craft of printing with modern blocks and in 1895 came to ‘India and started a successful business of making modern printing blocks.

He had also penned down his knowledge and experience in making modern printing blocks and this manuscript was also published in England in Penrose Annual Volume.

3. U.N. Roy & Sons: In 1913 he was the first Bengali in Asia to start a colored printing press. This press went by the name U. Roy & Sons and was located at 100 Garpar Road.
He was also an expert in drawing building answers: His son Sukumar Roy obtained an engineering degree in printing technology from the University of Manchester.

4. Printing Technology: U. Roy learned the technology of producing half-tone blocks. He established the screen adjusting machine in England. In 1904-05 he was mentioned in the Penrose Annual Volume X, a handbook of British Printing & Technology as, ‘Mr, Roy is a successful person in the world of printing’.

5. Contribution to Children’s Literature: Upendra Kishore made a stellar contribution to children’s literature. One of these famous works, ‘Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen’ was successfully filmed by his grandson Satyajit Ray. Besides this, his other works included ‘Tutunir Boi’ and ‘Cheleder Mahabharat’. He started the first colored children’s magazine ‘Sandesh’. Though the publishing house U. Roy & Sons was a business house, many of the creations of Upendra Kishore and his son Sukumar Roy were published from this place.

Question 6. Describe the ‘Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science’.
Answer:

Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science: In 1876 Mahendralal Sarkar established the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS). This was India’s first center for discussion in the areas of basic science.

This is one of the reasons why Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar is called “The Father of the Study of Modern Science”. Professor C. V. Raman was attached to this institute from 1907 to 1933. He received his Nobel Prize in 1930 because of his research in light.

Characteristics: This institution was run by contributions from the citizens and was located at 210, Bowbazar Street. In the 19th century, Bengal this institution contributed immensely to the development of Bengal’s intellectual and cultural faculties.

This institution gave its students an environment of solely native and purely national character. The main goal of this institution is research in basic sciences. Even today the IACS is continuing to work with this goal in mind and the object is to make the lives of mankind more comfortable.

Early Phase: In the first phase the lecturers at this institution were highly qualified people. They included Father Lafont, Jagadish Chandra Basu, Chunilal Bose, Premnath Bose, and Ashutosh Mukherjee. Moreover, the IACS trust board consisted of luminaries like Vidyasagar and Keshav Chandra Sen. In 1912 the first Indian President of IACS was Raja Pyarimohan Mukherjee. His successors included Dr. Nil Ratan Sarkar, Gyan Chandra Ghosh, and Dr. Satyendranath Bose (an eminent physicist).

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 5 SAQs, exam preparation, solved answers”

During the time of C. V. Raman: In 1907 with the leadership of Sir C. V. Raman IACS started developing into a new trajectory. At that time Dr. Mahendra Lai Sarkar’s son Amrit Lai Sarkar was the institute’s secretary. He led all the work of the institute. Dr. Raman published his papers on the Raman Effect in 1928. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery. Following Raman’s footsteps, many new areas of science were developed from the IACS. Prominent amongst them was K. S. Krishnan who worked on Modern Magnetism and Structural Physics. Similarly prominent scientist K. Banerjee worked on Crystallography.

Conclusion: Later on the IACS became India’s premier center for research in material sciences. Today also many students come from various places of India to study and continue research in the IACS. Some of the eminent scientists who carried out research in the later years were D. S. Bhagwantam, L. Srinivastav, N. K. Seti, C. Prasad, and Meghnad Saha.

Class 10 Maths	Class 10 Social Science
Class 10 English	Class 10 Maths
Class 10 Geography	Class 10 Geography MCQs
Class 10 History	Class 10 History MCQs
Class 10 Life Science	Class 10 Science VSAQS
Class 10 Physical Science	Class 10 Science SAQs

Question 7. Write a note on Calcutta Science College.
Answer:

Calcutta Science College: In 1914 Taranath Palit and Sir Rashbehari Ghosh founded the Rajabazar Science College. Besides this, to carry on research in science and technology, Jagadish Chandra Basu established the Bose Institute.

Establishment: In Calcutta, the West Bengal Institute of Animal and Fisheries Sciences is located at 37-38, Khudiram Basu Sarani. This was established in 1915, on 2nd January. Apart from this, in the entire West Bengal, many agricultural colleges and research institutes were also established.

Research Work: Calcutta was soon made a center for research in Radio Physics by Shishir Kumar Mitra (28 August 1890-13 August 1963). Despite the tremendous research being done in the West in the field of Radio Physics, Shishir Kumar Mitra along with his colleagues made a great discovery in this area in 1930. Dr. Mitra and his fellow researcher Dr. P. Shyam conducted a considerable amount of research in the field of Radio Physics. Dr. Mitra started a separate course in Radio Physics at Calcutta University. This was the first established course in the study of Radio Physics in India. Dr. Mitra followed this up with the opening of the new Department of Radio Physics and Technology at Calcutta University. A lot of research was done about the various layers of the Ionosphere. He established the ionospheric Field Station in Haringhata about 45 kilometers from Calcutta in 1950. He was also India’s first pathfinder for Radio Broadcasting. He was the founding member of the National Institute of Sciences in Calcutta. He also served as the President of the Asiatic Society from 1951 to 1952. Because of his achievements, he was awarded the George Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935. Other awards were also showered upon him like the Joy Kishen Mukherjee Gold Medal in 1943 from the Indian Institute for the Cultivation of Science and again in 1956, he received the Calcutta Science Congress Medal from the Asiatic Society. In 1958 he was declared a Fellow of the Royal Society in London. In 1962 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Question 8. Discuss the contributions of Meghnad Saha and Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the field progress of Bengal’s Science.
Answer:

Meghan Saha (6.10.1893-16.2.1956): Meghnad Saha was a space scientist and in 1916 he joined the Applied Mathematics department of the University College of Sciences. After receiving many honors in both national and international arenas, he established the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta, which was later renamed as Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. After establishing the National Institute of Sciences, he advised the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the development of industry and national planning. Because of his efforts, the Indian Institute for the Cultivation of Science and Glass and Ceramic Research Institute was established. Meghnad Saha was born in a very poor family but he rose to great heights solely due to his efforts and brilliance. He died in a road accident while on his way to attend the Planning Commission meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.

Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis (21.6.1893-28.6.1972): Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis was the nephew of Dr. Nil Ratan Sarkar and after finishing his studies in Mathematics and Statistics from Cambridge, he joined the Indian Education Service. He established the Indian Institute of Statistical Sciences in Baranagar in 1931.

He was the first to initiate a discussion on science and technology in Bengali. The ISI was earlier known as the Statistical Laboratory.

This was started as a department in the Presidency College of Calcutta. Mahalanobis had modeled the Institute along the lines of the Institute of Statistics in the U.S. In 1951 the Institute was renamed as the Institute of Statistical Sciences by the Indian Parliament.

Question 9. Write a note on Bengal Technical Institute.
Answer:

Bengal Technical Institute: The Bengal Technical Institute was set up by a Bengali engineer Taraknath Palit in 1906. Its chief aim was to provide technical manpower to the Swadeshi (native) engineering projects.

This Institute was set up almost at the same time as the NCE. Today this institute is known as the Jadavpur Engineering College. In 1910 the Society for the Promotion of Technical Education (SPTE) was given the task of controlling the Bengal Technical Institute.

Later on, this institute was rechristened as the College of Engineering and Technology. The institute was intricately related to the National Council of Education. The NCE from 1940 got the status of a University.

On 24th December 1955 the Government of India through an act of the Parliament converted this council to the Jadavpur University. But it is to be noted that the first Mayor of Calcutta, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das had provided leased land to the engineering college. The first Principal of the Bengal National College was Aurobindo Ghosh.

WBBSE Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives Very Short Answer

Question 1. Which was the first Bengali newspaper?
Answer: Sambad Prabhakar.

Question 2. When was Linotype used for the first time?
Answer: Linotype was first used in Ananda Bazar Patrika in 1935.

