UPSC Prelims 2011 History and Culture questions: topic-wise weightage
UPSC Prelims 2011 asked 13 history questions in GS Paper I, spread over 4 topics. See the history weightage for 2011 below, then attempt each question with the official answer and an explanation.
History and Culture 2011: questions by topic
- Buddhism, Jainism and other sects1
- Mauryas to Guptas: Sangam age and early medieval kingdoms3
- Reform movements, 1857, tribal and peasant revolts, early nationalism (to 1919)4
- Gandhian era to Independence; constitutional development5
Counted from the 13 questions on this page, tagged by topic in the Battle IAS PYQ bank.
Seeing 13 History and Culture questions spread over 4 topics can feel overwhelming. That's exactly why the Battle IAS PYQ Book maps every question topic by topic, so you know what to study first. Download free sample
Buddhism, Jainism and other sects 1
The Jain philosophy holds that the world is created and maintained by
Answer (a) & explanation
Universal Law is correct (a). Jainism denies a creator God. It holds that the universe is eternal, uncreated, and runs by its own universal law: the natural working of its six substances (soul, matter, space, time, motion, rest) and the law of karma. (b) and (c) are vague terms that do not express this idea. (d) is wrong: a single 'Universal Soul' (Brahman) belongs to Upanishadic and Vedantic thought; Jainism instead believes in countless individual souls (jivas).
Notice the related ideas: Jain ethics rest on the three jewels (right faith, right knowledge, right conduct) and the five vows led by ahimsa; knowledge is many-sided (anekantavada). Buddhism, too, avoids a creator God. Trap: 'Universal Soul' sounds Indian but is Vedantic.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Mauryas to Guptas: Sangam age and early medieval kingdoms 3
India maintained its early cultural contacts and trade links with Southeast Asia across the Bay of Bengal. For this pre-eminence of early maritime history of Bay of Bengal, which of the following could be the most convincing explanation/explanations ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Monsoon winds is correct (c). The monsoon winds reverse with the seasons: the south-west monsoon carries ships east towards Southeast Asia, and the north-east monsoon brings them back. Sailors timed voyages to these winds, which made the Bay of Bengal a regular, busy sea route from Tamralipti and the Coromandel coast to Suvarnabhumi. (a) is wrong: there is no proof that India's ship-building was better than others'. (b) is wrong: patronage helped, but 'always' overstates it, and it explains less than geography. (d) fails because (a) and (b) are weak.
Notice the legacy: Indian scripts, Hindu-Buddhist temples such as Angkor Wat and Borobudur, and the Chola expedition to Srivijaya (1025). Trap: human factors sound weighty, but the wind made it possible.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Regarding the Indus Valley Civilization, consider the following statements :
- 1. It was predominantly a secular civilization and the religious element, though present, did not dominate the scene.
- 2. During this period, cotton was used for manufacturing textiles in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Both statements are correct per UPSC's key (c), though statement 1 is an interpretation. Harappan cities have no clear temples or palaces of priest-kings; seals, the 'Proto-Shiva', mother goddess figurines and fire altars show that religion was present but did not dominate public life, so many scholars call it largely secular (1). Harappans were among the first in the world to grow and weave cotton; a cotton fragment was found at Mohenjo-daro, and Greeks later called cotton 'sindon' (2). So (a), (b) and (d) fail.
Notice the caution: the script is undeciphered, so views on religion remain tentative. Other facts: the Great Bath, granaries, and planned drains. Dholavira became a World Heritage Site in 2021. Trap: absence of temples is not absence of religion.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The “dharma” and “rita” depict a central idea of ancient Vedic civilization of India. In this context, consider the following statements :
- 1. Dharma was a conception of obligations and of the discharge of one’s duties to oneself and to others.
- 2. Rita was the fundamental moral law governing the functioning of the universe and all it contained.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Both statements are correct (c). Rita in the Rigveda is the cosmic and moral order that keeps the sun, seasons and right conduct in place; the god Varuna is its guardian (2). Dharma grew out of it as the idea of duty and right conduct: what one owes to oneself, family and society (1). So (a), (b) and (d) fail.
