Indian History and Geography

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was given the title 'Iron Man of India' for his strong leadership and decisive action in integrating the princely states into the Indian Union after independence. As India's first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, he successfully convinced over 500 princely states to accede to India, preventing the balkanization of the newly independent nation. His tough negotiation style and commitment to national unity earned him this epithet.

Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand is India's highest dam at 265 meters. It's a multi-purpose rock and earth-fill embankment dam on the Bhagirathi River. Other options are major dams but not the tallest.

Hirakud Dam in Odisha is the world's largest earthen dam. It stretches 25.8 km across the Mahanadi River and has a reservoir capacity of 8.1 cubic km. 'Earthen dam' refers to dams built primarily from compacted earth materials.

Hirakud Dam is India's longest dam at 4.8 km (main dam) with a total length of 25.8 km including dykes. It spans across the Mahanadi River in Odisha. The length refers to the physical expanse of the dam structure.

The question asks about India's largest-volume embankment dam by capacity. The Parambikulam Dam in Kerala is considered India's largest embankment dam by volume. Bhakra Nangal is India's second-largest dam overall but is a concrete gravity dam, not primarily an embankment dam.

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, built across the Krishna River in Telangana, is the world's largest masonry dam. Completed in 1967, it stands 124 meters tall and creates a large reservoir supporting irrigation and hydroelectric power generation.

Kallanai, also known as the Grand Anicut, is an ancient dam built across the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu around the 2nd century AD by Karikala Chola. It is considered one of the oldest water-regulation structures in the world still in use.

Vanchinathan, a Tamil independence activist, assassinated Robert William Ashe (District Collector of Tirunelveli, also known as Collector Dorai) at Maniyachi Railway station in 1911. This was in retaliation for the suppression of freedom movement activities, and Vanchinathan subsequently committed suicide.

Bhagat Singh was hanged in 1931 for the murder of British police officer John Saunders (not Scott as mentioned in parentheses), which was in retaliation for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai from injuries sustained during a lathi charge. The plot to kill police chief James A. Scott was a separate planned assassination that failed.

Lala Lajpat Rai, along with other leaders like Dayal Singh and Rajguru, was indeed among the founders of Punjab National Bank established in 1895. The bank was created to promote Indian-owned industry and counter British economic dominance.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave the famous quote 'Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it' in 1916, becoming a powerful slogan for India's independence movement. Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of Swaraj (self-rule) and was known as 'The Father of Indian Unrest'.

Mangal Pandey revolted at Barrackpore (not Punjab, Meerut, or Jhansi) on March 29, 1857 by attacking his British sergeant major. This incident is widely considered the first act of what would become the Indian Rebellion of 1857, though Barrackpore is in Bengal (present-day West Bengal).

Subhas Chandra Bose established the All India Forward Bloc in 1938 after resigning from the Indian National Congress. The party aimed to provide an alternative to the Congress's moderate approach and advocated for complete independence through radical means. The other options - Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, and Chandrasekar - were prominent Indian leaders but not associated with the Forward Bloc's founding.