Question 3. Who was the author of ‘Alaler Ghorer Dulal’?
Answer: Pyarichand Mitra.

Question 4. Which press was set up by Vidyasagar and his friend Madanmohan?
Answer: Vidyasagar along with his friend Madanmohan set up the Sanskrit Press in 1847 at Patoldanga,62 Amherst Street.

Question 5. Who was the pioneer of the colored printing press in Asia?
Answer: Upendrakishor Roy Chowdhury.

Question 6. Which was the first college of technology in Bengal?
Answer: Bengal College of Civil Engineering was established in 1856.

Question 7. Which institution was established by Mahendra Lal Sarkar in 1876?
Answer: Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.

Question 8. Who were the founders of Rajabazar Science College?
Answer: Taraknath Palit and Sir Rashbehari Ghosh.

Question 9. What was the objective of the Bengal Technical Institute?
Answer: The main objective of Bengal Technical Institute was to provide technical manpower to the Swadeshi engineering projects.

Question 10. Who was the editor of ‘Sambad Prabhakar’?
Answer: Ishwar Chandra Gupta.

Question 11. Who was the first owner of a printing press in Bengal?
Answer: John Andrews.

Question 12. Who was the founder of ‘U K N. Roy and Sons’?
Answer: Upendra Kishore Roy Choudhuri.

Question 13. Who wrote Chheledar Ramayan?
Answer: Upendra Kishore Roy Choudhury.

Question 14. Who brought out Tattvabodhini Patrika?
Answer: Debendranath Tagore.

Question 15. Who published Hindu Patriot?
Answer: Girish Chandra Ghosh under the editorship of Harish Chandra Mukherjee.

Question 16. Who was the editor of Samachar Darpan?
Answer: J.C. Marshman.

Question 17. Who published the magazine ‘Sandesh’?
Answer: Upendra Kishore Roy Choudhury.

Question 18. Who wrote Barnaparichaya?
Answer: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Question 19. Who wrote ‘Annandamangai’?
Answer: Bharat Chandra.

Question 20. Who worte ‘Chokher Bali’?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

Question 21. Who wrote Bishbriksha?
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Question 22. Name the first pharmaceutical company in India.
Answer: Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Works.

Question 23. Name the oldest Medical School in Asia.
Answer: Calcutta Medical College.

Question 24. Who founded ‘Bengal Chemicals’?
Answer: Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy.

Question 25. Name the first Bengali person to establish a press in Calcutta.
Answer: Baboo Ram.

Question 26. Who established Serampore Mission Press?
Answer: Gangadhar Bhattacharya.

Question 27. Who established Visva Bharati University?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

“Alternative Ideas and Initiatives WBBSE Class 10 SAQs, with detailed solutions”

Question 28. Who founded Shantiniketan?
Answer: Debendranath Tagore.

Question 29. Who wrote Rabindra Rachanabali?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

Question 30. When was Bengal Technical Institute established?
Answer: 1906.

Question 31. When was the National Council of Education created?
Answer: 1906.

Question 32. When was the Bose Institute of Science established?
Answer: 1917.

Question 34. Who is called ‘The father of the study of Modern Sciences’ in India?
Answer: Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar.’

Question 35. What is the other name of Calcutta Science College?
Answer: Rajabazar Science College or Rashbehari Siksha Prangan.

Question 36. When was Calcutta Science College founded?
Answer: 1914.

Question 37. Who founded Calcutta Science College?
Answer: Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee.

Question 38. What was the contribution of Upendrakishor Roy Chowdhury in the field of the printing press?
Answer: He was the first person to introduce modern halftone blocks in South Asia, which he learned from England. He was also the first person to start a colored printing press located at Garpar Road and named it U. N. Roy and Sons.

Question 39. What was the contribution of Meghnad Saha in the field of science?
Answer: Dr. Meghnad Saha was a space scientist and he joined the Applied Mathematics Department of the University College of Science. He established the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta, which later on came to be known as the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.

Question 40. What were the ideals on which Visva Bharati was established?
Answer: The ideals of Visva Bharati were: the entire world’s combined knowledge to be studied there; it would be a home for students all over the world; it would be a congregation of academics from all over the world and the entire world would merge at Visva Bharati.

Question 41. When was Bengal Technical Institute established? What was the objective behind it?
Answer: Almost on the same day that the National Council of Education was set up, a rival organization, the Society for Promotion of Technical Education in Bengal was set up by Taraknath Palit. The Bengal Technical Institute came into being on July 25, 1906, under the umbrella of the SPTE, to spread technical education among the masses in West Bengal, one of the eastern region states of India.

Question 42. According to Rabindranath, what was the objective of real education?
Answer: Elaborating his ideas about the aims of education, Rabindranath said that the fundamental purpose of education was not” merely to enrich ourselves through the fullness of knowledge” Rather he believed that the purpose was also to establish the bond of love and friendship between man and man.

Question 43. What were the names of the translators of Mahabharata and Ramayana into Bengali?
Answer: Krittiba translated Ramayana in Bengali and Kabi Sanjay translated Mahabharata in Bengali.

Question 44. When was the Science College in Calcutta established under Calcutta University?
Answer: The Science College was founded in 1914 by the then legendary Sri Ashutosh Mukherjee, the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta.

Question 45. In which year and who wrote Vidyakalpadruma?
Answer: The first volume of Vidyakalpadruma was published in the year 1845. It was written by Reverend Krishna Mohan Banerjee.

Question 46. Who established ‘Basu Vigyan Mandir’ and why?
Answer: On 30th November 1917, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu established the Bose Institute of Sciences. The objectives of the institute were to study both life and non-life sciences.

Question 47. When were Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works and the Indian Chemical Society established? Who set up these two institutions?
Answer: Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. was established on April 12, 1901, by the eminent scientist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy. Indian Chemical Society also was established in 1924 by Prafulla Chandra Roy.

Question 48. Who was called ‘The Serampore Trio’?
Answer: The Serampore Trio was the name given to three pioneering English missionaries to India in the 18th century, who set up, amongst other things, Serampore College. The trio were Joshua Marshman, William Carey, and William Ward.

Question 49. Name two teachers of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS).
Answer: Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and C.V. Raman were two illustrious teachers of the IACS.

Question 50. Give the names of any two books of Upendrakishor.
Answer:
The names of two books written by Upendrkishor are:
1. Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen.
2. Tuntunir Boi.

Question 51. Who founded Serampore Mission Press and when?
Answer: The Serampore Mission Press was established in 1800 by William Carey, William Ward, and other British Baptist missionaries.

Question 52. What were the contributions of Serampore Printing Press?
Answer: The press published religious Christian tracts, Indian literary works, and translations of the Bible in twenty-five Indian vernaculars and other South Asian languages, but the major contribution of the press was printing vernacular textbooks. The press printed books on grammar, dictionaries, history, legends, and moral tales for the Fort William College and the Calcutta School Book Society.

Question 53. State the objectives of forming the National Council of Education.
Answer: The objective of setting up the institution was to challenge British rule over education. Besides, the institution was to offer education to the masses on ‘national lines and under national control’.

Question 54. Who established Visva Bharati? Why was it so-called?
Answer: Visva Bharati was established by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Vishva Bharati, which means communication of the world with India.

Question 55. What were your beliefs of Rabindranath regarding education?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls. This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind. Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinions matched. Tagore once said, “I do not remember what I was taught, I only remember what I learned.” Tagore’s idea on education was that every person is a genius and that all students may not bloom at the same time. So he devised a new system of learning in Visva Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.

Question 56. Who established Shantiniketan and when?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore established Shantiniketan in 1901.

Question 57. Who was the founder of the modern block-making system in India?
Answer: Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhuri.

Question 58. When and by whom was Bengal Technical Institute founded?
Answer: Bengal Technical Institute was founded by Taranath Palit on 25th July 1906.

Question 59. When and under whose leadership was the Bengal Gazette published?
Answer: Under the leadership of Gangadhar Bhattacharya Bengal Gazette was published in 1816.

