Indo-Pak History MCQs - CSS Practice Set Solved MCQs

Correct Answer: Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah became Pakistan's first Governor-General on 14 August 1947 and served until his death in September 1948.

Correct Answer: Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, is honoured as Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader) and Father of the Nation.

Correct Answer: Iskander Mirza

Iskander Mirza became Pakistan's first President when the country became a republic on 23 March 1956.

Correct Answer: Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto became Pakistan's first woman prime minister in December 1988, and the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country.

Correct Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first prime minister on 15 August 1947 and served until 1964.

Correct Answer: 1947

Pakistan's flag, designed by Amiruddin Kidwai, was first hoisted at independence on 14 August 1947.

Correct Answer: Dr. Zakir Hussain

Dr. Zakir Hussain became India's first Muslim president in 1967, serving until his death in 1969.

Correct Answer: Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi became India's first woman prime minister in January 1966.

Correct Answer: English

English continued as Pakistan's official language at creation; Urdu was declared the national language in 1948. NOTE: English remained the official language of Pakistan at creation under the 1947 arrangements; Urdu was declared the national language in 1948.

Correct Answer: Nawab Salimullah Khan

The All India Muslim League was founded at Dhaka in December 1906, with Nawab Salimullah Khan of Dhaka as its moving spirit and Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Viqar-ul-Mulk among its founders.

Correct Answer: 1885

The Indian National Congress was founded in Bombay in December 1885, its first session presided over by W. C. Bonnerjee.

Correct Answer: Allan Octavian Hume

Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant, convened the Congress's founding session at Bombay in December 1885.

Correct Answer: 1885

The Congress held its first session at Bombay in December 1885, with 72 delegates.

Correct Answer: 1916

The Congress and the League came together in the Lucknow Pact of 1916, agreeing on joint demands for constitutional reform.

Correct Answer: Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu presided over the Congress session at Kanpur in 1925, the first Indian woman to head the Congress. CORRECTION: the booklet marks Fatima Jinnah, but she led the Muslim League in Pakistan, not a party in India; among the options, Sarojini Naidu (Congress president, Kanpur session 1925) is the first Indian woman to head the Congress. (Annie Besant, 1917, was the first woman Congress president overall, but she is not among the options.)

Correct Answer: Promote the rights of Indians under British rule

The Congress was founded to give educated Indians a platform to press for political rights and representation under British rule.

Correct Answer: 1906

The All India Muslim League was founded at Dhaka on 30 December 1906.

Correct Answer: Purna Swaraj (Complete Independence)

The Lahore Congress session of December 1929, presided over by Nehru, declared Purna Swaraj (complete independence) as its goal.

Correct Answer: Complete independence (Purna Swaraj)

The Lahore session of December 1929 adopted the Purna Swaraj resolution, and 26 January 1930 was observed as Independence Day.

Correct Answer: All India Muslim League

The Lahore Resolution was passed at the Muslim League's Lahore session on 23 March 1940, moved by A. K. Fazlul Haq.

Correct Answer: 1940

The Lahore Resolution, later called the Pakistan Resolution, was adopted on 23 March 1940.

Correct Answer: 1940

The Lahore Resolution of 23 March 1940 demanded independent states for Muslims in the north-western and eastern zones of India.

Correct Answer: Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Jinnah articulated the Two-Nation Theory as the League's political doctrine, most famously in his 1940 Lahore address. NOTE: Allama Iqbal articulated the separate-state idea in his 1930 Allahabad address; Jinnah carried it politically through the Lahore Resolution, which is why Jinnah is the booklet's answer.

Correct Answer: 1933

Choudhry Rahmat Ali coined 'Pakistan' in his 1933 pamphlet 'Now or Never'.

Correct Answer: Pakistan Resolution

The Lahore Resolution came to be known as the Pakistan Resolution, since it became the basis of the demand for Pakistan.

Correct Answer: 1947

British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan in August 1947 under the Indian Independence Act.

Correct Answer: C. Rajagopalachari

C. Rajagopalachari succeeded Mountbatten in June 1948 and was India's last Governor-General, serving until India became a republic on 26 January 1950.

