Disappearance of Harappan Civilisation

The disappearance of the Harrapan Civilisation, also known as Indus Valley Civilisation, is still shrouded in mystery. Leading explanations include warfare with the Aryans, a nomadic, Indo-European tribe.  

While some say that frequent regular flood could have contributed to the civilisation’s collapse, another school of thought is of the opinion that an earthquake might be the real culprit.

According to one theory by British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, the Indus River Valley civilization was overthrown by the Aryans.  An Indo-Aryan Migration theory has found currency amongst various scholars who believe that the Harappan culture was assimilated during a widesperead migratorty movements of the Aryan people into northwest India.

Though it is still not known whether it was the Aryan invasion, natural catastrophes, or something else that destroyed the Harrapan culture, but whatever it was, the end of the Harrapan civilisation was the end of a glorious chapter in the Indian History as well the world.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple

You will be confronted by a symbol of Hindu India in the spiritually important Vishwanath Temple, the number-one attraction of Varanasi that draws hordes of pilgrims daily. The temple is one of the Dwadasa Jyotirlinga shrines or the 12 shrines enshrining Shiva in the form of a Jyotirlingam in the country.

Built in 1776 Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore, the wonderful Vishwanath Temple is a big attraction in Varanasi. This sacred Hindu shrine attracts pilgrims from all over the world who come here to offer their prayers to Lord Siva, one of the Hindu Trinity of Gods. One of the 12 jyotirlinga sites, Vishwanath Temple is a pilgrimage site that every Hindu cherishes to visit. 

In 1839, two domes of the Temple were covered by gold, donated by the great Sikh leader Maharaja Ranjeet Singh.

BRICS Expansion

The five-member BRICS have invited six more nations to join the alliance on Thursday (August 24),

The group owes its name to the initials of its five member states. They are Brazil, Russia, India, C hina, and South Africa. In its recent 15th summit at Johannesburg in South Africa, BRICS has invited Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, and Ethiopia. Their membership will begin in January.

Approximately two dozen countries had formally applied to join the group, but there had to be consensus among its existing five members for candidate countries to be admitted.

BRICS currently represents around 40% of the world’s population and more than a quarter of the world’s GDP.

With the additions, it will represent almost half the world’s population, and will include three of the world’s biggest oil producers, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran.

The formation of BRICS in 2009 was driven by the idea that the four emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China would be the future economic powerhouses of the world. South Africa was added a year later.

Jamat Khana Masjid : One of Delhi’s Early Mosques

Jamaat Khana Masjid, Nizamuddin Dargah, Delhi / Image Credit

 

Jamat Khana Masjid in the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah complex in Delhi is said to be built by Khizr Khan, eldest son of Khilji Sultan Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Also known as Khilji mosque, this 14th century mosque is a living mosque still in use for prayers.

History MCQs – Set 10 - Modern India

Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut, May 20, 1498

Q.1. Renowned Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India in  _____.

(a) 1490

(b) 1492

(c) 1496

(d) 1498

Q.2. To whom the statement “The soul of India lives in villages” has been attributed?

(a) Mahatma Gandhi

(b) Vinoba Bhave

(c) Gopalakrishna Gokhale

(d)     Lala Lajpat Rai

Q.3. Who was the political guru of Mahatma Gandhi?

(a) Gopal Krishna Gokhale

(b) Bal Gangadhar Tilak

(c) Dadabhai Naoroji

(d) Pherozeshah Mehta

Q.4. The first Governor-General of Bengal was________.

(a) Warren Hastings

(b) Robert Clive

(c) Canning

(d) William Bentinck

Q.5. The last Governor-General and the first Viceroy of India under the British crown was

(a) Lord Canning

(b) Warren Hastings

(c) William Bentinck

(d) Lord Dalhousie

Q.6. On what pretext, Lord Dalhousie annexed the state of Oudh to the British Empire in India?

(a) Doctrine of Lapse

(b) Policy of Subsidiary Alliance

(c) Maladministation of the State

(d) Financial instability

Q.7. Who among the following abolished the Sati System in 1829 A.D. 

(a) Lord Curzon

(b) Lord Wellesley

(c) Lord Lytton

(d) Lord William Bentinck

Q. 8. Who led the revolt from Lucknow against the British during the mutiny of 1857?

(a) Begum Hazrat Mahal

(b) Kunwar Singh

(c) Tantia Tope

(d) Nana Saheb

Q.9. The first session of Indian National Congress was held at ________

(a) Calcutta

(b) Bombay

(c) Delhi

(d) Allahabad 

Q.10. The Bhoodan Movement was launched by

(a) Baba Amte

(b) Mahatma Gandhi

(c) Vinoba Bhave

(d) Rammanohar Lohia 

Answers

1-d

Notes:On 24th December, 1524, Vasco da Gama died in Cochin (now Kochi), a major port in India.

2- a

Notes:Gandhiji had said that the soul of India resides in its villages.