Question 60. When and under whose leadership was Digdarshan Patrika published?
Answer: Under the leadership of Marshman, Digdarshan Patrika was published in 1818.

Question 61. Who and when started the publication of Sambad Kaumudi?
Answer: Rammohan Roy in the year 1821 started the publication of Sambad Kaumudi.

Question 62. Who and when edited the publication of Mirat-ul Akhbar?
Answer: Rammohan Roy started the publication of Mirat-ul-Akhbar in 1822.

Question 63. When and by whose initiative was the publication of Banga Dutta newspaper started?
Answer: With the initiatives of Dwarkanath Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore & Rammohan Roy, the Banga Dutta was published in 1830.

Question 64. By whom and in which language was Brahmanical Magazine published?
Answer: Brahmanical Magazine was published by Rammohan Roy in the English language.

Question 65. Who and when published the Bengal Gazette?
Answer: ‘The Bengal Gazette’ was published in 1780 by James Augustus Hickey.

Question 66. Who was the editor of the Calcutta General Advertiser?
Answer: James Augustus Hickey.

Question 67 Who was Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury?
Answer: Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury (12th March 1963 – 20th December 1915) was better known as Upendrakishore Roy. He was a prominent Bengali writer, artist, violin player, and composer and was also an entrepreneur.

Question 68. Who and on what basis wrote Chheleder Ramayan?
Answer: Upendra Kishor wrote Cheeleder Ramayan based on the woodcut block technique.

Question 69. Who and when founded U.N. Roy and Sons?
Answer: Upendranath Kishore founded U.N. Roy and Sons in 1913.

Question 70. When was Shivpur Engineering College established?
Answer: Shibpur Engineering College was established in 1835.

Question 71. Who and when founded the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science?
Answer: Mahendralal Sarkar founded the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) on 29th July 1876.

Question 72. Who and when published Sandesh magazine?
Answer: Sandesh magazine was published by Upendra Kishor in 1913.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 5 SAQs, for board exam, important notes”

Question 73. Who and when invented the principle of the Raman Effect?
Answer: The Raman Effect was invented by C.V. Raman in 1928.

Question 74. Name some scientists associated with Calcutta Science College.
Answer: Scientists associated with Calcutta Science College are P.C. Roy, C.V. Raman, etc.

Question 75. Who was the founder of modern scientific research in India? What is its main achievement?
Answer: Acharya Jagdish Chandra Roy was the founder of modern scientific research in India. His greatest achievement was the establishment of the Bose Institute.

Question 76. When and why was the National Council of Education established?
Answer: The National Council of Education was established in 1906 to promote technical education in Bengal.

Question 77. Who were the main members of the National Council of Education?
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, and Subodh Chandra Mallick were some of the main members of the National Council of Education.

Question 78. Who and when formed Brahmacharya Ashram?
Answer: Brahmacharya Ashram was founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1901.

Question 79. What was the main objective of Vishwa Bharati?
Answer: Rabindranath’s idea oftheVisva Bharati was put forward by resorting to the following ideals:
1. The entire world’s combined knowledge is to be studied here.
2. Visva Bharati will be the home for students from all over the world.
3. It will be a residence for the entire world’s knowledgeable personalities who will congregate here to discuss and evaluate their knowledge.

Question 80. Name some teachers of Calcutta Medical College.
Answer: Some teachers of Calcutta Medical College were Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, C.V. Raman, Sisir Kumar Mitra, etc.

Question 81. On which subjects have research facilities been provided at Bose Institute?
Answer: The Bose Institute provides research facilities in subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Environmental Science, etc.

WBBSE Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives 8 Marks Questions And Answers:

Question 1. How did the printing press flourish in Bengal?
Answer:

Printing Press in Bengal:

Contribution of Hicky: It first occurred in the mind of Mr. James Augustus Hicky, who came to Calcutta as a trader, that great benefit might arise from setting on foot a public newspaper in the country (Bengal). Accordingly, Hicky sent to England proposals for publishing a newspaper in Bengal, to be published every Saturday under the Gazette. The British Government in England gave a nod to the proposals of Hicky. Simultaneously, in a pledge to the British Government, Hicky affirmed that no article published in the newspaper would convey the smallest offense to any individual. Hicky set up his printing press in 1780, and in the same year brought out the first newspaper of India, (the actual name in which the newspaper was published was Hicky’s Bengal Gazette) in Bengal. The printing press was set up in Bengal at a time when its state of society was of a very low order. The fact is important because several prosecutions were instituted against Hicky as his paper exposed many scandals. He was practically ruined as in 1782 the paper was closed, and the types were confiscated. It must, however, be admitted that Hicky is the pioneer of the Indian press. For his work of editing, he deserves credit for he had not surrendered to the will of the rulers of his time.

Other Newspapers: A host of newspapers followed in quick succession Hickey’s newspaper in the last two decades of the eighteenth century. Of these mention may be made of The India Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Bengal Hurkaru,
The Calcutta Courier and many others.

Criticisms of the Government: The Governor- Generals like Cornwallis, Wellesley, and Minto took very much offense by the criticisms of the press. The criticisms and exposures by the independent papers mentioned above aroused anger and fear among the rulers. Wellesley thought of imposing strict supervision on the press. In 1799 rigid press censorship was imposed by Wellesley.

First Bengali Newspaper: There is a disagreement amongst scholars as to the first Bengali newspaper (newsweekly). According to some authors, the first Bengali newspaper, was, the Bengal Gazette of Gangakishore Bhattacharyya, while according to others it was the Samachar Darpan under the editorship of J. C. Marshman. However, it is admitted on all hands now that the Bengal Gazette is the first weekly newspaper published in 1818 in the Bengali language.

Missionaries of Serampore: Meanwhile, the missionaries of Serampore did an excellent job in the educational, cultural, and social fields by publishing both English and Bengali journals and books. But the efforts of the missionaries had limited success as their only desire was to Christianize the people of the country.

Restrictions on Indian Press: After Lord Hastings resigned, Adams, the officiating Governor-General, reimposed regulations to control the press. The regulations made a clear distinction between the Indian Press: Anglo-Indian and Indian press. While no restriction was imposed upon the Anglo-Indian press, several constraints were imposed upon the Indian press. Rammohan Roy fought bravely in defense of a free press against Adam’s Press Regulations (1823). It was Charles Metcalfe who took the bold step of repealing Adam’s Press Regulation in 1827.

Sambad Prabhakar: The Indian press was maturing by the mid-nineteenth century. The Sambad Prabhakar, edited by Iswarchandra Gupta, came out on 14 June 1839 as a daily paper in Bengali. Sambad Prabhakar is the first vernacular daily run by the Indians.
Act of 1857: The Revolt of 1857, gave a stunning blow to the Indian press in general. In introducing the repressive Act of 1857 Lord Canning made no distinction between publications in Indian vernacular languages and English. Many Indian papers, like Samachar Sudhabarshan, were charged with the crime of sedition before the Supreme Court. With the passing of the East India Company’s rule to the British Crown the Indian press and for that matter the Bengali press got a new lease of life. In Bengal, several newspapers came out. Of these mention may be made of Tattvabodhini Patrika (18431902) founded by Debendranath Tagore, Hindu Patriot (1849) founded by Girish Chandra Ghosh under the editorship of Harish Chandra Mukherjee, etc.

Vernacular Press Act: By the 70s of the nineteenth century Indian nationalism had been gathering momentum. The reactionary regime of Lord Lytton gave it a visible form. Various repressive Acts were passed under his Viceroyalty and one of them concerned imposing restrictions on the vernacular press. The ill-famed Vernacular Press Act of 1878 deprived newspapers published in vernacular languages of their right to criticize the government. Meanwhile, political associations came into being that built up a strong movement against the reactionary measures of the British government in India. As a consequence of this reactionary movement, the government of Lord Ripon ultimately annulled the Vernacular Press Act.

