History: modern India and the Indian national movement - Question Bank

1. Who coined the term 'Satyagraha' to describe his philosophy of non-violent resistance?
A) Mahatma Gandhi
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Vinoba Bhave
D) B.R. Ambedkar
2. The Indian Independence Act, which led to the partition of India, was passed by the British Parliament in which year?
A) 1945
B) 1946
C) 1947
D) 1948
3. Who among the following was a prominent leader of the peasant movement in Awadh (Oudh) in 1920-21?
A) Mahatma Gandhi
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Baba Ramchandra
D) Bhagat Singh
4. The 'Bardoli Satyagraha' in 1928 was led by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to protest against:
A) Salt tax
B) Excessive land revenue
C) Forced labor
D) Discrimination in education
5. Who was the first Indian to be appointed to the Indian Civil Service (ICS)?
A) Satyendra Nath Tagore
B) Surendranath Banerjee
C) Lala Lajpat Rai
D) Bipin Chandra Pal
6. The Lucknow Pact of 1916 was an agreement between the Indian National Congress and which other political party?
A) Muslim League
B) Ghadar Party
C) Forward Bloc
D) Revolutionary Socialist Party
7. Who founded the Home Rule League in India in 1916?
A) Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant
B) Mahatma Gandhi
C) Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose
D) Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal
8. The 'Deccan Riots' of 1875 primarily targeted moneylenders and were concentrated in which region?
A) Bengal
B) Punjab
C) Deccan
D) Assam
9. Who was the Governor-General during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857?
A) Lord Dalhousie
B) Lord Canning
C) Lord Lytton
D) Lord Elgin
10. The 'White Mutiny' occurred in 1859 involving disgruntled British officers after which major event?
A) Battle of Plassey
B) First Anglo-Sikh War
C) Indian Mutiny of 1857
D) Annexation of Sindh
11. Who was the first President of the Indian National Congress?
A) A.O. Hume
B) W.C. Bonnerjee
C) Dadabhai Naoroji
D) Surendranath Banerjee
12. Which movement was initiated by Mahatma Gandhi in response to the Simon Commission's report?
A) Non-Cooperation Movement
B) Civil Disobedience Movement
C) Quit India Movement
D) Swadeshi Movement
13. The INC session of 1929, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, passed the resolution for:
A) Complete Independence
B) Dominion Status
C) Swaraj
D) Non-Cooperation
14. Who was the editor of the newspaper 'Harijan' started by Mahatma Gandhi?
A) Mahadev Desai
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Pyarelal Nayyar
D) Kaka Kalelkar
15. The 'Divide and Rule' policy is often attributed to which British official during the Indian Mutiny of 1857?
A) Lord Dalhousie
B) Lord Canning
C) Lord Lytton
D) Lord Elgin
16. Which peasant movement in 1917-18 in Bihar was led by Mahatma Gandhi?
A) Bardoli Satyagraha
B) Champaran Satyagraha
C) Kheda Satyagraha
D) Tebhaga Movement
17. The 'Drain Theory' explaining the economic exploitation of India by the British was propounded by:
A) Mahadev Govind Ranade
B) Dadabhai Naoroji
C) Gopal Krishna Gokhale
D) Romesh Chandra Dutt
18. Who was the founder of the Arya Samaj, which advocated for a return to Vedic principles?
A) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
B) Swami Dayanand Saraswati
C) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
D) Swami Vivekananda
19. The famous 'August Offer' was made by the British government in which year?
A) 1938
B) 1939
C) 1940
D) 1941
20. Who was the first Indian woman to preside over the Indian National Congress?
A) Annie Besant
B) Sarojini Naidu
C) Kamala Nehru
D) Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
21. The Rowlatt Act of 1919 was enacted to:
A) Promote education
B) Suppress political activities
C) Encourage industrial development
D) Grant more powers to local bodies
22. Which prominent leader was associated with the formation of the 'Swaraj Party' within the Congress in 1923?
A) Mahatma Gandhi
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Chittaranjan Das
D) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
23. The Indian Councils Act of 1909 is also known as the:
A) Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
B) Morley-Minto Reforms
C) Government of India Act, 1935
D) Pitt's India Act
24. Who founded the Servants of India Society in 1905?
A) Gopal Krishna Gokhale
B) Bal Gangadhar Tilak
C) Lala Lajpat Rai
D) Bipin Chandra Pal
25. The Ryotwari system of land revenue settlement was prevalent in which part of India?
A) Bengal and Bihar
B) North-Western Provinces
C) Madras and Bombay
D) Punjab
26. The Poona Pact, signed in 1932, was an agreement between Mahatma Gandhi and whom regarding the representation of depressed classes?
