Nationalism in India Class 10 Important Questions and Answers

Get complete and accurate answers to the most important questions on Class 10 History Chapter 2 Nationalism in India for class 10 students. Enhance your understanding and ace your exams with ease. This post covers the important questions and answers from Chapter 2 Nationalism in India of the Class 10 Social Studies syllabus. The Questions are compiled by CBSE Guidance from various sources like CBSE PYQs, CBSE Sample Papers, NCERT, Question Banks, etc. Students are advised to prepare these questions thoroughly to score maximum in their exams.

Subject	Social Science (History)
Class	10
Board	CBSE
Chapter No.	2
Chapter Name	Nationalism in India
Type	Important Questions & Answers
Session	2024-25
Weightage	8 marks

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Nationalism in India Class 10 Extra Questions and Answers

Q. No. 1) Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

i. Against which of the following forms of discrimination did Mahatma Gandhi launch a satyagraha in South Africa?

a. Racism

b. Sexism

c. Ageism

d. Casteism

Ans. Option (a)

ii. Where did the brutal ‘Jallianwalla Massacre’ take place?

a. Amritsar

b. Meerut

c. Lahore

d. Lucknow

Ans. Option (a)

iii. What did the Rowlatt Act of 1919 presume?

a. Detention of political prisoners without trial

b. Forced recruitment in the army.

c. Forced manual labor

d. Equal pay for equal work

Ans. Option (a)

iv. Which of the following is NOT true regarding the Khilafat Movement?

a. It aimed at bringing Hindus and Muslims together in the Non-Cooperation Movement

b. It aimed at defending the Ottoman Emperor’s temporal powers

c. It resulted in the restoration of the power of the Khalifa of Turkey

d. Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali led the movement in India

Ans. Option (c)

v. Fill in the blank by choosing the correct answer from the options given below:

• Hind Swaraj: Gandhiji, Anand Math: _____

a. Abanindranath Tagore

b. Rabindranath Tagore

c. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

d. Raja Ravi Varma

Ans. Option (c)

vi. Who among the following wrote ‘Vande Mataram’?

a. Rabindranath Tagore

b. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

c. Abanindranath Tagore

d. Dwarkanath Tagore

Ans. Option (b)

vii. Name the leader who led the peasant revolt in Awadh?

a. Baba Ramchandra

b. Sitaram Raju

c. Alluri Sitaram Raju

d. John Simon

Ans. Option (a)

viii. Which of the following was the reason for calling off the ‘Non-Cooperation Movement’ by Gandhiji?

a. Pressure from the British Government

b. Second Round Table Conference

c. Gandhiji’s arrest

d. Chauri-Chaura incident

Ans. Option (d)

ix. Arrange the following statements in sequential order based on the events that shaped the Non-cooperation movement.

1. General Dyer opened fire at the large crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwala Bagh.
2. “Forced recruitment” carried out by the British government and the economic hardships faced by the people during the first world war.
3. The defeat of the Ottoman Emperor of Turkey led to the formation of the Khilafat movement.
4. Gandhiji launched a nationwide satyagraha against the Rowlatt act.

Options:

a. 4, 3, 2, 1

b. 2, 1, 4, 3

c. 1, 4, 3, 2

d. 1, 2, 3, 4

Ans. Option (b)

x. Identify the appropriate reason for the boycott of the Simon Commission by the Indians from the options given below:

a. Simon commission had been formed to banish the Indian National Congress

b. Simon commission had only two Indian members

c. Simon commission had been formed without taking permission from the Indian National Congress

d. Simon commission did not have a single Indian member

Ans. Option (d)

xi. Identify the appropriate reason for Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi:

a. Tax on salt

b. Boycott of Simon Commission

c. Demand for Poorna Swaraj

d. Fall of prices of agricultural goods

Ans. Option (a)

xii. Identify the appropriate reason for the formation of the Swaraj party from the options given below.

