Nationalism in India · Class 10 History: 100 flashcards
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1. Why is the growth of nationalism in the colonies linked to an anti-colonial movement?
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People discovered their unity in struggling against colonialism; the shared sense of oppression tied different groups together.
2. How was India's defence expenditure in the First World War financed?
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Through war loans and increased taxes — customs duties were raised and income tax was introduced.
3. What happened to prices between 1913 and 1918?
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They doubled, causing extreme hardship for common people.
4. What is forced recruitment?
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The colonial state compelling people into the army whether they wished it or not.
5. How many people died of famine and epidemic, according to the 1921 census?
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12 to 13 million.
6. When did Gandhiji return to India, and from where?
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In January 1915, from South Africa.
7. What is the idea of satyagraha?
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It stresses the power of truth: if the cause is true and against injustice, the oppressor can be fought through non-violence by appealing to his conscience, without physical force.
8. Why did Gandhiji say satyagraha is not passive resistance?
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Because it calls for intense activity; it is pure soul-force used by the strong, not a weapon of the weak.
9. What was the Champaran satyagraha about?
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In 1917 Gandhiji inspired peasants in Champaran, Bihar, to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
10. Why did the peasants of Kheda demand relaxation of revenue in 1918?
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They had been affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic and could not pay.
11. Whom did Gandhiji organise in Ahmedabad in 1918?
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Cotton mill workers.
12. Why were Indians outraged by the Rowlatt Act?
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It was passed despite the united opposition of Indian members, gave huge powers to repress political activity and allowed detention without trial for two years.
13. When was the hartal against the Rowlatt Act?
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6 April 1919.
14. Why did the British clamp down on the Rowlatt satyagraha?
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They were alarmed by the popular upsurge and feared that railways and telegraph lines would be disrupted.
15. What happened in Amritsar on 10 April 1919?
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Police fired on a peaceful procession, provoking attacks on banks, post offices and railway stations; martial law followed.
16. Who took command in Amritsar under martial law?
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General Dyer.
17. Why had many people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh on 13 April 1919?
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Some came to protest against repressive measures; others came for the annual Baisakhi fair, unaware of martial law.
18. What was Dyer's stated object in firing at Jallianwala Bagh?
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To 'produce a moral effect' — to create terror and awe in the minds of satyagrahis.
19. Name two forms of repression after Jallianwala Bagh.
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Satyagrahis were forced to rub their noses on the ground and crawl; people were flogged; villages around Gujranwala were bombed (any two).
20. What was the main limitation of the Rowlatt satyagraha?
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It was limited mostly to cities and towns.
21. Why did Gandhiji take up the Khilafat issue?
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To bring Hindus and Muslims closer and bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national movement.
22. When and where was the Khilafat Committee formed?
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In Bombay, in March 1919.
23. Name two Muslim leaders of the Khilafat movement.
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The brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali.
24. What was decided at the Calcutta session of September 1920?
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Gandhiji convinced leaders to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat and for swaraj.
25. What did Gandhiji argue in Hind Swaraj (1909)?
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British rule was established and survived only because of Indian cooperation; if Indians refused to cooperate, it would collapse within a year.
26. What were the proposed stages of non-cooperation?
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Surrender of titles; boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, councils, schools and foreign goods; then full civil disobedience if repressed.
27. Why were some Congress leaders worried about the proposals?
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They were reluctant to boycott the November 1920 council elections and feared the movement might lead to popular violence.
28. Where was the Non-Cooperation programme finally adopted?
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At the Nagpur session of the Congress in December 1920.
29. How did the middle class participate in the towns?
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Students left government schools, headmasters and teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up their practices.
30. Why did the Justice Party in Madras not boycott the council elections?
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As the party of non-Brahmans, it saw entering the council as a way to gain some power usually held only by Brahmans.
31. By how much did foreign cloth imports fall between 1921 and 1922?
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They halved, from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore.
32. Why did the movement in the cities slow down?
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Khadi was costlier than mill cloth, so the poor could not afford it, and alternative Indian institutions were slow to come up.
33. Who was Baba Ramchandra?
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A sanyasi who had been an indentured labourer in Fiji and led the peasants of Awadh against talukdars and landlords.
34. What did the Awadh peasant movement demand?
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Cut the revenue, end begar, and put oppressive landlords under social boycott.
35. What was the Oudh Kisan Sabha?
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A peasant organisation set up by October 1920, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and others, with over 300 branches within a month.
