80. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas commemorates which leader’s return from South Africa?
[SSC Selection Post 2025, 30 July Shift 2]
A. Lala Lajpat Rai
B. Sarojini Naidu
C. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
D. Mahatma Gandhi
Answer: D. Mahatma Gandhi
Explanation: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is marked on 9 January, the date Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915. The commemoration honours the overseas Indian community and its contribution to the development of India.
79. Which book did Gandhi describe as casting a “magic spell” upon him?
[UGC NET History 2025, 28 June]
A. Unto This Last
B. The Republic
C. Gitanjali
D. The Wealth of Nations
Answer: A. Unto This Last
Explanation: John Ruskin’s Unto This Last had a profound effect on Gandhi, reinforcing his belief in the dignity of labour and welfare of all. He later rendered its ideas into Gujarati under the title Sarvodaya.
78. Consider statements about the Dandi March: (a) It covered roughly 240 miles. (b) It led directly to the Poona Pact. Choose the correct answer.
[RRB NTPC Graduate CBT-I 2025]
A. Only (a)
B. Only (b)
C. Both (a) and (b)
D. Neither (a) nor (b)
Answer: A. Only (a)
Explanation: The march from Sabarmati to Dandi covered about 240 miles in March–April 1930. The Poona Pact was negotiated separately in 1932 over political representation for the Depressed Classes, so it was not the direct outcome of the Salt March.
77. Who worked with Gandhi in organizing the 1918 Kheda Satyagraha?
[RRB NTPC Graduate CBT-I 2025, 11 June Shift 1]
A. Raj Kumar Shukla
B. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
C. Subhas Chandra Bose
D. Lala Lajpat Rai
Answer: B. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Explanation: Vallabhbhai Patel coordinated villagers and encouraged collective resistance during the Kheda campaign. Crop losses made tax payment difficult, while government demands continued. The experience helped establish Patel’s leadership in Gujarat and his political partnership with Gandhi.
76. Who led Champaran Satyagraha in 1917?
[70th BPSC CCE Re-examination 2025]
A. Jawaharlal Nehru
B. Subhas Chandra Bose
C. Sardar Patel
D. Mahatma Gandhi
Answer: D. Mahatma Gandhi
Explanation: Mahatma Gandhi led the Champaran campaign after investigating the grievances of indigo cultivators in Bihar. His nonviolent refusal to obey an expulsion order transformed a local agrarian dispute into a powerful demonstration of civil resistance.
75. Who gave the principal call for the Quit India Movement?
[SSC MTS 2024, 13 November]
A. Subhas Chandra Bose
B. Mahatma Gandhi
C. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
D. Lala Lajpat Rai
Answer: B. Mahatma Gandhi
Explanation: Gandhi called for British withdrawal at the All India Congress Committee session in Bombay in August 1942. His Do or Die appeal became a defining slogan of the Quit India Movement, despite swift detention of Congress leadership.
74. Which of the following historical event-year pairs is wrongly matched?
[APSSB CSLE 2024]
A. Champaran – 1917
B. Kheda – 1918
C. Gandhi-Irwin Pact – 1932
D. Dandi March – 1930
Answer: C. Gandhi-Irwin Pact – 1932
Explanation: The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed in March 1931, not 1932. The other dates are correct: Gandhi intervened at Champaran in 1917 and Kheda in 1918, and he launched the Salt March in 1930.
73. In which district did Gandhi organize his first Indian Satyagraha?
[SSC MTS 2024, 15 October]
A. Ahmedabad
B. Champaran
C. Kheda
D. Bardoli
Answer: B. Champaran
Explanation: Champaran is a district of Bihar where European planters forced tenants to cultivate indigo. Gandhi visited in 1917 at the insistence of Raj Kumar Shukla, beginning his first major satyagraha in India and obtaining agrarian reforms.
72. In which country did Gandhi and other Indians establish the Natal Indian Congress to oppose discrimination?
[SSC CGL 2024, 26 September Shift 3]
A. South Africa
B. India
C. England
D. France
Answer: A. South Africa
Explanation: The Natal Indian Congress was founded in 1894 in the British colony of Natal, now in South Africa. Gandhi and fellow Indians used it to campaign against racial discrimination, coordinate petitions and advocate civil and political rights for the Indian community.
71. Which region witnessed Gandhi’s 1917 campaign for indigo cultivators?
[SSC CGL 2024, 17 September]
A. Bardoli
B. Champaran
C. Ahmedabad
D. Kheda
Answer: B. Champaran
Explanation: Champaran, now in Bihar, became the setting for Gandhi’s first major Indian satyagraha. He investigated complaints against European indigo planters, especially the Tinkathia cultivation obligation. The episode attracted lawyers and local volunteers to the nationalist cause.
