BPSC 71st CCE Prelims General Studies · Question 85 of 150

Correct — D, None of the above. The question fails on two independent grounds, and BPSC revised its own key to say so: the provisional key marked (c), Shri Krishna Singh, and the final key of 31 October 2025 moved the answer to (d). The Commission's stated reason is the first ground — Sri Krishna Sinha had been Premier since 1937, 'Premier' carries the sense of 'chief', and no post of Chief Minister was created in 1939. That is the constitutional point. Under the Government of India Act 1935, which introduced provincial autonomy and abolished dyarchy in the provinces, the head of a provincial ministry was styled Premier — Prime Minister in some provinces — answerable to the provincial legislature but working under a Governor who retained special responsibilities. The designation 'Chief Minister' belongs to independent India, and Sri Krishna Sinha is recorded as Bihar's FIRST Chief Minister only from 1947, not 1939. The second ground is chronological, and it is the one that finishes off the tempting option. Even if you generously read 'Chief Minister' as loose shorthand for head of government, nobody became head of the Bihar government in March 1939. Sri Krishna Sinha formed his cabinet at Patna on 20 July 1937, succeeding Mohammad Yunus (1884–1952), who had led the province's short-lived first ministry, and he held the office until 31 October 1939, when the ministry went out with the rest of the Congress provincial governments and Bihar passed to Governor's rule. March 1939 sits in the middle of that unbroken term. There was one mid-term crisis — Sinha and his Deputy Premier Anugrah Narayan Sinha resigned over the Governor's refusal to release political prisoners — but the Governor conceded, the prisoners at the Cellular Jail were released, the Bihar Tenancy Act was reformed in the tenants' favour, and the same two men resumed the same two offices. Even that episode produced no new head of government. So no office of that name existed, and no succession occurred: (d) is the only possible key.

• (a)Anugraha Narain Singh — Anugrah Narayan Sinha (18 June 1887 – 5 July 1957), 'Bihar Vibhuti', was in the Bihar ministry throughout this period — but as Deputy Premier and Finance Minister from 20 July 1937, never as its head. He was later Bihar's first Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister from 1946 to 1957, and Gandhi in 1940 called him the second Satyagrahi of Bihar after Sri Krishna Sinha. Deputy in 1937, deputy in 1946: at no point, in March 1939 or otherwise, did he head the province.
• (b)Rajendra Prasad — The subtlest wrong answer, because a real 1939 leadership change involving a Bihari does exist — it is just a different office in a different month. Subhas Chandra Bose, re-elected Congress President on 29 January 1939 — the date of the election, over Gandhi's candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya, and not of the Tripuri session, which met near Jabalpur that March, resigned on 29 April 1939, and Rajendra Prasad took over as President of the Indian National Congress. That is the party's national presidency in late April, not the province's premiership in March. Rajendra Prasad never headed a Bihar ministry; he went on to preside over the Constituent Assembly and to become the first President of India.
• (c)Shri Krishna Singh — The option the provisional key marked, and the one the question is built to attract, and it fails on the stem's own verb. Sri Krishna Sinha (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961) — Shri Babu, Bihar Kesari — did hold the office in March 1939, but he did not BECOME anything then: he had held it continuously since 20 July 1937 and went on holding it until 31 October 1939. He was also not called Chief Minister; that title came to him only after independence, when he became Bihar's first Chief Minister and, in office, the first head of a State government in India to abolish the zamindari system.

The Government of India Act 1935 rebuilt the provinces. It abolished dyarchy there, created eleven Governor's provinces with full provincial autonomy, and made the provincial ministry responsible to an elected legislature — but it kept a Governor above that ministry with discretionary powers and 'special responsibilities', which is why the Congress at first refused office after winning the 1937 elections and took it only once assurances about the use of those powers were given. The ministries were sworn in from July 1937. The head of such a ministry was the Premier, or in some provinces the Prime Minister; 'Chief Minister' is a post-independence designation. Bihar's own institutions were rebuilt by the same Act: the legislature became bicameral, the first Bihar Legislative Council was constituted on 22 July 1936 with thirty members under chairman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, and the first joint session of the two houses met on 22 July 1937 with Ram Dayalu Singh as Speaker of the Assembly. The experiment lasted twenty-seven months. On 3 September 1939 the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, declared India a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting a single Indian representative body; the Congress ministries resigned in protest in October and November 1939, Bihar's on 31 October, and the provinces passed to Governor's rule. Congress ministers returned only in 1946.