a. Wanted members of Congress to return to Council Politics

b. Wanted members of Congress to ask for Poorna Swaraj for Indians

c. Wanted members of Congress to ask Dominion State for India

d. Wanted members of Congress to oppose Simon Commission

Ans. Option (a)

xiii. Consider the following events:

1. Poona Pact
2. Rowlatt Act
3. Salt March
4. Simon Commission

The correct chronological order of these events is

a. 4, 3, 2, 1

b. 4, 3, 1, 2

c. 3, 4, 1, 2

d. 2, 4, 3, 1

Ans. Option (d) [Poona Pact: September 1932, Rowlatt Act: 1919, Salt March: 1930, Simon Commission: 1928]

xiv. Why did the Simon Commission come to India?

a. To control the campaign against the British in cities

b. To look into the functioning of the British

c. To initiate salt law in India

d. To suggest changes in the functioning of the constitutional system in India

Ans. Option (d)

xv. In which congress session the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ was formalized in 1929?

a. Calcutta

b. Bombay

c. Lahore

d. Nagpur

Ans. Option (c)

xvi. Which of the following event happened on 31 January 1930?

a. Gandhiji wrote a letter to Lord Irwin

b. Lahore session of Congress was concluded

c. The Salt March was launched by Gandhiji

d. All of the above

Ans. Option (a)

xvii. Arrange the following events in the correct chronological order.

1. Coming of Simon Commission to India
2. The demand of Purna Swaraj in the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress
3. Government of India Act, 1919
4. Champaran Satyagraha

Options

a. 3, 2, 4, 1

b. 4, 2, 4, 1

c. 2, 3, 1, 4

d. 4, 3, 1, 2

Ans. Option (d)

xviii. Identify the appropriate reason from the following options, for the non-participation of industrial workers in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

a. Industrialists were close to Congress

b. British offered them good salaries

c. They were reluctant to boycott foreign goods

d. Growth of socialism

Ans. Option (a)

Q. No. 2) Why did Mahatma Gandhi organize Satyagraha in the Kheda district of Gujarat in 1917?

Ans. The peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat were affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic. So, they could not pay the revenue and were demanding relaxation in revenue collection.

Q. No, 3) How was the social and political situation of India affected by the First World War? Explain.

Or,

How did the First World War help in the growth of the nationalist movement in India?

Ans. 

• The war created a new economic and political situation.
• It led to an increase in defense expenditure which was financed by war loans and increasing taxes (customs duties were raised and income tax introduced).
• The war led to a price rise and hardship for common people.
• War led to the forced recruitment of people.
• Acute shortage of food led to famine and misery.
• This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic. Millions of people perished as a result of famines and epidemics.
• Indians began to realize that they were drawn into the war unnecessarily. This feeling united Indians against the British.

Q. No. 4) Why did Gandhiji start Non-Cooperation Movement? Explain.

Ans. Non-Cooperation Movement was started in India because of the following reasons:

• Atrocities on Indians after the First World War.
• Refusal of demand of Swaraj.
• The passing of the Rowlatt Act.
• Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
• Khilafat Andolan
• Congress passed a resolution on Non-Cooperation Movement with a thumping majority.

Q. N0. 5) Gandhiji was vehemently against the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act. Elaborate.

Or,

Explain any two provisions of the Rowlatt Act. How was Rowlatt Act opposed by the people in India? Explain with examples.

Ans. Gandhiji, in 1919, decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act of 1919.

Provisions of the Rowlatt Act were:

• It gave the government the power to repress any political activity or demonstration.
• It allowed the detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
• The British government could arrest anyone and search any place without a warrant.

The Rowlatt Act was opposed by Indians in the following ways:

• A non-violent civil disobedience against the unjust law began.
• Rallies were organized in various cities.
• Workers went on strike in railway workshops.
• Shops were closed down in protest.