Question 2. How did Rabindranath Tagore protest against colonial education?
Answer:

Rabindranath’s View of Education:

1. Inspiration From Western Education: The young Rabindranath grew up in an atmosphere thick with Western influence. He imbibed a further dose of it in England where he studied at the University of London. However Western education led him to discover the national heritage and appreciation of the cultural legacy of the country’s great past.
2. Criticism of Education Under Colonial Rule: Rabindranath mentions his critique of colonial education in the following points: In the colonial system primary and secondary level education the emphasis was on imparting education through the medium of English. English is very different from Bengali, and to Rabindranath, the English words could hardly evoke any impression in the mind of the learner. The poet felt that the child found no joy in learning, he could not think for himself, and he simply used to memorize a lifeless vocabulary. Under the colonial system, education was linked to the child’s living world. Rabindranath Tagore realized that the quality of life did not change under the colonial system of learning through the medium of English. Rabindranath insisted on the simultaneous learning of ideas as well as linguistic skills.
3. Aim of Education: Elaborating his ideas about the aims of education Rabindranath said that the main objective of education was not “merely to enrich ourselves through the fullness of knowledge”. Rather his opinion in this regard was that the purpose also was to establish the bond of love and friendship between man and man.
4. Humanistic View: Thus it may be said that Rabindranath’s approach to education was humanistic. He believed in an inner harmony between man, nature, and God. In Rabindranath’s idea of education, teachers had to be imaginative. The teachers should understand the child and help the child to develop curiosity in him. Tagore further felt that creative learning could be encouraged only within the natural environment. Living in harmony with nature, children would be able to cultivate their natural creativity.

Question 3. What was the role of Shantiniketan in spreading education?
Answer:

Shantiniketan: The ideals of Rabindranath’s education system had two sides theoretical and practical. The theoretical side of his views on education has been described by him in numerous writings, speeches, and discussions. He gave a practical shape to these opinions by the creation of Shantiniketan, Sriniketan, and Visva Bharati. And this he did in the harsh lands (khowai) of Shantiniketan. For this, he had not asked for any moral or economic support from his countrymen. Maharshi Debendranath Tagore had set up a small ashram named Shantiniketan on nearly twenty bighas of land in Bolpur. The Maharshi had been able to rest his tired body, replenish his soul from the natural surroundings, and had a very mind-fulfilling stay at the ashram. That’s why he had named it Shantiniketan. His son Rabindranath first visited this place at the age of twelve. Nobody knew this ashram would be the place where Rabindranath would establish the educational institute of his dreams and give birth to today’s Biswaniketan.

“Best SAQs for WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 5, Alternative Ideas and Initiatives”

Path Bhawan: The first school of Shantiniketan was founded on 22nd December 1901. This school was known as Patha Bhavan. Brahmabandhav Upadhyay and one Christian gentleman had helped Rabindranath greatly in this project. The country had awarded him the title Raj Chakraborty for his efforts. However, the idea for setting up a school here was originated by Bolendranath Thakur, the elder brother of the poet. However, on his sudden demise, Rabindranath took upon himself the task of fructifying the dreams of his brother.

Student’s Activities: Rabindranath started the school with just five students. He had laid down strict rules of conduct for them. The morning was to start with prayers after the ablutions. Then this was to be followed by chanting the Vedic mantras and paying respects to the teachers. The students were then made to go barefoot in saffron attires without any umbrella and sit for lessons under a tree. The food served to them was purely vegetarian. Other than cooking, almost all the work including drawing water from the well was to be done by the students.

Last years in Shantiniketan: The last forty years of Rabindranath Tagore were centered in Shantiniketan. The great poet had shifted permanently to Shantiniketan in September 1901. At that time he was the editor of Bangadarshan. The very next year on 23 November 1902 his wife Mrilanini Debi died in the ashram. However, all obstacles and tragedies could not keep the bard from realizing his dreams.

Question 4. Write about the contributions of Visva Bharati and Rabindranath Tagore.
Answer:

Contributions of Visva Bharati and Rabindranath Tagore:

Introduction: Gurudev Rabindranath took the initiative for the creation of Visva Bharati. He shared his ideas first with some Gujarati businessmen. Then he used the word Visva Bharati for the first time in the magazine Shantiniketan. Finally, in 1918, and 23rd December, he established Visva Bharati. The actual work for the institution started on the 18th of July, 1919. He was helped in his efforts by Charles Frear Andrews. Also, he was influenced by the Madras-based National University which was set up by Annie Besant.

Establishment of Visva Bharati University: After he toured Europe and America in 1821, Rabindranath Tagore formed the Bisvabharati Council and the Association for Creation of Visva Bharati. Then in December of the same year with Pandit Brajendranath Sil as the Chancellor and 10 students, the Visva Bharati University was established. The first Principal of the college was Bidhusekhar Bhattacharya. Without him, the idea of Visva Bharati would not have been fructified. He took Rabindranath’s idea of the Visva Bharati forward by resorting to the following ideals.

Objective: Visva Bharati will be the home for students from all over the world. It will be a residence for the entire world’s knowledgeable personalities who will congregate here to discuss and evaluate their knowledge. The ideals of Rabindranath and the entire world will merge at Visva Bharati.

Ideal Education System: The poet has said that the nation’s imparted education gives way to the ways of life in that country. In India, he said that the current education ensures that a person will become a clerk or a daroga (head constable). Modern education is very difficult to introduce in a country full of tillers and potters. In no other educated country, this is possible. An ideal school according to Rabindranath should be a place where economics, agricultural science, health sciences, and all other practical sciences should be taught which will help in making the lives of his countrymen more easy. This school should be a place where students study subjects that the average Indian usually deals in like cow rearing, cloth weaving, existing economic systems, and even the lives of the Adivasis in the country.

Foreign Teachers: With the encouragement of Rabindranath Tagore many foreign teachers took posts of teaching in the university. Some of them were Marc Clarke from Germany, M. Bonoya, and Silvat Levi from France. Others were Lesin from Prague, Winternitz and Tucci Formic, from Italy, Casanova from Russia, the Bakes couple from England, Casahara and Tan Yun Sun from Japan, and Dr. Harry Timber and Mrs. Timber from the USA.

Ideals of Shantiniketan: The idea of Shantiniketan was to merge the thoughts and philosophies of all countries of the world with those of India. The University came up in the Bolpur district of Bengal and it was set up a month after the end of the First World War. The war had a great influence on the poet and he wanted to create an institution that valued world peace. Brajendranath Sil tried to describe the endeavor of creating the University in his words as ‘the whole world should come to India (Shantiniketan), the people who come here will be educated in Indian ethos and culture, will adopt Indian thoughts and ways of life, and this will inspire the locals (Indians) to understand their values and culture’.

Conclusion: Simply looking for not only essentially an identity for oneself in the world is not enough, the objectives of Visva Bharati are far wider. It is to realize oneself it is to feel oneself; through others also. Man will achieve salvation here through interaction with other men. These ideals were the basis of the formation of Visva Bharati. Born out of Colonialism, Shantiniketan is a historic name in the annals of history. Ten years after Rabindranath’s death, Visva Bharati was given the status of a Central University its first Chancellor was Jawaharlal Nehru and the first Vice-Chancellor was Rathindranath Tagore, the poet’s son.

Question 5. Discuss about the correlation of nature, man, and education in the thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore.
Answer:

Education in Harmony with Nature :

1. Tagore’s Views: Tagore felt that for the students it is necessary to “dream to live in harmony with the environment”. He used to say that true education consisted of knowing the use of any useful material that had been collected and knowing its real nature. Elaborating the concept of education Tagore said: “Neither the education of the senses nor the education of the intellect, but the education of the feeling should receive the place of honor in our schools our true education is possible only in the forest, through intimate contact with nature and purifying austere pursuits(Siksha: pl45,1342 b.s.)
2. Idea of the School: Rabindranath founded his school based on his ideas of education at Shantiniketan in 1901. The school was set up following the model of the ancient (Vedic period) forest schools in India. The idea that inspired him to start the school has been wonderfully expressed in a letter written by Rabindranath to Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose. He wrote that the school that he was trying to start would be conducted just along the lines of residential institutions of ancient times. Further, he expressed, “There shall not be the least trace of luxury. We shall not be able to become true Hindus if we do not learn rigid Brahmacharya (italics mine). Frivolity and luxury are degenerating in us. Wants of all descriptions are over-powering as only because we are failing to accept poverty with equanimity” (Sabuj Patra Vol. II: p30). The inauguration of Shantiniketan school, called Brahmacharyasram took place on 22 December 1901. It was started on a small scale.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Alternative Ideas and Initiatives, short answer questions”

3. Aims of the School: The aims were: 1. To ensure that the students are taught the importance of Indian heritage

2. To give it a universal humanist outlook

3. To provide all-round development of the students. The students had no fixed curriculum. The goal of education was to ‘synthesize knowledge and feeling’. In the words of Rabindranath, Shantiniketan was a ‘sapling’ that was to grow into Visva Bharati, a widely branching tree.

