UPSC Prelims PYQ Pointers: Modern History of India

Indian States and society in the 18th century

1. Emergence of regional kingdoms [CSE 2021]
   • The Nizamat of Arcot emerged out of Hyderabad State from a Mughal subah in the Deccan.
   • The Mysore Kingdom emerged out of the Vijayanagara Empire.
   • Rohilkhand Kingdom was formed out of the territories occupied by Ahmad Shah Durrani Mughal-administered region held by Katheria Rajputs in Katehar (northwestern UP).

European penetration and British conquest of India

1. Dutch, Portuguese, and British in India [CSE 2022]
   • The Dutch established their factories/warehouses on the east coast on lands granted to them by the Gajapati rulers rulers of Golconda and the Vijayanagara empire.
   • Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur.
   • The English East India Company established a factory at Madras on a plot of land leased from a representative of the Vijayanagara empire.
2. In the first quarter of the 17th century (1600-1625), the English East India Company’s factory was located at Broach (1619), Chicacole, and Trichinopoly. [CSE 2021]

The revolt of 1857

Early nationalism (pre-1905)

Nationalist movement (1905-18)

1. 7th August is declared National Handloom Day because the Swadeshi Movement was launched on that day in 1905. [CSE 2023]
2. The Swadeshi Movement contributed to the revival of the indigenous artisan crafts and industries. Also, the National Council of Education was established as a part of the Swadeshi Movement. [CSE 2019]
3. Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in the abolition of the system of ‘indentured labour’. In Lord Chelmsford’s ‘War Conference’, Mahatma Gandhi did not support supported the resolution on recruiting Indians for World War → asked as part of a multi-statement question containing other statements.  [CSE 2019]
4. A very significant aspect of the Champaran Satyagraha was an active participation of lawyers, students, women, Dalits, and tribals, joining of peasant unrest to India’s National Movement and a drastic decrease in the cultivation of plantation and commercial crops. [CSE 2018]

Phase I of the revolutionary movement (1897-1917)

1. Rash Behari Bose ,Barindra Kumar Ghosh, and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee were was actively associated with the Ghadar Party. [CSE 2022]

Nationalist movement (1919-27)

Non-Cooperation movement

1. Non-Cooperation Programme included boycott of law courts and foreign cloth, observance of strict non-violence, retention renunciation of titles and honours without using them in public, and establishment of Panchayats for settling disputes. [CSE 2025]
2. The Congress declared the attainment of ‘Swaraj’ by all legitimate and peaceful means to be the objective of the Non-Cooperation Movement (NCM). The NCM was to be implemented in stages, with civil disobedience and non-payment of taxes for the next stage only if ‘Swaraj’ did not come within a year and the Government resorted to repression. [CSE 2025]
3. Madan Mohan Malaviya and Krishna Kant provided legal defence to the people arrested in the aftermath of the Chauri Chaura incident. [CSE 2025]

Other events

1. In 1920, the All India Home Rule League was renamed Swarajya Sabha. [CSE 2018]

Phase II of the revolutionary movement (1924-1930s)

Phase III of the revolutionary movement (1941-1946)

1. Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon were officers of the Indian National Army (INA). [CSE 2021]

Nationalist movement (1927-47)

Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conferences

1. “Sedition has become my religion” was the famous statement given by Gandhiji at the time of publicly violating the Salt Law at Dandi. [CSE 2025]
2. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact included an invitation to Congress to participate in the Round Table Conference, withdrawal of ordinances promulgated in connection with the Civil Disobedience Movement, acceptance of Gandhiji’s suggestion for an enquiry into police excesses, and release of only those prisoners who were not charged with violence. [CSE 2020]
3. Consequent upon the breaking of Salt Law by Indian people, the Indian National Congress was declared illegal by the colonial rulers → asked as part of a multi-statement question containing other statements. [CSE 2019]

Cripps Mission

1. Cripps Mission proposed that the Constituent Assembly would have members nominated elected by the Provincial Assemblies and nominated by the rulers of Princely States. Further, any Province unwilling to accept the new Constitution could sign a separate agreement with Britain regarding its future status. [CSE 2022]

Quit India Movement

1. The Quit India Resolution was adopted by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on 8 August 1942. [CSE 2021]

Socio-religious reform movements in India

1. Raja Ram Mohan Roy possessed great love and respect for the traditional philosophical systems of the East. He desired that Indians accept the rational and scientific approach and the principles of human dignity and social equality for all men and women. [CSE 2025]
2. Gandhiji consistently opposed untouchability and appealed for its eradication across all spheres. He decided to include the upliftment of ‘Harijans’ in his political and social programme after the Poona Pact. [CSE 2025]
3. The founder of the ‘Self-Respect Movement’ was E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar). [CSE 2025]
4. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar served as Secretary of the Hindu Female School, which later became known as Bethune Female School. [CSE 2021]
5. The Rakhmabai case of 1884 revolved around women’s right to gain education age of consent and restitution of conjugal rights. [CSE 2020]
6. The founder of the ‘Self-Respect Movement’ was E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar), and the All India Anti‑Untouchability League was founded by Mahatma Gandhi → asked as part of a matching‑type question containing other movements/organisations. [CSE 2019]