36. Why did the hill people of the Gudem Hills revolt?
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The government closed forests to grazing, fuelwood and fruit collection, and forced them to do begar for road building.
37. How did Alluri Sitaram Raju's views differ from Gandhiji's?
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He praised Gandhiji and urged khadi and temperance, but believed India could be liberated only by force, not non-violence.
38. What did freedom mean for Assam plantation workers?
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The right to move freely in and out of the tea gardens and keep links with their home villages.
39. What was the Inland Emigration Act of 1859?
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A law under which plantation workers could not leave the tea gardens without permission, which was rarely given.
40. Why did Gandhiji withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement?
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After violence at Chauri Chaura in February 1922, he felt the movement was turning violent and satyagrahis needed proper training.
41. What was the Swaraj Party and who formed it?
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A party within the Congress, formed by C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru, to return to council politics after Non-Cooperation.
42. How did the worldwide depression affect Indian peasants?
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Agricultural prices fell from 1926 and collapsed after 1930, so peasants could not sell their harvests or pay their revenue.
43. Why was the Simon Commission set up?
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To examine how the constitutional system in India was working, and to recommend what should change.
44. Why was the Simon Commission opposed?
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It did not have a single Indian member; all its members were British.
45. Which slogan greeted the Simon Commission in 1928?
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'Go back Simon'.
46. What did the Congress decide at its Madras session in 1927?
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To boycott the Simon Commission.
47. What did Lord Irwin offer in October 1929?
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A vague 'dominion status' for India at an unspecified future date and a Round Table Conference.
48. What was decided at the Lahore Congress in December 1929?
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Under Jawaharlal Nehru, the demand for Purna Swaraj or complete independence was formalised.
49. What was to happen on 26 January 1930?
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It was celebrated as Independence Day, when people took a pledge to struggle for complete independence.
50. What did Gandhiji's letter of 31 January 1930 contain?
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Eleven demands, some of general interest and some specific to different classes, with an ultimatum deadline of 11 March.
51. Why did Gandhiji include class-specific demands in his letter?
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To pitch the demands broadly enough that every class in Indian society could see itself in them and come together.
52. Why was salt a powerful symbol?
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It was consumed by rich and poor alike; the tax and government monopoly on it showed the most oppressive face of British rule.
53. Describe the Salt March in numbers.
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78 volunteers walked over 240 miles from Sabarmati to Dandi in 24 days, about 10 miles a day.
54. What happened at Dandi on 6 April 1930?
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Gandhiji ceremonially broke the salt law by making salt from boiled sea water, beginning the Civil Disobedience Movement.
55. How was Civil Disobedience different from Non-Cooperation?
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People were asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British but also to break colonial laws.
56. Name three forms Civil Disobedience took.
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Breaking the salt law, refusing to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes, and violating forest laws; also boycotting foreign cloth and picketing liquor shops.
57. What happened in Peshawar in April 1930?
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The arrest of Abdul Ghaffar Khan provoked angry crowds, which faced armoured cars and police firing.
58. What were the terms of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact?
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Gandhiji agreed to attend the Round Table Conference in London, and the government agreed to release political prisoners.
59. What happened at the Second Round Table Conference?
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Gandhiji went to London in December 1931, but negotiations broke down and he returned disappointed.
60. When did the Civil Disobedience Movement lose momentum?
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By 1934, after it was relaunched in 1932 amid fresh repression.
61. Which rich peasant communities joined Civil Disobedience?
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The Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh.
62. Why did rich peasants support the movement?
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They grew commercial crops, were hit by falling prices in the depression, and could not pay the government's high revenue demand.
63. Why were rich peasants disappointed in 1931?
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The movement was called off without the revenue rates being revised, so many refused to join when it restarted in 1932.
64. What did poor peasants want?
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They held small tenancies, and what they wanted was the rent they owed the landlord written off.
65. Why did the Congress not support 'no rent' campaigns?
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It was afraid of upsetting rich peasants and landlords.
66. What did Indian business classes want from the national movement?
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Protection against imports of foreign goods and a rupee-sterling exchange ratio that would discourage imports.
67. Name two business organisations formed in the 1920s.
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The Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress (1920) and FICCI (1927).
68. Who led FICCI?
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Prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla.
69. Why did business support for Civil Disobedience weaken after 1931?
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After the Round Table Conference failed, businessmen feared militant activities, prolonged disruption of business and the spread of socialism among younger Congress members.
