pyq/2013/history-optional-ii/1

Critically examine the following statements in about 150 words each (10x5=50 marks, 150 words each).

(a) Dupleix made a cardinal blunder in looking for the key of India in Madras : Clive sought and found it in Bengal.

(b) Swami Vivekananda opined that “We should give our ancient spirituality and culture and get in return Western science, technology, methods of raising the standard of life, business integrity and technique of collective effort.”

(c) “Ryotwari falls into three stages—early, middle and late, and the only description common to all is that it is a mode of settlement with small farmers, so small, indeed, that their average holding is, on recent figures, only about 6½ acres.”

(d) “Many of us who worked for the Congress programme lived in a kind of intoxication during the year 1921. We were full of excitement and optimism .... We had a sense of freedom and a pride in that freedom.”

(e) “Gandhi’s body is in jail but his soul is with you, India’s prestige is in your hands, you must not use any violence under any circumstances. You will be beaten but you must not resist; you must not raise a hand to ward off blows.”