Mahatma Gandhi undertook fast unto death in 1932, mainly because:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Ramsay Macdonald announced the Communal Award.
In August 1932 the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award. It gave separate electorates to the Depressed Classes. Gandhi, then in Yerwada jail, began a fast unto death in September 1932 to oppose this. The fast ended with the Poona Pact.
- ✗ (a) The Round Table Conferences did fail to settle minority representation. But Gandhi's fast targeted one specific British decision, separate electorates for the Depressed Classes. It was not a protest against the conferences in general.
- ✗ (b) Congress and the Muslim League disagreed on many issues, but the 1932 fast was not about that dispute. It was about separate electorates for the Depressed Classes, which Gandhi believed would slow their integration into society.
- ✓ (c) The Communal Award, announced by MacDonald, extended separate electorates to the Depressed Classes. Gandhi began his fast unto death against this. He ended it after the Poona Pact of 24 September 1932 was accepted. The Pact replaced separate electorates with seats reserved for the Depressed Classes within the general electorate.
- ✗ (d) Statement (c) is correct, so 'none of the above' cannot be the answer.
Remember · Communal Award (Aug 1932, Ramsay MacDonald): separate electorates for Depressed Classes. Gandhi's fast unto death (20 Sept 1932) led to the Poona Pact (24 Sept 1932): reserved seats, joint electorate.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 10 · India and the Contemporary World – II, Chapter 2 “Gandhiji began a fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates for dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society.”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica – Communal Award ↗ · reference work “Prime Minister MacDonald announced his Communal Award, Great Britain’s unilateral attempt to resolve the various conflicts among India’s many communal interests.”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2012, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·