Elections in British India

Tribal movements

1. “Ulgulan” or “The Great Tumult” refers to Birsa Munda’s Revolt of 1899–1900. [CSE 2020]

Peasant movements

1. The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was founded by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati → asked as part of a matching‑type question containing other movements/organisations. [CSE 2019]

Workers’ movements

1. Ashok Mehta, T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta were the founders of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha established in 1948. [CSE 2018]

Economy, polity, and governance under colonial rule

1. Under the Permanent Settlement, introduced by Cornwallis in Bengal, if the Zamindar failed to pay his revenues to the state by the fixed date, he would be removed from his Zamindari. [CSE 2024]
   
   NOTE: UPSC dropped this question because its 1st statement incorrectly linked the Ryotwari Settlement (introduced by Thomas Munro) to Cornwallis. The statement also wrongly claimed that the Ryotwari System exempted peasants from revenue payments in the event of bad harvests or natural calamities. The Ryotwari System allowed remissions only in some cases of crop failure, not guaranteed exemptions.
2. The Charter Act of 1833 designated the Governor General of Bengal as the Governor General of India. [CSE 2023]
3. The Government of India Act 1919 divided the functions of Provincial Government into “Reserved” and “Transferred” subjects. “Reserved” subjects included Local Self-Government, Administration of Justice, Land Revenue, and Police, among others. [CSE 2022]
4. Political rights of women in colonial India [CSE 2021]
   • The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 included a clause allowing Indian provinces to enfranchise all women above the age of 21 on the basis of income, property, education and/or public service.
   • The Government of India Act of 1935 gave women reserved seats in the legislature.
5. Indigo cultivation in India declined by the beginning of the 20th century mainly because of its unprofitability in the world market due to new inventions. [CSE 2020]
6. Wellesley established the Fort William College at Calcutta because he wanted to train British civilians for administrative purposes in India. [CSE 2020]
7. The impact of the Industrial Revolution on India during the first half of the 19th century was marked by the destruction of Indian handicrafts. [CSE 2020]
8. The Charter Act of 1813 ended the trade monopoly of the East India Company in India except for trade in tea and trade with China and asserted the sovereignty of the British Crown over the Indian territories held by the Company. But it DID NOT place India’s revenues under the control of the British Parliament. [CSE 2019]
9. In the Federation established by the Government of India Act of 1935, residuary powers were given to the Governor General.[CSE 2018]
10. The Charter Act of 1813, the General Committee of Public Instruction (1823), and the Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy led to the introduction of English education in India.[CSE 2018]
11. Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium were the staple commodities of export by the English East India Company from Bengal in the middle of the 18th century. [CSE 2018]

Literary works by freedom fighters and thinkers

1. “Songs from Prison” is an English translation of ancient Indian religious lyrics by Mahatma Gandhi. [CSE 2021]
2. Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English in Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh. [CSE 2021]
3. ‘Desher Katha’, written by Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar during the freedom struggle, used ‘desh’ in the specific context of the Bengal region warned against the Colonial State’s hypnotic conquest of the mind and inspired the performance of swadeshi street plays and folk songs. [CSE 2020]
4. The Vital-Vidhvansak, the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience, was published by Gopal Baba Walangkar. [CSE 2020]

Miscellaneous

1. Alexander Rea, A. H. Longhurst, Robert Sewell, James Burgess and Walter Elliot were associated with archaeological excavations in India. [CSE 2023]
2. Francis Xavier was one of the founding members of the Jesuit Order. He died in Goa China. His remains were later brought to Goa, and a church is dedicated to him there. The Feast of St. Francis Xavier is celebrated in Goa each year. [CSE 2021]
3. Persons and positions held by them [CSE 2019]
   • Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru – President, All India Liberal Federation
   • K.C. Neogy – Member, The Constituent Assembly
   • P.C. Joshi – General Secretary, Communist Party of India
4. Chronology [CSE 2018]
   • Air India was nationalised and became the national carrier → 1953
   • India’s then-largest bank, ‘Imperial Bank of India’, was renamed ‘State Bank of India’ → 1955
   • The first democratically elected communist party government formed in a State (Kerala) in India → 1957
   • Goa became a part of independent India → 1961
5. Chronology [CSE 2018]
   • Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neel Darpan → 1858-59 (published in 1860)
   • Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination → 1863
   • Swami Dayanand established the Arya Samaj → 1875
   • Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath → 1882
6. Institutions and their founders [CSE 2018]
   • Sanskrit College at Benaras — founded by William Jones Jonathan Duncan.
   • Calcutta Madrasa — founded by Warren Hastings.
   • Fort William College —founded by Arthur Wellesley Richard Wellesley.

Coming soon…