Question Discussion & Solution

The correct answer is Bhirrana

• Bhirrana is considered as the oldest discovered Indus Valley Civilization site.
• It is the oldest one according to the C-14 radio-dating done by Archaeological Survey of India.
• It is situated in the Fatehabad district and dated to 757-6200 BC.
• Rakhigarhi, situated close to Bhirrama is the largest Harappan site in the world.
• Mohenjo-daro is situated in southern Pakistan.
• Allahdino is located towards each of Karachi.

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

The correct answer is Cornwallis.

Key Points

• Lord Cornwallis created the Covenanted Civil Service of India which later came to be known as the Indian Civil Service.
• Lord Cornwallis:
  • Lord Cornwallis was a British army officer, administrator, and diplomat who had previously served his country during the War of American Independence.
  • He had surrendered along with his troops to the Americans at Yorktown.
  • In 1786, he accepted the offer to take up the post of Governor-General of Bengal on the condition that he be given the supreme military command as well.
  • He arrived at Calcutta on 12 September and took charge.
  • Under his guidance, the Cornwallis Code was developed which contained provisions for governing the civil, policing and judiciary administration in British India.

Additional Information

• Warren Hastings
  • Warren Hastings (1732 – 1818) became the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal) in 1772 and the first Governor-General of Bengal in 1774 till he resigned in 1785.
  • He started his career as a writer (clerk) in the East India Company at Calcutta in 1750.
  • In 1758, he became the British resident at Murshidabad, the capital of Bengal, after Mir Jafar was installed as the Nawab after the Battle of Plassey.
  • During his term, the First Anglo-Maratha war and the second Anglo-Mysore war were fought.
  • The Regulating Act of 1773 was passed during his term.
  • He supported Sir William Jones in the formation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1785.
• Wellesley
  • Lord Wellesley remained Governor-General of Fort Williams from 1798 to 1805.
  • During his tenure, the Fourth and last Anglo-Mysore war was fought and Tipu was killed in this war.
  • The Second Anglo Maratha war also happened in which Bhonsle, Scindia and Holkar were defeated. Wellesley followed the policy of “subsidiary alliance”, which was accepted by the rulers of Mysore, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bundi, Macheri, Bharatpur, Oudh, Tanjore, Berar, Peshwa, and Nizam of Hyderabad.
• William Bentinck
  • William Bentinck was born on 14 September 1774 at Buckinghamshire, England to William Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland and Lady Dorothy.
  • His father was a Prime Minister of Great Britain.
  • Bentinck joined the British army at the age of 16 and had become a colonel by 1798.
  • In 1803, he was named the Governor of Madras.
  • He later served as Governor-General of India from 1828-1835.
  • He is credited with reforms in educational, social and judicial spheres during his tenure as Governor-General of British India.

• Mohanjodaro was excavated in 1922 in Larkana district on the banks of Indus.
• It was excavated by a team led by R.D. Banerjee.
• Dhanushkodi is believed to be the place where Lord Ram ordered to build a bridge to connect Sri Lanka, (Ram Setu). It is situated in Tamil Nadu.
• Harappa was excavated in 1920-1921, while it was discovered in the year 1826.
• Kanchi or Kanchipuram is an ancient city in Tamil Nadu.

The correct answer All of the above.

Key Points

Palaeolithic period:

• During the Paleolithic period, the man was a hunter and food gatherer. The human being used to use simple chipped and chopped type stone tools for hunting and other purposes.
• The palaeolithic period is divided into three phases:
  • Lower Paleolithic period
  • Middle Paleolithic period
  • Upper Paleolithic period
• List of Palaeolithic sites in Madhya Pradesh:
  • ​Agni River valley
  • Kundala
  • Lonar
  • Sagar
  • Bhopal
  • Gwalior
  • Pahargarh
  • Pachmarhi (engravings and Paintings)
  • Adamgarh (rock art and paintings)
  • Bhimbetaka (rock art and paintings)

The correct answer is Shri Ram Bajpai.

Key Points

• Shri Ram Bajpai founded the Sava Samiti Boy Scouts Association in the year 1914 in Bombay.
• On the lines of the worldwide Baden-Powell Organisations, which at that time banned Indians from joining it.
• Though later Baden-Powell, after a private visit to India, lifted the colour bar, Bajpai's organization continued its separate existence, for it had the aim of bringing about the complete Indianisation of the Boy Scout movement in India.  
• About Lord Baden-Powell
  • He was a British general and founder of the modern Scouting movement.
    Baden-Powell became a national hero during the Boer war of 1899-1900 when, with a small garrison, he commanded the defence of Mafeking.
  • During the Boer War, Baden-Powell wrote a book "A Guide to Scout". This was published in 1903 and was a best-seller.
  • Initially meant for military purposes, after the war, he felt it could be used as a focus for young boys to give them more meaning in life.
  • This led to the creation of the Scout Movements. During his lifetime it grew to be a respected international organisation.

Additional Information

• Seva Samiti
  • It was another organization founded by a prominent member of the Servants of India Society, Hridayanath Kunzru.
  • Founded in 1914 at Allahabad, the Seva Samiti had as its objective to organize social service during natural disasters like floods and epidemics, to promote the spread of education, cooperation, sanitation, uplift depressed classes, reform criminals and rescue the fallen.
• ​Hridya Nath Kunzru-
  • He was an Indian freedom fighter and public figure. He was a long-time Parliamentarian, serving in various legislative bodies at the Provincial and Central levels for nearly four decades.
  • He was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India that drew up the Constitution of India. 
  • He was one of the members of the Servants of India Society, founded in 1914 the Seva Samiti at Allahabad.
  • In addition to the promotion of education, sanitation, physical culture, etc., it organises social service during fairs, famines, floods, epidemics, and especially on the occasion of religious festivals like the Kumbha Mela.
• Annie Besant
  • She was a prominent British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule.
  • She became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS) and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh.
  • In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. The scandal made them famous, and Bradlaugh was elected M.P. for Northampton in 1880.
  • She became involved with union actions including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888.
  • She was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF).
  • In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years, her interest in theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned.
  • She became a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject.