With reference to Indian freedom struggle, Usha Mehta is well-known for:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Running the secret Congress Radio in the wake of Quit India Movement
Usha Mehta was a young Gandhian who helped run the underground Congress Radio from Bombay after the Quit India Movement began in August 1942. It broadcast news and nationalist messages while the Congress leaders were in jail.
- ✓ (a) Usha Mehta, then a young student in Bombay, organised the secret Congress Radio with a few associates. It went on air in the days after the Quit India resolution of 8 August 1942, when the top leaders had been arrested.
- ✗ (b) Gandhi was the Congress's sole representative at the Second Round Table Conference in London in 1931. Usha Mehta, born in 1920, was about 11 years old then and took no part.
- ✗ (c) The Indian National Army was raised in Southeast Asia, first under Mohan Singh and later under Subhas Chandra Bose. Usha Mehta had no link with it.
- ✗ (d) The Interim Government of 1946 came out of the Cabinet Mission process and was formed by senior Congress leaders. Usha Mehta was a young activist and was not involved in that process.
Remember · Usha Mehta (1920–2000) = Secret Congress Radio, Bombay, Quit India 1942.
Sources
- Mumbai Legacy Project, D Ward: Dr. Usha Mehta 1920-2000 (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) ↗ “When the British arrested thousands of Indian leaders in August 1942 after the announcement of the Quit India Movement, young nationalist voices illuminated the way forward in the form of an underground radio.”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2011, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·
