The Gandhian era, 1917–1947

Answer: (c) Only three

The 1920 programme asked Indians to boycott courts, schools, councils and foreign goods, to stay strictly non-violent, and to settle disputes through their own panchayats instead of British courts. Titles and honours were to be surrendered, not kept, so only item III is wrong.

• ✓ I Boycott of courts and foreign goods was central; lawyers gave up practice and foreign cloth was burnt in public bonfires.
• ✓ II Gandhi promised swaraj within a year only if people kept strictly to non-violence, and he called off the movement after the violence at Chauri Chaura in February 1922.
• ✗ III The first stage was the surrender of titles the government had awarded, not their retention.
• ✓ IV Gandhi's non-cooperation appeal asked people to boycott the law courts and to settle their quarrels before panchayats; the Congress resolution likewise called for settlement of disputes by private arbitration.

Remember · Non-Cooperation (1920–22): surrender titles; boycott schools, courts, councils, foreign cloth; panchayats, national schools, khadi; strict non-violence; withdrawn after Chauri Chaura.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Ch 2 (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 (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both I and II

At the Nagpur session of December 1920, which adopted the Non-Cooperation programme, the Congress adopted a new objective, the attainment of swaraj by the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means. Gandhi planned the movement in stages, keeping civil disobedience and refusal to pay taxes in reserve for a later stage if the government turned to repression.

• ✓ I The Nagpur Congress (December 1920) adopted as its object the attainment of swaraj by the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means.
• ✓ II The first stage was surrender of titles and boycotts; a full civil disobedience campaign, including non-payment of taxes, was to follow only if the government used repression, and Gandhi promised swaraj within a year.

Remember · Non-Cooperation: Calcutta special session (Sept 1920) → Nagpur (Dec 1920) adopts it and new creed 'swaraj by peaceful and legitimate means'; staged plan; withdrawn after Chauri Chaura (Feb 1922).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · 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)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) publicly violating Salt Law at Dandi

Gandhi said this in his speech at Borsad on 18 March 1930, during the Salt March that ended with the breaking of the salt law at Dandi. He called sedition his dharma and said he was beginning his peaceful war against the Government by violating the salt law.

• ✗ (a) The remark belongs to the 1930 Salt March, not to the Champaran Satyagraha.
• ✓ (b) In the Borsad speech he said he was 'commencing' his war on the Government 'by violating the salt law'. NCERT records that the march set out on 12 March 1930 and that at its end he made a fistful of salt, breaking the law.
• ✗ (c) The Second Round Table Conference in London came after the 1930 civil disobedience campaign; the speech was made on the march itself.
• ✗ (d) The Quit India Movement was launched years later, in 1942; it is unconnected with this speech.

Remember · Gandhi's 'sedition my dharma' remark: Borsad speech, 18 March 1930, during the Salt March, when he said he was starting his peaceful war by violating the salt law.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Madan Mohan Malaviya and Krishna Kant

Madan Mohan Malaviya took up the defence of the men whom the Gorakhpur Sessions Court sentenced to death over the Chauri Chaura violence, and argued their case for four days. UPSC's option pairs him with Krishna Kant.

• ✗ (a) That account of the Chauri Chaura defence does not mention C. R. Das; it credits Malaviya.
• ✓ (b) PIB, describing the Collected Works of Malaviya, records his return to the Allahabad High Court to secure justice for the accused in the Chauri-Chaura incident. Banaras Hindu University's account adds that he decided to appear for those sentenced to death and argued the case for four days.
• ✗ (c) Kitchlew and Nizami are not named in that account of the defence.
• ✗ (d) M. A. Jinnah is not named in that account of the defence.

Remember · Chauri Chaura (1922): after 170 death sentences at Gorakhpur, Madan Mohan Malaviya appeared for the accused and argued the case for four days.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The Poona Pact

Gandhi's fast in Yeravada Jail in September 1932 ended with the Poona Pact, which replaced separate electorates for the Depressed Classes with reserved seats. While he was still in prison, the Harijan Sevak Sangh was founded and the weekly Harijan started, and after his release he devoted himself almost wholly to the campaign against untouchability.

• ✓ (a) The Poona Pact settled the 1932 dispute over separate electorates for the Depressed Classes; the anti-untouchability organisation and the paper Harijan were started while Gandhi was still in prison, and the campaign then became the centre of his work.
• ✗ (b) The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed in March 1931 and concerned calling off Civil Disobedience, releasing prisoners and salt manufacture along the coast. It came before the 1932 fast.
• ✗ (d) The Government of India Act, 1935 came about three years after the Poona Pact. NCERT narrates the campaign just after the 1935 reform, which can mislead, but the campaign followed the 1932 Pact.
• ✗ (c) The Quit India arrests of 1942 came about ten years after Gandhi had made the upliftment of the Harijans part of his programme.

Remember · The Poona Pact (September 1932) ended Gandhi's fast; the Harijan Sevak Sangh and the weekly Harijan followed, and Gandhi then took up the anti-untouchability campaign.

📘 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 (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error