Consider the following statements: Statement-I. 7th August is declared as the National Handloom Day. Statement-II. It was in 1905 that the Swadeshi Movement was launched on the same day. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

(b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I

(c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

(d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

Prelims · Modern India & the freedom struggle · 9 questions

Rise of nationalism, 1885–1917

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Prelims 2023 · Q83

Easy

Consider the following statements:

Statement-I: 7th August is declared as the National Handloom Day.
Statement-II: It was in 1905 that the Swadeshi Movement was launched on the same day.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I

Both statements are true, and they are connected. National Handloom Day is observed on 7 August because that date marks the anniversary of the Swadeshi Movement of 1905, which urged Indians to boycott foreign goods and use Indian-made ones.

✓ Statement-I 7 August is observed as National Handloom Day. It was first celebrated in 2015, when the Prime Minister inaugurated it in Chennai.
✓ Statement-II The Swadeshi Movement of 1905 was launched on 7 August, the very day now kept as National Handloom Day. The Ministry of Textiles chose the date to mark that anniversary, so Statement-II explains Statement-I; the movement urged people to boycott foreign goods and back Indian-made ones.

Remember · National Handloom Day is 7 August, first observed in 2015. The date honours the Swadeshi Movement of 1905, launched on 7 August.

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

Sources

PIB (Ministry of Textiles), 10th National Handloom Day: Celebrating Tradition, Innovation and Excellence ↗ “National Handloom Day, observed on August 7, marks the anniversary of the Swadeshi Movement of 1905 and was first celebrated in 2015, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai.”
NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “These two movements encouraged people to boycott foreign-made goods and promote Indian-made products, thereby strengthening India's own industries”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2022 · Q53

Medium

Consider the following freedom fighters:

1.Barindra Kumar Ghosh
2.Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee
3.Rash Behari Bose

Who of the above was/were actively associated with the Ghadar Party?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) 3 only

Only Rash Behari Bose worked with the Ghadar plan for a pan-Indian mutiny in 1914-15. Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee belonged to the Bengal revolutionary groups, not the Ghadar Party.

✗ 1. Barindra Kumar Ghosh (Barin Ghose) led the Bengali paper Yugantar and the revolutionaries linked to the Anushilan Samiti; he was jailed in the Alipore case and sent to the Cellular Jail. He was not part of the Ghadar Party.
✗ 2. Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee was a Bengal revolutionary of the Anushilan circle who later helped found the Hindustan Republican Association, not the Ghadar Party.
✓ 3. Rash Behari Bose, with Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Kartar Singh Sarabha, tried to get the army infiltrated as part of the Ghadar Movement's plan of 1914-15.

Remember · Ghadar Party: Indian migrants in North America (Lala Hardayal, Sohan Singh Bhakna); in India, Rash Behari Bose and Kartar Singh Sarabha. Barindra Ghosh belonged to the Bengal groups.

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

Sources

NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “Behind the movement was the Ghadar Party, founded by Indian migrants in North America, including Lala Hardayal and Sohan Singh Bhakna; many of them returned to India to take part in the rebellion. In India, Rash Behari Bose, Sachindra Nath Sanyal”
NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “Yugantar ('New Era'), a Bengali newspaper which preached open revolt and a violent overthrow of British rule; the paper was run by a group of revolutionaries led by Barindra and associated with the Anushilan Samiti.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2021 · Q36

Medium

With reference to Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh, which one of the following statements is correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English here.

In 1919 Tagore spent a few days at Madanapalle with the Irish poet James H. Cousins, principal of the Besant Theosophical College, and his wife Margaret Cousins. There he rendered 'Jana Gana Mana' into English ('The Morning Song of India'), and Margaret Cousins wrote down its musical notation.

✓ (c) A Ministry of Education page records that Tagore sang the song at the Besant Theosophical College, Madanapalle, in February 1919, and that the college adopted its English version as its prayer song; so the translation was made there.
✗ (d) The Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875; after Blavatsky and Olcott settled in India in 1879, its permanent headquarters was set up at Adyar, Madras, in 1882.