Q. No. 6) Describe the famous incidence of Jallianwalla Bagh.

Ans. Jallianwalla Bagh incident:

• On 13 April, the Jallianwalla Bagh incident took place.
• On that day a crowd of villagers who had come to Amritsar to attend a fair gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh.
• Being from outside the city, they were unaware of the martial law that had been imposed.
• Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds.
• His object, as he declared later, was to ‘produce a moral effect’, to create in the minds of satyagrahis a feeling of terror and awe.

Q. No. 7) What were the reasons for starting the Khilafat Movement?

Or,

How did the Khilafat issue become part of the National Movement?

Ans.

• With the defeat of Ottoman Turkey in the First World War, there were rumors that a harsh peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor (the Khalifa).
• Muslims all over the world began to support the temporal powers of the Khalifa. In India too Khilafat Committee was formed under the leadership of Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali.
• At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920 he convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat and Swaraj.

Q. No. 8) a. Why did Gandhiji consider nonviolence as supreme dharma?

Ans. Gandhiji adopted nonviolence as a philosophy and an ideal way of life. According to him, the philosophy of nonviolence is not a weapon of the weak; it is a weapon that can be tried by all.

b. How was Gandhian satyagraha taken by the people who believed in his philosophy?

Ans. A satyagrahi does not inflict pain on the adversary; he does not seek his destruction. In the use of satyagraha, there is no ill will.

c. Why was Gandhian satyagraha considered a novel way to resist injustice?

Ans. Gandhian Satyagraha was considered a novel way to resist injustice because:

• One could win the battle through nonviolence.
• This could be done by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor.
• People – including the oppressors – had to be persuaded to see the truth, instead of being forced to accept the truth through the use of violence.

Q. No. 9) How did the Non-Cooperation Movement unfold in the cities and towns of India?

Or,

The middle classes played an important role in the Non-Cooperation Movement in the cities. Explain.

Ans.

• The movement started with middle-class participation in the cities.
• Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges
• Headmasters and teachers resigned.
• Lawyers gave up their legal practices.
• The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras.
• Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires.
• Merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods.
• Production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.

Q. No. 10) ‘The Non-Cooperation Movement in the cities gradually slowed down for a variety of reasons’. Examine the reasons.

Ans. The Non-Cooperation Movement in the cities gradually slowed down because:

• Khadi cloth was more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it.
• The boycott of British institutions failed because Indian institutions could not be set up in place of the British ones.
• Students and teachers began trickling back to government schools.
• The lawyers too joined back work in government courts.

Q. No. 11) How did the peasants of Awadh use different methods to achieve their goal? Explain with examples.

Ans.

• Peasants of Awadh were led by Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi. The movement was against talukdars and landlords. The landlords and talukdars demanded exorbitantly high rents and other cesses.
• Peasants had to do beggar (unpaid work) and work at landlords’ farms without any payment.
• As tenants they had no security of tenure, being regularly evicted.
• The peasant movement demanded a reduction of revenue, the abolition of beggar, and a social boycott of oppressive landlords.
• In many places, nai-dhobi bandhs were organized by panchayats to deprive landlords of the services of barbers and watermen.
• Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up and headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra, and a few others.
• In 1921, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked, bazaars were looted and grain hoards were taken over.

Q. No. 12) Explain any three causes that led the tribals to revolt in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.

Ans. The causes that led the tribals to revolt in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh were:

• The colonial government had closed large forest areas preventing people from entering the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuelwood and fruits. This enraged the hill people.
• Not only were their livelihoods affected but they felt that their traditional rights were being denied.
• When the government began forcing them to contribute beggar (work without payment) for road building, the hill people revolted.

Q. No. 13) Explain the role played by tribal peasants in the Gudem Hills of  Andhra Pradesh during the Non-Cooperation movement.

Or,

Who was Alluri Sitaram Raju? Explain his role in inspiring the rebels with Gandhiji's ideas.