Treat this as a two-lock question: the stem names an OFFICE and a DATE, and the answer has to satisfy both. Check the office first. What existed in Bihar in 1939 was the Premier of Bihar province under the Government of India Act 1935, and the Commission's remark makes the office name the ground of its ruling — 'Chief Minister' had not been created. Then check the date, because that is what disposes of the one option candidates actually pick. Sri Krishna Sinha's term ran 20 July 1937 to 31 October 1939 without a change of head; the stem's verb is 'became', and nobody became head of the Bihar government in March 1939. That pairing — an office that did not exist yet, plus a succession that never happened — is what makes 'None of the above' the only survivor. The single most useful discriminating habit here is to distrust a specific month attached to a fact you only know by year. '1939' is a real and famous Bihar date, because that is when the ministry fell — but it fell in October, over the war, not in March. The same distrust catches option (b): a Bihari did take high office in 1939, but it was Rajendra Prasad becoming Congress President at the end of April, a party post, not a government one. And note the paper-level pattern this question shares with question 84 immediately before it: across the 150 questions, 'None of the above' or 'None of these' is offered eight times and is the key four times in the Commission's final key, twice as a result of the revision itself.

• Under the Government of India Act 1935 the head of a provincial ministry was styled Premier — Prime Minister in some provinces — and the designation Chief Minister belongs to independent India; the Commission's own remark on this question states that no post of Chief Minister was created in 1939.
• Sri Krishna Sinha (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), known as Shri Babu and Bihar Kesari, formed his cabinet at Patna and became Premier of Bihar province on 20 July 1937, succeeding Mohammad Yunus (1884–1952), who had headed the province's short-lived first ministry; his term ran unbroken to 31 October 1939, after which Bihar came under Governor's rule.
• The Congress provincial ministries resigned in October–November 1939 because the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, declared India a belligerent against Germany on 3 September 1939 without consulting Indian opinion.
• Anugrah Narayan Sinha was Deputy Premier and Finance Minister in the ministry sworn in on 20 July 1937, and Bihar's first Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister from 1946 to 1957; Sri Krishna Sinha headed the ministry formed in April 1946, became Bihar's first Chief Minister after independence, and served until his death on 31 January 1961 — the first head of a State government in India to abolish the zamindari system.
• The 1935 Act made Bihar's legislature bicameral: the first Bihar Legislative Council was set up on 22 July 1936 with thirty members under chairman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, and the first joint session of the two houses met on 22 July 1937, with Ram Dayalu Singh as Speaker of the Assembly.

• Answering 'Shri Krishna Singh' because he was in fact the head of government at that date — the stem's verb is 'became', and he had already held the office since 20 July 1937 and continued to 31 October 1939
• Assuming the office was called Chief Minister before independence — under the 1935 Act it was Premier, and Bihar's first Chief Minister took that title only in 1947
• Attaching '1939' to March — the Bihar ministry's real 1939 event is its resignation on 31 October over India's entry into the war, and Rajendra Prasad's 1939 event is becoming Congress President at the end of April

BPSC likes the false-premise question: it builds a stem on an office that did not exist at the stated date, offers three genuine Bihar leaders as bait, and expects the candidate to reject the premise instead of picking the closest name — and when candidates object, it corrects the key rather than deleting the item. UPSC handles the same ground through cause and consequence: what the 1935 Act provided for, why the Congress ministries resigned in 1939, whether the Viceroy's war declaration explains that resignation. It states the year and asks you to explain it; BPSC states a month and asks whether it happened at all.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Government of India Act, 1935, the head of a provincial ministry was designated as

  • (a)Chief Minister
  • (b)Premier
  • (c)Governor
  • (d)Chief Secretary

  Answer(b) Premier — in some provinces the title used was Prime Minister. 'Chief Minister' is a post-independence designation; the Governor was the Crown's appointee above the ministry, not its head.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Sri Krishna Sinha formed the first Congress ministry of Bihar province at Patna on

  • (a)1 April 1937
  • (b)20 July 1937
  • (c)15 August 1947
  • (d)26 January 1950

  Answer(b) 20 July 1937 — he held the office until 31 October 1939, when the Congress ministries resigned over India's entry into the Second World War. 15 August 1947 is when he became Bihar's first Chief Minister.