Correct Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru led the Congress in the Interim Government of 1946-47 and headed independent India's first government. NOTE: J. B. Kripalani was Congress president in 1946-47, but Nehru led the Congress in the Interim Government and as first prime minister, which is the sense in which the booklet's answer is retained.

Correct Answer: Lord Mountbatten

Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India (March-August 1947) and oversaw the transfer of power.

Correct Answer: The independence of India in 1947

British rule in India ended with independence on 15 August 1947 (Pakistan on 14 August 1947).

Correct Answer: Lord Mountbatten

Mountbatten served as independent India's first Governor-General (August 1947-June 1948), before Rajagopalachari succeeded him.

Correct Answer: 1947

The Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) provided for the partition of British India into the dominions of India and Pakistan.

Correct Answer: 1757

The Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757) saw Robert Clive's East India Company forces defeat Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal.

Correct Answer: Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh unified the Sikh misls and founded the Sikh Empire, ruling from Lahore from 1801 until 1839.

Correct Answer: Bahadur Shah Zafar

Bahadur Shah Zafar II, proclaimed emperor by the 1857 rebels, was deposed by the British and exiled to Rangoon, where he died in 1862.

Correct Answer: The Bengal Gazette

James Augustus Hicky's Bengal Gazette (1780) is regarded as India's first newspaper.

Correct Answer: Babur and Ibrahim Lodi

Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat on 21 April 1526, founding the Mughal Empire in India.

Correct Answer: Qutb-ud-Din Aibak

Qutb-ud-Din Aibak, a former slave-general of Muhammad Ghori, founded the Delhi Sultanate in 1206.

Correct Answer: 1526

The first battle of Panipat was fought on 21 April 1526 between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi.

Correct Answer: Both b and c

The Mughal Empire declined after Aurangzeb's death in 1707, with the Marathas and other regional powers filling the vacuum.

Correct Answer: Haldighati

The Battle of Haldighati (18 June 1576) was fought between Akbar's Mughal army under Man Singh and Maharana Pratap of Mewar.

Correct Answer: British and Nawab of Bengal

At Plassey (1757) the East India Company's forces defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, with Mir Jafar's defection proving decisive.

Correct Answer: British and Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim

At Buxar (22 October 1764) the East India Company defeated the combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah and Shah Alam II, securing British dominance in Bengal.

Correct Answer: 1942

The Quit India Movement was launched by the Congress in August 1942, with Gandhi's 'Do or Die' call.

Correct Answer: 1857

The 1857 rising began at Meerut in May 1857 and is called the First War of Independence, the Sepoy Mutiny or the Indian Mutiny.

Correct Answer: The introduction of the Enfield rifle

The immediate trigger of 1857 was the greased cartridges of the new Enfield rifle, rumoured to be coated with cow and pig fat, offending Hindu and Muslim sepoys.

Correct Answer: Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Valentine Chirol called Tilak the 'Father of Indian Unrest' for his assertive nationalism and the Home Rule agitation.

Correct Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi led the Salt March from Sabarmati to Dandi in March-April 1930 to defy the salt tax.

Correct Answer: Maulana Muhammad Ali

Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, with his brother Shaukat Ali (the Ali Brothers), led the Khilafat Movement of 1919-24.

Correct Answer: Bal Gangadhar Tilak

The Deccan Education Society was founded at Pune in 1884 by Tilak and his associates. NOTE: Tilak was a co-founder of the Deccan Education Society (1884), with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar and others, not its sole founder.

Correct Answer: The Sepoy Mutiny

The 1857 rising is also called the Sepoy Mutiny, since it began as a mutiny of Indian soldiers (sepoys) of the East India Company.

Correct Answer: 1919

On 13 April 1919 (Baisakhi day), General Dyer's troops fired on an unarmed gathering at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, killing hundreds.

Correct Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi coined 'Satyagraha' (truth-force) during the South African passive-resistance campaign around 1906.

Correct Answer: Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose revived and led the Indian National Army in 1943, after it was first formed in 1942 under Mohan Singh.

Correct Answer: Ahmedabad

Gandhi began the march at Sabarmati Ashram, near Ahmedabad, on 12 March 1930, reaching Dandi on 5 April. CORRECTION: the booklet marks Dandi, but Dandi was the destination; the Salt March started from Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad on 12 March 1930, so Ahmedabad is the correct option.