Remember · Madanapalle (1919): Tagore's English translation of Jana Gana Mana, 'The Morning Song of India', at the Besant Theosophical College. Theosophical Society headquarters: Adyar, Madras (1882).

Sources

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (Ministry of Education): History of the Indian National Anthem ↗ “the song was first sung by the bard himself at a session in Besant Theosophical College in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh on February 28, 1919. The song enthralled the college authorities and they adopted the English version of the song as their prayer song”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Jana Gana Mana ↗ · reference work “In 1919, during a short stay at Madanapelle (now in Andhra Pradesh state) with the Irish poet James H. Cousins and his wife Margaret Cousins, Tagore shared the melody with Margaret Cousins, who transcribed its formal notation. … At her request Tagore translated the poem to English, and this version became the prayer song of the Besant Theosophical College”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Theosophical Society ↗ · reference work “The two settled there in 1879 and in 1882 established the permanent headquarters of the Theosophical Society of Adyar, Madras.”

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 ·

Prelims 2020 · Q26

Hard

With reference to the book "Desher Katha" written by Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar during the freedom struggle, consider the following statements:

1.It warned against the Colonial State's hypnotic conquest of the mind.
2.It inspired the performance of swadeshi street plays and folk songs.
3.The use of 'desh' by Deuskar was in the specific context of the region of Bengal.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct and statement 3 is not. Desher Katha (1904) was a hugely popular Bengali book that spread the economic critique of colonial rule during the swadeshi movement, and its 'desh' was the country as a whole, not Bengal alone.

✓ 1. UPSC's key counts this as correct. The book was an exposition in Bengali of the Naoroji-Digby-Dutt critique of colonial economic rule (the drain of wealth and the devastation of Indian industry), which it spread widely.
✓ 2. UPSC's key counts this as correct. The book ran to four editions and 10,000 copies between 1904 and 1907, and the themes of economic drain, swadeshi and boycott it carried were then being heard in songs, plays and jatras.
✗ 3. 'Desh' in the title means 'the country' (Story of the Country), and its subject was the economic condition of India as a whole. Deuskar was himself a Maharashtrian settled in Bengal who also promoted Shivaji and Tilak's ideas among Bengalis, so 'desh' was not limited to Bengal.

Remember · Desher Katha (1904), by Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar, popularised the drain-of-wealth critique in Bengali during the swadeshi movement; its 'desh' meant India, not just Bengal.

Sources

Sumit Sarkar, The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal, 1903-1908 (People's Publishing House, 1973), Ch. 3 (Swadeshi Enterprise and Boycott) ↗ · reference work “Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar’s Desher Katha (Story of the Country)—an exposition in Bengali of the doctrines of Naoroji, Digby and Dutt—became … The themes of industrial devastation, economic drain, and the need for swadeshi and boycott were now heard every- where—not only in formal treatises and newspaper articles, but also in songs and plays and ‘jatras’ and hosts of verna- cular pamphlets. … A son of Maharashtra domiciled in Bengal, Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar, organised the first Shivaji Utsava in Calcutta”
Sukumar Sen, History of Bengali Literature (Sahitya Akademi, 1960), on Deuskar's 1904 pamphlets ↗ · reference work “interested in some of the burning problems of the country as is shewn by his pamphlets Krsaker Saruanas (Ruination of the Cultivator, 1904), Deser Katha (Talks on the Country, 1904), etc.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2019 · Q5

Easy

With reference to Swadeshi Movement, consider the following statements:

1.It contributed to the revival of the indigenous artisan crafts and industries.
2.The National Council of Education was established as a part of Swadeshi Movement.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

The Swadeshi and boycott campaign that followed the 1905 partition of Bengal pushed people to buy Indian-made goods, which revived handloom weaving and indigenous industry. National education was added to its programme, and the National Council of Education was set up in 1906. Both statements are correct.

