CLASS XII HISTORY

MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

BOOK-3
How did 'Salt Satyagraha' of Gandhiji become the
All-India campaign in opposition to the British? Explain with
examples.
Soon after the observance of this “Independence Day”, Mahatma Gandhi announced that
he would lead a march to break one of the most widely disliked laws in British India,
which gave the state a monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt.

i. On 12 March 1930, Gandhiji began walking from his ashram at

Sabarmati towards the ocean.
ii. He reached his destination three weeks later, making a fistful of salt as he did
and thereby making himself a criminal in the eyes of the law.
iii. Meanwhile, parallel salt marches were being conducted in other parts of the
country.
iv. As with Non-cooperation, apart from the officially sanctioned
nationalist campaign, there were numerous other streams of protest.
v. Across large parts of India, peasants breached the hated colonial forest laws
that kept them and their cattle out of the woods in which they had once roamed
freely.
vi. In some towns, factory workers went on strike while lawyers boycotted
British courts and students refused to attend government-run educational
institutions.
vii. As in 1920-22, now too Gandhiji’s call had encouraged Indians of all
classes to make manifest their own discontent with colonial rule.
viii. The rulers responded by detaining the dissenters. In the wake of the Salt
March, nearly 60,000 Indians were arrested, among them, of course, Gandhiji
himself.
ix. The progress of Gandhiji’s march to the seashore can be traced from the
secret reports filed by the police officials deputed to monitor his movements
"As a consequence of the Non-cooperation Movement the British
Raj was shaken to its foundation for the first time since the
Revolt of 1857." Explain the statement with examples.

Emboldened by the success of Rowlatt Satyagaraha, Gandhiji called for a campaign

of “non-cooperation” with British rule.i.
ii. Indians who wished colonialism to end were asked to stop attending schools,
colleges and law courts, and not pay taxes.
iii. In sum, they were asked to adhere to a “renunciation of (all) voluntary association
with the (British) Government”.
iv. Gandhiji hoped that by coupling non-cooperation with Khilafat, India’s two major
religious communities, Hindus and Muslims, could collectively bring an end to colonial
rule.
v. These movements certainly unleashed a surge of popular action that was
altogether unprecedented in colonial India.
vi. Students stopped going to schools and colleges run
by the government. Lawyers refused to attend court.
vii. The working class went on strike in many towns and cities: according to
official figures, there were 396 strikes in 1921, involving 600,000 workers and a
loss of seven million workdays.
viii. The countryside was seething with discontent too. Hill tribes in northern
Andhra violated the forest laws. Farmers in Awadh did not pay taxes. Peasants
in Kumaun refused to carry loads for colonial officials.
ix. These protest movements were sometimes carried out in defiance of the
local nationalist leadership. Peasants, workers, and others interpreted and
acted upon the call to “non-cooperate” with colonial rule in ways that best
suited their interests, rather than conform to the dictates laid down from above.
x. “Non-cooperation,” wrote Mahatma Gandhi’s American biographer Louis
Fischer, “became the name of an epoch in the life of India and of Gandhiji.
“Art and literature highlighted the importance of Lakshmi
Bai." Support the statement with suitable examples.
i. The leaders of the revolt were presented as heroic figures leading the country into
battle, rousing the people to righteous indignation against oppressive imperial rule.

ii. Heroic poems were written about the valour of the queen who, with a sword in one
hand and the reins of her horse in the other, fought for the freedom of her motherland.

iii. Rani of Jhansi was represented as a masculine figure chasing the enemy,
slaying British soldiers and valiantly fighting till her last.
iv. Children in many parts of India grow up reading the lines of Subhadra Kumari
Chauhan: “Khoob lari mardani woh to Jhansi wali rani thi” (Like a man she fought, she
was the Rani of Jhansi).

v. In popular prints Rani Lakshmi Bai is usually portrayed in battle armour, with a sword
in hand and riding a horse – a symbol of the determination to resist injustice and alien
rule
How did the American Civil War of 1861 affect the lives of
Ryots of India? Explain.
When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Raw cotton imports from America to
Britain fell to less than three per cent of the normal. Frantic messages were sent to India
and elsewhere to increase cotton exports to Britain.
These developments had a profound impact on the Deccan countryside.

