Important Revolts and Movements

The Simon Commission was appointed by the British government to examine constitutional reforms in India. Its main weakness, from the Indian point of view, was that it contained no Indian member. Indians objected that a commission deciding India's constitutional future should not exclude the people of India. This lack of representation led to strong protests across the country and the well-known slogan “Simon Go Back.”

Option A is correct because it states that the commission had no Indian member. The other options describe unrelated events or programmes: forest protection is an environmental concern, Bhoodan was a land-gift movement, and breaking the Salt Law belonged to the Civil Disobedience Movement. Therefore, the central objection was not the commission's name or a particular law, but the complete absence of Indian representation in it.

Lala Lajpat Rai was injured during a protest against the Simon Commission in Lahore in 1928. He later died from the effects of those injuries. Many young revolutionaries believed that the colonial police action had caused his death and felt that it had to be avenged. Bhagat Singh and his associates planned to kill James Scott, whom they held responsible for the lathi charge, but mistakenly killed police officer J. P. Saunders in December 1928. This event intensified revolutionary activity and became an important part of the movement’s history.

Option A is correct because it describes the emotional and political effect of Rai’s death on revolutionaries. The Saunders incident followed his death and is commonly connected with the desire for revenge. The Chipko and Bhoodan movements belonged to different periods and aims. The Indigo Revolt was an earlier peasant movement related to indigo cultivation. Therefore, only A fits the historical sequence and consequence.

The Kakori incident was carried out on 9 August 1925 by revolutionaries associated with the Hindustan Republican Association. They targeted government money carried by train to obtain funds for revolutionary organisation, propaganda and weapons. Redistributing land to peasants was not the immediate purpose of the action. Exam tip: link the Kakori incident with 1925 and the Hindustan Republican Association.

The Chittagong Armoury Raid of 1930 was a revolutionary action led by Surya Sen, also known as Masterda. The revolutionaries attacked armouries and tried to disrupt the military and communication systems of the colonial government. Such an action showed an attempt to challenge British control directly, rather than merely submitting petitions or asking for limited administrative changes. It reflected the militant phase of the freedom struggle.

Option A is correct because the attack represented a challenge to colonial military control. A demand for revenue relief would relate to a peasant or agrarian movement, forest protection would describe an environmental or forest movement, and a land donation campaign would relate to Bhoodan. The key memory link is: Chittagong Armoury Raid—1930—Surya Sen—revolutionary challenge to British authority.

Under Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the Khudai Khidmatgars adopted non-violence, discipline and public service. Non-violence enabled Pashtun society to participate in an organised mass struggle against British rule, and the movement also worked with the Congress-led civil disobedience movement. Armed revolt was not its central method, so option B is incorrect. Exam tip: remember Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan as the ‘Frontier Gandhi’.

The direct answer is A: salt was a daily need of common people. The Civil Disobedience Movement challenged unjust colonial laws through peaceful law-breaking. Gandhi chose the salt law because everyone needed salt, rich or poor, and the colonial government controlled its production and imposed a tax. Step by step: a universal need made the issue easy to understand; the tax showed economic injustice; making salt or breaking the law offered an accessible act of protest; therefore many people could participate. Option A is correct. Option B is false because salt was not only for soldiers. Option C is false because the salt tax did exist. Option D is false because salt was not limited to princely states. Exam cue: salt law, mass participation and Dandi March.

At Dharasana Salt Works, the satyagrahis faced police baton charges and repression but did not retaliate with violence. Thus, it demonstrated the Civil Disobedience Movement’s principle of disciplined non-violent resistance. Boycott of foreign cloth was also used in the national movement, but Dharasana is especially known for maintaining non-violence in the face of brutal repression. Exam tip: remember Dharasana as a major non-violent action that followed the Salt Satyagraha.

In 1942 people continued the movement at local level. Exam tip: remember underground radio and parallel governments.

Prati Sarkar was an attempt of local alternative authority. Exam tip: remember examples of parallel governments.

The direct answer is A: INA soldiers were seen by many people as freedom fighters. The Indian National Army, associated with Subhas Chandra Bose, fought with the aim of ending British rule. After the Second World War, the Red Fort trials of INA officers became a major public issue. Many Indians believed that these soldiers had acted for national freedom, even though the colonial government prosecuted them. The reasoning is: trials attracted attention; public sympathy grew; demonstrations and political support spread; nationalist feeling became stronger. Option A is correct. Option B concerns forest protection, not the INA. Option C concerns Bhoodan, a land-gift movement associated with Vinoba Bhave, not INA trials. Option D concerns indigo cultivation and is unrelated. Remember: INA plus Red Fort trials equals a strong wave of public nationalism against colonial rule.

The naval revolt of 1946 shows weakness of British control. Exam tip: remember final events before independence.

Vaikom Satyagraha was linked with equal public rights. Exam tip: remember the issue of social equality.

Gandhi’s Harijan movement addressed the social injustice of untouchability. Gandhi used the word “Harijan” in his campaign, though the term is not preferred by many communities today. His work aimed to challenge the exclusion of oppressed castes from temples, wells, schools, public spaces, and ordinary social life. The movement was part of a wider programme of social reform and an appeal to people to reject caste-based humiliation and practise equality.

