Early Nationalism — Practice Questions
UPSC Prelims-pattern practice questions on early nationalism with full explanations — INC founding, drain theory, Morley-Minto Reforms, early revolutionaries and the 1911 annulment.
Questions
These are original UPSC-pattern practice questions. Attempt each one before revealing the answer.
Who among the following presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress in 1885?
Solution
W.C. Bonnerjee presided over the first session at Bombay in December 1885 (72 delegates). Naoroji presided in 1886 and Tyabji in 1887. A.O. Hume helped organise the Congress but never presided over it.
Answer: A
Consider the following statements about the Indian Councils Act, 1909:
- It introduced separate electorates for Muslims.
- Following these reforms, Satyendra Prasanna Sinha became the first Indian member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council.
- Members of the legislative councils were allowed to ask supplementary questions.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Solution
All three are correct. The Morley-Minto Reforms introduced separate electorates for Muslims, allowed supplementary questions and resolutions on the budget, and S.P. Sinha became the first Indian member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council (law member).
Answer: D
The book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, which set out the drain theory, was written by
Solution
Dadabhai Naoroji published it in 1901. R.C. Dutt wrote the Economic History of India; Ranade and Gokhale contributed to economic nationalism but did not write this book.
Answer: B
Consider the following pairs:
| Event or organisation | Person |
|---|---|
| 1. Assassination of W.C. Rand (1897) | Chapekar brothers |
| 2. Muzaffarpur bomb attack (1908) | Khudiram Bose |
| 3. Assassination of Curzon Wyllie (1909) | Madan Lal Dhingra |
| 4. Founding of India House, London | Bhikaji Cama |
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Solution
Pairs 1, 2 and 3 are correct. Pair 4 is wrong — India House was founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma. Bhikaji Cama unfurled an Indian flag at the International Socialist Congress, Stuttgart (1907).
Answer: C
The decision to annul the partition of Bengal was announced at
Solution
The annulment, along with the shift of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, was announced at the Delhi Durbar of King George V (December 1911), under Viceroy Hardinge. Surat (1907) saw the Congress split; Lucknow (1916) its reunion; the Simla Deputation (1906) asked for separate electorates.
Answer: D
Mains
Bring out the differences between the Moderates and the Extremists in their goals and methods. Why did the Extremists gain ground after 1905?
Solution
Introduction: The Moderates led the Congress from 1885; by 1905 a younger, more assertive group — Tilak, Lajpat Rai, B.C. Pal, Aurobindo — challenged their leadership.
Body:
- Goals: Moderates — reforms and self-government within the Empire, gradually; Extremists — swaraj as a right.
- Methods: Moderates — petitions, resolutions, appeals to British opinion; Extremists — boycott, swadeshi, national education, passive resistance.
- View of British rule: corrigible vs fundamentally exploitative.
- Base: urban educated elite vs wider participation of students and the lower middle class.
- Why Extremists gained ground: meagre results of Moderate methods; Curzon’s policies culminating in the partition of Bengal (1905); famine and plague; Japan’s victory over Russia (1905) and Ethiopia’s at Adwa (1896); cultural nationalism.
Conclusion: The Extremists did not reject the Moderates’ analysis of colonialism — they rejected their methods. Their rise marked the shift from elite politics towards mass nationalism.