Or,

“Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and the idea of swaraj in another way and participated in the Non-Cooperation differently.” Justify the statement.

Or,

Describe the role of Alluri Sitaram Raju in Andhra Pradesh during the 1920s.

Ans. Alluri Sitaram Raju was a tribal leader in the Gudem hills of Andhra Pradesh.

• He started a militant guerrilla movement in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
• The tribal people were against colonial policies. Their livelihood was affected and their traditional rights were denied.
• Their leader Alluri Sitaram Raju was inspired by Gandhiji’s Non-Cooperation movement and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking.
• He claimed that he had a variety of special powers like making astrological predictions, healing people, and surviving bullet shots.
• He persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking.
• But at the same time, he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence.

Q. No. 14) What did the Inland Emigrating Act of 1859 declare?

Ans. Plantation workers would not leave tea gardens without permission.

Q. No. 15) Explain the meaning and notion of swaraj as perceived by the plantation workers. How did they respond to the call of the Non-Cooperation movement?

Ans. Meaning of Swaraj for Plantation workers: For plantation workers in Assam, Swaraj meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed, and it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come.

• Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission, and in fact, they were rarely given such permission.
• When they heard of the Non-Cooperation movement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left the plantations, and headed home.
• They believed that Gandhi Raj was coming, and everyone would be given land in their own villages.
• They, however, never reached their destination. Stranded on the way by a railway and steamer strike, they were caught by the police and brutally beaten up.

Q. No. 16) Why did Gandhiji decide to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922?

Ans. Gandhiji decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922 because:

• The movement was turning violent in many places.
• He felt that the satyagrahis needed to be properly trained before they would be ready for mass struggles.

Q. No. 17) ‘Salt is something that is consumed by the rich and the poor alike across India.’ Which step by Viceroy Irwin enraged Gandhi to launch a nationwide protest movement using this essential item as a symbol?

Ans.

• On 31 January 1930, Gandhiji sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating 11 demands, the most stirring of which was the demand to abolish the salt tax.
• Salt was one of the most essential items of food. Tax on salt and the government monopoly over its production, Gandhi declared, revealed the most oppressive face of British rule.
• Irwin was unwilling to negotiate and so, Mahatma Gandhi started his famous 240 miles long Salt March accompanied by 78 of his trusted volunteers.

Q. No. 18) Write down the features of the Civil Disobedience Movement. How was this different from Non-Cooperation Movement?

Ans. Features of the Civil Disobedience Movement:

• The movement started with Salt March.
• Thousands broke salt law.
• Foreign clothes were boycotted.
• Liquor shops were picketed.
• Peasants refused to pay taxes.

People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British but also to break colonial laws.

Q. No. 19) The Civil Disobedience Movement saw the participation of different social classes and groups. Give reasons for the participation of the following:

1. Rich peasants
2. Poor peasants
3. Business classes
4. Industrial working classes
5. Women

Ans. The reasons for the participation of various social classes and groups in the Civil Disobedience Movement are as follows:

1. Rich peasants: Rich peasant communities like the Patidars of Gujarat & the Jats of Uttar Pradesh joined the movement because being producers of commercial crops they were hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices. The refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand made them fight against high revenues.
2. Poor peasants: Joined the movement because they found it difficult to pay rent. They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted.
3. Business class: They reacted against colonial policies that restricted activities because they were keen on expanding their business and for this, they wanted protection against imports of foreign goods. They thought that Swaraj would cancel colonial restrictions and that trade would flourish without restrictions. They also wanted protection against the rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio. They formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
4. Industrial working class: They did not participate in large numbers except in the Nagpur region. Some workers did participate, selectively adopting some of the Gandhian programs, like boycotts of foreign goods, as a part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions.
5. Women: There was large-scale participation of women in the movement. They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many went to jail.

Q. No. 20) How did the Indian merchants and industrialists relate themselves to the Civil Disobedience Movement? Explain.