4. Cultural Synthesis: Rabindranath strongly felt that harmony and mutual understanding between the two cultures — East and West- -was essential for mutual benefit. With this end in view, Rabindranath built up an educational institution in the form of Visva Bharati. By way of explaining the aim and function of Visva Bharati Rabindranath said that being strongly impressed by the need and responsibility he had laid the initiative of an international university for promoting mutual understanding between the East and the West. The institution, he said, would invite students from the West and the East to study the different systems of Indian philosophy, literature, art, and music. It is evident from what had been said by Rabindranath that the Visva Bharati was developed as a center of Indian culture.

Question 6. Discuss the role of the press in arousing nationalist sentiments in India.
Answer:

Introduction: The introduction of the printing press in India was an event of revolutionary significance in the life of the Indian people. The awakening and growth of national consciousness among them gave rise to the nationalist press. The national movement, on its political side, was possible because of the facility of political education and propaganda provided by the press. With its help, the Indian nationalist groups were able to popularize among the people the ideas of representative government, liberty, democratic institutions, Home Rule, Dominion Status, and Independence.

Ram Mohan Roy’s Contribution: Raja Rammohan Roy was the founder of the nationalist press in India. His Sambad Kaumudi in Bengali published in 1821 and Mirat-ul-Akbar in Persian published in 1822 were the first publications in India with distinct nationalist and democratic progressive orientations. These papers were mainly the organs of the propaganda of social reform.

Magazines and Periodicals in Different Regions of India: Fardoonji Murzban was the pioneer of the vernacular (Gujarati) Press in Bombay. It was as early as 1822 that he started the Bombay Samachar which was a daily. The progressive administrative measures of Lord Bentinck gave an impetus to the growth of Indian journalism. Bang Dutt (in Bengali) with the efforts of Dwarakanath Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, and Raja Rammohan Roy was founded in 1830. Jam-e-Jamshed (in Gujarati), a daily, was started in Bombay in 1831 by Motiwala, a Parsee. Two more papers in Gujarati, Rast Goftar and Akbar-e-Saudagar were founded in Bombay in 1851. Dadabhai Naoroji, the founder and leader of the Indian National Congress, edited Rast Goftar. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a nationalist and social reformer, started the Somprakash in Bengali in 1858. When disturbances broke out in 1860 in the indigo-growing areas in Bengal, it strongly defended the interests of the farmers.

Indian Council’s Act, 1861: The enactment of the Indian Council’s Act of 1861 led to the growth of political awakening among the upper section of Indian society. This stimulated the expansion of both Indian and non-Indian press in the following years. The Times of India was founded in Bombay in 1861, The Pioneer in Allahabad in 1865, The Madras Mail in 1868, The Statesman in Calcutta in 1875, and The Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore in 1876.

Growth of Nationalist Press: The nationalist press also grew during this period. In Bengal, The Amrit Bazaar Patrika was founded as an Anglo-Bengali weekly in 1868 by the Ghose brothers – Hemachandrakumar, Shishirkumar, and Motilal. To circumvent the Vernacular Press Act of 1878, it was converted wholly into an English weekly. It was turned into an English daily in 1891. It propagated strong nationalist views and had been one of the most popular of nationalist newspapers.

Contribution of Surendranath Banerjee: Surendranath Banerjee, one of the prominent leaders of Indian nationalism, edited and owned The Bengali (in English) in 1879. It propagated the views of the moderate wing of the liberal school of Indian ‘political thought’. Under the guidance of Surendranath Banerjee, Dayal Singh Majeethia started The Tribune of Lahore, an English daily, in 1877. It was an influential paper in the Punjab with a liberal nationalist hue.

Socialist and Communist Press: After 1923, socialist and communist ideas began to spread slowly in India. Kranti, a Marathi weekly and an official organ of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party of India, and Spark and New Spark, both English weeklies respectively, edited by M.G. Desai and Hutchinson, had, as their declared aim, the spread of Marxism in India and support to the independent political and economic movements of the workers and peasants. Between 1930 and 1939, the workers’ and peasants’ movements gathered further strength. Socialist and communist ideas penetrated the Congress youth. Thus, came into existence the Congress Socialist Party, which published The Congress Socialist, an English weekly as its main official organ. The communists had National Front and subsequently Peoples War, both English weeklies as the principal organs of their propaganda. M. N. Roy, differing from the official communists, formed his group with independent India, with an English weekly as its main official organ.

Development of Literature: The press also helped the growth of regional literature and cultures which were provincial in form and national in content. In Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra, Gujarat, Malabar, Uttar Pradesh, and other provinces, rich provincial literature came into existence. The press, on the other hand, acted as an effective weapon in the hands of social reform groups to expose the social evils prevalent in Indian society. It also helped them to organize propaganda on a vast scale against such institutions. The press became a medium in their hands through which they propagated their principles, programs, and methods of democratic reconstruction of the Indian society.

Conclusion: Such was the vital role of the press in the building up of an increasingly strong national sentiment and consciousness among the Indian people, in the development and consolidation of their growing nationalist movement, and in the creation of national and provincial literature and cultures.

Question 7. Discuss the relation between the printed text and the dissemination of knowledge.
Answer:

Relation Between the Printed Text and Dissemination of Knowledge: During the 18th-19th century the Indian common folk were largely illiterate and would have remained so for many centuries. But some educated enlightened Indians and a small number of professional people who lived and worked in towns, however, felt the need for books. In India in the past, like in many Western countries, copyists multiplied books by hand. But with the introduction of printing, textbooks of all sorts, English and vernacular, grammar, and elementary books were published that catered to the needs of the people. Printed books became a medium for the dissemination of knowledge. The elementary Bengali textbook that deserves mention for the learning of the Bengali language is Varna Parichay by Iswarchandra Vidyasagar. However, how printing helped the dissemination of knowledge may be explained with some examples.

Baptist Mission Press: In 1800 the Baptist Mission was founded in Serampore, and the Baptist Mission Press started printing books in Bengali and other vernacular languages. In the same year, Fort William College was founded by Lord Wellesley in Calcutta. In the college young civilians were taught various languages like Bengali, Parsee, and Hindusthani. Qualified persons were appointed as teachers who needed textbooks for instruction to the students. It was the Serampore Press that supplied books to the students (trainee civilians) of Fort William College.

Vernacular Literature: The Baptist Mission and its Press printed and published textbooks, religious books, and other works in vernacular languages, and in English. Also, several books translated from English to Bengali were there in the list of publications. All this facilitated the assimilation of Eastern and Western cultures in this country.

Bengali Press: How the publication of Bengali periodicals and newspapers helped in the dissemination of knowledge may be understood from the comment made in the Oriental Star (16 May 1818) on the occasion of the appearance of the Bengali periodical Bengal Gazette. It was said that the diffusion of general knowledge and information amongst the natives must lead to beneficial effects.
Spread of Education: The printing press helped the spread of education. The middle-class people of the towns who were being educated needed the help of study materials. Printing presses fulfilled their demand. Previously, the copyist, after hard toil could at best produce two books in a year. When there was no printing press the scribes copied manuscripts by hand. The copies made by hand were sometimes illegible, and the reader was forced to guess what was written. But with the invention of printing constant proofreading and correction helped to produce the exact copy of the manuscripts. This made it possible to obtain fuller knowledge.

