History MCQs for UPSC Prelims

Q1. With reference to Bastar and the colonial-era record on it, consider the following: 1. Bastar acceded to the Union of India on 1 January 1948 and was placed within Madhya Pradesh in 1956. 2. Bastar became a district of Chhattisgarh when that state was created in 2000. 3. The Bhumkal of 1910, led by Gunda Dhur along with the state's diwan, arose from forest-reservation policies that barred tribal communities from customary forest use. 4. The 1872 census returned Bastar, excluding Kanker, at 13,062 sq. miles, and its enumeration of the region is regarded as a model of accuracy for tribal tracts. Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

1. Bastar acceded to the Union of India on 1 January 1948 and was placed within Madhya Pradesh in 1956.
2. Bastar became a district of Chhattisgarh when that state was created in 2000.
3. The Bhumkal of 1910, led by Gunda Dhur along with the state's diwan, arose from forest-reservation policies that barred tribal communities from customary forest use.
4. The 1872 census returned Bastar, excluding Kanker, at 13,062 sq. miles, and its enumeration of the region is regarded as a model of accuracy for tribal tracts.

• A. 1 and 3
• B. 2 and 4
• C. 1, 2 and 4
• D. 4 only

Q2. Under which colonial statute were large numbers of nomadic, pastoral and forest-dwelling communities registered and placed under police surveillance as hereditary offenders, a designation lifted only when the statute was repealed on 31 August 1952?

• A. The Scheduled Districts Act of 1874, which set apart tracts from ordinary law
• B. The Indian Forest Act of 1878, which classified and reserved forest tracts
• C. The Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, which provided for notification of whole communities
• D. The Thagi and Dakaiti suppression legislation of the 1830s, aimed at organised gangs

Q3. The Tarikh-i-Firishta was composed for the ruler of which one of the Deccan Sultanates, the court its author entered in 1589 and after whose patron it takes its alternative title?

• A. Golconda, under the Qutb Shahi rulers of the Krishna-Godavari doab
• B. Bijapur, under the Adil Shahi ruler who reigned from 1579 to 1626
• C. Ahmadnagar, under the Nizam Shahi rulers of the upper Godavari country
• D. Bidar, under the Barid Shahi rulers of the central Deccan plateau

Q4. Consider the following statements comparing pre-British and British treatment of the Gonds of central India: 1. Gondwana, the traditional homeland of the Gonds, lies broadly in the country between the Narmada and the Godavari. 2. Raids and evasion of tribute by Gonds had been treated as political acts by pre-British regimes, but were recast as crimes under British rule. 3. The whole of the Gond country passed under direct British authority in a single settlement made immediately after the war of 1817–18, after which no Gond raja continued to rule anywhere. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. Gondwana, the traditional homeland of the Gonds, lies broadly in the country between the Narmada and the Godavari.
2. Raids and evasion of tribute by Gonds had been treated as political acts by pre-British regimes, but were recast as crimes under British rule.
3. The whole of the Gond country passed under direct British authority in a single settlement made immediately after the war of 1817–18, after which no Gond raja continued to rule anywhere.

• A. 1 only
• B. 2 and 3 only
• C. 1 and 2 only
• D. 1, 2 and 3

Q5. The Gond zamindaris of central India that the British took over for revenue purposes after the war of 1817–18 had, until that point, mostly formed part of the dominions of which power?

• A. The nizams of Hyderabad, holding the tracts south of the Godavari
• B. The Scindias of Gwalior, holding the tracts north of the Narmada
• C. The Holkars of Indore, holding the western Malwa uplands
• D. The Bhonsle rajas of Nagpur, whose seat collapsed early in that war

Q6. Consider the following statements about Henry Harpur Spry's account of Bastar and its relation to earlier writing on the region: 1. Spry, an East India Company official, wrote that the people of Bastar sacrifice and eat their fellow creatures. 2. Spry's claim was built on material supplied by an officer of the Bengal Artillery who had charge of the Chhattisgarh territories, rather than on Spry's own observation. 3. Spry departed from the earlier English translation of the Tarikh-i-Firishta by identifying the Bastar ruling house as Rajput rather than Gond. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. Spry, an East India Company official, wrote that the people of Bastar sacrifice and eat their fellow creatures.
2. Spry's claim was built on material supplied by an officer of the Bengal Artillery who had charge of the Chhattisgarh territories, rather than on Spry's own observation.
3. Spry departed from the earlier English translation of the Tarikh-i-Firishta by identifying the Bastar ruling house as Rajput rather than Gond.

• A. 1 and 3 only
• B. 1 and 2 only
• C. 2 and 3 only
• D. 1, 2 and 3

Q7. The colonial claim that the people of Bastar 'sacrifice and eat their fellow creatures' rests on two men — Henry Harpur Spry, who wrote it down, and the Company officer whose report he relied on. Between the two of them, how many visits to Bastar are evidenced?