✓ 1. Swadeshi asked people to boycott foreign goods and buy Indian products, especially cloth spun and woven in India, strengthening indigenous crafts and industries.
✓ 2. To counter colonial education, leading citizens created the National Council of Education in 1906 and launched the Bengal National College as part of the Swadeshi programme of national education.

Remember · Swadeshi Movement (1905 onwards): boycott of foreign goods, revival of Indian industry and crafts, national education (National Council of Education and Bengal National College, 1906).

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

Sources

NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “These two movements encouraged people to boycott foreign-made goods and promote Indian-made products, thereby strengthening India's own industries and reducing economic dependence on British goods, especially textiles.”
NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “Earlier the same year, a few leading citizens joined hands to create a National Council of Education and launch the Bengal National College, which was intended to provide a genuinely Indian education.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2018 · Q11

Medium

He wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji and Shrikrishna; stayed in America for some time; and was also elected to the Central Assembly. He was

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Lala Lajpat Rai

The clues of a stay in America and election to the Central Assembly fit Lala Lajpat Rai, the 'Lion of Punjab'. PIB records that he went to the United States and founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in October 1917, that he was a prolific author, and that he was elected Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party in the Central Legislative Assembly.

✓ (c) Lajpat Rai spent time in the USA and founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in October 1917; he later sat in the Central Legislative Assembly as Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party. PIB calls him a prolific author who wrote many books, which fits the clue about his writing.
✗ (b) Bipin Chandra Pal was, with Lajpat Rai and Tilak, one of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio, but no official page ties him to the stay in America and the Central Assembly seat that PIB records for Lajpat Rai.
✗ (d) Motilal Nehru helped found the Swaraj Party in 1923 to win seats in the Central Legislative Assembly (Britannica), but he is not recorded as having lived in America, so the combination of clues does not fit him.

Remember · Lala Lajpat Rai ('Punjab Kesari'): Lal-Bal-Pal leader, a founding figure of Punjab National Bank (NCERT), founded the Indian Home Rule League of America (1917), Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party in the Central Legislative Assembly, died after the 1928 anti-Simon lathi charge.

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

Sources

PIB, Ministry of Culture: exhibition to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai ↗ “He also visited USA & Japan. He founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in October 1917. … He joined Swaraj Party in 1926 and was elected its Deputy Leader in the Central Legislative Assembly. … He was a prolific author and wrote many books. He also founded and edited newspapers and journals. … Lala Lajpat Rai Ji was a great freedom fighter who along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak formed a trio of Lal-Bal –Pal.”
NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “the Punjabi Nationalist leader, Lala Lajpat Rai, was one of its founding figures and early directors.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Lajpat Rai (stay in the United States) ↗ · reference work “During World War I , Rai lived in the United States , where he founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in New York City in 1917.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Motilal Nehru (Swaraj Party) ↗ · reference work “In 1923 Motilal helped found the Swaraj Party (1923–27), the policy of which was to win election to the Central Legislative Assembly and obstruct its proceedings from within.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2017 · Q37

Medium

Consider the following pairs:

1.Radhakanta Deb — First President of the British Indian Association
2.Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty — Founder of the Madras Mahajana Sabha
3.Surendranath Banerjee — Founder of the Indian Association

Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only

Pairs 1 and 3 are correct; pair 2 is wrong. Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty founded the Madras Native Association in 1852, whereas the Madras Mahajana Sabha was a different body formed in 1884.

✓ 1. The British Indian Association was founded at Calcutta on 29 October 1851 with Raja Radhakanta Deb as its President and Debendranath Tagore as its Secretary.
✗ 2. Chetty, a businessman and journalist, founded the Madras Native Association in 1852, the first Indian political organisation of the Madras Presidency. The Madras Mahajana Sabha came 32 years later, in May 1884, as a separate body, established by S. Ramaswami Mudaliar and P. Anandacharlu.
✓ 3. Surendranath Banerjee, with Ananda Mohan Bose, founded the Indian Association in Bengal in 1876. It was a forerunner of the Indian National Congress.