WBBSE Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives Fill In The Blanks

Question 1. ________ declared freedom of the press in the year 1835.
Answer: Charles Metcalfe.

Question 2. __________ was the first English newspaper in Bengal.
Answer: Bengal Gazette.

Question 3. The readers could have easy access to knowledge because of _______.
Answer: The printing press.

Question 4. The university set up by Rabindranath Tagore was called _______.
Answer: Visva Bharati.

Question 5. ________ established the Indian Statistical Institute at Baranagar.
Answer: Prashanta Kumar Mahalanobis.

Question 6. ________ was the founder of IACS.
Answer: Mahendra Lai Sarkar.

Question 7. The National Council of Education was set up in ______.
Answer: 1906.

Question 8. Against the publication of ______ Lord Lytton passed the Vernacular Press Act.
Answer: Somprakash.

Question 9. _______ published the Bengal Gazette.
Answer: James Augustus Hickki.

10. ______ bought the Hindu Patriot.
Answer: British Indian Association.

Question 11. Digdarshan was published under the leadership of ______.
Answer: Marshman.

Question 12. Bangadutta newspaper was published in ______.
Answer: 1830 A.D.

Question 13. The editor of Indian Mirror was _______.
Answer: Keshab Chandra Sen.

Question 14. Amrit Bazar Patrika turned into a daily newspaper in ______.
Answer: 1851 A.D.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 5 SAQs, important questions, and answers”

Question 15. Bangabasi magazine was published by _______.
Answer: Jogendranath Bose.

Question 16. _______ published the English magazine named Bengalee.
Answer: Surendra Nath Banerjee.

Question 17. Al Hilal magazine was published under the leadership of ______.
Answer: Abul Kalam Azad.

Question 18. Bombay Gazette was published in _______.
Answer: 1816 A.D.

Question 19. The founder of ‘U.N. Roy and Sons was ______.
Answer: Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury.

Question 20. South Asia’s first printing press was established in ______.
Answer: 1913 A.D.

Question 21. Calcutta Medical College was founded in ______.
Answer: 1835 A.D.

Question 22. The founder of Bose Institute was ______.
Answer: Jagdish Chandra Bose.

WBBSE Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives True Or False

Question 1. ‘Bengal Chemicals’ was set up by Jagdish Chandra Bose.
Answer: False

Question 2. Prof. C. V. Raman was associated with Calcutta Science College.
Answer: False

Question 3. Rabindranath Tagore was opposed to the colonial system of education.
Answer: True

Question 4. Shantiniketan Ashram was set up by Rabindranath Tagore.
Answer: True

Question 5. Sambad Kaumudi was published in the Bengali language.
Answer: True

Question 6. Raja Rammohan Roy edited the magazine, Chandrika.
Answer: False

Question 7. Somprakash was a daily newspaper.
Answer: False

Question 8. Bengal Gazette was published in 1816 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 9. The publication of Bangadutta was started in 1857 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 10. Somprakash was banned by the Vernacular Press Act.
Answer: True

Question 11. The publication of Indian Mirror was started in 1861 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 12. The language of the magazine Amrit Bazar Patrika was Bengali.
Answer: True

Question 13. The founder of ‘The Bengal Gazette’ was William Bolts.
Answer: False

Question 14. The editor of Calcutta General was James Augustus Hikki.
Answer: False

Question 15. The book Chheleder Ramayan was printed in Wood Block printing.
Answer: True

“Alternative Ideas and Initiatives WBBSE Class 10, SAQs guide, exam-focused”

Question 16. The first printing press in South Asia was U.N. Roy and Sons.
Answer: True

Question 17. Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury was the father of the printing press in India.
Answer: True

Question 18. Calcutta Medical College was founded in 1847 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 19. Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science was established in 1876 A.D.
Answer: True

Question 20. C.S.I.R. was established in 1947 A.D.
Answer: False

Question 21. Shantiniketan Ashram was founded by Debendra Nath Tagore.
Answer: True

WBBSE Solutions for Class 10 History and Environment

 

• Chapter 1 Ideas Of History
• Chapter 2 Culture: Characteristics & Discussions
• Chapter 3 Resistance And Rebellion (Characteristics And Analysis)
• Chapter 4 Early Stages Of Collective Action

• Chapter 5 Alternative Ideas And Initiatives
• Chapter 6 Peasant, Working Class And Left Movements In 20th Century India
• Chapter 7 Movements Organized By Women, Students And Marginal People In 20th Century India: Characteristics & Analyses
• Chapter 8 2nd Part of 20th Century India: Post Colonial India(1947-64)

WBBSE Chapter 3 Resistance And Rebellion Characteristics And Analyses Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Write a short note on the Bheel revolt.
Answer:

Bheel revolt

Introduction: The Bheels were tribal and backward people of the western ghat region of Maharastra and Gujarat. The Bheel burst out into rebellion between 1818 and 1857 against rich landholders and the East India Company.

Causes:
1. The Bheels wanted to stop the exploitations of the British rulers.
2. The British laws oppressed the people.
3. The women were also exploited by the Britishers.
4. The Christian Missionaries started to convert them to Christianity.
The Bheels had monopoly power at Khandesh. They restored to plunder and loot on rich landholders. Continuo’s plunder seriously affected the law and order of Khandesh. To bring an end to anarchical conditions, the British government occupied Khandesh in 1818. From that time onwards the Bheels under different leaders like Chil Naik, Hiria, Dra, etc. burst out into rebellion. Exaction and encroachments of the Government were the causes of the Bheel Revolt. After the 1st phase of the revolt was over, the Bheels once again appeared in full strength under the leadership of Bheema Naik, Daulat Singh, and others in 1857 and attacked the British sepoys.

“WBBSE Class 10 History Chapter 3 SAQs, Resistance and Rebellion, important questions”

The Uprising: The Bheels revolted many times but the revolt was suppressed. But at last, they once again appeared in full strength in 1857. The leaders of the Bheel revolt were Bheema Naik, Kajee Singh, Daula Singh, and others. The revolt was supported by the zamindars and the rulers of the nearby areas. The women came out of their areas and showed their power also. Then was a time when the British army left the field and did not dare fight the Bheels. But the revolt ultimately became unsuccessful.

Read and learn all WBBSE Solutions For Class 10 History And Environment

Nature: The movement was a mass uprising due to the participation of huge numbers of Bheels. It was marched against exploitation and especially against the corrupt British government. The revolt was supported by Zamindars and rulers of nearby areas.

Question 2. Write a short note on the Chuar movement.
Answer:

Chuar movement

Introduction: The tribal people living in Bankura, Medinipur were known as Chuars. They burst out in revolt against the oppressions of the East India Company and its agents.
Causes:

1. As a result of the permanent settlement, the tribal people lost their estates.
   
2. They were forced to pay the revenue of land at a high rate.
3. The oppression and exploitation resulted in this revolt.
4. The Chuars were forced to take loans at a high rate from the money lenders.
5. The most important was the resumption of the rent-free lands.

Uprising:

1. In 1768 Jagannath Singh, the zamindar of Ghatshila attacked the government with 5000 Chukars. They frightened the government and returned the land to Jagannath.
2. In 1771, Chuars rose again; led by Dhadkar Jhyamganjam. They failed this time.
3. The most important uprising was in 1798-99 led by Durjon Singh which was brutally put down by the government.

Result: The Chuars led the British to immediately stop the management of the package land. Also, some concessions were made to the zamindars who failed to pay the revenue demand within the stipulated period.
Nature: According to Narahari Kabiraj, “It was a spontaneous and extensive uprising of the poor and lower class. Peasants were the pillars of this movement”.