Option A is correct because it directly identifies reform against untouchability. The other options describe military action, division of princely states, or maritime trade, none of which was the main purpose of this movement. The question asks for the principal aim, not every activity associated with Gandhi. His constructive work included education, sanitation, and social awareness, but these supported the broader struggle for dignity and equal treatment. Therefore A follows clearly.

The direct answer is A: sharecroppers demanded two-thirds of the crop. Tebhaga means “three shares,” and the movement arose in Bengal among sharecropping cultivators, who commonly had to give a large part of the produce to landlords. Their demand was that the cultivators should receive two shares out of three, while the landlord should receive one, especially when the cultivators contributed labour and inputs. Option A is correct because it states the central crop-sharing demand. Option B is wrong because the right to make salt belongs to the Salt Satyagraha led by Gandhi. Option C is wrong because forest access and tree-felling issues relate to different forest or tribal movements, not Tebhaga’s main demand. Option D is wrong because naval recruitment is unrelated to a Bengal agrarian sharecroppers’ movement. The key reasoning is: Tebhaga, Bengal, sharecroppers, and two-thirds share. Memory cue: “Tebhaga” literally suggests three parts, with two parts demanded by the cultivator.

The direct answer is A: zamindari exploitation. The Telangana peasant struggle developed mainly in the Nizam’s Hyderabad region, where many peasants faced oppressive landlords, forced or unpaid labour, high demands and loss of control over land. The central issue was social and economic exploitation in the rural system. Option A is correct because it identifies the landlord-based exploitation against which peasants resisted. Option B, maritime trade, concerns sea commerce and does not explain the rural uprising. Option C, the Chipko method, belongs to a later forest-conservation movement. Option D, the Simon Commission, was a constitutional-political issue of British India, not the socio-economic system targeted here. Memory cue: Telangana means peasants, Nizam region and anti-landlord struggle.

Praja Mandal movements organised people of princely states. Exam tip: remember politics of princely states.

The Bhoodan Movement was started by Vinoba Bhave to address the problem of landlessness through moral persuasion and voluntary sharing. He appealed to landowners to donate a part of their land to people who had little or no land. The movement did not depend on military force, foreign rule or a salt protest. Its basic idea was that social justice could be advanced when wealthy landholders willingly helped landless families. Bhoodan means “land gift,” so the name itself points to voluntary land donation.

Option A is correct because voluntary donation of land was the central method of the movement. It was different from a government seizure of land or a violent redistribution programme. Military force is not consistent with Bhave’s approach, and the Salt Satyagraha was a separate Gandhian movement against the salt laws. The reference to landless people further confirms A: the donated land was intended to benefit them and reduce rural inequality.

The direct answer is A: non-violent environmental resistance. In the Chipko Movement, villagers hugged or held on to trees so that contractors could not cut them easily. The action was a form of peaceful collective protest for protecting forests and local livelihoods. The reasoning is: trees were threatened; villagers physically stood with them; they avoided a violent attack; their public action demanded conservation and made authorities notice the issue. Option A is correct because the strategy used peaceful participation to resist destructive tree felling. Option B, military attack, involves armed force and does not describe Chipko. Option C, princely integration, concerns the political merger of princely states, not forests. Option D, debt recovery, concerns collecting money owed and is unrelated. Gaura Devi is remembered in connection with the Reni episode. Memory cue: Chipko means “embrace,” so embrace trees through peaceful protection.

The direct answer is A. The Appiko Movement and the Chipko Movement were both people-led movements for protecting forests and trees. Chipko became famous in the Himalayan region, especially in Uttarakhand, where people used non-violent tree-hugging protests. Appiko developed in Karnataka in the Western Ghats and similarly opposed destructive felling while supporting forest conservation. Option A is correct because the common subject is protection of forests and local environmental resources. Option B is wrong: neither was a naval revolt. Option C is wrong: indigo cultivation was connected with a different colonial agricultural struggle, not the main identity of these forest movements. Option D is wrong: princely integration concerns the political merger of princely states, not environmental protection. The movements were not identical in region or exact circumstances, but they are linked by their conservation purpose and community participation. Memory cue: Chipko means embracing trees in the north; Appiko means a similar forest-protection movement in Karnataka.

Narmada Bachao Andolan was linked with dams and rehabilitation issue. Exam tip: remember issues of modern people's movements.

Silent Valley Movement was linked with forests and biodiversity of Kerala. Exam tip: remember environmental movements.

The direct answer is A: women organised protests against social problems linked with liquor. Anti-Arrack protests in Andhra Pradesh were strongly led by rural women who suffered from the effects of arrack, a cheap alcoholic drink. They connected alcohol with household poverty, domestic violence, debt and harm to family life, and demanded prohibition or action against liquor sales. Option A is correct because it explains both the subject of protest and the importance of women’s participation. Option B is unrelated to this social movement. Option C refers to Dinabandhu Mitra’s play Nil Darpan, not the Anti-Arrack campaign. Option D is a broad historical claim unrelated to the movement. Memory cue: Anti-Arrack means women’s anti-liquor social protest.

The Khejarli incident is linked with Bishnoi tradition and Amrita Devi. Exam tip: remember examples of nature conservation.

All India Kisan Sabha linked peasant issues with national politics. Exam tip: remember 1936 and peasant organisations.

The Ghadar Movement was linked with revolutionary nationalism of overseas Indians. Exam tip: remember Ghadar Party and the USA.