A) B.R. Ambedkar
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
D) Madan Mohan Malaviya
27. Who was the first and last Governor-General of independent India?
A) Lord Mountbatten
B) C. Rajagopalachari
C) Jawaharlal Nehru
D) Dr. Rajendra Prasad
28. The Cabinet Mission Plan, which proposed a framework for India's independence, arrived in India in which year?
A) 1944
B) 1945
C) 1946
D) 1947
29. Who is known as the 'Frontier Gandhi' for his role in the Indian independence movement?
A) Mahatma Gandhi
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
D) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
30. The 'Quit India' Movement was launched in response to:
A) The Cripps Mission proposals
B) The formation of the Interim Government
C) The demand for Pakistan
D) The outbreak of World War II
31. Who founded the Forward Bloc, a political party, in 1939?
A) Bhagat Singh
B) Subhas Chandra Bose
C) Lala Lajpat Rai
D) Sardar Udham Singh
32. The Round Table Conferences were held in London to discuss constitutional reforms in India. The first conference was held in which year?
A) 1929
B) 1930
C) 1931
D) 1932
33. Who led the Salt March (Dandi March) along with Mahatma Gandhi?
A) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Sarojini Naidu
D) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
34. The Simon Commission, which was boycotted by the Indian National Congress, was appointed to:
A) Grant India dominion status
B) Review the working of the Government of India Act 1919
C) Establish a federal government
D) Implement land reforms
35. The Non-Cooperation Movement was suspended by Mahatma Gandhi after the incident at:
A) Chauri Chaura
B) Bardoli
C) Dandi
D) Kolkata
36. Who gave the slogan 'Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it'?
A) Mahatma Gandhi
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Bal Gangadhar Tilak
D) Subhas Chandra Bose
37. The Khilafat Movement was launched by Indian Muslims in support of:
A) Indian independence
B) The Ottoman Caliphate
C) Religious freedom
D) Social reform
38. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Amritsar in which year?
A) 1917
B) 1919
C) 1921
D) 1923
39. Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in which year?
A) 1905
B) 1915
C) 1920
D) 1930
40. The Ghadar Party, an organization of Indian nationalists, was primarily based in which country?
A) United Kingdom
B) Canada
C) United States of America
D) Germany
41. Who was the Viceroy of India during the partition of Bengal in 1905?
A) Lord Curzon
B) Lord Minto
C) Lord Hardinge
D) Lord Chelmsford
42. The Swadeshi Movement was a direct response to the partition of which Indian province?
A) Bihar
B) Orissa
C) Bengal
D) Assam
43. The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 by whom?
A) A.O. Hume
B) W.C. Bonnerjee
C) Dadabhai Naoroji
D) Surendranath Banerjee
44. The First War of Indian Independence, commonly known as the Sepoy Mutiny, began in which year?
A) 1842
B) 1857
C) 1875
D) 1905
45. Who is often referred to as the 'Father of Modern India' for his role in social and religious reforms?
A) Swami Vivekananda
B) Mahatma Jyotirao Phule
C) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
D) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
46. The Santhal Rebellion, one of the largest tribal uprisings, occurred in which region of India?
A) Deccan Plateau
B) Chota Nagpur Plateau
C) Western Ghats
D) Himalayan Foothills
47. The Permanent Settlement of Bengal, a land revenue system, was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in collaboration with whom?
A) Warren Hastings
B) Robert Clive
C) Sir John Shore
D) Charles Metcalfe
48. The 'Doctrine of Lapse' was a controversial policy introduced by which Governor-General of India?
A) Lord Cornwallis
B) Lord Dalhousie
C) Lord Curzon
D) Lord William Bentinck
49. Who among the following was the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, a significant socio-religious reform movement?
A) Swami Dayanand Saraswati
B) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
C) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
D) Keshab Chandra Sen
50. The Battle of Plassey, a pivotal event in Indian history, was fought in which year?
A) 1757
B) 1764
C) 1857
D) 1576