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MCQs on Modern Indian History

Explore a comprehensive set of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) on Modern Indian History. Test your knowledge on key events, figures, and movements that shaped India's history from the 18th to the 20th century.

“History of Modern India” topic as a part of History is a very important section as far as the Syllabus of any competitive examination is concerned, especially Civil Services exams. Keeping the Importance of this topic in mind, we have compiled the study material of “History of Modern India” into 5 Sections for a better understanding of the stages of development in Modern India, why certain events happened and an analysis of the consequences of such developments that paves an impact on our society, economy and our political system.   

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Importance of Modern Indian History 

The British administered India for a period of about two centuries and brought about revolutionary changes in the social, political and economic life of the country. Once the British set their foot solidly on Indian soil, they began the commercial exploitation of the natural resources of India.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The year of the foundation of the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) is?

    1. 1947
    2. 1937
    3. 1927
    4. 1917

Answer: Option D
Explanation: On 8 May 1917 in Adyar, Madras, a multiethnic group of women established the Women’s Indian Association (WIA). The WIA was one of the first organizations to boldly connect Indian women’s social and sexual subjugation with patriarchy, poverty, and political disenfranchisement. The WIA was one of the first organizations to boldly connect Indian women’s social and sexual subjugation with patriarchy, poverty, and political disenfranchisement.

2. By the Act of 1858, India was to be governed under whom?

    1. By the Company
    2.  In the name of the Crown
    3.  By a Board of Directors
    4.  In the name of Governor-General of India

Answer: Option B
Explanation : The Government of India Act 1858 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on August 2, 1858. Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company (who had up to this point been ruling British India under the auspices of Parliament) and the transference of its functions to the British Crown.

On August 2, 1858, less than a month after Canning proclaimed the victory of British arms, Parliament passed the Government of India Act, transferring British power over India from the East India Company, whose ineptitude was primarily blamed for the mutiny, to the crown. The merchant company’s residual powers were vested in the secretary of state for India, a minister of Great Britain’s cabinet, who would preside over the India Office in London and be assisted and advised, especially in financial matters, by a Council of India, which consisted initially of 15 Britons, 7 of whom were elected from among the old company’s court of directors and 8 of whom were appointed by the crown.

3. The Ghadar Party was founded (November 1913) in San Francisco USA by?

    1.  Madam Bhikaji Cama
    2.  Lala Har Dayal
    3.  Shyamji Krishana Verma
    4.  Both (a) and (b) above

Answer: Option B
Explanation : In 1913, Pacific Coast Hindustan Association was founded by Lala Hardayal with Sohan Singh Bhakna as its president, which was called the Ghadar Party. The members of this party were the immigrant sikhs of US and Canada. The first issue of The Ghadar, was published from San Francisco on November 1, 1913. Also known as the Ghadar Conspiracy, was a plan to initiate a pan-Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army in February 1915 to end the British Raj in India. The plot originated at the onset of World War I, between the Ghadar Party in the United States, the Berlin Committee in Germany, the Indian revolutionary underground in British India and the German Foreign Office through the consulate in San Francisco.

4. The Poona Pact (1932) was an agreement between?

    1.  Nehru and Ambedkar
    2.  Gandhi and Ambedkar
    3. Malaviya and Ambedkar
    4.  Gandhi and Nehru

Answer: Option B
Explanation : An agreement between Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi was signed 84 years ago on September 24, 1932. The agreement was signed by Pt Madan Mohan Malviya and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and some Dalit leaders at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune, to break Mahathma Gandhi’s fast unto death.

5. Which of the following national leaders did not defend soldiers of the Indian National Army in the 1945 case dealing with trial?

    1.  Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru
    2.  Bhula Bhai Desai
    3.  Rajagopalachari
    4.  Jawaharlal Nehru

Answer: Option C
Explanation : National leader Rajagopalachari did not defend soldiers of the Indian National Army in the 1945 case dealing with trial.

6. Which of the following treaties brought an end to the independent existence of Peshwa Baji Rao-II?

    1.  The Treaty of Purandar
    2.  Convention of Wadgaon
    3. Treaty of Bassein
    4.  Treaty of Salbai

Answer: Option C
Explanation : Baji Rao-II was the last Peshwa of the Maratha Empire who governed from 1795 to 1818. He was installed as a puppet ruler by the Maratha Nobles, whose growing power prompted him to flee his capital and sign the treaty of Bassein 1802 with the British.

