CDS (II) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 69 of 120

Correct — D, Karachi Session. The Resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy was passed at the Karachi session of the Congress at the end of March 1931, presided over by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It was drafted by Jawaharlal Nehru with editorial changes by Gandhi, and it ran to about twenty points: freedom of speech, press, assembly and association; equality before the law irrespective of caste, creed or sex; neutrality of the state in matters of religion; universal adult franchise; free and compulsory primary education; a living wage and protection for labour; and state ownership or control of key industries, mines, transport and shipping. It was the first time the Congress set out what a free India would guarantee its citizens rather than only what it wanted from the British, and much of it resurfaces in the Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of the Constitution.

• (a)Tripuri Session — The Tripuri session of 1939 is remembered for the crisis over Subhas Chandra Bose, who had defeated Pattabhi Sitaramayya for the presidency and resigned soon after in the face of the Pant resolution.
• (b)Lahore Session — The Lahore session of December 1929 adopted Purna Swaraj as the goal and fixed 26 January 1930 as Independence Day. It is the session most often confused with Karachi, because both belong to the same phase.
• (c)Lucknow Session — The Lucknow session of 1916 saw the reunion of the Moderates and the Extremists and the Congress-League pact. It is a quarter of a century too early for a fundamental-rights resolution.

The Karachi session met immediately after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931 and was called mainly to endorse it and to authorise Congress participation in the Second Round Table Conference. The session is remembered instead for the Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy resolution, which turned the Congress from a body demanding constitutional concessions into one setting out a social and economic programme. The session was also overshadowed by the execution of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on 23 March 1931, days before it opened.

The safest way to sort these sessions is by the one act each is remembered for: Lucknow 1916 for the Congress-League pact, Lahore 1929 for Purna Swaraj, Karachi 1931 for fundamental rights and economic policy, Tripuri 1939 for the Bose crisis. Note that the exact wording is worth attention — some papers print the resolution's title as 'Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy' and others as 'Fundamental Rights and Economic Programme'. Both refer to the same Karachi document. Dating is also slightly elastic: Bipan Chandra records the Congress meeting on 29 March 1931, while the Nehru papers date the document itself to 31 March, so 'the end of March 1931' is the honest formulation.

• The Karachi session met at the end of March 1931 under the presidency of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• The Resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy was drafted by Jawaharlal Nehru, with editorial changes by Gandhi.
• It guaranteed civil liberties, equality before the law irrespective of caste, creed or sex, state neutrality in religion, universal adult franchise and free primary education.
• On the economic side it promised a living wage, limits on working hours, protection for women workers, and state ownership or control of key industries, mines and transport.
• The session also endorsed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and met days after the execution of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on 23 March 1931.

• Attaching the resolution to the Lahore session because Purna Swaraj feels like the bigger landmark of the same years.
• Crediting Patel with drafting it. He presided; Nehru drafted.
• Treating 'Economic Policy' and 'Economic Programme' as two different resolutions.

As a session-to-event match, or as a 'who drafted it' item on the same resolution.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy adopted at Karachi in 1931 was drafted by

  • (a)Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
  • (b)Jawaharlal Nehru
  • (c)Rajendra Prasad
  • (d)Maulana Azad

  Answer(b) Jawaharlal Nehru — Patel presided over the session; Nehru drafted the resolution, with editorial changes by Gandhi.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  At which session did the Indian National Congress adopt Purna Swaraj as its goal?

  • (a)Karachi, 1931
  • (b)Lahore, 1929
  • (c)Calcutta, 1928
  • (d)Madras, 1927

  Answer(b) Lahore, 1929 — the session presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, which also fixed 26 January 1930 as Independence Day.