Question 3. Discs the importance of the Wahabi movement in Bengal under the leadership of Titumir.
Answer:

Importance of the Wahabi Movement:

1. The Tariqah-i-Muhammadia movement has been characterized by some scholars as the ‘Indian Wahabi’ movement. William Hunter has pointed out that the Wahabi movement under Titumir was in reality a struggle of the oppressed peasantry against zamindari oppression.
2. There are indeed many similarities between these two movements but there is no historical evidence of any contact between the two. The Wahabis rejected mysticism as an un-Islamic innovation whereas the followers of Titumir regarded it
3. In the politico-economic program of the Barasat Uprising, the elements of class struggle and anti-imperialism were present. The rebels were inspired by the motive of freeing India from British rule, but their struggle was not for securing freedom for India but for the re-establishment of Muslim supremacy.
4. According to R.C. Majumdar, ‘”It was a movement of the Muslims, by the Muslims and for the Muslims  But we have to note that the movement was not directed against the ordinary Hindu masses. The movement had certainly paved the way for the solidarity that the Hindu and Muslim peasants were to demonstrate during the Indigo Rebellion in 1860.
5. In the dual analysis, one has to admit, however, that the politico-economic program of the Ferazi and Wahabi movements was overshadowed by religious fanaticism at times.

Question 4. What are the causes of the peasant revolt?
Answer:
Causes of the peasant revolt :

The hardship of Indian peasants intensified when the company took the revenue administration into its hands. The causes of peasant revolt were as follows

The peasants were tortured, exploited, and humiliated.

Under the permanent settlement, the peasants lost their rights to land. The zamindars became the proprietors of the land and enhanced the rate of land revenue for the peasants.

In the Ryotwari are, the rate of land revenue was 45% – 55% more than that of the Zamindari areas.

The revenue collectors were oppressive and corrupt.

The poor peasants had to take loans or Madani from Mahajans or money lenders at a high rate of interest (50% – 500%).

“West Bengal Board Class 10 History Resistance and Rebellion, short answer questions”

The peasant families began to starve because they were forced to do the cultivation of indigo instead of food grains.

The company’s officials, police, etc. favored the Mahajan of money lenders.

The Christian missionaries ed to convert the peasants and tribal people to Christianity by offering them jobs, rewards, etc., and many peasant revolts like Santhal, Kol, Rangpur, Sandwip revolt, etc. broke out.

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Class 10 Physical Science	Class 10 Science SAQs

Question 5. What were the causes, nature, and importance of the Rangpur rebellion (1783)?
Answer:

Rangpur rebellion (1783)

Causes: Debi Singh, the ijaradar, exploited the zamindars and the ryots. He imposed an unbelievably high amount of tax on zamindars and extremely humiliated the ryots. He evicted many small and big zamindars.

Nature: The Revolt of 1783 was a real peasant uprising.

1. The uprising was led by the village headmen who played a very important role in the uprising.
2. This is one of the examples to show that the uprising was a peasant rebellion.
3. The mass character of the revolt is reflected in the huge assembly of peasants in times of action.
4. The peasant character of the uprising is also attested by the mass of local evidence collected at that time. The peasants showed a marvelous initiative throughout the uprising.

Importance: The Rangpur rebellion of 1783 was significant on many accounts. First, the uprising of 1783 exposed the evils associated with the system of colonial exploitation. Second, the rebellion of 1783 demonstrated colonial oppression.

It also exposed how the law of independent social development was being suppressed by the foreign rulers of the country. Third, the Rangpur rebellion made clear the evils of the Ijaradari system.

Question 6. Who were Kols? Why did they burst out in rebellion? What was the nature of the revolt?
Answer:

Kols: The Kols were the tribal people of the Chotanagpur plateau region. They broke out into rebellion in 1820 and 1831 against the oppressions and exploitation of the Zamindars and the English East India Co.

Causes:

1. Kols were forced to pay huge taxes.
2. The Kols were cheated, tortured, oppressed, exploited, and humiliated.
3. They were forced to take loans by the money lenders at a very high rate of interest.
4. The shopkeepers sold goods to the Kols at a higher price giving them less weight goods.
5. The Christian missionaries started to convert them to Christianity. Th, all factors led to the Kol Insurrection.

Nature: The movement was marked against the British government and exploitation and was not only led by tribals but was supported by the peasants and poor people. Hence, the movement was anti-British, anti-exploitation, and pro-tribal.

Question 7. Write about the Ferazi movement under Hazi Shariatullah and Dudu Mian. What was the nature of their movement? Or, Write a note on the Ferazi movement.
Answer:

Introduction: The Ferazi movement was founded by Hazi Sariatullah and then was run by Dudumian. Hazi Sariatullah wanted to suggest some reforms in Islam because it was corrupted by many malpractices were present in it.

Though stated as a religious movement, it soon earned a political overtone. He termed British-ruled India a ‘Dar-ul-harb’ or land of the enemy and felt that it was unsuitable for the Muslims. He said Allah didn’t discriminate among people by economic or social status.

All men are equal in the eyes of God. Th, many artisans, weavers, and peasants being influenced by him started this movement.

Dudu Mian: After the death of Shariatullah his son Dudu Mian took over the leadership. He made the move from socio-religio to socio-economic-political. Dudu Mian declared that Allah is the owner of the land.

Hence, no tax should be levied on it. He called upon his men to abstain from paying taxes, farming Indigo, and supporting the British. He declared a great revolt but it was suppressed by the British.

Nature: As regards the nature of the movement, it started as a religious movement but it had also a political overtone. Narahari Kabiraj says, “The Ferazi movement was essentially an agrarian movement…. though the demands were carefully dressed up in religious catchwords”.

Question 8. Mention the name of one leader of the Santhal Rebellion. What were the principal causes of this Rebellion? Bring out the importance of this Rebellion. Or, Name one leader of the Santhal Revolt. What were the main reasons for this revolt? Analyze the importance of the revolt. Or, Write a note on the Santhal Rebellion (1855).
Answer:

A Santhal boy Sidhu was one of the remarkable leaders of the Santhal Rebellion.

Causes:

It was the rent question that created discontent among the Santhals. The rate of tax went on increasing continuously and the Santhal peasants found it difficult to pay.

Besides regular tax, certain illegal taxes were imposed by the Naibs or tax collectors which were collected from the Santhal peasants oppressively.

The Santhals were also subjected to oppression by the money-lenders who charged high rates of interest ranging from 50% to 500%.

The contractors, who were mostly Europeans, were no less oppressive. Examples are not rare to show how the tribal people were subjected to oppression like taking of kids, fowls, etc. without making any payment.

The Santhals themselves took up arms against the oppressors only after they had become convinced that complaints made in the court or to higher officials would be of no avail.

The first mass gathering took place at Baghnadihi where Santhals were supported by non-Santhal peasants. Later on, Santhal revolt (hul) took place under the leadership of Siddhu Santhal and Kanu Santhal.

Importance: The Santhal rebellion could not attain the objective of bringing an end to the ‘rule of sin’ (of the British) but it had immense significance.

1. The government created a new administrative zone for the Santhals named Santhal Pargana.
2. The Santhal revolt exposed the true nature of colonial exploitation of the people by the collaboration of zamindars and the money-lending class.
3. The revolt represented a revolt of the subaltern people against the colonial power.
4. Despite the failure of the rebellion, the Santhals drew inspiration from it and subsequently organized another resistance movement against the British and their agents.

Question 9. Mention the features of Indigo Revolt.
Answer:

Features of Indigo Revolt:

1. Indigo Revolt was quite spontaneous and there was no instigation from outside to the ryots.
2. The movement had no central organization or brain to guide it.
3. The movement did not get any middle-class urban leadership and no support from the Calcutta Middle Class. Mahatma Sisir Kr. Ghosh and Harish Chandra Muk’nerjee lent support out of their own human, liberalism, and general sympathy for Bengal.
4. It was a mass movement. Nearly 60 lakh peasants joined the revolt. According to Amrit Bazar Patrika, “Indigo was the first mass movement against it”
5. The Indigo Revolt was a secular movement. Hindu and Muslim peasants joined the movement to resist the planters.