i. The ryots in the Deccan villages suddenly found access to seemingly limitless credit.
They were being given Rs 100 as advance for every acre they planted with cotton.
Sahukars were more than willing to extend long-term loans.

ii. While the American crisis continued, cotton production in the Bombay Deccan
expanded. Between 1860 and 1864 cotton acreage doubled.

iii. By 1862 over 90 per cent of cotton imports into Britain were coming from India.
"Issues of 'division of power of the government' at the Centre
and State level were intensely debated in the Constituent
Assembly." Explain the statement with examples.
i. One of the topics most vigorously debated in the Constituent Assembly was the
respective rights of the Central Government and the states. Among those arguing for a
strong Centre was Jawaharlal Nehru.
ii. The rights of the states were most eloquently defended by K. Santhanam from Madras.
A reallocation of powers was necessary, he felt, to strengthen not only the states but
also the Centre.
iii. “There is almost an obsession that by adding all kinds of powers to the Centre we
can make it strong.” This was a misconception, said Santhanam.
iv. If the Centre was overburdened with responsibilities, it could not function effectively.
By relieving it of some of its functions, and transferring them to the states, the Centre
could, in fact, be made stronger .
v. As for the states, Santhanam felt that the proposed allocation of powers would
cripple them.
vi. The fiscal provisions would impoverish the provinces since most taxes, except
land revenue, had been made the preserve of the Centre. W
ithout finances how could the states undertake any project of development? “I do not
want any constitution in which the Unit has to come to the Centre and say ‘I cannot
educate my people. I cannot give sanitation, give me a dole for the improvement of roads,
of industries.’ Let us rather wipe out the federal system and let us have Unitary system.”
vii. Santhanam predicted a dark future if the proposed distribution of powers was
adopted without further scrutiny. In a few years, he said, all the provinces would rise in
“revolt against the Centre”.
viii. Many others from the provinces echoed the same fears. They fought hard for fewer
items to be put on the Concurrent and Union lists. A member from Orissa warned that
“the Centre is likely to break” since powers had been excessively centralised under the
Constitution
ix. The need for a strong centre had been underlined on numerous occasions since the
Constituent Assembly had begun its sessions. Ambedkar had declared that he wanted
“a strong and united Centre (hear, hear) much stronger than the Centre we had created
under the Government of India Act of 1935”
x. Reacting to the demands for giving power to the provinces, Gopalaswami Ayyangar
declared that “the Centre should be made as strong as possible”.
xi. One member from the United Provinces, Balakrishna Sharma,
reasoned at length that only a strong centre could plan for the well-being of the
country, mobilise the available economic resources, establish a proper
administration, and defend the country against foreign aggression
‘Different groups expressed their desires in different ways and
made different demands.” Support the statement with reference
to the problem of separate electorate.
i. On 27 August 1947, B. Pocker Bahadur from Madras made a powerful plea for
continuing separate electorates. Minorities exist in all lands, argued Bahadur; they could
not be wished away, they could not be “erased out of existence”.
ii. The need was to create a political framework in which minorities could live in harmony
with others, and the differences between communities could be minimised. This was
possible only if minorites were well represented within the political system, their voices
heard, and their views taken into account. Only separate electorates would ensure that
Muslims had a meaningful voice in the governance of the country.
iii. The needs of Muslims, Bahadur felt, could not be properly understood by non-
Muslims; nor could a true representative of Muslims be chosen by people who did not
belong to that community.
iv. This demand for separate electorates provoked anger and dismay amongst most
nationalists. In the passionate debate that followed, a range of arguments were offered
against the demand.
v. Most nationalists saw separate electorates as a measure deliberately introduced by
the British to divide the people. “The English played their game under the cover of
safeguards,” R.V. Dhulekar told Bahadur. “With the help of it they allured you (the
minorities) to a long lull. Give it up now … Now there is no one to misguide you.”
vi. Partition had made nationalists fervently opposed to the idea of separate electorates.
They were haunted by the fear of continued civil war, riots and violence.
vii. Separate electorates was a “poison that has entered the body politic of our country”,
declared Sardar Patel. It was a demand that had turned one community against another,
divided the nation, caused bloodshed, and led to the tragic partition of the country. “Do
you want peace in this land? If so do away with it (separate electorates),” urged Patel.
viii. Countering the demand for separate electorates, Govind Ballabh Pant declared that
it was not only harmful for the nation but also for the minorities. Pant opposed the idea
of separate electorates. It was a suicidal demand, he argued, that would permanently
isolate the minorities, make them vulnerable, and deprive them of any effective say
within the government.