Remember · British Indian Association (1851): Radhakanta Deb, president. Madras Native Association (1852): G. L. Chetty. Madras Mahajana Sabha (1884). Indian Association (1876): Surendranath Banerjee.

Sources

University of Calicut (School of Distance Education): Modern Indian History, Indian National Movement (British Indian Association) ↗ · reference work “British Indian Association was founded on October 29, 1851 at Calcutta with Raja radhakanta dev and debendranath Tagore as its President and Secretary respectively. … In May 1884, S. Ramaswami Mudaliar and P. Anandacharlu established the Madras Mahajana Sabha.”
Madras Native Association, Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗ · reference work “Chetty founded the Madras Native Association (MNA) in 1852 to provide an organized platform for resistance against colonial authorities. … including the Madras Mahajana Sabha (founded in 1884 to advocate for Indian self-rule and civil rights)”
Indian Association, Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗ · reference work “The association was founded in Bengal in 1876 by Surendranath Banerjee and Ananda Mohan Bose.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2016 · Q49

Easy

The 'Swadeshi' and 'Boycott' were adopted as methods of struggle for the first time during the

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) agitation against the Partition of Bengal

Swadeshi and boycott were first used as mass methods of protest in the agitation against the 1905 Partition of Bengal. The Home Rule Movement (1916), the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920) and the Simon Commission protests (1927-28) all came later.

✓ (a) Curzon's plan to partition the Bengal presidency led to public meetings, processions and, beside them, two programmes of mass action: Swadeshi and boycott. People boycotted foreign goods, burnt foreign cloth and promoted Indian-made products.
✗ (b) The Home Rule movement of Tilak and Annie Besant dates from 1916, eleven years after the Swadeshi and boycott programmes began.
✗ (c) The Congress formally launched Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement at Nagpur in December 1920; it revived boycott but did not introduce it.

Remember · Swadeshi and boycott were born in the 1905 agitation against the Partition of Bengal; later movements (1916, 1920, 1928) reused them.

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

Sources

NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “At the same time, two programmes of mass actions emerged — Swadeshi ('of one's own country') and boycott. These two movements encouraged people to boycott foreign-made goods and promote Indian-made products”
NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “With Tilak's death in August 1920, Gandhi became the undisputed mass leader of the Indian National Congress, which formally launched the Non-Cooperation Movement at its Nagpur session in December the same year.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2016 · Q92

Easy

What was the main reason for the split in the Indian National Congress at Surat in 1907?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Extremists' lack of faith in the capacity of the moderates to negotiate with the British Government

The Congress split at Surat because the Nationalists (called Extremists by their opponents) no longer trusted the Moderates to press the British. At Surat the Moderates tried to back away from the Calcutta resolutions on Swaraj, Swadeshi and Boycott and return to asking for minor administrative concessions.

✓ (b) NCERT says the Moderates at Surat tried to step back from the Calcutta resolutions and return to the old requests for minor concessions. The Nationalists led by Tilak, Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghose refused, chaos followed when Tilak was prevented from speaking, and they held a separate session.
✗ (a) Lord Minto's separate electorates came with the Indian Councils Act of 1909, two years after Surat. NCERT's account of the split gives Minto no part in it.
✗ (c) The All-India Muslim League was founded at Dhaka in December 1906. The Surat quarrel was between Moderates and Nationalists inside the Congress, not a reaction to the League.
✗ (d) NCERT names Aurobindo Ghose only as one of the Nationalist leaders who walked out and presided over their separate session; it mentions no defeat of his in an election for president.

Remember · Surat 1907: the Congress split into Moderates and Nationalists over Swaraj, Swadeshi and Boycott, after the Moderates tried to retreat from the Calcutta resolutions.

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

Sources

NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “the next session, at Surat (Gujarat) in December 1907, witnessed efforts by these Moderates, as they were now called, to step back from the Calcutta resolutions and return to the old requests for minor administrative concessions”
NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Chapter 2 “The Nationalist camp, led by Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai (who was known as the 'Lion of Punjab' because of his forceful speeches and writings) and Aurobindo Ghose, had to move out and conduct their own separate session.”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

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