Question 10. Write a short note on the Pabna revolt.
Answer:

Peasants’ Revolt in Pabna (1870) :

Introduction: Peasants’ Revolt in Pabna (presently in Bangladesh) is an ideal example of how the question of rent (khana) created a bitter relationship between the zamindars and the ryots

Tenancy Act, 1859: The Tenancy Act of 1859 was put into force to safeguard the interests of rich peasants and the landed peasantry (jotted). It was expected that the two classes of people would act as precursors to the development of agriculture. But this did not take place. The zamindars did never follow the provisions of the Act. While the Tenancy Act did not allow occupancy rights to the peasants, it allowed the zamindars to enhance rent at their sweet will.

Coercion of Rent: Official records show that enhancement of rent proceeded after 1859. The peasants were forced to pay the increased rent, failing which they were evicted. In such a condition the discontent of the peasants found expression in local

The Revolt: The resistance finally took the shape of a revolt in 1873 when an agrarian league was formed at Esafshah, in the Pabna district of present Bangladesh. All evidence shows that the revolt was for the enhancement of the rent of the tears.

Characteristics feature: The characteristic feature of the revolt was that the Muslim peasants of Pabna fought hand in hand with the Hind. The revolt took the form of a rent strike as the peasants refused to pay rent to the zamindars.

“Class 10 WBBSE History Chapter 3 SAQs, Characteristics and Analyses, exam guide”

Leaders: Leaders of the movement came from the rich peasants, tears, village headmen, and others. Ishan Chandra Roy, a small talukdar (landed magnate) and a trader, called Bidrohi Raja by the rebel peasants, were important leaders. He with his assistant Sambhunath Pal moved from village to village organizing the league. Khoodi Mollah, a Muslim jotedar, also organized the peasants against the zamindar.

Bengal Tenancy Act: As the Act of 1859 had failed to ensure the security of the ryots, the Bengal Tenancy Act was passed in 1885. The Act sought to protect the interests of the ryots.

Question 11. What do you mean by Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya? Explain in brief.
Answer:

Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya:
1. Introduction: The real name of the Wahabi Movement was Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya. The term Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya means the path shown by Muhammad. In India, the founder of the movement was Syed Ahmed Barelvi. He toured extensively preaching the ideal of Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya. Between 1820 and 1822, the movement gained considerable momentum and its centers were established in many parts of north India.
2. Objective: The movement initiated by Syed Ahmed Barelvi was designed to revive the ways of the Prophet. Along with this, he put forward the objective of driving the British out of the country.
3. Nature: Under British rule, India had become an ‘unholy land’ (dar-u!-harb), and Barelvi desired, through the movement, to convert the country into a ‘land of Islam’ (dar- ul-Islam). The movement crossed the narrow limits of religion exclusively. Under the instructions of Syed Ahmed Barelvi training centers were set up in different parts of north India where the followers had some sort of military training. The peasantry formed the core of the Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya and the movement was directed against the oppressors like the zamindars, indigo planters, money-lenders, and others
4. Battle Against the Sikhs: However, before a holy war could be started the followers of the Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya or the Wahabis had to face the Sikh power. For, the military preparation of the Wahabis in the northwest part of India was considered an attempt to ot the Sikhs from Punjab. In the Battle of Balako! (1831), fought between the Wahabis and the Sikhs, Syed Ahmed Barelvi with many of his followers died. Nevertheless, the followers of Syed Ahmed Barelvi continued their fight vigorously against the British and other oppressors.

Question 12. Write a note on the Pagla Panthi Revolt.
Answer:

Pagla Panthi Revolt (First Phase, 1825-27): Pagla Panthi Revolt started in the first half of the nineteenth century in the Sherpur area of Mymensingh District in the erstwhile East Bengal. The ‘Pagla Panthi’ people belonged to a particular religious sect.
The Pagla Panthi Revolt took place in two phases: in the first phase against the bad governance of the landlords, and in the second phase, from the end of 1825 against the combined forces of the British Government and local landlords. Karim Shah or Karam Shah founded this sect. After the death of Karim Shah in 1813, his son Tipu Garo started a new religious movement. Though the Pagla Panthi was a religious sect, religion took a backseat in its publicity. The inevitable outcome of escalating bitterness and hatred among the farmers against oppression by the landlords was the Pagla Movement.

Question 13. State the characteristics of the Sanyasi-Fakir rebellion.
Answer:

Characteristics of Sanyasi-Fakir Rebellion: The sanyasi and fakir are very much part of Indian society; they lived on charitable gifts. Majnu Shah was the leader of fakirs while Bhawani Pathak led the sanyasis.

The chief characteristics of the Sanyasi-Fakir rebellion are:
1. The Sannyasi-Fakir revolt was purely a peasant revolt
2. Many hungry peasants, landless zamindars, and jobless army adders were united under Sanyasis and Fakirs
3. Their objective was to attack the company’s Kuthis, treasury, Granary and Godowns of money-lenders, and Kacharis of rich zamindars.
4. The leaders of the revolts were religious-minded, but the revolt was free from the religious role
5. The leaders of the revolt introduced guerilla tactics of warfare against the British
6. Internal conflict among the leaders was an important feature, for the revolt was weakened.

Question 14. State the concepts of rebellion, uprising, and revolution.
Answer:

Rebellion, Uprising, and Revolution: Etymologically, the three words rebellion, uprising, and revolution differ in meaning. When turmoil and unrest accumulate inside people, it takes the form of rebellion. For torture, injustice, and oppression over a long period people organize protests and rebellions. A rebellion, generally, is started by a particular group of people, in a particular location and for a particular cause. It is just the beginning of a larger movement. For instance, take the example of the Santhal Rebellion or the Sepoy Mutiny. An uprising took place as the major outcome of a rebellion. The ‘uprising’ and ‘rebellion’ are closely related to each other. For example, the uprising of the western educated middle class of India resulted in a national movement on a larger scale. Similarly, the word ‘revolution’ means a rapid change in society and thoughts against traditional defective systems and society. Its main objective is to change anything for the benefit of man and civilization. Revolution does not become imperative unless a great change takes place through rebellion and uprising. A revolution takes place only after transcending the preliminary stages of rebellion and uprising. For example, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the Armed Revolution in India, etc. brought changes.

Question 15. What was the nature of the Ferazi rebellion? State the importance of the Rangpur rebellion.
Answer:

Nature of the Ferazi Rebellion: The Ferazi movement was ultimately unsuccessful as they had no political training. They could not come out of the influence of religion. As regards the nature of the Ferazi movement, it may be said that the movement was essentially an agrarian movement. It, indeed, started as a religious reform movement, but soon the movement was strengthened by the participation of the peasant masses. Nevertheless, it is not possible to identify the nature of the movement as anti-British.

Importance of the Rangpur Rebellion:
1. The revolt manifested the evils of the colonial rule
2. The uprising also proved beyond doubt that the Company’s authorities in London, their officers posted in India, and their Indian agents such as gomostas, daisies, and others were all linked up forming a chain as it were
3. The uprising also brought to the fore the weaknesses of the system of leasing out of the land, that is to say, the ijaradari system. The system introduced by Warren Hastings was subjected to criticism
4. Also the importance of the rebellion lies in the fact that discussions were now on amongst the official circle for the reform of the revenue system.

Question 16. State some causes of tribal uprisings.
Answer:

Causes of Tribal Uprisings:

Some of the important causes of tribal uprisings were :
1. The British land settlements in India had eroded the tribal traditions of joint ownership and sharpened tensions within the tribal society.
3. The tightening of governmental control over the forest zones, creation of reserved forests, and attempts to monopolize forest wealth through curbs on the e of timber, and grazing facilities, caused great unrest among the tribals on account of dislocation in the tribal economy.
4. The tribals also resented the introduction of general laws which they considered as intrusions into their personal lives.
5. The tribals were also greatly influenced by movements of internal religious and sociocultural reform.
6. Some of the tribal uprisings took place in reaction to the efforts of the landlords to enhance taxes on timber and grazing, police exactions, new excise regulations, exploitation by low-country traders and money lenders, and restrictions on shifting cultivation in forests.