CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 66 of 120

Correct — B, Awadh. The sentence is quoted in NCERT's chapter on the Revolt of 1857 exactly as the paper gives it: ‘In 1851 Governor General Lord Dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as “a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day”. Five years later, in 1856, the kingdom was formally annexed to the British Empire.’ The image is of fruit that only has to be waited for, and it fits how the takeover actually worked. A Subsidiary Alliance had been forced on Awadh in 1801: the Nawab disbanded his own army, paid for British troops stationed in his territory, and took the advice of a British Resident at his court. Stripped of soldiers, he could not control his own taluqdars, and the resulting disorder became the stated ground for removing him. The British had their own reasons for wanting the province — good soil for indigo and cotton, and a position that would make it the chief market of Upper India. Wajid Ali Shah was deposed on 7 February 1856 and exiled to Calcutta on the plea of misgovernment.

• (a)Delhi — Delhi was not annexed by Dalhousie. Bahadur Shah II still sat there as a pensioned Mughal emperor until the Revolt of 1857, after which the title was abolished.
• (c)Jhansi — Jhansi was taken in 1854, but under the Doctrine of Lapse after Raja Gangadhar Rao died without a natural heir — a different instrument, and not the state of the cherry remark.
• (d)Gwalior — Gwalior stayed a princely state under the Scindias right through to 1947. Its ruler sided with the British in 1857.

Dalhousie was Governor-General from 1848 to 1856 and presided over the last great phase of British territorial expansion in India. He used two instruments. The Doctrine of Lapse voided adoptions and took states whose rulers died without a natural heir — Satara in 1848, Jhansi and Nagpur in 1854. Awadh was taken on a different ground, alleged misgovernment, in 1856. The annexations left a reservoir of grievance among dispossessed rulers and their retainers, and in Awadh among the taluqdars whose estates were also settled away from them, which is why the province became the fiercest theatre of the revolt a year later.

The quotation is one of a small set of set-piece phrases from modern Indian history that examiners return to, so it pays to hold the wording and the state together. If the quotation escapes you, reason from the options: the question names a kingdom that dropped into British hands under Dalhousie, and of the four only Awadh was annexed in his time. There is a second reason the annexation matters. Wajid Ali Shah was popular in Lucknow, contrary to what the British assumed, and the grief at his exile was recorded by contemporaries — the man who wrote that ‘the life was gone out of the body’ was describing a city, not a court.

• NCERT records the remark under 1851, five years before the annexation of 1856.
• The Subsidiary Alliance was imposed on Awadh in 1801; the Nawab had to disband his forces, host British troops and accept a Resident's advice.
• Wajid Ali Shah was deposed on 7 February 1856 and exiled to Calcutta, the stated ground being misgovernment.
• The British wanted Awadh for its indigo and cotton soils and its position as a market for Upper India.
• Satara (1848), Jhansi and Nagpur (1854) were taken under the Doctrine of Lapse — a separate instrument from the one used against Awadh.

• Attributing the annexation of Awadh to the Doctrine of Lapse; the stated ground was misgovernment.
• Assuming Wajid Ali Shah was unpopular because the British said so; contemporary accounts record the opposite.
• Placing the cherry remark in 1856. Dalhousie made it in 1851, well before the annexation.

As a quotation-to-place question, or as a pairs item matching annexed states to the ground on which each was taken.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under which Governor-General were Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur annexed by the Doctrine of Lapse?

  • (a)Lord Wellesley
  • (b)Lord Dalhousie
  • (c)Lord Canning
  • (d)Lord Ripon

  Answer(b) Lord Dalhousie — Satara in 1848, Jhansi and Nagpur in 1854, all under the Doctrine of Lapse.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In which year was the Subsidiary Alliance imposed on Awadh?

  • (a)1765
  • (b)1801
  • (c)1836
  • (d)1856

  Answer(b) 1801 — the Nawab then disbanded his army, accepted British troops in his territory and a Resident at his court.