Prelims 2020 · Q26
HardWith 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 ·