Non-Cooperation & Civil Disobedience — Set 20

Correct Answer: C. Quit India Movement 1942

'Do or Die' (Karo ya Maro) was the famous slogan of the Quit India Movement of 1942, not the Civil Disobedience Movement. Gandhi gave this call at the AICC meeting in Bombay on August 8, 1942, urging Indians to fight for independence or die in the attempt. The Civil Disobedience Movement is associated with 'Purna Swaraj' and 'Salt Satyagraha.'

Correct Answer: C. Seven

The Indian National Congress won clear majorities in seven out of eleven provinces in the 1937 elections held under the Government of India Act 1935. Congress formed governments in Bombay, Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, and the North West Frontier Province. This demonstrated Congress's mass popularity and its claim to represent the Indian people.

Correct Answer: A. Scholarships for study in England

The Non-Cooperation Movement programme urged Indians to return or refuse government-conferred scholarships for study in England. These scholarships were seen as part of the system of creating an anglicised elite loyal to British rule. The return of scholarships was part of the broader programme of withdrawing cooperation from all British-controlled institutions.

Correct Answer: B. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and the coastal regions

The Civil Disobedience Movement showed particularly strong participation in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in south India, especially in coastal areas where salt satyagraha was directly relevant. The Vedaranyam Salt March in Tamil Nadu, led by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), was modelled on Gandhi's Dandi March. The CDM demonstrated that the independence movement had genuine national reach across India's diverse regions.

Correct Answer: B. From Trichinopoly to Vedaranyam on the Tamil Nadu coast

C. Rajagopalachari led a salt march from Trichinopoly (Tiruchirapalli) to Vedaranyam on the Tamil Nadu coast in April 1930, modelled directly on Gandhi's Dandi March. The march covered about 150 miles and ended with Rajagopalachari and his followers making salt at Vedaranyam. This demonstrated that the Civil Disobedience Movement had powerful resonance across southern India.

Correct Answer: B. Hartals (general strikes) and mass demonstrations on political issues

Hartals — general strikes where all business and normal life stops — became a standard technique during the Non-Cooperation Movement and remained central to Indian nationalist politics. Mass demonstrations and hartals were used to protest specific British actions and show the breadth of nationalist sentiment. Gandhi organised hartals on specific days to create a public display of unity.

Correct Answer: B. Lancashire (cotton/textiles)

Lancashire, England's cotton and textile manufacturing region, was directly affected by the Indian boycott of British cloth during the Civil Disobedience Movement. Lancashire textile mills lost substantial orders from the Indian market. This created economic and political pressure in Britain, with Lancashire MPs in Parliament pressing for a negotiated settlement with Gandhi.

Correct Answer: B. Eradication of untouchability and upliftment of the depressed classes

After suspending the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1934, Gandhi turned his primary social attention to the eradication of untouchability and the upliftment of depressed classes, whom he renamed 'Harijans' (children of God). He founded the All India Anti-Untouchability League, started the weekly 'Harijan' journal, and undertook Harijan tours across India. This work was part of his constructive programme.

Correct Answer: B. It demonstrated that a small act of civil disobedience by a determined leader could spark a national movement

The Dandi March's political significance lies in demonstrating that a small, symbolic act of civil disobedience — picking up natural salt — by a determined leader and a small group of followers could spark a national movement that shook the foundations of the British Empire. Gandhi understood the power of symbolism, public theatre, and connecting large political goals to simple everyday acts. The march remains one of the great examples of nonviolent political strategy in world history.

Correct Answer: B. Transforming the independence struggle into a mass movement that involved ordinary Indians across classes, regions and communities

Gandhi's most enduring contribution during the Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience era (1920–1934) was transforming India's independence struggle from an elite, urban, professional movement into a genuine mass movement that involved ordinary Indians — peasants, women, students, workers — across regions, communities, and social classes. His methods of satyagraha gave millions a way to participate in the freedom struggle that required moral courage rather than physical force or elite education. This democratisation of the freedom struggle is his defining legacy of this period.