Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) and Answers on Early Uprising and Revolt of 1857/Crown’s rule
Question 1: Which of the following is not one of the Rajas of South India to raise the banner of revolt against the British?
a) Raja of Vijayanagar
b) Raja of Trivancore
c) Kerala Varma Raja of Wynaad
d) Raja Vira Raja of Coorg
Answer: (b)
Question 2: Which one of the following statements regarding the revolt of 1857 is not correct?
a) the revolt was supported wholeheartedly by the educated, elite Indian everywhere
b) the diverse element which took part in the revolt were united by their hatred of British rule
c) the role of Hindu-Muslim unity in the revolt was acknowledged by many, including British officials
d) the revolt did not spread to South India
Answer: (a)
Question 3: No taxation without representation, was the popular slogan of
a) Indian Freedom Struggle
b) American War of Independence
c) Russian Revolution
d) French Revolution
Answer: (b)
Question 4: What was the purpose with which Sir William Wedderburn and W.S. Caine had set up the Indian Parliamentary Committee in 1893?
a) to agitate for Indian political reforms in the House of Commons
b) to campaign for the entry of Indians into the Imperial Judiciary
c) to facilitate a discussion on India’s independence in the British Parliament
d) to agitate for the entry of eminent Indian into the British Parliament
Answer: (a)
Question 5: Which of the following is not one of the Indian rulers/zamindars who remained loyal to the Company during the revolt of 1857?
a) Sikh chiefs of the Cis-Sutlej areas
b) Maharaja Gulab Singh of Kashmir
c) Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Durgapur
d) Zamindar of Bengal
Answer: (c)
Question 6: The educated middle class in India
a) opposed the revolt of 1857
b) supported the revolt of 1857
c) remained neutral to the revolt of 1857
d) Fought against native rulers
Answer: (c)
Question 7: Who was the British Prime Minister at the time of the Second Round Table Conference?
a) Clement Attlee
b) Neville Chamberlain
c) Ramsay MacDonald
d) None of the above
Answer: (a)
Question 8: Which of the following describes the nature of the revolt of 1857 most accurately?
a) it was a national war of independence
b) it was a Muslim conspiracy exploiting Hindu grievances
c) it was the last attempt of an effete medieval feudal order to recover its last glory
d) it was a purely military outbreak
Answer: (c)
Question 9: “A national revolt rooted in deep mistrust” who among the following gave the above statement
a) R.C. Mazumdar
b) Benjamin Disraeli
c) V.D. Savarkar
d) S.N. Sen
Answer: (b)
Question 10: When Congress leaders condemned the Montague-Chelmsford Report, many moderates left the party to form the?
a) Swarajya Party
b) Indian Freedom Party
c) Independence Federation of India
d) India Liberal Federation
Answer: (d)
Question 11: Which one among the following acts of British India strengthened the Viceroy’s authority over his executive council by substituting “portfolio” or departmental system for corporate functioning?
a) Indian Council’s Act, 1861
b) Government of India Act, 1858
c) Indian Council’s Act, 1892
d) Indian Council’s Act, 1909
Answer: (a)
Question 12: To which among the residuary powers were conferred by the federation established by the Act of 1935?
a) Federal legislature
b) Provincial legislatures
c) Governor general
d) Provincial governors
Answer: (c )
Question 13: The Gadkari uprising of 1844-45 was directed against the
a) Money lenders
b) British Government
c) Maharaja of Kolhapur
d) Both ‘a’ and ‘b’
Answer: (d)
Question 14: Separate electorates for Muslims in India were introduced by which of the following Acts?
a) Government of India Act of 1902
b) Indian Council’s Act of 1892
c) Rowlatt Act of 1919
d) Government of India Act of 1935
Answer: (a)
Question 15: Which one of the following was the leader of Waliullahi Movement?
a) Waliulla
b) Abdul Aziz
c) Muhammad Abdul Wahab
d) Sayed Ahmad of Rae Wababi Bareilly
Answer: (d)
Question 16: Lord Mountbatten came to India as Viceroy along with specific instruction to
a) balkanize the Indian subcontinent
b) keep India united if possible
c) accept Jinnah’s demand for pakistan
d) persuade the Congress to accept partition
Answer: (b)
Question 17: The first census in India was conducted at the time of
a) Lord Dufferin
b) Lord Lytton
c) Lord Auckland
d) Sir John Napier
Answer: (a)
Question 18: Who among the following was not a member of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, 1912?
