Question Discussion & Solution

The correct answer is option 1. i.e. The Indus people were the first to produce cotton.

• It has been discovered from the facts that the farmers in the Indus valley were the first to spin and weave cotton.
• At Mohenjo-Daro, the archaeologists have recovered the fragments of cotton textiles which dates back between 3250 and 2750 BCE.
• As per the archaeological department of India, the cottonseeds which are found nearby Mehrgarh have been dated to 5000 BCE.
• Indus Valley civilization is also known as the Bronze Age Civilization because Bronze was the most widely used metal.
• Wheat and Barley were the major crops, evidence of rice was also found.
• The people of the Indus Valley civilization worshipped God Pashupati (believed to be God Shiva).
• Tin and precious stones were imported from Iran and Afghanistan, gold from Karnataka and copper from Rajasthan and Oman.

Additional Information 

• The Indus Valley Civilization was spread from present-day North-East Afghanistan to Pakistan and North-West India. This civilization flourished in the river basins of the Ghaggar-Hakra river and the Indus. Indus valley civilization is one of the four oldest civilizations in the world. It is also known as Harappan Civilization and is well-known for its organized planning based on the grid system. Important facts to be remembered 
• John Marshall was the first researcher to use the term, ‘Indus Valley Civilization’.
• Indus Valley Civilization spread from the year 2500 – 1750 BC according to radio-carbon dating.
• The most distinctive feature of the Harappan Civilization was its urbanization.
• Moreover, sheep and goats, dogs, humped cattle buffalo, and elephants were domesticated in the Indus Valley Civilization.
• The capital cities are Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
• The port cities are Sutkagendor, Balakot, Lothal, Allahdino, and Kuntasi.
• The Indus valley people were well-acquainted with the use of both cotton and wool.
• Name of the major cities are given below:
  • Mohenjodaro (Sind)-It is located on the right bank of the Indus.
  • Kalibangan (Rajasthan)-It was on the banks of the river Ghaggar river
  • Chanhudaro-It lies on the left bank of the Indus in the south of Mohenjodaro.
  • Lothal- It is located at the head of the Gulf of Cambay.
  • Surkotada (Gujarat)-It is at the head of the Rann of Kutch.
  • Banawali (Haryana)-It was situated on the banks of the now-extinct Sarasvati
  • Dholavira (Gujarat)-It excavated is in the Kutch district

Key Points

• The civil Disobedience Movement was started by Mahatma Gandhi.
• The observance of Independence Day in 1930 was followed by the launching of the Civil Disobedience Movement under the leadership of Gandhi.
• It began with the famous Dandi March of Gandhi. On 12 March 1930, Gandhi left the Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmadabad on foot with 78 other members of the Ashram for Dandi, a village on the western sea-coast of India, at a distance of about 385 km from Ahmadabad.
• They reached Dandi on 6 April 1930. There, Gandhi broke the salt law.
• It was illegal for anyone to make salt as it was a government monopoly.
• Gandhi defied the government by picking up a handful of salt which had been formed by the evaporation of sea.
• The defiance of the salt law was followed by the spread of Civil Disobedience Movement all over the country.
• Making of salt spread throughout the country in the first phase of the civil disobedience movement, it became a symbol of the people’s defiance of the government.

Additional Information​

• It shattered people’s faith in the British Government and laid the social root for the freedom struggle, and popularised the new method of propaganda like the prabhat pheris, pamphlets etc.
• It ended the exploitative salt policy of British was followed by the defiance of forest law in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Central province and the refusal  to pay the rural ‘Chaukidari tax’ in Eastern India.

The correct answer is Ajmer.

Key Points

• Ajmer-Merwara was the Union Territory in Rajasthan before integration.
  • Ajmer was a separate state within India from 1950 to 1956 as the capital of India.
  • The state of Ajmer was formed in 1950 from the territory of the erstwhile province of Ajmer-Merwara, which became a province of the Indian Union on 15 August 1947.

Additional Information

• Udaipur / Mewar was the oldest princely state of Rajasthan.
• Jodhpur (Marwar) is the largest princely state of Rajasthan by area.
• Karauli (November 15, 1817) was the first princely state that had a treaty with the British.
  • ​Kota Principality (December 1817) was the Second Princely State that had a treaty with the British.
  • Sirohi (September 1823) was the last principality of Rajasthan that had a treaty with the British.

The correct answer is 24.

Key Points

• The national flag has three horizontal stripes of equal proportions in the tricolour -
  • The saffron colour at the top
  • White at the middle 
  • Green at the bottom.
• The length-width ratio of the flag is 3: 2. There is a blue circle in the middle of the white stripe.
• The saffron colour at the top shows the strength and courage of the country.
• The white stripe in the middle is a sign of peace and truth with the Dharma Chakra.
• The green colour signifies the auspiciousness, growth, and fertility of the country.
• Its format is taken from the chakra built on the Lion Pillar of Ashoka in Sarnath.
• Its diameter is approximately equal to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes.
• The constituent assembly of India adopted the format of the national flag on 22 July 1947.

Additional Information

• The Indian national flag tricolour was designed by Pingali Venkayya.
• The "National Flag" symbolizes the independence and sovereignty of any country.
• In 1947 a committee was formed under the chairmanship of Rajendra Prasad to select the national flag of India.
• The Supreme Court in 2002 declared the right to hoist the flag as a fundamental right under Article 19 (i) (a) of the constitution.

The Correct Answer is 26 January 1930, Lahore.

Key Points

• The Indian National Congress issued the Purna Swaraj declaration on January 26, 1930, resolving the Congress and Indian nationalists to fight for Purna Swaraj or full independence from the British Empire.
• Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian flag on the banks of the Ravi River in Lahore, Pakistan, on December 31, 1929.
• The Congress had requested that India's people commemorate January 26th as Independence Day.
• The Indian flag was raised in public around the country by Congress volunteers, nationalists, and the general public. 
• The Congress designated January 26 as India's Independence Day, honouring those who fought for the country's independence.
• The British decided to hand over power and political clout to India in 1947, and 15 August was designated as India's official Independence Day.
• The new Constitution of India, as drafted and approved by the Constituent Assembly, was to take effect on January 26, 1950, to commemorate the 1930 declaration.
• India became a republic on that day in 1950. Every year, the 26th of January is observed as India's Republic Day.