The Gandhian era, 1917–1947

Answer: (a) The Quit India Resolution was adopted by the AICC.

On 8 August 1942, at Bombay, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) endorsed the Quit India resolution, which called for a non-violent mass struggle across the country. The other options describe events of other dates.

• ✓ (a) The Congress Working Committee passed the 'Quit India' resolution at Wardha on 14 July 1942, and the AICC endorsed it in Bombay on 8 August 1942, the day Gandhi gave his 'Do or Die' speech.
• ✗ (c) The Congress ministries resigned in 1939, after talks with the Viceroy on India's part in the war broke down, not in 1942.
• ✗ (d) Stafford Cripps came to India in March 1942 with an offer of dominion status after the war; Indian leaders rejected it, and its failure led to Quit India.
• ✗ (b) Expanding the Viceroy's Executive Council with more Indians was the Viceroy's statement of 8 August 1940 (the August Offer), two years earlier, not an event of 8 August 1942.

Remember · 8 August 1942, Bombay: AICC endorses the Quit India resolution; Gandhi's 'Do or Die'. Cripps Mission: March 1942. Congress ministries resigned: 1939.

📘 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 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi is the person linked to 'Songs from Prison'. He translated hymns from the Ashram Bhajanvali into English while in Yervada jail in 1930, and John S. Hoyland published an adaptation in 1934 under this title.

• ✓ (c) The Bhajanvali was a collection of about 250 devotional songs from several languages, compiled for prayers at Gandhi's ashrams. Gandhi's jail translations of them became 'Songs from Prison'.
• ✗ (a) Tilak is known for his Gita commentary (Gita Rahasya) and for his newspapers, not for a translation of devotional lyrics called 'Songs from Prison'.
• ✗ (b) Nehru wrote from prison too (an autobiography and letters), but his prison writings are not a translation of ancient religious lyrics.

Remember · 'Songs from Prison' (1934): Gandhi's English translation of ashram hymns from the Bhajanvali, made in Yervada jail in 1930; adapted by John S. Hoyland.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) officers of the Indian National Army

They were officers of the Indian National Army (INA) put on trial by the British at the Red Fort, Delhi, in the INA trials of 1945-46. Their trial drew nationwide protests and weakened British authority.

• ✓ (d) Colonel Prem Sahgal, Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Major General Shah Nawaz Khan were tried by the colonial government at the Red Fort. NCERT lists the INA trials among the events that weakened British authority.
• ✗ (a) The Swadeshi and Boycott Movement belongs to the anti-partition agitation of 1905 onwards, decades earlier, and these three officers played no part in it.
• ✗ (b) The 1946 Interim Government was formed from Congress and Muslim League nominees; these INA officers were not part of it.

Remember · INA trials at the Red Fort (1945-46): Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon; they helped turn public opinion decisively against British rule.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error