a) Gopal Krishna Gokhle
b) Valentine Chirol
c) Abdur Rahim
d) Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Answer: (d)
Question 19: The tribal leader, who was regarded as an incarnation of God and Father of the world/dharti Aba was
a) Kanhu Santhal
b) Rupa Naik
c) Birsa Munda
d) Joria Bhagat
Answer: (c)
Question 20: Muslim Faqirs from their headquarters in the Nepal Terai, wandered about the country levying contributions and defying the authority of the British Government. Who among the following was their founder leader?
a) Chiraj Ali Shah
b) Majnun Shah
c) Dadu miyan
d) Titu Miyan
Answer: (b)
Question 21: A popular movement of the 19th century which was much better planned, organised and Knit than Revolt of 1987 was
a) the Munda Rebellion
b) the Deccan Riots
c) the Sanyasi Rebellion
d) the Wahabi movement
Answer: (d)
Question 22: There was no independent development of industries in India during British rule because of the
a) absence of heavy industries
b) scarcity of foreign capital
c) scarcity of natural resources
d) preference of the rich to invest in land
Answer: (a)
Question 23: The wrath of the indigo agitations of the 19th century was mainly directed against the oppression of the peasants by
a) the government
b) the foreign planters
c) the zamindars
d) the money lenders
Answer: (b)
Question 24: In which part of India did the Revolt of Wagheras of Okha Mandal against the imposition of British rule take place during the early 19th century?
a) Saurashtra
b) Khandesh
c) Maharashtra
d) Rajputana
Answer: (a)
Question 25: The uprising of the Bhils, an aboriginal tribe of Khandesh and Aurangabad, during the first half of the 19th century, took place on account of
a) the devastation of the region by Maratha wars
b) the Pindari depredations
c) the famine in the Deccan
d) All of the above
Answer: (d)
Question 26: The Hunter Commission was appointed after the
a) Black-hole incident
b) Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
c) Uprising of 1857
d) Partition of Bengal
Answer: (b)
Question 27: The introduction of local self government in the modern period of India is associated with the administration of
a) Lord Ripon
b) Lord Irwin
c) Lord Dufferin
d) Lord Canning
Answer: (a)
Question 28: Which of the following events, was characterised by Montague as ‘Preventive Murder’?
a) Killing of INA activists
b) Massacre of Jallianwala Bagh
c) Shooting of the Mahatma
d) Shooting of Curzon-Wythe
Answer: (b)
Question 29: ‘Diarchy’ was first introduced in India under
a) Morley-Minto Reforms
b) Montford Reforms
c) Simon Commission Plan
d) Government of India Act, 1935
Answer: (a)
Question 30: Who was the Viceroy of India when Rowlatt Act was passed?
a) Lord Irwin
b) Lord Reading
c) Lord Chelmsford
d) Lord Wavell
Answer: (c)
Question 31: The agrarian outbreak, also known as the Deccan Riots, in Poona and Ahmednagar districts of Maharashtra in 1875, was mainly directed against
a) the government
b) the foreign planters
c) the zamindars
d) the money-lenders
Answer: (d)
Question 32: Christian Missionaries were allowed to enter India after the passing of which act?
a) Charter Act of 1833
b) Charter Act of 1813
c) Charter Act of 1793
d) None of these
Answer: (b)
Question 33: What was the effect of the Government of India Act of 1935 on the national movement?
a) It strengthened the movement
b) It weakened the movement by satisfying the people
c) It weakened the movement, because separate electorate for the Muslims and the Hindus created dissensions
d) It weakened the movement, because the Act introduced federal system
Answer: (d)
Question 34: Which one of the following suggested the reconstitution of the Viceroy’s Executive Council in which all the portfolios including that of War Members were to be held by the Indian leaders?
a) Simon Commission
b) Simla conference
c) Cripps Proposal.
