In the first stage of the National Movement, which one among the following was not the demand of the Congress?
- (a)To increase the number of members of the Legislative Councils
- (b)To increase the number of members of the public representatives in the Councils
- (c)Separation of Executive and Judiciary
- (d)Unification of Executive and Judiciary
Correct — D, Unification of Executive and Judiciary. In its early/Moderate phase (1885 to around 1905), the Congress sought constitutional, gradualist reforms: expansion of the Legislative Councils, a greater share of elected/public representatives within them, and — crucially — SEPARATION of the executive from the judiciary, so that the same official would no longer act as both administrator and judge. 'Unification' of the two is the opposite of what the Moderates actually demanded.
- (a)To increase the number of members of the Legislative Councils — A genuine early Congress demand — enlarging the councils was central to Moderate constitutional agitation.
- (b)To increase the number of members of the public representatives in the Councils — A genuine early demand — more elected/non-official Indian members within those councils, not merely more seats overall.
- (c)Separation of Executive and Judiciary — A genuine early demand — Moderates wanted judicial functions removed from executive officials to ensure impartial justice; this was eventually implemented decades later.
The early/Moderate phase of the Indian National Congress (1885–1905) pursued constitutional methods — petitions, resolutions, delegations — for limited reforms rather than self-rule. Its core demands included: expanding and reforming the Legislative Councils, increasing elected Indian representation within them, reducing military expenditure, Indianising the civil services, and separating the judiciary from executive control. It did NOT ask to fuse (unify) executive and judicial functions — that would have run counter to the entire logic of the reform demand.
This is a 'spot the reversed option' question — three options are genuine Moderate-era asks, and the fourth simply inverts one of them (separation becomes unification). Recognising the logical inversion, rather than needing to recall an obscure fourth demand, is the fast way to the answer.
- Moderate-phase (1885–1905) INC demands: expand Legislative Councils, more elected/public representatives, separate executive from judiciary, Indianise civil services
- Separation — not unification — of executive and judiciary was a core Moderate demand
- Moderates worked through constitutional means; they did not demand self-rule or Purna Swaraj at this stage
- Full separation of judiciary from executive was formally implemented only much later, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
The Moderate-phase Congress wanted the executive and judiciary kept apart, not fused.
- Being lured into recalling an obscure 'real' fourth demand instead of spotting that one option simply inverts another
- Assuming the Moderates asked for self-rule this early — they did not
MPPSC/UPSC often frame this as a 'which was NOT a demand' negative question, with one option being a straightforward reversal of another — read all four options as a set before answering.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following was a genuine demand of the Indian National Congress during its Moderate phase (1885–1905)?
- (a)Purna Swaraj
- (b)Expansion of the Legislative Councils
- (c)Boycott of British goods
- (d)Armed revolution
Answer(b) Expansion of the Legislative Councils — the other options belong to the later Extremist/Gandhian phases of the movement.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Moderate-phase demand for 'Indianisation of services' mainly targeted:
- (a)The judiciary
- (b)The higher civil services (ICS)
- (c)The police
- (d)The army
Answer(b) The higher civil services (ICS) — Moderates pushed for greater Indian entry into the ICS, including simultaneous exams held in India.