Prelims 1999 · archive
MediumWhich one of the following statements is not correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) The play ‘Navann’ by Nabin Chandra Das was based on the famine of Bengal.
Statement (c) is the incorrect one. The play on the 1943 Bengal famine is 'Nabanna', written by Bijon Bhattacharya and staged by IPTA in 1944. It is not by Nabin Chandra Das. The other three statements are correct.
- ✓ (a) Dinabandhu Mitra's Bengali play 'Nil Darpan' depicts the plight of Bengal's villagers under the atrocities of British indigo planters. Its first English translation appeared in 1861.
- ✓ (b) 'Ghashiram Kotwal' is one of Vijay Tendulkar's best-known Marathi plays. 'Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe' and 'Sakharam Binder' are two others.
- ✗ (c) The play is 'Nabanna', by Bijon Bhattacharya, not Nabin Chandra Das. It portrayed the hunger and misery of common people during the 1943 Bengal famine. IPTA staged it on 24 October 1944. The famine theme in the statement is right, but the author is wrong.
- ✓ (d) Bombay's Parsi theatre, with companies such as Pestonji Framji's Original Theatrical Company (c. 1870), introduced Urdu drama on the stage. Urdu theatre grew up largely within this Parsi theatre tradition.
Remember · Nabanna (1944) was Bijon Bhattacharya's play about the 1943 Bengal famine, staged by IPTA. Nil Darpan, by Dinabandhu Mitra, was about the indigo planters. Ghashiram Kotwal is by Vijay Tendulkar.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- INFLIBNET e-PG Pathshala (UGC/MHRD): Bijon Bhattacharya: Nabanna ↗ · reference work “Portraying the grim reality of hunger and misery of the common people during the 1943 Bengal famine, Nabanna was staged by Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) on October 24, 1944”
- INFLIBNET e-PG Pathshala: Dinabandhu Moitra: Nil Darpan ↗ · reference work “Written in colloquial forms of Bangla, on the lamentable condition of Bengal’s village society under the gruesome atrocities of the British indigo planters, the first English translation of the play appeared in 1861.”
- INFLIBNET e-PG Pathshala: Vijay Tendulkar's Shantata, Court Chalu Aahe ↗ · reference work “The following are some of his most notable plays Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe, Ghashiram’ Kotwal, Sakharam Binder, Kamala, Gidhade and so on.”
- INFLIBNET e-PG Pathshala: Parsi Theatre ↗ · reference work “Parsis introduced Urdu drama for performing in the theatre also. This is how, it prepared a road towards modern Bhasha theatre”
- NCERT Class 11 · Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Chapter 3 “One interesting development was Bombay Parsi theatre. Its initiator was a shrewd and resourceful man named Pestonji Framji who started the 'Original Theatrical Company' around 1870.”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 1999, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·