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Modern India & the freedom struggle

Prelims · Modern India & the freedom struggle · 22 questions

The Gandhian era, 1917–1947

Every UPSC Prelims question on this topic, 2016–2026, newest first. Tap an option to check yourself; the answer and explanation open below it.

The Gandhian era, 1917–1947 questions per year: 2016: 1, 2017: 1, 2018: 2, 2019: 3, 2020: 1, 2021: 3, 2022: 0, 2023: 0, 2024: 0, 2025: 5, 2026: 2 Asked in 8 of 11 years · most in 2025 (5)

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Prelims 2017 · Q15

Medium

The Trade Disputes Act of 1929 provided for

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) a system of tribunals and a ban on strikes.

Passed amid the labour unrest of the late 1920s, the Trade Disputes Act, 1929 let the government refer an industrial dispute to a Court of Inquiry or a Board of Conciliation, and it put restraints on strikes and lock-outs in public utility services. Tribunals plus curbs on strikes is option (d).

  • ✓ (d) The Act let the government set up Courts of Inquiry and Boards of Conciliation to investigate and settle disputes, and it restrained strikes and lock-outs, above all in public utility services.
  • ✗ (a) The Act gave workers no role in management. Even Works Committees of employer and worker representatives came only with the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which replaced the 1929 Act.
  • ✗ (c) Disputes went to bodies the government itself appointed, not to a British court; the 1946 review noted that their findings were not even binding on the parties.

Remember · Trade Disputes Act, 1929: Courts of Inquiry and Boards of Conciliation + restraints on strikes in public utility services; replaced by the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Sources

  • Labour Department, Government of NCT of Delhi: The Industrial Disputes Act (Introduction) ↗ “Experience of the working of the Trade Disputes Act, 1929, has revealed that its main defect is that while restraints have been imposed on the rights of strike and lock-out in public utility services … the settlement of an industrial dispute, either by reference to a Board of Conciliation or to a Court of Inquiry, conclusive and binding on the parties to the dispute.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2017 · Q93

Easy

With reference to Indian freedom struggle, consider the following events:

  1. 1.Mutiny in Royal Indian Navy
  2. 2.Quit India Movement launched
  3. 3.Second Round Table Conference

What is the correct chronological sequence of the above events?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 3-2-1

The Second Round Table Conference was held in London in late 1931, the Quit India Movement began in August 1942, and the Royal Indian Navy ratings' mutiny broke out in Bombay in February 1946. So the order is 3-2-1.

  • ✓ (c) 3 (December 1931), then 2 (August 1942), then 1 (February 1946) is the right order.
  • ✗ (d) It places the naval mutiny of 1946 before Quit India; the mutiny came about three and a half years after Quit India.
  • ✗ (b) It puts the Round Table Conference (1931) last, though it was the earliest of the three.
  • ✗ (a) It reverses the true sequence and puts the 1931 Conference last.

Remember · Second Round Table Conference (Dec 1931) → Quit India (Aug 1942) → Royal Indian Navy mutiny (Feb 1946).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

The same topic in Mains

Read it in NCERT

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