70. Where did industrial workers join the movement in large numbers?
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Only in the Nagpur region; elsewhere they largely stayed aloof.
71. Why did the Congress keep workers' demands out of its programme?
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The fear was that it would drive the industrialists away and split the forces ranged against empire.
72. How did women participate in Civil Disobedience?
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They joined protest marches, manufactured salt, picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops, and many went to jail.
73. Why was women's role in the Congress limited?
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Gandhiji believed women's duty was to look after home and hearth, and the Congress was reluctant to give women positions of authority.
74. What did Gandhiji call the 'untouchables', and what did he do for them?
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He called them harijan, children of God, and organised satyagraha for their entry into temples and access to wells, tanks, roads and schools.
75. What political solution did many dalit leaders seek?
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Reserved seats in educational institutions and a separate electorate to choose dalit members for legislative councils.
76. Which organisation did Dr Ambedkar form in 1930?
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The Depressed Classes Association.
77. Why did Gandhiji fast unto death in 1932?
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He opposed separate electorates for dalits, believing they would slow down their integration into society.
78. What was the Poona Pact?
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A September 1932 agreement giving the Depressed Classes reserved seats in provincial and central councils, to be elected by the general electorate.
79. What did Jinnah propose on the question of electorates?
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He was willing to give up separate electorates if Muslims got reserved seats in the Central Assembly and seats matching their population in Bengal and Punjab.
80. What was the HSRA and who were its leaders?
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The Hindustan Socialist Republican Army, founded in 1928 in Delhi; its leaders included Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das and Ajoy Ghosh.
81. How did people develop a sense of collective belonging?
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Through the experience of united struggles, and through cultural processes such as history and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols.
82. Who first created the image of Bharat Mata?
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Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
83. When was Vande Mataram written, and in which novel was it included?
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In the 1870s, as a hymn to the motherland; it was later included in the novel Anandamath.
84. How did Abanindranath Tagore portray Bharat Mata?
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As an ascetic figure — calm, composed, divine and spiritual — bestowing learning, food and clothing.
85. Why did nationalists collect folklore?
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They believed it gave a true picture of traditional culture, and preserving it was essential to discover national identity and restore pride in the past.
86. What was Rabindranath Tagore's contribution to folk revival?
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He collected ballads, nursery rhymes and myths in Bengal and led the movement for folk revival.
87. What did Natesa Sastri publish?
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The Folklore of Southern India, a four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales.
88. Describe the Swadeshi flag.
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A red, green and yellow tricolour with eight lotuses for the eight provinces of British India and a crescent moon for Hindus and Muslims.
89. Describe the Swaraj flag of 1921.
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A red, green and white tricolour designed by Gandhiji, with a spinning wheel in the centre representing self-help.
90. Why did nationalists feel Indian history needed to be rewritten?
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The British portrayed Indians as backward and incapable of self-rule; nationalists wanted to instil pride by showing India's past achievements.
91. Which achievements did nationalist histories highlight?
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What India had achieved in antiquity: its art and architecture, its science and mathematics, its religion and culture, its law and philosophy, its crafts and its trade.
92. What problem arose from glorifying the Hindu past?
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People of other communities felt left out when the past and images celebrated were drawn from Hindu iconography.
93. What led to the Quit India Movement?
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The failure of the Cripps Mission and the effects of the Second World War created widespread discontent.
94. Where and when was the Quit India resolution passed?
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By the Congress Working Committee at Wardha on 14 July 1942.
95. What happened in Bombay on 8 August 1942?
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The All India Congress Committee endorsed the resolution and Gandhiji delivered the 'Do or Die' speech.
96. Name three women who took part in Quit India.
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Three of them — Matangini Hazra in Bengal, Kanaklata Barua in Assam, Rama Devi in Odisha.
97. Which three Congress sessions are on the map list?
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Calcutta (September 1920), Nagpur (December 1920) and Madras (1927).
98. Which three satyagrahas are on the map list?
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Champaran (1917, indigo planters), Kheda (1918, peasants) and Ahmedabad (1918, mill workers).
99. What does the phrase 'a nation with many voices' mean?
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Different groups and classes joined the struggle with their own aims; unity often broke down, but all wanted freedom from colonial rule.
100. How long did it take the British to suppress Quit India?
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More than a year, despite the use of great force.
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