Q.1 Explain the idea of Satyagraha according to Gandhiji. (2014 D)
Answer:
Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in 1915 from South Africa. Gandhiji’s novel method of mass agitation is know as ‘Satyagraha’. Satyagraha emphasised truth. Gandhiji believed that if the cause is true, if the struggle is against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor. A satyagrahi can win the battle through non-violence. People, including oppressors, had to be persuaded to see the truth. Truth was bound to ultimately triumph. Gandhiji believed that dharma of non-violence could unite all India.

Q.2
Explain the effects of ‘worldwide economic depression’ on India, towards late 1920s. (2013 OD)
Answer:
In 19th century, colonial India had become an exporter of agricultural goods and an importer of manufactures.
The worldwide economic depression immediately affected Indian trade. India’s exports and imports nearly halved between 1928 and 1934. As international prices crashed, prices in India also plunged. Peasants producing for the world market were worst hit. Though agricultural prices fell, the colonial government refused to reduce revenue demands. Peasants indebtedness increased. For example, Jute producers of Bengal.

In these depression years, India became an exporter of precious metals, notably gold.

Q.3
Explain any three facts about the new economic situation created in India by the First World War. (2011 D)
Answer:
The First World War created a dramatically new economic situation in India:
(i) Manchester imports into India declined as the British mills were busy with war production to meet the needs of the army paving the way for the Indian mills to supply for the huge home market.

(ii) As the war prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to supply war needs. As a result new factories were set up, new workers were employed and everyone was made to work longer hours.

(iii) Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically after the war, as it was unable to modernize and compete with US, Germany, Japan. Hence within colonies like India, local industrialists gradually consolidated their position capturing the home market.

Q.4
How did the plantation workers understand the idea of ‘Swaraj’? Explain. (2011 OD)
Answer:
For the plantation workers of Assam, “Swaraj” meant freedom to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they all were enclosed and also to be able to keep the link with their native village intact. Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not allowed to leave their tea gardens without permission, which they were rarely given.

When they heard of the Non-cooperation Movement, thousands of workers defied authorities, left the plantations and headed home.

Q.5
Explain the circumstances under which Gandhiji decided to call off the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1931. (2012 OD)
Answer:
Gandhiji decided to call off the Civil Disobedience movement in 1931 because:

1. Political leaders like Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan were arrested. More than one lakh people were arrested.
2. Government responded with brutal repression and peaceful satyagrahis were arrested. Women and children were beaten up.
3. It resulted in an uprising in Peshawar in 1930.
4. Industrial workers in Sholapur attacked police post. In Chittagong, the revolutionaries captured the armoury and a pitched battle was fought between the government troops and the revolutionaries. (any three)

In such a situation, Gandhiji called off the movement and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed.

Q.6
Explain the reaction of Indian people against the Rowlatt Act passed through the Imperial Legislative Council in 1919. (2012 OD)
Answer:
Reaction of Indian people against the Rowlatt Act of 1919:

1. Rallies were organized against this Act.
2. Railways, workshops and shops closed down.
3. The procession in Amritsar provoked widespread attacks on buses, post offices, railway stations, telegraphic lines, etc.
4. On 6th April Gandhiji held Hartal against this unjust law (Rowlatt Act).
5. The peaceful demonstration in Jallianwala Bagh led to a violent movement all across the country.

Q.7
How had the First World War created a new economic situation in India? Explain with three examples. (2013 D)
Answer:
The First World War created a dramatically new economic situation in India:
(i) Manchester imports into India declined as the British mills were busy with war production to meet the needs of the army paving the way for the Indian mills to supply for the huge home market.

(ii) As the war prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to supply war needs. As a result new factories were set up, new workers were employed and everyone was made to work longer hours.

Q.8 Explain any three effects of the Non-cooperation Movement on the economy of India. (2011 OD)
Answer:
The economic sphere was affected by the Non-cooperation Movement:

1. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops were picketed and foreign cloth was burnt. The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921-1922. Its value dropped from ₹ 102 crore to ₹ 57 crore.
2. Many merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade.
3. People began discarding imported clothes and wearing Indian ones.
4. The production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up. Use of khadi was popularized.

Q.9
How did the rich peasants and women take part in Civil Disobedience Movement? (2011 OD)
Answer:
Role of rich peasants:

1. Being producers of commercial crops, they were hard hit by trade-depression and falling prices.
2. As their cash income reduced, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.
3. These rich peasants became ardent supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
4. For them fight for Swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.

Role of women:

1. Women participated in protest marches, manufactured salt and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many women went to jail.
2. Women who participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement, came from high-caste families in urban areas and rich peasant households in rural areas.

Q.10
Why did Non-cooperation Movement gradually slow down in cities? Explain any three reasons. (2012 D, 2013 OD)
Answer:
The Non-cooperation Movement gradually slowed down in cities for a variety of reasons:

1. Khadi cloth was more expensive than mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it. As a result they could not boycott mill cloth for too long.
2. Alternative Indian institutions were not there which could be used in place of the British ones. These were slow to come up.
3. So students and teachers began trickling back to government schools and lawyers joined back work in government courts.

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