pyq/2015/history-optional-ii/1

Critically examine the following statements in about 150 words each : (10 marks, 150 words each)

(a) “Annexation of Punjab was part of a broad north-west frontier policy set in motion after the exit of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.”

(b) “The Regulating Act (1773), the Pitt’s India Act (1784) and eventually the Charter Act of 1833 left the East India Company as a mere shadow of its earlier political and economic power in India.”

(c) “The Indigo Revolt of 1859-60 holds a very significant place in our history of national liberation movement. For the first time in the history of our anti-colonial struggle, its two independent currents—spontaneous peasant resistance and constitutional agitation in defence of the peasantry—came into mutual contact.”

(d) “The very idea of the bomb and the secret society, and of propaganda through action and sacrifice were imports from the West.”

(e) “This retention of Rowlatt legislation in the teeth of universal opposition is an affront to the nation. Its repeal is necessary to appease national honour.”