ix. Not all Muslims supported the demand for separate electorates. Begum Aizaas Rasul,
for instance, felt that separate electorates were selfdestructive since they isolated the
minorities from the majority. By 1949, most Muslim members of the Constituent
Assembly were agreed that separate electorates were against the interests of the
minorities.
x. Instead Muslims needed to take an active part in the democratic
process to ensure that they had a decisive voice in the political system
How did the Britishers suppress the Revolt of 1857? Explain
with examples.
i. Before sending out troops to reconquer North India, the British passed a series of
laws to help them quell the insurgency.
ii. By a number of Acts, passed in May and June 1857, not only was the whole of North
India put under martial law but military officers and even ordinary Britons were given the
power to try and punish Indians suspected of rebellion.
iii. In other words, the ordinary processes of law and trial were suspended and it was put
out that rebellion would have only one punishment – death. iv. The British then mounted
a two-pronged attack. One force moved from Calcutta into North India and the other from
the Punjab – which was largely peaceful – to reconquer Delhi. Attempts to recover Delhi
began in earnest in early June 1857 but it was only in late September that the city was
finally captured
v. In the Ganegtic plain too the progress of British reconquest was slow. The forces had
to reconquer the area village by village. The countryside and the people around were
entirely hostile. As soon as they began their counter -insurgency operations, the British
realised that they were not dealing with a mere mutiny but an uprising that had huge
popular support.
 "Chain of grievances of taluqdars, and peasants led them
to join the revolt of 1857." Elucidate the statement.
A chain of grievances in Awadh linked prince, taluqdar, peasant and sepoy.
1. In different ways they came to identify firangi raj with the end of their world –
the breakdown of things they valued, respected and held dear.
Grievances of Taluqdars:
2. The British were unwilling to tolerate the power of the taluqdars. Immediately after the
annexation, the taluqdars were disarmed and their forts destroyed. The British land
revenue policy further undermined the position and authority of the taluqdars.
3. After annexation, the first British revenue settlement, known as the Summary
Settlement of 1856, was based on the assumption that the taluqdars were interlopers
with no permanent stakes in land: they had established their hold over land through
force and fraud. The Summary Settlement proceeded to remove the taluqdars wherever
possible.
4. Figures show that in pre-British times, taluqdars had held 67 per cent of the total
number of villages in Awadh; by the Summary Settlement this number had come down
to 38 per cent. The taluqdars of southern Awadh were the hardest hit and some lost
more than half of the total number of villages they had previously held.
Greivances of peasants:
5. For decades the sepoys had complained of low levels of pay
and the difficulty of getting leave. By the 1850s there were other
reasons for their discontent.
6. The relationship of the sepoys with their superior white officers
underwent a significant change in the years preceding the
uprising of 1857. In the 1820s, white officers made it a point to
maintain friendly relations with the sepoys.
7. In the 1840s, this began to change. The officers developed a
sense of superiority and started treating the sepoys as their racial
inferiors, riding roughshod over their sensibilities.
8. Abuse and physical violence became common and thus the
distance between sepoys and officers grew. Trust was replaced by
suspicion. The episode of the greased cartridges was a classic
example of this.
"There were not only rumours but sound bases which led
the people to revolt in 1857." Explain the statement.
1. The rumours in 1857 begin to make sense when seen in the context of
the policies the British pursued from the late 1820s.
2. Under the leadership of Governor General Lord William Bentinck, the British
adopted policies aimed at “reforming” Indian society by introducing Western
education, Western ideas and Western institutions.
3. With the cooperation of sections of Indian society they set up English-
medium schools, colleges and universities which taught Western sciences and
the liberal arts.
4. The British established laws to abolish customs like sati (1829) and to
permit the remarriage of Hindu widows.
5. On a variety of pleas, like misgovernment and the refusal to recognise
adoption, the British annexed not only Awadh, but many other kingdoms and
principalities like Jhansi and Satara.
6. Once these territories were annexed, the British introduced their
own system of administration, their own laws and their own
methods of land settlement and land revenue collection.
7. The cumulative impact of all this on the people of North India
was profound. It seemed to the people that all that they cherished
and held sacred – from kings and socio-religious customs to
patterns of landholding and revenue payment – was being
destroyed and replaced by a system that was more impersonal,
alien and oppressive.
8. This perception was aggravated by the activities of Christian
missionaries. In such a situation of uncertainty, rumours spread
with remarkable swiftness.
Why was the ‘Objective Resolution’ introduced in the Constituent
Assembly considered as a Momentous Resolution? Explain.
1. On 13 December 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the “Objectives
Resolution” in the Constituent Assembly.