Correct Answer: Non-violent

The mainstream independence movement under Gandhi was non-violent, though revolutionary and armed strands also existed.

Correct Answer: Subhas Chandra Bose

Gandhi, Azad and the Ali Brothers were central to the Khilafat Movement; Bose was not a participant in it.

Correct Answer: Battle of Kanpur

Kanpur was a major centre of the 1857 rising, where Nana Sahib's forces besieged the British garrison in June 1857.

Correct Answer: General Sir Hugh Rose

Hugh Rose commanded the Central India campaign, retaking Jhansi and Gwalior in 1858; Sir Colin Campbell commanded in the north. CORRECTION: the booklet marks Lord Canning, but Canning was Governor-General, not a field commander; of the options, General Sir Hugh Rose, who recaptured Jhansi and Gwalior, is the general associated with suppressing the 1857 rising (with Sir Colin Campbell in the north).

Correct Answer: To weaken the influence of the Indian National Congress

Curzon's 1905 partition of Bengal was widely seen as an attempt to weaken the nationalist movement by dividing Bengal, and it was reversed in 1911.

Correct Answer: Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Tilak, honoured as Lokmanya ('accepted by the people'), led the assertive nationalist wing and the Home Rule League.

Correct Answer: Quit India Movement

Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement in August 1942, demanding an immediate end to British rule.

Correct Answer: Lord Hardinge

Lord Hardinge, Viceroy from 1910, announced the reunification of Bengal at the Delhi Durbar of December 1911.

Correct Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru wrote 'The Discovery of India' in Ahmednagar Fort prison in 1944-45; it was published in 1946.

Correct Answer: Ali Brothers

The Ali Brothers, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali, jointly led the Khilafat Movement, with Gandhi's support.

Correct Answer: Meerut

The 1857 rising began at Meerut on 10 May 1857, when sepoys mutinied over the greased cartridges and marched to Delhi.

Correct Answer: Lord Curzon

Curzon's 1905 partition of Bengal is the classic textbook example of divide-and-rule policy, splitting the province on communal lines.

Correct Answer: 1930

The first Round Table Conference met in London from November 1930 to January 1931 to discuss constitutional reforms for India.

Correct Answer: 1956

Pakistan's first constitution was adopted on 29 February 1956 and came into force on 23 March 1956, making Pakistan an Islamic republic.

Correct Answer: A step towards self-rule

The 1935 Act introduced provincial autonomy and a federal structure, a major step towards self-rule though short of independence.

Correct Answer: To discuss the political reforms in India

The Simon Commission (1927) was appointed to review the working of the 1919 reforms and recommend further constitutional advance; it was boycotted because it had no Indian member.

Correct Answer: 1861

The Indian Civil Service Act of 1861 placed the covenanted civil service on a statutory footing after the Crown took over from the Company in 1858.

Correct Answer: 1919

The Rowlatt Act (March 1919) allowed detention without trial and sparked nationwide protests, including the Amritsar gathering that ended in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Correct Answer: Satyendranath Tagore

Satyendranath Tagore passed the ICS examination in 1863, becoming the first Indian to enter the covenanted civil service.

Correct Answer: Resolve the political deadlock between the Congress and the Muslim League

The Cabinet Mission (1946) tried to reconcile the Congress and the League over a united India with a federal structure; its failure led on to partition.

Correct Answer: 1927

The Simon Commission was appointed in November 1927 under Sir John Simon to review India's constitutional progress.

Correct Answer: Motilal Nehru

The Nehru Report (August 1928), drafted by a committee chaired by Motilal Nehru, proposed dominion status and a bill of rights for India.

Correct Answer: 1947

The Indian Independence Act received royal assent on 18 July 1947 and created the dominions of India and Pakistan in August 1947.

Correct Answer: 1972

The Simla Agreement was signed on 2 July 1972 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indira Gandhi after the 1971 war.

Correct Answer: Indus Water Treaty

The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, was signed on 19 September 1960, allocating the eastern rivers to India and the western rivers to Pakistan.