During the Indian freedom struggle, the National Social Conference was formed. What was the reason…

Answer: (b) Indian National Congress did not want to include social reforms in its deliberations and decided to form a separate body for such a purpose.

In its early years the Indian National Congress confined itself to all-India political questions and kept social reform out of its deliberations. Reformers led by M.G. Ranade therefore set up a separate body in 1887, the National Social Conference, to take up social reform.

• ✗ (a) The Conference was not a merger of Bengal reform groups. It was founded in 1887 by M.G. Ranade of the Bombay Presidency, and it met alongside the annual Congress sessions.
• ✓ (b) Congress presidents Dadabhai Naoroji (1886) and Badruddin Tyabji (1887) held that social reform should stay off the Congress agenda. Their reasoning was that Congress spoke for all communities, whereas a social reform question affects only some particular part or community of India. Reformers therefore needed a separate forum.
• ✗ (c) The Conference was not formed simply to bring the country's reform groups under one organisation. It was formed because the Congress platform excluded social questions. Its founder was Ranade.
• ✗ (d) Option (b) is correct, so 'none of the above' cannot be right.

Remember · Congress stayed political, so Ranade founded the (Indian) National Social Conference in 1887 as a separate social reform forum that met alongside Congress sessions.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2012, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error