• A. None
• B. One
• C. Two
• D. Four

Q8. The English rendering of Firishta's chronicle, in whose annotation the ruler of Bastar came to be labelled a 'Gond', was made by John Briggs, who served as an officer of which one of the following?

• A. The Bengal Artillery, then supervising the Chhattisgarh territories
• B. The Bombay Engineers, then attached to the Deccan Residency
• C. The Madras Army, in which he rose to general officer rank
• D. The Bengal Native Infantry, then posted in the Saugor territories

Q9. Consider the following statements regarding the Persian chronicle Tarikh-i-Firishta and its nineteenth-century English translation: 1. The English translation carries the narrative of the chronicle down to A.D. 1612. 2. The description of the Bastar Raja as a 'Gond' occurs in the Persian original of the chronicle itself, and not in any apparatus added by its English translator. 3. Because the translator's identification was accepted as settled, every later British account of Bastar rested exclusively on first-hand observation in the region. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. The English translation carries the narrative of the chronicle down to A.D. 1612.
2. The description of the Bastar Raja as a 'Gond' occurs in the Persian original of the chronicle itself, and not in any apparatus added by its English translator.
3. Because the translator's identification was accepted as settled, every later British account of Bastar rested exclusively on first-hand observation in the region.

• A. 1 only
• B. 1 and 2 only
• C. 2 and 3 only
• D. 1, 2 and 3

Q10. Which one of the following was the principal consideration behind fixing India's standard time at a half-hour rather than a whole-hour offset from Greenwich?

• A. It was a midpoint between the two whole-hour zones proposed for India, adopted in place of a two-zone scheme
• B. It corresponded to the local mean time of Calcutta, then the capital of British India, which was retained as the national standard
• C. It matched the timetable reference already used by the railways at Bombay, which was extended to the whole of British India
• D. It was fixed so as to keep India's clocks aligned with the standard meridian adopted by neighbouring Nepal

Q11. Consider the following statements regarding the evolution of Indian Standard Time as a uniform time reference: 1. The meridian of 82°30′ E, passing near Mirzapur, was announced as the basis of Indian Standard Time by Viceroy Lord Curzon. 2. Indian Standard Time was formally adopted by the British authorities with effect from 1 January 1906. 3. Calcutta continued to keep its own local time and shifted to Indian Standard Time only in 1948. 4. Bombay was the earliest of the presidency capitals to abandon its local time, switching to Indian Standard Time well before Calcutta did. Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

1. The meridian of 82°30′ E, passing near Mirzapur, was announced as the basis of Indian Standard Time by Viceroy Lord Curzon.
2. Indian Standard Time was formally adopted by the British authorities with effect from 1 January 1906.
3. Calcutta continued to keep its own local time and shifted to Indian Standard Time only in 1948.
4. Bombay was the earliest of the presidency capitals to abandon its local time, switching to Indian Standard Time well before Calcutta did.

• A. 1 and 2
• B. 3 only
• C. 4 only
• D. 2 and 4

Q12. Which one of the following, a Kew Gardens-trained botanist of German birth who died in Bengaluru in 1956, served as Superintendent of Lalbagh from 1908 to the early 1930s?

• A. John Cameron
• B. William New
• C. M. H. Marigowda
• D. Gustav Hermann Krumbiegel

Q13. The organisation founded at Srinagar in October 1932 by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, out of which the present Jammu and Kashmir National Conference emerged in 1939, was known as:

• A. The Jammu and Kashmir Praja Parishad
• B. The Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front
• C. The All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference
• D. The All India Kashmir Committee

Q14. The newspaper that runs the 'Hundred Years Ago' column, reprinting its own reports of exactly a century earlier, began publication in which year and in what form?

• A. In 1868, as a daily newspaper published from Calcutta
• B. In 1878, as a weekly newspaper published from Madras
• C. In 1889, as a weekly newspaper published from Madras
• D. In 1899, as a daily newspaper published from Bombay

Q15. With reference to the Vaikom Satyagraha, consider the following: 1. It was carried on during 1924–25 in the princely state of Travancore. 2. Vaikom lies in what is today the Ernakulam district of Kerala. 3. Its immediate demand was the right of the excluded communities to use the public roads around the temple rather than admission to the shrine itself. 4. It was begun by local leaders and the Indian National Congress, and was joined later by Mahatma Gandhi and Periyar. Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

1. It was carried on during 1924–25 in the princely state of Travancore.
2. Vaikom lies in what is today the Ernakulam district of Kerala.
3. Its immediate demand was the right of the excluded communities to use the public roads around the temple rather than admission to the shrine itself.
4. It was begun by local leaders and the Indian National Congress, and was joined later by Mahatma Gandhi and Periyar.