Notice the later growth: dharma became central in the Dharmasutras, the Manusmriti and the Gita, and varnashrama dharma tied duties to class and life stage. The Rigvedic idea of 'satya' (truth) is closely linked to rita. In Buddhism, dhamma means the Buddha's teaching, and Ashoka's Dhamma was a moral code. Trap: rita is cosmic order, not a ritual.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Reform movements, 1857, tribal and peasant revolts, early nationalism (to 1919) 4
The tendency for increased litigation was visible after the introduction of the land settlement system of Lord Cornwallis in 1793. The reason for this is normally traced to which of the following provisions ?
Answer (d) & explanation
UPSC's key is (d), none of the three, but this key is doubtful. The Permanent Settlement (1793) made zamindars owners of land with revenue fixed forever, yet it left ryots' rights unrecorded and boundaries vague, and estates of defaulters were auctioned under the Sunset Law. Disputes over rights, rents and sales filled the courts. Many books link this to (a): the Settlement strengthened zamindars against ryots, which bred litigation. (b) is wrong: the Company was already the sovereign, not newly an 'overlord'. (c) is wrong: the courts were slow and costly, not efficient.
Notice the related system: Cornwallis also separated revenue and judicial work (the Cornwallis Code). For the exam, follow the official key, but know the argument for (a).
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which amongst the following provided a common factor for tribal insurrection in India in the 19th century ?
Answer (d) & explanation
The disruption of the old agrarian order is correct (d). New land revenue rules (a), missionaries (b) and moneylenders and revenue farmers called dikus (c) each fuelled particular revolts, but none was present everywhere. What was common to all 19th-century tribal risings was the break-up of the tribal agrarian order: loss of land, forest rights and community ownership, as outsiders and colonial laws took over. So (a), (b) and (c) are partial causes.
Notice the examples: the Kol rising (1831–32), the Santhal Hul (1855–56, Sidhu and Kanhu), and the Munda Ulgulan (1899–1900, Birsa Munda), which led to the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908. Birsa Munda's birth anniversary, 15 November, is now Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to the period of colonial rule in India, “Home Charges” formed an important part of drain of wealth from India. Which of the following funds constituted “Home Charges” ?
- 1. Funds used to support the India Office in London.
- 2. Funds used to pay salaries and pensions of British personnel engaged in India.
- 3. Funds used for waging wars outside India by the British.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 1 and 2 are correct per UPSC's key (b), but this key is doubtful. Home Charges were what India paid Britain each year: the cost of the India Office in London (1), salaries and pensions of British officials and soldiers (2), and interest on debt raised in Britain. Statement 3 is the doubt: the cost of wars outside India (Afghanistan, Burma, Abyssinia) was charged to Indian revenues, and several historians count it within Home Charges, so (d) is arguable. UPSC treated war costs as a separate burden. So (a) and (c) fail on any reading.
Notice the critics: Dadabhai Naoroji (Poverty and Un-British Rule in India), R.C. Dutt and the drain of wealth theory. Trap: all three look like drain items, but the key separates war spending.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
What was the purpose with which Sir William Wedderburn and W. S. Caine had set up the Indian Parliamentary Committee in 1893 ?
Answer (a) & explanation
To agitate for political reforms in the House of Commons is correct (a). Sir William Wedderburn, a Congress president (1889) and Liberal MP, and W.S. Caine, also an MP, formed the Indian Parliamentary Committee in 1893 to raise Indian grievances and press for reforms in the British Parliament. (b) is wrong: entry into the imperial judiciary was not its aim. (c) is wrong: independence was not on anyone's agenda in 1893. (d) is wrong: getting Indians elected was not its aim, though Dadabhai Naoroji had entered the Commons in 1892.
Notice the related bodies: the British Committee of the INC (1889) and its journal 'India' also lobbied in London. Trap: 'independence' is an anachronism for the 1890s.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Gandhian era to Independence; constitutional development 5
Which one of the following observations is *not* true about the Quit India Movement of 1942 ?