3- a

Notes: Gopal Krishna Gokhale was a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Gokhale had described Jinnah as "an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity". Once Jinnah had expressed the desire to become "the Muslim Gokhale".

4- Warren Hastings

Notes:Due to the passing of Regulating Act 1773, the position of “Governor of Bengal” got converted into that of "Governor-General of Bengal". 

Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of Bengal.

By Charter Act of 1833, the post name of Governor-General of Bengal again converted into "Governor-General of India" 

First Governor-General of India was William Bentinck.

When the rule of the East India Company came to an end and authority passed to the British crown, Canning, the first governor-general of the imperial government, received also the title of viceroy.

5-a

Notes:Due to the passing of Regulating Act 1773, the position of “Governor of Bengal” got converted into that of "Governor-General of Bengal". 

Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of Bengal.

By Charter Act of 1833, the post name of Governor-General of Bengal again converted into "Governor-General of India" 

First Governor-General of British ruled India was William Bentinck.

When the rule of the East India Company came to an end and authority passed to the British crown, Canning, the first governor-general of the imperial government, received also the title of viceroy.

6-a

Notes:Doctrine of Lapse was introduced by Lord Dalhousie in 1848. This law banned an Indian prince without a natural heir from adopting a successor. Oudh was annexed to the British Empire in India in 1856.

7-d

Notes:The Bengal Sati Regulation which banned the Sati practice in all jurisdictions of British India was passed on December 4, 1829 by the then Governor-General of the British-ruled India Lord William Bentinck who also happened to be the first governor general. 

8-a

Notes:Begum Hazrat Mahal was one of the important leaders of the Revolt of 1857 which shook the very foundation of the British rule in India. 

She refused to accept the pension offered by the British and chose to die unknown in alien country in 1879. She is buried in a grave in Kathmandu. 

9-b

Notes:The first session of Indian National Congress was held at Mumbai in 1885 from 28 to 31 December. It was attended by 72 delegates. The first president of the Indian National Congress was Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee and the first General Secretary was A O Hume.

10-c

Notes:The Bhoodan Movement (Land Gift movement) was launched by freedom fighter and Gandhi disciple Vinoba Bhave. The Bhoodan movement was a voluntary land reform movement in India persuading rich people to give up a part of their land which could then be distributed among the landless poor.

History MCQs – Set 9 - Modern India

Q.1. Who passed the Indian Universities Act?

(a) Lord Dufferin

(b) Lord Curzon

(c) Lord Minto

(d) Lord Hardinge

Q.2. Who among the following is the founder of the “Azad Hind Fauj”?

(a) Ras Behari Bose

(b) Bhagat Singh

(c) Motilal Nehru

(d) Lala Har Dayal

Q.3. Who is known as the “Father of Indian Unrest”?

(a) Lala Lajpat Rai

(b) Bal Gangadhar Tilak

(c) Aurobindo Ghosh

(d) Bipin Chandra pal

Q.4. Who were the first to discover the sea route to India?

(a) Portugal

(b) Dutch

(c) French

(d) Danes 

Q.5. The concept of Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) was advocated by____. 

(a) Acharya Vinoba Bhave

(b) Mahatma Gandhi

(c) Lokmanya tilak

(d) Jai Prakash Narayan

Q.6. When did the British Government set up Sadler University Commission for reforms in education?

(a) 1917

(b) 1919

(c) 1921

(d) 1918

Q.7. Which one of the following places was associated with Acharya Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Movement at the beginning of the movement?

(a) Udaygiri

(b) Rapur 

(c) Pochampalli

(d) Venkatagiri

Q.8. Who among the following wrote the poem Subh-e-Azadi ( Dawn of Freedom)?

(a) Sahir Ludhiyanvi

(b) Faiz Ahmed Faiz

(c) Muhammad Iqbal

(d) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Q. 9. During the Viceroyalty of which of the following did White Mutiny take place?

(a) Lord Curzon

(b) Lord Minto

(c) Lord Ripon

(d) Lord Hardinge 

Q. 10. Vernacular Press Act was repealed by_________________. 

(a) Lord Dufferin

(b) Lord Ripon

(c) Lord Lytton 

(d) Lord Hardinge

Answers 

1 - b

Notes:The Indian Universities Act 1904 was introduced by Lord Curzon to improve the condition of university education in India. 

2 - a

3 - b

Notes: Tilak was called "Father of Indian unrest" by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol, a British journalist. 

4 - a

Notes: Portugal was the first European power to establish factories and trading settlements in India in the early 16th century. Portuguese were followed by Dutch, British, Danes and French.

Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese traveller, was the first to discover the sea route to India. 

5 - d

Notes:Popularly referred to as JP or Lok Nayak, Jayaprakash Narayan was an Indian political leader and theorist. He had led the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for whose overthrow he had called for a Sampoorna Kranti (total revolution). 