• A. 1 and 2 only
• B. 2 and 3
• C. 2, 3 and 4
• D. 1, 3 and 4

Q16. Consider the following statements comparing the Vaikom Satyagraha with the contemporaneous legislative attempt to secure a right of public pathway: 1. The Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924–25 was directed against a ban that barred the Ezhavas and other excluded communities from using the public roads surrounding a temple in the princely state of Travancore. 2. Unlike Vaikom, which was a popular agitation, the pathway measure of 1926 was a legislative one, moved in the Bombay Legislative Council to amend the Bombay District Municipalities Act. 3. Mahatma Gandhi and Periyar, who later founded the Self-Respect Movement, both associated themselves with the Vaikom agitation. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. The Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924–25 was directed against a ban that barred the Ezhavas and other excluded communities from using the public roads surrounding a temple in the princely state of Travancore.
2. Unlike Vaikom, which was a popular agitation, the pathway measure of 1926 was a legislative one, moved in the Bombay Legislative Council to amend the Bombay District Municipalities Act.
3. Mahatma Gandhi and Periyar, who later founded the Self-Respect Movement, both associated themselves with the Vaikom agitation.

• A. 1 only
• B. 1 and 3 only
• C. 2 and 3 only
• D. 1, 2 and 3

Q17. Regarding the procedural objection raised when the pathway Bill came up in the Madras Legislative Council in 1926, consider the following: 1. Members objected that the Bill as altered was not circulated with the notice required by the Standing Orders. 2. The President of the Council admitted that the text had been changed and referred the question of the Standing Orders to the Chief Minister for decision. 3. A question was raised whether the Bill in its altered form required fresh previous sanction of the Governor-General. 4. The alterations complained of were those made in the Bill by the Select Committee. Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

1. Members objected that the Bill as altered was not circulated with the notice required by the Standing Orders.
2. The President of the Council admitted that the text had been changed and referred the question of the Standing Orders to the Chief Minister for decision.
3. A question was raised whether the Bill in its altered form required fresh previous sanction of the Governor-General.
4. The alterations complained of were those made in the Bill by the Select Committee.

• A. 1 and 2
• B. 2 and 4
• C. 1, 3 and 4
• D. 1, 2 and 3

Q18. In the working of the provincial governments set up by the Government of India Act, 1919, the expression 'transferred subjects' denoted which one of the following?

• A. Subjects moved from the central to the provincial field by the division of administrative heads made under that Act
• B. Subjects placed with executive councillors appointed by the Crown, for which the Governor answered to the Secretary of State
• C. Subjects whose administration passed from the Governor of a province to the Governor-General in Council on his intervention
• D. Subjects placed with the Governor acting through ministers chosen by him from the elected members of the provincial legislature

Q19. Under the scheme of dyarchy introduced in the provinces by the Government of India Act, 1919, consider the following heads of administration: 1. Police 2. Public health 3. Irrigation 4. Land revenue Which of the above is/are correctly identified as 'reserved' subjects?

1. Police
2. Public health
3. Irrigation
4. Land revenue

• A. 1, 2 and 3
• B. 1, 3 and 4
• C. 2 and 4 only
• D. 2, 3 and 4

Q20. With reference to the Right of Pathway Bill discussed in the Madras Legislative Council in 1926, consider the following: 1. It took the form of an amendment to the Madras District Municipalities Act, 1920. 2. The Select Committee's report on the Bill was presented by Mr. Saldanha. 3. Its principles were the same as those of an earlier private member's Bill introduced by Mr. Veerian. 4. It confined the right of public pathway to persons assessed to property tax within the municipality. Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

1. It took the form of an amendment to the Madras District Municipalities Act, 1920.
2. The Select Committee's report on the Bill was presented by Mr. Saldanha.
3. Its principles were the same as those of an earlier private member's Bill introduced by Mr. Veerian.
4. It confined the right of public pathway to persons assessed to property tax within the municipality.

• A. 1 and 4
• B. 2 and 3 only
• C. 1, 2 and 3
• D. 1, 3 and 4

Q21. The Bill debated in the Madras Legislative Council in 1926 proposed to guarantee a right of public pathway to all classes of people over roads and streets maintained by which authority?

• A. The district board constituted for the area concerned
• B. The municipality within whose limits the road or street lay
• C. The Public Works Department of the Presidency Government
• D. The Revenue Department working under the Board of Revenue

Q22. The municipal law enacted for the Madras Presidency in 1920, which survives today as the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920, bears which serial number among the Acts of that year?

• A. Act II of 1920
• B. Act IV of 1920
• C. Act V of 1920
• D. Act XI of 1920

Q23. In 2021, while quashing the sedition First Information Report registered against journalist Vinod Dua, the Supreme Court held that he was entitled to protection in terms of the safeguards laid down in which one of the following judgments?