2. It was a momentous resolution that outlined the defining ideals of the

Constitution of Independent India, and provided the framework within which the
work of constitution-making was to proceed.

3. It proclaimed India to be an “Independent Sovereign Republic”, guaranteed

its citizens justice, equality and freedom, and assured that “adequate
safeguards shall be provided for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and
Depressed and Other Backward Classes …”
"The battle between the hoe and plough was a long one." Explain

(i)The Paharias had problems with the people living in the plains. They charged
taxes from them, raided into their areas etc. Therefore, the Paharias were
pushed back into the hills.
(i) Santhals were settled on the peripheries of the Raimahal hills by the British
and the Paharias resisted it, they were forced to withdraw deeper into the hills.
(iti)The Paharias had refused to use plough & settled agriculture.
(iv) They were restricted from moving down to the lower hills and valleys.
(v) They were confined to dry interior and to the barren and rocky upper hills.
(vi)This severelv affected their lives and impoverished them.
(vii)Shifting agriculture depended on the ability to move to newer and newer
lands.
(viti)When forests were cleared for cultivation, the lives of hunters also got
affected.
(ix)Their earlier life of mobility was also affected.
Critically examine the Deccan Riots Commission’s Report.

1. The commission produced a report that was presented to the

British Parliament in 1878.

2. This report, referred to as the Deccan Riots Report, provides

historians with a range of sources for the study of the riot.

3. The commission held enquiries in the districts where the riots spread,
recorded statements of ryots, sahukars and eyewitnesses, compiled statistical
data on revenue rates, prices and interest rates in different regions, and
collated the reports sent by district collectors
 Critically examine the policies adopted by the
British for the annexation of Awadh in 1857

1. The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh in 1801. By the terms of
this alliance the Nawab had to disband his military force, allow the British to
position their troops within the kingdom, and act in accordance with the advice
of the British Resident who was now to be attached to the court.

2. Deprived of his armed forces, the Nawab became increasingly dependent on

the British to maintain law and order within the kingdom. He could no longer
assert control over the rebellious chiefs and taluqdars.

3. The takeover of Awadh in 1856 was expected to complete a process of

territorial annexation that had begun with the conquest of Bengal almost a
century earlier
 Describe the role of Gandhiji as a social reformer and as a
Political leader.

GANDHI JI AS A SOCIAL REFORMER:

1. While other nationalist leaders dressed formally, wearing a Western suit or an
Indian bandgala, Gandhiji went among the people in a simple dhoti or loincloth.
2. Meanwhile, he spent part of each day working on the
charkha (spinning wheel), and encouraged other nationalists to do likewise.
3. Known variously as “Gandhi baba”, “Gandhi Maharaj”, or simply as
“Mahatma”, Gandhiji appeared to the Indian peasant as a saviour, who would
rescue them from high taxes and oppressive officials and restore dignity and
autonomy to their lives.
4. Gandhiji’s appeal among the poor, and peasants in particular, was enhanced
by his ascetic lifestyle, and by his shrewd use of symbols such as the dhoti and
the charkha.
GANDHI JI AS A POLITICAL REFORMER:
5. By 1922, Gandhiji had transformed Indian nationalism, thereby redeeming the
promise he made in his BHU speech of February 1916. It was no longer a
movement of professionals and intellectuals, now, hundreds of thousands of
peasants, workers and artisans also participated in it.

