Non-Cooperation & Civil Disobedience — Set 8

Correct Answer: C. Government-run schools and colleges

The Non-Cooperation Movement called for boycott of government-run schools and colleges established under British authority. Students were asked to leave these institutions. Many national schools and colleges were established as alternatives, though most students eventually returned to government institutions after the movement's suspension.

Correct Answer: B. The Ottoman Caliphate (Khalifa)

The Khilafat Movement (1919–24) was launched to protest the dismemberment of the Ottoman Caliphate (Khalifat) after World War I. Indian Muslims regarded the Ottoman Sultan as the Caliph (religious leader) of the Muslim world. The abolition of the Caliphate by Turkey's Mustafa Kemal in 1924 effectively ended the Khilafat Movement.

Correct Answer: C. Bombay

The Khilafat Committee was headquartered in Bombay (Mumbai). The All India Khilafat Conference was held in Delhi in November 1919. The movement had strong support in UP, Bombay, and other Muslim-majority areas across India.

Correct Answer: C. It effectively collapsed

The Khilafat Movement effectively collapsed after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk abolished the Ottoman Caliphate in March 1924. The very cause the movement was fighting for — preservation of the Caliphate — ceased to exist. The movement's collapse also weakened the Hindu-Muslim unity that Gandhi had carefully built, and communal tensions increased in the mid-1920s.

Correct Answer: B. Salt touched every Indian's life and the cause united all classes

The Dandi March is considered a masterstroke because salt was a basic necessity that affected every Indian — rich, poor, Hindu, Muslim, urban, or rural. The salt tax was a visible symbol of colonial economic exploitation. By choosing this issue, Gandhi found a unifying cause that transcended class, caste, and religious lines and dramatised the injustice of British rule for the whole world.

Correct Answer: B. They watched and waited, then arrested Gandhi in May 1930

The British initially watched and waited during the Dandi March, unsure how to respond to Gandhi's peaceful challenge. They arrested Gandhi on May 4–5, 1930, nearly a month after the salt law was broken at Dandi. By then, the Civil Disobedience Movement had already spread across India, making the British response look ineffective.

Correct Answer: C. Linguistic lines

The Nagpur Session of Congress in December 1920 restructured the Congress organisation on linguistic lines, establishing Provincial Congress Committees based on linguistic regions rather than British administrative divisions. This was significant as it brought the Congress closer to the masses by using regional languages. The session also adopted the Non-Cooperation programme.

Correct Answer: B. Four annas

The correct answer is Four annas. The Nagpur Session of 1920 reduced the Congress membership fee to just four annas (quarter of a rupee) to make membership accessible to the masses, especially poor peasants and workers. This democratisation of Congress membership was part of Gandhi's strategy to transform the Congress from an elite organisation into a mass movement. This topic is frequently tested in competitive examinations such as RRB NTPC, SSC, and UPSC.

Correct Answer: C. Vallabhbhai Patel

Vallabhbhai Patel led the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928 in Gujarat, where peasants refused to pay enhanced land revenue. The movement was a great success — the British government ultimately rescinded the revenue increase. After this victory, Patel was given the title 'Sardar' (leader) by the women of Bardoli.

Correct Answer: B. Sardar

Vallabhbhai Patel was given the title 'Sardar' (meaning 'leader' or 'chief') by the women of Bardoli after the successful Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928. He led the peasants of Bardoli in refusing to pay enhanced land revenue, and the British government ultimately backed down. This satyagraha demonstrated that the Gandhian method could achieve tangible results.