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Q14 (IAS/2019) History & Culture › National Movement (1857–1947) › Gandhian mass movements Official Key

With reference to the British colonial rule in India, consider the following statements : 1. Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in the abolition of the system of 'indentured labour'. 2. In Lord Chelmsford's War Conference', Mahatma Gandhi did not support the resolution on recruiting Indians for World War. 3. Consequent upon the breaking of Salt Law by Indian people, the Indian National Congress was declared illegal by the colonial rulers. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Result
Your answer:  ·  Correct: B
Explanation

The correct answer is option B (statements 1 and 3 only).

Statement 1 is correct. Mahatma Gandhi strongly advocated against the indentured labour system, calling for its abolition because it robbed Indians of their national self-respect[1], and he compared the system to a state bordering on slavery, using the expression 'semi-slavery'[2]. His efforts were instrumental in ending this system.

Statement 3 is correct. During the [3]Civil Disobedience Movement following the Salt March, the Congress was declared illegal by the British authorities. As thousands broke the salt law across the country, manufactured salt, boycotted foreign cloth, and peasants refused to pay taxes, the colonial government began arresting Congress leaders, leading to the organization being banned[4].

Statement 2 is incorrect. At Lord Chelmsford's War Conference in 1918, Mahatma Gandhi actually supported the British war effort and the resolution on recruiting Indians for World War I, contrary to what the statement claims. This makes option B (statements 1 and 3 only) the correct answer.

Sources
  1. [3] Modern India ,Bipin Chandra, History class XII (NCERT 1982 ed.)[Old NCERT] > Chapter 15: Struggle for Swaraj > The Second Civil Disobedience Movement > p. 289
  2. [4] India and the Contemporary World – II. History-Class X . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 2: Nationalism in India > The Independence Day Pledge, 26 January 1930 > p. 40
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PROVENANCE & STUDY PATTERN
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Don’t just practise – reverse-engineer the question. This panel shows where this PYQ came from (books / web), how the examiner broke it into hidden statements, and which nearby micro-concepts you were supposed to learn from it. Treat it like an autopsy of the question: what might have triggered it, which exact lines in the book matter, and what linked ideas you should carry forward to future questions.
Q. With reference to the British colonial rule in India, consider the following statements : 1. Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in the aboli…
At a glance
Origin: Mixed / unclear origin Fairness: Low / Borderline fairness Books / CA: 3.3/10 · 0/10
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This is a classic 'Personality Evolution' trap. Statement 2 tests the counter-intuitive phase of Gandhi (the 'Loyalist' era of WWI) against his popular 'Non-violent' image. Statement 3 is standard NCERT history. The key to solving this wasn't knowing everything, but knowing the *one* exception to Gandhi's pacifism during 1918.

How this question is built

This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.

Statement 1
Did Mahatma Gandhi play an instrumental role in abolishing the system of indentured labour under British colonial rule in India?
Origin: Weak / unclear Fairness: Borderline / guessy
Indirect textbook clues
THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART III, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 11: MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT > 2. The Making and Unmaking of Non-cooperation > p. 289
Strength: 5/5
“Mahatma Gandhi was to spend much of 1917 in Champaran, seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. The following year, 1918, Gandhiji was involved in two campaigns in his home state of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad, demanding better working conditions for the textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda in asking the state for the remission of taxes following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda marked Gandhiji out as a nationalist with a deep sympathy for the poor.”
Why relevant

Describes Gandhi's direct involvement in labour disputes (Ahmedabad textile mill workers) and peasant agitations, showing he acted on labour/peasant grievances.

How to extend

A student could check whether Gandhi's labour interventions included campaigns against indenture or whether they influenced colonial labour policy or public opinion about indentured systems.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART III, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 11: MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT > Charkha > p. 292
Strength: 3/5
“Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. The spinning wheel, moreover, could provide the poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant. What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call laboursaving machinery. Men go on "saving labour", till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all.”
Why relevant

Gandhi criticised industrial machinery for displacing labour and promoted self-reliance (charkha), indicating his broader concern with labour welfare and exploitation.

How to extend

Use this pattern to investigate whether Gandhi's rhetoric and programs explicitly targeted systems like indenture as forms of labour exploitation.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART III, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 11: MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT > 2. The Making and Unmaking of Non-cooperation > p. 293
Strength: 3/5
“Mahatma Gandhi was by caste a merchant, and by profession a lawyer; but his simple lifestyle and love of working with his hands allowed him to empathise more fully with the labouring poor and for them, in turn, to empathise with him. Where most”
Why relevant

Notes Gandhi's empathy with the labouring poor and his lifestyle that enabled connection with them, suggesting he was positioned to mobilise for labour causes.

How to extend

A student could examine whether Gandhi translated this empathy into organised campaigns or political pressure specifically against indenture practices or laws enabling them.

History , class XII (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 1: Rise of Nationalism in India > Indentured labour > p. 4
Strength: 4/5
“Besides Ceylon, many Indians opted to emigrate as indentured labour to other British colonies such as Mauritius, Straits Settlements, Caribbean islands, Trinidad, Fiji and South Africa. In 1843 it was officially reported that 30,218 male and 4,307 females had entered Mauritius as indentured labourers. By the end of the century some 5,00,000 laborers had moved from India to Mauritius. Indentured Labour: Under this penal contract system (indenture), labourers were hired for a period of five years and they could return to their homeland with passage paid at the end. Many impoverished peasants and weavers went hoping to earn some money.”
Why relevant

Provides details on the scale, destinations, and contractual nature of indentured labour from India, clarifying what abolition would have needed to address (mass emigration under contract).

How to extend

Combine this factual picture with Gandhi's known campaigns/timelines to see if his activism targeted the administrative/mechanistic aspects that sustained indenture.

India and the Contemporary World – II. History-Class X . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 3: The Making of a Global World > 2.4 Indentured Labour Migration from India > p. 63
Strength: 3/5
“The example of indentured labour migration from India also illustrates the two-sided nature of the nineteenth-century world. It was a world of faster economic growth as well as great misery, higher incomes for some and poverty for others, technological advances in some areas and new forms of coercion in others. In the nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of Indian and Chinese labourers went to work on plantations, in mines, and in road and railway construction projects around the world. In India, indentured labourers were hired under contracts which promised return travel to India after they had worked five years on their employer's plantation.”
Why relevant

Frames indentured migration as a major nineteenth-century form of coercive labour tied to colonial economic structures, highlighting the kind of systemic practice an abolition campaign would confront.

How to extend

Use this to assess whether Gandhi's political programmes (mass movements, negotiations) were aimed at dismantling such colonial labour structures or primarily at political independence and local reforms.

Statement analysis

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Statement analysis

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