Answer (b) & explanation
It was led by Mahatma Gandhi is the observation 'not true' per UPSC's key (b). Gandhi gave the 'Do or Die' call at Gowalia Tank on 8 August 1942, but he and the whole Congress leadership were arrested the next morning (Operation Zero Hour). The movement then ran leaderless and spontaneous, so (c) is true. (a) is arguable: it began as a non-violent call, though it later saw sabotage and violence. (d) is true in UPSC's view: the organised labour class largely stayed away, partly because the Communists opposed it after the USSR joined the war.
Notice the leaders who stepped in: Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the flag, Usha Mehta ran Congress Radio, and parallel governments rose in Ballia, Tamluk and Satara.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
What was the reason for Mahatma Gandhi to organize a satyagraha on behalf of the peasants of Kheda ?
- 1. The Administration did not suspend the land revenue collection in spite of a drought.
- 2. The Administration proposed to introduce Permanent Settlement in Gujarat.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Statement 1 only is correct (a). In Kheda (1918), Gujarat, crops failed, and under the revenue rules collection should have been suspended when the yield fell below a quarter of normal. The government still demanded full land revenue, so Gandhi, with Vallabhbhai Patel, Indulal Yagnik and others, led a no-tax satyagraha. Statement 2 is wrong: there was no plan to introduce the Permanent Settlement in Gujarat, which had the ryotwari system. So (b), (c) and (d) fail.
Notice Gandhi's early trio: Champaran (1917) against indigo planters, the Ahmedabad mill strike (1918), where he first fasted, and Kheda (1918). Patel's fame grew later at Bardoli (1928), which earned him the title 'Sardar'.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Mahatma Gandhi said that some of his deepest convictions were reflected in a book titled, “Unto this Last” and the book transformed his life. What was the message from the book that transformed Mahatma Gandhi ?
Answer (b) & explanation
The good of the individual is contained in the good of all is correct (b). Gandhi read John Ruskin's 'Unto This Last' on a train journey in 1904 and drew three lessons: the good of the individual is in the good of all; a lawyer's work has the same value as a barber's; and a life of labour is the life worth living. He set up the Phoenix Settlement near Durban and later paraphrased the book in Gujarati as 'Sarvodaya'. (a) and (c) are not the book's message, so (d) fails too.
Notice the other influences: Tolstoy's 'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' (Tolstoy Farm, 1910) and Thoreau's 'Civil Disobedience'. Trap: celibacy and service sound Gandhian but come from other sources.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Indian freedom struggle, Usha Mehta is well-known for
Answer (a) & explanation
Running the secret Congress Radio is correct (a). During the Quit India Movement (1942), the 22-year-old Usha Mehta ran the underground Congress Radio from Bombay from 14 August 1942, broadcasting news and speeches the British censored, until she was arrested in November 1942 and jailed. (b) is wrong: she did not attend the Second Round Table Conference (1931). (c) is wrong: the INA's Rani of Jhansi Regiment was led by Lakshmi Sahgal. (d) is wrong: she had no role in the 1946 Interim Government.
Notice her honour: she received the Padma Vibhushan in 1998. The 2024 film 'Ae Watan Mere Watan' retold her story. Other underground leaders included Ram Manohar Lohia, who helped the radio, and Aruna Asaf Ali.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to the period of Indian freedom struggle, which of the following was/were recommended by the Nehru report ?
- 1. Complete Independence for India.
- 2. Joint electorates for reservation of seats for minorities.
- 3. Provision of fundamental rights for the people of India in the Constitution.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 2 and 3 are correct (b). The Nehru Report (1928), drafted by a committee under Motilal Nehru in reply to the all-white Simon Commission, proposed joint electorates with reserved seats for minorities (2) and a list of fundamental rights (3). Statement 1 is wrong: it asked for dominion status, not complete independence, which upset younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Bose. So (a), (c) and (d) fail.
Notice what followed: Jinnah's Fourteen Points (1929) rejected the report, and the Lahore Congress (December 1929) adopted Purna Swaraj, celebrated on 26 January 1930. The report also proposed linguistic provinces and universal adult franchise. Trap: 'complete independence' came a year later, not in the report.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
All years by topic
Every question from 2011 to 2026, grouped by syllabus topic, with year-wise trends.