What was the reason for Mahatma Gandhi to organise a satyagraha on behalf of the peasants of Kheda? 1. The Administration did not suspend the land revenue collection in spite of a drought. 2. The Administration proposed to introduce Permanent Settlement in Gujarat. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

UPSC Prelims 2011: What was the reason for Mahatma Gandhi to organise a satyagraha on behalf of the peasants of Kheda? — Answer & Explanation

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What was the reason for Mahatma Gandhi to organise a satyagraha on behalf of the peasants of Kheda?

1.The Administration did not suspend the land revenue collection in spite of a drought.
2.The Administration proposed to introduce Permanent Settlement in Gujarat.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 only

In 1918 the Kheda peasants, hit by crop failure and a plague epidemic, could not pay the land revenue and asked for its collection to be relaxed. The administration would not grant this, and Gandhi's satyagraha supported their demand. The Permanent Settlement had nothing to do with Kheda.

✓ 1. The Kheda peasants, hit by crop failure, could not pay the revenue and wanted its collection relaxed or remitted. The administration refused, and this refusal was the immediate cause of the satyagraha.
✗ 2. The Permanent Settlement was introduced by the East India Company in Bengal in 1793, with revenue fixed in perpetuity for zamindars. It was never proposed for Gujarat in 1918, and the Kheda dispute was about remission of revenue.

Remember · Kheda satyagraha (1918, Gujarat): peasants demanded remission of land revenue after crop failure. Permanent Settlement (1793) belonged to Bengal, not Gujarat.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Sources

NCERT Class 10 · India and the Contemporary World – II, Chapter 2 “Affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic, the peasants of Kheda could not pay the revenue, and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.”
NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part III, Chapter 1 “the Permanent Settlement was made with the rajas and taluqdars of Bengal. They were now classified as zamindars, and they had to pay the revenue demand that was fixed in perpetuity.”

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2011, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·

What was the reason for Mahatma Gandhi to organise a satyagraha on behalf of the peasants of Kheda?

Prelims 2011 · archive

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