Prelims · Modern India & the freedom struggle · 12 questions

Social & religious reform movements

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

Asked in 5 of 11 years · most in 2025 (2)

UPSC syllabus: “History of India and Indian National Movement.” See the full syllabus →

Prelims 2020 · Q28

Medium

The Vital-Vidhvansak, the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience was published by

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Gopal Baba Walangkar

Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired Mahar soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first newspaper of the Mahar community and campaigned to have Untouchables taken back into the army.

✓ (a) Walangkar, a pensioned soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper, petitioned the British against the closure of army service to Untouchables and appealed publicly to Hindu leaders for better treatment.
✗ (b) Jyotiba Phule is remembered for founding the Satyashodhak Samaj and for his book Gulamgiri, not for this newspaper (Zelliot notes that Phule only helped and guided Walangkar in his early petition effort).
✗ (d) Ambedkar (born 1891), a distant relative of Walangkar, became a public leader later; Mooknayak was the first of his many newspapers.

Remember · Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired Mahar army man from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Sources

Eleanor Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar Movement (Manohar, 1992/2001), Ch. 3 (background of the Mahar movement) ↗ · reference work “Gopal Baba Walangkar, a pensioned soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper, attempted to send a petition to the British protesting against the closure of army service to Untouchables … Mooknayak (Voice of the Dumb), the first of many news- papers … reported that Jotiba Phule, Baba Padmaji and others helped and guided Walangkar in his early effort to petition the British”
Eleanor Zelliot and Mulk Raj Anand (eds), An Anthology of Dalit Literature (Poems), Introduction ↗ · reference work “The dominant figure in this early period was Gopal Baba Walangkar, an ex-soldier and a Mahar, who started a newspaper, publicly challenged caste Hindu about their treatment of Untouchables”
NCERT Class 12 · Indian Society, Chapter 3 “In 1873 he founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers Society), which was devoted to securing human rights and social justice for low-caste people.”

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 2020 · Q32

Medium

In the context of Indian history, the Rakhmabai case of 1884 revolved around

1.women's right to gain education
2.age of consent
3.restitution of conjugal rights

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

The Rakhmabai case (1884) was a husband's suit for restitution of conjugal rights, that is, to force his wife, married as a child, to live with him. It became a landmark in the age-of-consent controversy that ended with the Age of Consent Act of 1891. It was not a case about a woman's right to education.

✗ 1. Rakhmabai was educated, and she disliked her marital home's lack of intellectual atmosphere, but the legal question before the court was not education. It was whether she could be compelled to live with her husband.
✓ 2. The case, filed in 1884, kept the issue of child marriage in public debate until the 'consent' controversy of 1888 onwards, which produced the Age of Consent Act of 1891 (minimum age 12 for cohabitation with girl-brides).
✓ 3. Dadaji Bhikaji sued Rakhmabai for restitution of conjugal rights. She had been married at nine, her marriage was never consummated, and she was living in her parents' home.

Remember · Rakhmabai case (1884): Dadaji Bhikaji's suit for restitution of conjugal rights against his child-bride wife. It fed the age-of-consent debate leading to the 1891 Act.

Sources

Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 29 (1995), special issue 'Social reform, sexuality and the state': the Rakhmabai case ↗ · reference work “and was living in her parental home when she was sued for restitution of conjugal rights (Engels 1989: 427-29). Rakhmabai was found guilty by the colonial judicature … In the meanwhile, the Rakhmabai case had been filed in 1884, to drag on until 1888 when the ‘consent’ controversy started, to culminate in the passage of the Age of Consent Act in 1891. … The first two of these dimensions, namely, child marriage and lack of choice in mate selection, were central to the Rakhmabai controversy. … Age of Consent Bill (1891) which laid down the minimum legal age limit of 12 years for cohabiting with girl-brides … Rakhmabai was an educated girl who was married at the age of 9 to an older consumptive husband, Dadaji Bhikaji. Although her marriage was not consummated”

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 ·

The same topic in Mains

Modern Indian historyGS 1 syllabus
Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularismGS 1 syllabus

Read it in NCERT

Class 12 Indian Society, Chapter 3cited in 1 explanation