Ans.

• Indian merchants and industrialists were keen on expanding their businesses and reacted against colonial policies that restricted business activities.
• They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.
• To organize business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
• Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, the industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods.
• Most businessmen wanted to flourish in trade without constraints.

Q. No. 21) Why did Gandhiji relaunch the Civil Disobedience Movement after the Second Round Table Conference?

Or,

Why did Mahatma Gandhi relaunch the Civil Disobedience Movement with great apprehension? Explain.

Ans. Gandhiji relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement after the Second Round Table Conference because:

1. When Mahatma Gandhiji went to the Round Table Conference in December 1931, he returned disappointed as the negotiations were broken down.
2. Back in India, he discovered that the government had begun a new cycle of repression.
3. Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were both in jail
4. The Congress had been declared illegal.
5. A series of measures had been imposed to prevent meetings, demonstrations, and boycotts.

Q. No. 22) Explain the limitations of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Ans. The limitations of the Civil Disobedience Movement were:

• Half-hearted participation of untouchables. Congress had ignored the Dalits for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus.
• After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from Congress.
• As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, each community organized religious processions with militant fervor. This provoked Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots in various cities.

Q. No. 23) Describe the views of Mahatma Gandhi on untouchability and the efforts made by him to get Harijans their rights.

Ans.

• Mahatma Gandhi was against untouchability. He declared that Swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated. He called the ‘Untouchables’ harijan or the children of God.
• He organized satyagraha to secure their entry into temples, and access to the public wells, tanks, roads, and schools.
• He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the sweepers.
• He persuaded the upper caste to change their heart and give up ‘the sin of untouchability’.

Q. No. 24) Describe the main features of the Poona Pact.

Ans. The Poona Pact of September 1932 gave the Depressed Classes (Schedule Castes) reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate.

Q. No. 25) “Some of the Muslims political organizations in India were lukewarm in their response to the Civil Disobedience Movement.” Examine the statement.

Ans.

• Large sections of Muslims were lukewarm in their response to the Civil Disobedience movement.
• The decline of Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements led to the alienation of Muslims from Congress.
• From the mid-1920s, the Congress was seen to be visibly associated with Hindu nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.
• Relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened and communal riots took place.
• The Muslim League gained prominence with its claim of representing Muslims and demanding a separate electorate for them.

Q. No. 26) “The sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of united struggles, the role of folklore, songs, icons, & images.” Analyze the statement.

Or,

How did people belonging to different communities, regions, or language groups develop a sense of collective belonging in 19th-century India? Explain.

Ans.

• The identity of the nation is most often symbolized by the image of Bharat Mata.
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland.
• Moved by the Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted Bharat Mata and portrayed it as an ascetic figure. She is shown as calm, composed, divine, and spiritual.
• Ideas of nationalism also developed through a movement to revive Indian folklore.
• Icons and symbols in unifying people and inspire in them a feeling of nationalism.
• During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolor flag (red, green, and yellow) was designed.
• Reinterpretation of history to instill a sense of pride in the nation.

Q. No. 27) Who painted the picture of Bharat Mata given below? Mention some of its features.

Ans. Abanindranath Tagore painted the image given.

In this painting Bharat Mata is portrayed as an ascetic figure; she is calm, composed, divine, and spiritual.

Q. No. 28) How reinterpretation of history created a sense of collective belongingness among the different communities of India?

Ans.

• By the end of the nineteenth century many Indians began feeling that to instill a sense of pride in the nation, Indian history had to be thought about differently.
• The British saw Indians as backward and primitive, incapable of governing themselves.
• In response, Indians began looking into the past to discover India’s great achievements. They wrote about the glorious developments in ancient times when art and architecture, science and mathematics, religion and culture, law and philosophy, and crafts and trade flourished.
• These nationalist histories urged the readers to take pride in India’s great achievements in the past and struggle to change the miserable conditions of life under British rule.

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