d) Cabinet Mission
Answer: (c)
Question 35: The name of the famous person of India who returned the knighthood conferred on him by the British Government as a token of protest against the atrocities in Punjab in 1919 was
a) Tej Bahadur Sapru
b) Ashutosh Mukherjee
c) Rabindranath Tagore
d) Sayeed Ahmed Khan
Answer: (c)
Question 36: Who among the following Governor-Generals formed the Triple Alliance against Tipu Sultan?
a) Warren Hastings
b) Lord Cornwallis
c) Lord Wellesley
d) Lord William Bentick
Answer: (b)
Question 37: Which one among the following Acts first made the provision of the appointment of the Indian High Commissioner in the Great Britain?
a) Government of India Act, 1935
b) Government of India Act, 1919
c) Indian Council’s Act, 1892
d) Indian Council’s Act, 1909
Answer: (b)
Question 38: The Government of India Act, 1935 was based on
a) the principle of federation and parliamentary system
b) the principle of secession of the British Indian provinces
c) acceptance of independence of India
d) acceptance of the idea of a constituent assembly to draft a constitution
Answer: (a)
Question 39: The two main manifest activities of the Kukas in Punjab were
a) Destruction of idols and murder of butchers
b) Revival of Sikh sovereignty and expulsion of the English from Punjab
c) Both ‘a’ and ‘b’
d) insistence on kirtans and wearing hand woven cloth
.
Answer: (a)
Question 40: Whom did Sir Hugh Rose, the Commander of the British Army during the revolt of 1857, refer to as “the best and bravest of the military leader of the rebels”?
a) Kunwar Singh
b) Tantia Tope
c) Rani Laxmi Bai
d) Nana Sahib
Answer: (c)
Question 41: What was the occasion of the uprising of the Khasis in Assam?
a) The impositionof a cess by the British to build a road joining Assam and Sylhet
b) The induction of a large number of British troops on the pretence of building a road to join Assam and Sylhet
c) The oppression of the revenue officials
d) The oppression of the Zamindars
Answer: (b)
Question 42: Who prescribed the separate electorates for India on the basis of the Communal Award in August, 1932?
a) Lord Irwin
b) Ramsay MacDonald
c) Lord Linlithgo
d) Winston Churchill
Answer: (b)
Question 43: The term imperial preference was applied to the
a) special privileges on British imports in India
b) racial discrimination by the Britishers
c) subordination of Indian interest to that of the British
d) preference given to British political agents over Indian Princes
Answer: (d)
Question 44: With reference to the revolt of the year 1857, who among the following was betrayed by a friend, captured and put to death by the British?
a) Kunwar Singh
b) Tantia Tope
c) Khan Bahadur Khan
d) Nana Sahib
Answer: (b)
Question 45: What was the Ilbert Bill intended for?
a) To remove racial discrimination in employment
b) To enable Indian District Magistrates and Session Judges to try Europeans
c) To save Indians from racial humiliation
d) All of the above
Answer: (b)
Question 46: The capital of British Indian Empire was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi because
a) Delhi was located at the centre of the Empire
b) The climate of Delhi was more suitable for the Europeans
c) Calcutta was the hotbed of revolutionaries
d) Delhi was the traditional seat of Imperial powers
Answer: (a)
Question 47: During the colonial period in India, what was the purpose of the Whitely Commission?
a) To review the fitness of India for further political reforms
b) To report on existing conditions of labour and to make recommendations
c) To draw up a plan for financial reforms for India
d) All of the above
Answer: (b)
Question 48: Which one among the following statements is correct?
a) The revolt of 1857 was not supported by the Nizam of Hyderabad
b) Dinabandhu Mitra was the author of the book, Unhappy India
c) The Sindhiyas of Gwaliar gave shelter to the Rani of Jhansi
d) Mangal pandey led the Sepoy March to Delhi
Answer: (a)
Question 49: The most fundamental weakness of the revolt of 1857 was that
a) It lacked planning, programme and funds
b) The rebels failed to understand the significance of contemporary scientific advancements
c) The entire movement lacked a modern, unified and forward-looking programme
d) None of the above
Answer: (c)
Question 50: The Santhals of Rajmahal Hills were provoked to rebellion in 1855-56 on accounts of
a) the heavy demand of rent which made them a prey to the sharp practices of money lenders
b) the harsh behavious of the revenue officials
c) the non-payment of wages by the railway authorities, who also insulted their women
d) All of the above.
Answer: (d)