In 1999, Jayaprakash Narayan was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. 

6 - a

Notes: The Sadler Commission was a commission appointed by the British government in 1917 to inquire into the conditions and prospects of the University of Calcutta.

7 - c

Notes: The Bhoodan movement (Land Gift movement) was a voluntary land reform movement in India, initiated by Gandhian Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana).

8 - b

Notes: Subh-e-Azadi  is an Urdu language poem by a Pakistani poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz written in 1947. In the poem Faiz expresses disappointment and anguish of the Partition of India after the British rule came to an end in the Indian subcontinent. 

9 - c

Notes: Ilbert Bill was bill introduced in 1883 that sought to allow senior Indian magistrates to preside over cases involving British subjects in India. 

The introduction of the bill on 9 February 1883 during the Viceroyalty of Ripon led to intense opposition in Britain and from Britons living in India, creating a racially motivated movement that has been termed the White Mutiny. 

10 - b

Notes: Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878 during the viceroyalty of Lord Lytton to curtail the freedom of the Indian-language press. Vernacular Press Act was also known also as the Gagging Act. The law was repealed in 1881 by Lytton’s successor as viceroy, Lord Ripon. 

History MCQs – Set 8 - Modern India

 Q.1. Mahatma Gandhi started his famous Salt March from his Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to.

(a) Dandi 

(b) Kheda

(c) Kuttch

(d) Somnath

Q.2. Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched ?

(a) Warren Hastings-The Battle of Buxar 

(b) Lord Cornwallis-The Permanent Settlement of Bengal

(c) Lord Wellesley-The Prohibition of Sati

(d) Lord Dalhousie-Local Self- government

Q.3. Which one of the following is NOT correctly matched?

(a) Mohammad Ali Jinnah-Khilafat Movement

(b) Gopal Krishna Gokhle-Servants of India Society

(c) Syed Ahmed Khan-Mohammadam Anglo Oriental Defence Association

(d) Moti Lal Nehru-Nehru Report

Q.4. Who among the following was associated with the newspaper 'The Commonweal'?

(a) John Bright

(b) Raja Rammohan Roy 

(c) William Wedderburn

(d) Annie Besant

Q.5. Which of the following is the writer of Geeta Rahasya ?

(a) Mahatma Gandhi

(b) Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak

(c) Gopal Krishna Gokhle

(d) Aurobindo Ghosh

Q.6. Who was the founder of the 'Asiatic Society of Bengal'?

(a) Henry Thomas Colebrooke

(b) William Jones

(c) Charles Wilkins

(d) Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Q.7. Which one of the following was an emigre communist journal of M.N. Roy? 

(a) The Worker

(b) Vanguard

(c) The Spark

(d) Anushilan

Q.8. Who among the following did not subscribe to Dadabhai Naoroji’s Drain Theory?

(a) M.G. Ranade

(b) B.G. Tilak

(c) R.C. Dutt

(d) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

Q.9. Who was the founder of’ ‘Ghadar Party’?

(a) Madan Lal Dhingra

(b) Chandrashekhar Azad

(c) Lala Har Dayal

(d) Batukeshwar Dutt

Q.10.Socialism is essentially a movement of

(a) Intellectuals

(b) The poor people

(c) The middle classes

(d) The workers

Answers

1-a 

Notes: On 12 March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi started his famous salt march. This was a nearly 385 km march from his Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Dandi, a coastal town in Gujarat. 

2-b 

Notes:The Permanent Settlement, also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal,  was introduced in 1793 under Lord Cornwallis as the Governor-General. 

3-a

Notes: Jinnah was opposed to non-cooperation movement (1920-22) started by Gandhi. 

4-d

Notes: In 1914 Annie Besant started the publication of the Commonweal and New India. These journals soon became her chief vehicle for propagating the beliefs of India’s freedom.

5-b

Notes:Shrimadh Bhagavad Gita Rahasya, commonly also known as Gita Rahasya, was written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a leading light of Indian freedom struggle. 

6-b

Notes: A celebrated orientalist William Jones was the president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal which he founded in 1784. 

7-b

Notes: M.N. Roy was the founder of the Mexican Communist Party and the Communist Party of India (Tashkent group). His own journal, the Vanguard, which was the organ of the emigre Communist Party of India, was first published in 1922. 

8-d

Notes: A critic of British economic policy in India, Naoroji is known for his enunciations of the Drain Theory in his long paper, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India.

9-c

Notes:The Ghadar Movement was an effort by India expatriates to liberate India from colonial rule. Hardayal, Sohan Singh Bakhna and Pandit Kanshi Ram were among the  founders of the Ghadar Movement. 

10-d

Notes: Socialism is an idea that when a business does well the workers, not the owners, ought to receive the rewards. 

Socialism as an idea has been around since antiquities. Modern socialism originally acquired a concrete theory in 19th century originating from an intellectual and working class political movement that underscored the effects of industrialization and private property on society.