Modern History: Miscellaneous (Part-I)

Writing in his much-acclaimed book The Indian Struggle, Subhas Chandra Bose stated: "Mahatma Gandhi has rendered and will continue to render phenomenal service to his country." But, he added, "India's salvation will not be achieved under his leadership."

After Independence, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stated that "Everything else can wait, but not agriculture."

The first Indian cotton cloth mill was established in 1818 at Fort Gloster (Kolkata), but it failed. The first successful modern cloth mill was established in Bombay (Mumbai) in the year 1854. It was the first cotton textile mill of Bombay. It was established by a Parsi cotton merchant, Cowaszee Nanabhoy Davar.

This statement was made by the Grand old man of India, the well-known industrialist, educationist, and thinker Dadabhai Naoroji.

On August 1, 1907, Robert Baden-Powell took a diverse group of 20 adolescents to Brown Sea Island in Dorsetshire where they set up camp for a fortnight. It was a great success and the start of the Boy Scouts and Civil Guides Movement in the United Kingdom. After that, in 1908, the Boy Scouts Movement began worldwide with the publication of the first installment of Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys. Thus, Baden-Powell is considered the founder of the Boy Scouts and Civil Guides Movement in India. In India, scouting was introduced in 1909 and guiding in 1911.

Rakhmabai was one of the first practicing women doctors in colonial India. She was also involved in a landmark legal case involving her marriage as a child bride between 1884 and 1888. This case led to the enactment of the Age of Consent Act in 1891.

At the time of Quit Movement which was started on August 9, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi said; "Freedom is almost within reach. we have to seized it. On the same occasion. Mahatma Gandhi gave the slogan of "Do or Die."

Lord Cornwallis was the first Governor-General who established a regular police force in India on the British pattern. Thus, statement 1 is wrong. The Regulating Act of 1773 established a Supreme Court at Fort William, Calcutta. Thus, statement 2 is correct. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was drafted in 1860 on the recommendations of the first law commission. Thus statement 3 is also correct. Thus, option (b) is the correct answer.

The fear of expansion of Russia towards India in the 19th century was the base of Anglo-Afghan relations. After the treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828 between Russia and Iran, British feared a Russian invasion of India through the Khyber and Bolan Passes as the Russian empire had expanded towards the British dominion of India.

The correctly matched list is as follows:
First Anglo-Burmese War - (1824-1826) (British v/s Burma)
First Anglo-Afghan War - (1839-1842) (British v/s Afghan)
First Anglo-Maratha War - (1775-1782) (British v/s Marathas)
Second Anglo-Mysore War - (1780-1784) (British v/s Kingdom of Mysore).

Note: Although First Anglo-Afghan war was declared in 1838 A.D., but the actual war started in 1839 A.D. Hence, option (c) is the correct answer.