7. Who started the first English newspaper in India?

    1.  Bal Gangadhar Tilak
    2. Raja Rammohan Roy
    3.  J.A.Hickey
    4.  Lord William Bentinck

Answer: Option C
Explanation : Bengal Gazette was the first English newspaper started by J.A. Hickey (in 1780). Hicky’s Bengal Gazette was the first English-language newspaper published on the Indian subcontinent. It was founded in Calcutta, capital of British India at the time, by Irishman James Augustus Hicky in 1779. The front page news stories are written in British English. Elsewhere in the paper, however, Anglo-Indian expressions are used freely and without translation.

8. The first woman to become a Chief Minister of any State in India was?

    1. Nandini Satpathy
    2.  Dr. J. Jayalalitha
    3.  Sucheta Kripalani
    4.  Ms. Mayawati

Answer: Option C
Explanation : Sucheta Kriplani (née Mazumdar, 25 June 1908 – 1 December 1974) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. She was India’s first woman Chief Minister, serving as the head of the Uttar Pradesh government from 1963 to 1967.

9. Who is the author of Vande Mataram?

    1.  Mahatma Gandhi
    2. Rabindranath Tagore
    3. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
    4.  Sarat Chandra Chatterjee

Answer: Option C
Explanation : Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was born on June 27, 1838, in Naihati in West Bengal to an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family. He wrote the national song ‘Vande Mataram’, which was a part of his novel Anandamath (1882). It is a political novel depicting a Sanyasi army fighting the British soldiers.

10. Who is regarded as the ‘father of modern India’?

    1. Raja Ram Mohan Roy
    2.  Swami Dayananda Saraswati
    3.  Sri Aurobindo
    4. Bhagat Singh

Answer: Option A
Explanation : Raja Ram Mohan Ray is known as the `Father of Modern India’ in acknowledgment of his age making social, instructive and political changes.

11. The most Important feature of the Government of India Act of 1919 was?

    1.  enlargement of Indian Councils
    2.  provision for direct election
    3. dyarchy in the Provinces
    4.  All the above

Answer: Option D
Explanation : The most Important feature of the Government of India Act of 1919 was enlargement of Indian Councils, provision for direct election and dyarchy in the Provinces.

12. Muslim communalism was lent an impetus by the activities of?

    1.  Ashfaqullah
    2.  Liaqat Hussain
    3. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
    4.  Sayyid Ahmad Khan

Answer: Option D
Explanation : Muslim communalism was lent an impetus by the activities of Sayyid Ahmad Khan.

13. Who threw two bombs on the Door of the Central Assembly in New Delhi on April 8, 1929?

    1.  Bhagat Singh
    2.  Batukeshwar Dutt
    3.  Raj Guru
    4. Both (a) and (b) above

Answer: Option D
Explanation : Bhagat Singh also disapproved that the two should be escorted after the bombing by the rest of the party. On 8 April 1929, Singh and Dutt threw a bomb onto the corridors of the assembly and shouted “Inquilab Zindabad!” (“Long Live the Revolution!”). This was followed by a shower of leaflets stating that it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear.

14. Noakhali is situated in?

    1.  West Bengal
    2. Bangladesh
    3.  Tripura
    4.  Bihar

Answer: Option B
Explanation : Noakhali is a district in South East Bangladesh 16th August, 1946 was declared the ‘Direct Action Day'(also known as Calcutta killings Great) by Muslim League putting forward the demand of separate Nation and the riots broke out at Noakhali.

15. During the first Carnatic War, the French Governor-General of Pondicherry was?

    1. La Bourdonnais
    2.  Captain Paradise
    3. Dupleix
    4.  Count-de-Lally

Answer: Option C
Explanation : General Joseph François Dupleix was the French Governor-General of Pondicherry during the first Carnatic War.

16. The Prime causes of the 1857 mutiny did not include?

    1. The new system of education
    2.  The Widow Remarriage Act
    3. The despatch of Indian Sepoys to Afghanistan
    4. Laws forbidding intermarriages between Indians and the British

Answer: Option D
Explanation : The Prime causes of the 1857 mutiny did not include Laws forbidding intermarriages between Indians and the British.

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