• A. Romesh Thappar v State of Madras (1950)
• B. Brij Bhushan v State of Delhi (1950)
• C. Kedar Nath Singh v State of Bihar (1962)
• D. Maneka Gandhi v Union of India (1978)

Q24. Which one of the following statements about the composition and first appearance of Vande Mataram is correct?

• A. It first appeared in the novel Anandamath in 1882, and was reprinted only later in the journal Bangadarshan.
• B. It was written in the 1870s but remained unpublished until Rabindranath Tagore set it to music and sang it in 1896.
• C. It first appeared in the journal Bangadarshan in 1875, several years before it was carried in the novel Anandamath.
• D. It was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay for the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress at which Tagore first sang it.

Q25. Consider the following statements about Vande Mataram: 1. It was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875. 2. The novel in which it appears, Anandamath, was published as a standalone book in 1882. 3. It is expressly named in the Constitution of India as the National Song of India. 4. On 24 January 1950 the President of the Constituent Assembly made a statement concerning its status. Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

1. It was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875.
2. The novel in which it appears, Anandamath, was published as a standalone book in 1882.
3. It is expressly named in the Constitution of India as the National Song of India.
4. On 24 January 1950 the President of the Constituent Assembly made a statement concerning its status.

• A. 1 and 2 only
• B. 3 and 4 only
• C. 2 and 4 only
• D. 3 only

Q26. In accounts of the origin of Vande Mataram, the term 'Bangadarshan' refers to which one of the following?

• A. The standalone edition, brought out in 1882, of the novel in which the song appears
• B. The literary journal in which the novel containing the song first appeared in serialised form
• C. The musical setting given to the song by Rabindranath Tagore for a session of the Indian National Congress
• D. The statement made by the President of the Constituent Assembly in 1950 on the status of the song

Q27. Which one of the following best describes the Cauvery agreement that took effect on 18 February 1924?

• A. An arrangement of fixed fifty-year duration under which Mysore could impound water at Kannambadi and Madras could raise a reservoir at Mettur
• B. The award of the Court of Arbitration presided over by Sir Henry D. Griffin, adopted between the two governments without any departure from it
• C. The first understanding between Mysore and Madras regulating the taking up of new irrigation works across their common rivers
• D. An award made under the Government of India Act by which princely Mysore surrendered its irrigation rights over the river to the Madras Presidency in perpetuity

Q28. During the first century of English settlement, which one of the following best describes Bombay's standing relative to Calcutta and Madras?

• A. It was the least valuable of the three to the Company, its trade kept small by Maratha control of the hinterland
• B. It was the busiest of the three, handling the bulk of the Company's opium consignments bound for the China market
• C. It stood first among the three as the seat of the Governor-General from 1772, when the chief offices were shifted from Murshidabad
• D. It was the earliest of the three to be fortified, its Fort St. George dating from the settlement of 1639–40

Q29. With reference to the Calcutta foreign-trade returns for July 1926, consider the following statements: 1. Imports of cotton goods rose from about Rs. 218 lakh to about Rs. 304 lakh. 2. Measured against the same month of the previous year, exports registered an improvement. 3. Imports rose over the preceding month, from about Rs. 5.74 crore to about Rs. 8.03 crore. 4. Every month of that year had recorded a rise in imports over the month preceding it. Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

1. Imports of cotton goods rose from about Rs. 218 lakh to about Rs. 304 lakh.
2. Measured against the same month of the previous year, exports registered an improvement.
3. Imports rose over the preceding month, from about Rs. 5.74 crore to about Rs. 8.03 crore.
4. Every month of that year had recorded a rise in imports over the month preceding it.

• A. 1 and 4
• B. 2 and 3
• C. 1 and 3
• D. 2, 3 and 4

Q30. Consider the following statements contrasting the commodity streams of colonial Indian trade: 1. Raw jute leaving Calcutta went chiefly to the mills of Dundee, whereas Indian raw cotton was shipped eastward to China. 2. Calcutta's jute mills, unlike Bombay's cotton mills, were from the outset controlled largely by Indian-owned managing agencies. 3. Indigo and raw silk were among the Bengal commodities in which the East India Company had built a profitable trade before jute manufacturing took root. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. Raw jute leaving Calcutta went chiefly to the mills of Dundee, whereas Indian raw cotton was shipped eastward to China.
2. Calcutta's jute mills, unlike Bombay's cotton mills, were from the outset controlled largely by Indian-owned managing agencies.
3. Indigo and raw silk were among the Bengal commodities in which the East India Company had built a profitable trade before jute manufacturing took root.

• A. 1 and 2 only
• B. 2 and 3 only
• C. 1 and 3 only
• D. 1, 2 and 3