Static Quiz 29 February 2024 (Modern Indian History)    

Lytton and the Policy of Proud Reserve:
Lytton, a nominee of the Conservative government under Benjamin Disraeli (1874-80), became the Viceroy of India in 1876. He started a new foreign policy of ‘proud reserve’, which was aimed at having scientific frontiers and safeguarding ‘spheres of influence’. According to Lytton, the relations with Afghanistan could no longer be left ambiguous.

Indigo Rebellion/Revolt:
• Indigo cultivation started in Bengal in 1777.
• Indigo was in high demand worldwide. Trade in indigo was lucrative due to the demand for blue dye in Europe.
• European planters enjoyed a monopoly over indigo and they forced Indian farmers to grow indigo by signing fraudulent deals with them.
• The cultivators were forced to grow indigo in place of food crops. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• They were advanced loans for this purpose. Once the farmers took loans, they could never repay it due to the high rates of interest.
• The tax rates were also exorbitant.
• The revolt was suppressed and many farmers were slaughtered by the government and some of the zamindars.
• The revolt was backed by the Bengali intelligentsia, Muslims and the missionaries. The whole of the rural population supported the revolt. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• The press also supported the revolt and played its part in portraying the plight of the farmers and fighting for their
• The revolt was largely non-violent and it acted as a precursor to Gandhiji’s non-violent satyagraha in later years.
• The revolt was not a spontaneous one. It was built up over years of oppression and suffering of the farmers at the hands of the planters and the government. Hence statement 3 is incorrect.
• Hindus and Muslims joined hands against their oppressors in this rebellion.

The Indian social conference was founded by M.G. Ranade and Raghunath Rao. Mahadev Govind Ranade was an Indian scholar, social reformer, judge and author.

Polygar Rebellions (1799 – 1805)
• Polygars (Palaiyakkarars) were feudal lords who were appointed as military chiefs and administrative governors from the time of the Vijayanagara Empire in parts of Southern India. (They were given the charge of a Palayam or a group of villages).
• It was the Polygars who collected taxes from the cultivators.
• But the East India Company came into conflict with the Polygars over the question of who should collect taxes, and sought to control the Polygars.
• The first rebellion, also called the First Polygar War broke out in September 1799 in Tirunelveli district in modern Tamil Nadu.
• The Polygars were led by Kattabomma Nayak (also called Veerapandi Kattabomman) who was in charge of Panchalankurichi Palayam.
• It took the British more than a year to suppress this rebellion.

1937 elections: Provincial elections were held in British India in the winter of 1936-37 as mandated by the Government of India Act 1935. Elections were held in eleven provinces – Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab and Sindh. As the federal part did not come into existence after the Government of India Act, 1935 due to reservations of princely states, no elections were held at the federal Level.

The Congress won a massive mandate at the polls despite the narrow franchise. It won 716 out of 1,161 seats it contested. It had a majority in most of the provinces. The exceptions were Bengal, Assam, the NWPF, Punjab and Sind; and in the first three, it was the largest single party. The prestige of the Congress as the alternative to the colonial state rose even higher.