Modern Indian History

Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929 to protest repressive laws. They courted arrest to use the trial as a propaganda platform.

Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March took place in 1930, where he walked 240 miles to the Arabian Sea coast to make salt in defiance of the British salt tax. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

The Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) was a successful farmers' protest in Gujarat against unjust tax hikes. Sardar Patel's leadership during this movement earned him the title 'Sardar' (leader) and established him as a mass leader who could mobilize peasants for the national movement.

Annie Besant started 'New India' newspaper in 1914 to advocate for Home Rule and Indian self-governance. The paper became an important voice for the nationalist movement and Besant's political activities, especially during the Home Rule Movement (1916-1918).

Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Brahmo Samaj on August 20, 1828, to reform Hindu society and promote monotheism, rationalism, and social justice. The movement opposed idolatry, sati, and caste discrimination while advocating for women's rights and modern education.

Ali Muhammad Khan established the State of Rohilkhand in the mid-18th century with its capital at Bareilly. Rohilkhand was a region in northwestern Uttar Pradesh known for its Afghan Rohilla chieftains who played significant roles in 18th-century politics.

The Cripps Mission, led by Sir Stafford Cripps, came to India in 1942 with proposals for dominion status after WWII. The mission failed due to disagreements on immediate power transfer and defense controls, leading to the Quit India Movement later that year.

The Partition of Bengal (1905) was annulled in 1911 by King George V as a response to widespread Swadeshi protests and political unrest. The reversal also shifted the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, marking a significant victory for the nationalist movement.

Vishnu Shastri Pandit founded the Widow Remarriage Association in 1861, building on the pioneering work of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who had successfully advocated for the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856. While Raja Ram Mohan Roy campaigned against sati, Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj, and Swami Vivekananda promoted Hindu philosophy globally, it was Vishnu Shastri Pandit who specifically created an association to promote widow remarriage in practice.

India became a founding member of the United Nations on October 30, 1945, shortly after World War II ended and before India's independence in 1947. India signed the UN Charter as a founding member even while still under British rule. The year 1947 is commonly confused with independence rather than UN membership, 1949 and 1950 relate to other constitutional developments.

Rabindranath Tagore was the first to call Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 'Mahatma' (Great Soul) in 1915. Tagore, the Nobel laureate poet, gave Gandhi this honorific name which became permanently associated with him. Neither Tilak nor the Nehrus (Motilal or Jawaharlal) gave him this title.

India first participated in the Olympic Games in 1920 at the Antwerp Olympics. India has participated in every Summer Olympics since then, except 1928.

Baba Amte (Murlidhar Devidas Amte) was the first recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize in 1995. He was a renowned social worker known for his work with leprosy patients and his dedication to social justice, embodying Gandhian principles of service and non-violence. The prize was instituted in 1995 to recognize contributions to social, economic, and political transformation through non-violent means.

The Aligarh Movement was founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1875 with the establishment of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh (later Aligarh Muslim University). Its goal was to modernize Muslim education and promote scientific, rational thinking while maintaining Islamic identity. It advocated for cooperation with British authorities and Muslim participation in government service. Mohammed Ali Jinnah (option A) led the Muslim League much later. Dr. Zakir Hussain (option C) was an independence activist and later President of India. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (option D) was a philosopher-poet who inspired the Pakistan movement but didn't start Aligarh.

Annie Besant, the Irish-born theosophist and Indian independence activist, founded and edited 'The Commonweal' newspaper in 1914 as part of her Home Rule movement propaganda. It was a weekly journal advocating for self-rule and became an important voice for the Home Rule League. John Bright (option A) was a British statesman unrelated to this paper. Shyamji Krishna Gokhale (option B) appears to be a conflation - there was Shyamji Krishna Verma (Indian revolutionary) and Gopal Krishna Gokhale (moderate leader), neither connected to 'The Commonweal'. William Wedderburn (option C) was a retired civil servant who helped found the Indian National Congress, not this newspaper.