UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Labourers in Ceylon

Q1. The minimum wages of Indian (estate) labour recruited to Ceylon's plantations were first brought under statutory regulation by which one of the following enactments?

  • A. Estate Labour (Indian) Ordinance, No. 13 of 1889
  • B. Minimum Wages (Indian Labour) Ordinance, No. 27 of 1927
  • C. Allowances to Plantation Workers Act, No. 72 of 1981
  • D. National Minimum Wage of Workers Act, No. 3 of 2016

Q2. Which one of the following was the leading plantation crop that first spearheaded Ceylon's colonial economy before being devastated by a fungal leaf disease in the 1870s?

  • A. Coffee
  • B. Tea
  • C. Rubber
  • D. Coconut

Q3. In the colonial period, the office of the 'Agent of the Government of India in Ceylon' was primarily meant to:

  • A. assess and collect plantation revenue on behalf of the Ceylon government
  • B. represent the Government of India and oversee the welfare of Indian emigrant (indentured) labour in Ceylon
  • C. license kanganies and regulate estate recruitment on behalf of the Ceylon government
  • D. promote Indian export trade to Ceylon as a commercial commissioner

Q4. The 1925 report on the condition of Indian labourers in Ceylon (which found that about 40% lacked a living wage) was submitted by the Agent of the Government of India in Ceylon, S. Ranganathan, who belonged to which one of the following services?

  • A. Indian Political Service
  • B. Indian Foreign Service
  • C. Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.)
  • D. Ceylon Civil Service

Q5. The mass statelessness of Indian-origin (Malaiyaha) plantation Tamils in Ceylon originated principally with which one of the following enactments passed in the first years after independence?

  • A. Ceylon Citizenship Act, 1948
  • B. Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act, 1949
  • C. Ceylon (Parliamentary Elections) Amendment Act, 1949
  • D. Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act, 2003

Q6. Under the indenture system, approximately how many Indian labourers migrated to Mauritius to work on its sugar plantations?

  • A. About 50,000
  • B. About 150,000
  • C. Over half a million
  • D. Over five million