UPSC Prelims 2025 Q74: Gandhi and Harijan Upliftment — Explained

Subsequent to which one of the following events, Gandhiji, who consistently opposed untouchability and appealed for its eradication from all spheres, decided to include the upliftment of 'Harijans' in his political and social programme?

  1. The Poona Pact
  2. The Gandhi-Irwin Agreement (Delhi Pact)
  3. Arrest of Congress leadership at the time of the Quit India Movement
  4. Promulgation of the Government of India Act, 1935

Answer: (a) The Poona Pact

Statement-wise explanation

  • a: correct — On 16 August 1932 the Communal Award gave the depressed classes separate electorates. Gandhi, then held in Yerwada jail, began a fast unto death against it on 20 September 1932. The fast ended with the Poona Pact of 24 September 1932, signed by Ambedkar for the depressed classes and Madan Mohan Malaviya and others for caste Hindus. Within days, on 30 September 1932, the All-India Anti-Untouchability League was founded; it was later renamed the Harijan Sevak Sangh. Gandhi started the weekly Harijan on 11 February 1933 and made his all-India Harijan tour from 7 November 1933 to 2 August 1934. From this point, Harijan uplift became a core part of his programme.
  • b: incorrect — The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed on 5 March 1931. It suspended Civil Disobedience, released political prisoners and let Congress attend the Second Round Table Conference. It said nothing about untouchability. At the Round Table Conference Gandhi opposed separate electorates for the depressed classes, but his organised Harijan campaign came only after the 1932 fast.
  • c: incorrect — The Congress leadership was arrested on 9 August 1942, at the start of the Quit India Movement. By then the Harijan Sevak Sangh had been working for almost a decade and Harijan had been in print since 1933. Harijan uplift was therefore already part of Gandhi's programme long before 1942.
  • d: incorrect — The Government of India Act, 1935 came after the Poona Pact. It used the Pact's arrangement of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes within joint electorates. So the Act followed Gandhi's Harijan programme and did not start it. By 1935 he had already finished his 1933–34 Harijan tour.

How to eliminate

Solving this needs a chronology anchor. Put the options in date order: Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931), Poona Pact (September 1932), Government of India Act (1935), Quit India arrests (August 1942). Then remember that the Harijan Sevak Sangh (founded September 1932) and the weekly Harijan (February 1933) both date from 1932–33. That rules out the 1935 Act and the 1942 arrests at once, because the programme already existed. Of the two earlier events, only one deals with the depressed classes: the Poona Pact, which ended Gandhi's fast against separate electorates. The 1931 Delhi Pact dealt with Civil Disobedience and the Round Table Conference. The fact to remember is this sequence: Communal Award → Yerwada fast → Poona Pact → Harijan Sevak Sangh → Harijan weekly → Harijan tour.

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From separate electorates to the Harijan campaign (1932–34)

At the Second Round Table Conference (1931), Ambedkar asked for separate electorates for the depressed classes. Gandhi refused. He argued that this would split Hindu society permanently. Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award (16 August 1932) granted the separate electorates. Gandhi, then in Yerwada jail, began a fast unto death on 20 September 1932. Four days later the Poona Pact was signed. It dropped separate electorates and kept joint electorates with reserved seats. The number of reserved seats in the provincial legislatures rose from 71 under the Award to 148.

The fast changed Gandhi's priorities. He turned the national mood it created into a sustained campaign:

Date Step
30 Sep 1932 All-India Anti-Untouchability League founded (later the Harijan Sevak Sangh)
11 Feb 1933 Weekly Harijan launched from Poona; Hindi Harijan Sevak followed on 23 Feb
May 1933 21-day self-purification fast over Harijan work
7 Nov 1933 – 2 Aug 1934 All-India Harijan tour: temple entry, wells, schools, and funds for the Sangh

Gandhi and Ambedkar differed. Gandhi saw untouchability as a sin that caste Hindus had to atone for through reform from within. Ambedkar wanted political power and legal safeguards for the depressed classes themselves.

Legacy: The Government of India Act, 1935 adopted reserved seats within joint electorates, and so does the Constitution (Articles 330 and 332). Article 17 abolishes untouchability, and the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 enforces it.

Trap to avoid: The Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931) and the Poona Pact (1932) are often confused. The first was between Congress and the Viceroy, about Civil Disobedience. The second was between caste Hindu leaders and Ambedkar, about electorates for the depressed classes.

NCERT Concepts to Revise

  • Poona Pact: This is one of the four events in the options. Know its date and terms to place it in the chronology.
  • Communal Award 1932: This British decision on separate electorates triggered Gandhi's 1932 Yerwada fast.
  • Harijan Sevak Sangh: Its founding date shows when Harijan work became an organised part of Gandhi's programme.
  • Harijan: The launch year of Gandhi's weekly helps you date when Harijan uplift entered his programme.
  • Round Table Conferences: The 1930–32 conferences connect the Delhi Pact with the dispute over depressed-class electorates.
  • Untouchability: This is the social practice Gandhi opposed throughout and whose eradication the question asks about.

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