30. Which nationalist leader propounded the Drain of Wealth critique of colonial exploitation?
[SSC CGL Tier-I (25 September 2024, Shift 2)]
(A) Dadabhai Naoroji
(B) Rajendra Prasad
(C) C. Rajagopalachari
(D) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Answer: (A) Dadabhai Naoroji
Explanation: Dadabhai Naoroji identified structural outward payments as a principal cause of colonial poverty. His critique connected economic grievances with political subordination. By explaining unrequited transfers, he provided early Indian nationalism with a systematic argument against exploitative imperial finance.
29. The Permanent Settlement came into operation in which year?
[SSC CGL Tier-I (23 September 2024, Shift 1)]
(A) 1890
(B) 1790
(C) 1789
(D) 1793
Answer: (D) 1793
Explanation: The Permanent Settlement became operative in 1793 during the administration of Cornwallis. Land-revenue demands payable by zamindars were fixed in perpetuity. This differed from systems allowing the colonial state to revise assessments after successive settlement periods.
28. Which author–book pair is correctly matched?
[WBCS Mains History (18 August 2024; 2023 cycle)]
(A) Jawaharlal Nehru — Ghare Baire
(B) Dadabhai Naoroji — Poverty and Un-British Rule in India
(C) Rabindranath Tagore — Anandamath
(D) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay — The Discovery of India
Answer: (B) Dadabhai Naoroji — Poverty and Un-British Rule in India
Explanation: Naoroji authored Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, published in 1901. Tagore wrote Ghare Baire, Bankim Chandra wrote Anandamath, and Nehru wrote The Discovery of India. Naoroji’s book analysed the colonial drain of India’s wealth.
27. Where was the Ryotwari system first introduced?
[WBCS Mains History (18 August 2024; 2023 cycle)]
(A) Bengal
(B) Delhi
(C) Madras
(D) Gujarat
Answer: (C) Madras
Explanation: Ryotwari was initially tried in southern Company territories and developed in the Madras Presidency under Alexander Read and Thomas Munro. It assessed cultivators individually, distinguishing it from the zamindari arrangements of Bengal and village-based settlements of northern India.
26. Which policy recommended establishing India’s first modern universities in the presidency towns?
[Odisha B.Ed Entrance (28 July 2024)]
(A) Macaulay’s Minute, 1835
(B) Wood’s Despatch, 1854
(C) Indian Universities Commission, 1902
(D) Indian Universities Act, 1904
Answer: (B) Wood’s Despatch, 1854
Explanation: Wood’s Despatch of 1854 recommended universities in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, all established in 1857. It also supported government education departments and grants-in-aid. Its wider institutional scope distinguished it from Macaulay’s 1835 emphasis on English instruction.
25. What was the principal objective of the Aligarh Movement?
[UKPSC Upper PCS Prelims (14 July 2024)]
(A) Revival of traditional religious instruction alone
(B) Establishment of a theocratic state
(C) Promotion of Western scientific education among Indian Muslims
(D) Exclusion of English education from Muslim institutions
Answer: (C) Promotion of Western scientific education among Indian Muslims
Explanation: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan promoted modern scientific and English education among Muslims through the Aligarh Movement. The Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College opened in 1875 and later developed into Aligarh Muslim University. The movement addressed educational disadvantages in colonial India.
24. Who argued through the Drain of Wealth Theory that Britain was draining India’s resources?
[SSC CHSL Tier-I (1 July 2024, Shift 3)]
(A) Dadabhai Naoroji
(B) Lala Lajpat Rai
(C) Badruddin Tyabji
(D) Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Answer: (A) Dadabhai Naoroji
Explanation: Naoroji described payments flowing abroad through official expenditure and private remittances without proportionate benefit to India. He maintained that such leakage depressed savings and investment. The economic critique helped nationalist leaders explain persistent colonial poverty.
23. Who claimed that a single shelf of a good European library outweighed the whole native literature of India and Arabia?
[SSC JE Electrical (6 June 2024, Shift 2)]
(A) Thomas Macaulay
(B) Max Müller
(C) W. W. Hunter
(D) William Jones
Answer: (A) Thomas Macaulay
Explanation: Thomas Babington Macaulay made this dismissive comparison in his 1835 Minute on Education. The quotation reflected his Anglicist preference for European learning through English, contrasting with Orientalist support for Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic scholarship.
22. In which year was the Factories Act enacted?
[MPPGCL Plant Assistant (1 June 2024, Shift 3)]
(A) 1968
(B) 1958
(C) 1938
(D) 1948
Answer: (D) 1948
Explanation: The Factories Act was enacted in independent India in 1948, not during British rule. It regulated factory health, safety, welfare and working hours. Colonial predecessors included earlier factory legislation, but the 1948 enactment belongs to post-independence labour history.
21. Who devised the Mahalwari settlement system?
[SSC GD Constable (7 March 2024, Shift 2)]
(A) Thomas Munro
(B) Alexander Read
(C) Richard Wellesley
(D) Holt Mackenzie
Answer: (D) Holt Mackenzie
Explanation: Holt Mackenzie devised the Mahalwari system in 1822, and later administrators modified its application. The village or estate was the assessment unit, with shared responsibility for dues. The demand could be revised rather than being fixed forever.