6. The initiatives in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda marked Gandhiji

out as a nationalist with a deep sympathy for the poor.

7. Rowlatt Act, Non-Cooperation Movement, Quit India Movement, Civil

Disobedience Movement

8. Between 1917 and 1922, a group of highly talented Indians attached

themselves to Gandhiji. They included Mahadev Desai, Vallabh Bhai Patel, J.B.
Kripalani, Subhas Chandra Bose, Abul Kalam Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini
Naidu, Govind Ballabh Pant and C. Rajagopalachari. (Gandhian Nationalism)
 ‘‘Zamindars regularly failed to pay the revenue demand even
after the Permanent Settlement of Bengal at the end of the
18th century.’’ Evaluate the statement.
(i) The initial demands were very high arguing that the burden on zamindar
would gradually decline as agticulnmral production expand and price rose.

(ii) A high demand was imposed in 1790s when the agricultural prices were
depressed. This made difficult to pay their dues to zamindar.

(iii) The zamindars could not collect rent and pay the rent.

(iv) Revenue was in variable, regardless of the law, the payment had to be paid
before sunset. If not done, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned.

(v) The permanent settlement limited the power of Zurgindar to collect rent from
the ryot.
(vi) The Company recognized zamindars as important but wanted to control and
regulate them.

(vii) Zamindars lost their power to organize local justice and local police.

(viii) Rent collection was a perennial problemn. Sometimes bad harvest and low
prices made payments of dues difficult for ryots.

(ix) Sometimes ryots deliberately delayed payments but the zamindar could not
assert his power over them.

(x) Rich ryot, village head man, Jotedars and Mandals were happy to see the
zamindars in trouble.
 ‘‘The jotedars became powerful in the early 19th century in many
areas of rural Bengal.’’ Evaluate the statement.
i.By the early nineteenth century, jotedars had acquired vast areas of land –
sometimes as much as several thousand acres.

ii.They controlled local trade as well as moneylending, exercising immense

power over the poorer cultivators of the region.

iii.A large part of their land was cultivated through sharecroppers (adhiyars or
bargadars) who brought their own ploughs, laboured in the field, and handed
over half the produce to the jotedars after the harvest.

iv.Within the villages, the power of jotedars was more effective than that of
zamindars. Unlike zamindars who often lived in urban areas, jotedars were
located in the villages and exercised direct control over a considerable section
of poor villagers.
v.They fiercely resisted efforts by zamindars to increase the jama of the village,
prevented zamindari officials from executing their duties, mobilised ryots who
were dependent on them, and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the
zamindar.

vi.In fact, when the estates of the zamindars were auctioned for failure to make
revenue payment, jotedars were often amongst the purchasers.

vii.The jotedars were most powerful in North Bengal, although rich peasants
and village headmen were emerging as commanding figures in the countryside
in other parts of Bengal as well.

viii. In some places they were called haoladars, elsewhere they were known as
gantidars or mandals. Their rise inevitably weakened zamindari authority.
 How did G.B.Pant show his concern in the constituent assembly
for making india a unified nation. Explain?
Govind Ballabh Pant opposed the demand for separate electorates in the
Constituent Assembly and said "I believe separate electorates will be suicidal to
the minorities."

i.Govind Ballabh Pant was of the view that separate electorates would isolate
the minorities permanently.

ii.Minorities would become vulnerable.

iii.The ruling government will not give them an opportunity to have a voice in
the government.

iv.It was also against the concept of a unified nation-state.

 How did the rebels of 1857 give emphasis on the vision of unity?
Explain with examples.
i. The rebel proclamations in 1857 repeatedly appealed to all sections of the
population, irrespective of their caste and creed.

ii. The rebellion was seen as a war in which both Hindus and Muslims had
equally to lose or gain.

iii. The ishtahars or proclamations harked back to the pre-British Hindu-Muslim

past and glorified the coexistence of different communities under the Mughal
Empire.

iv. It was remarkable that religious divisions between Hindus and Muslims were
hardly noticeable during the uprising despite British attempts to create such
divisions.