MPSC 2023 Prelims Paper-I · Question 15 of 100

Correct — option (1), 'a and b only'. Annie Besant conducted the Home Rule agitation through two papers of her own, and they are statements a and b. New India was a daily: she acquired the Madras Standard in 1914 and renamed it, and it became the sharpest nationalist daily in the south, so sharp that the Madras government demanded securities from it and eventually moved against her under the Defence of India regulations. Common Weal was the weekly she began in the same year, more discursive in tone, carrying the argument for self-government as a matter of political principle. Between them a daily and a weekly gave her both the news columns and the space for sustained advocacy, and when she launched the Home Rule League in 1916 the campaign already had its press in place. Statement c, the Bombay Gazette, was an English-language Anglo-Indian paper of Bombay of an altogether different persuasion and was never hers. Statement d, the Telegraph, was not one of her papers either; the well-known Calcutta daily of that name is a foundation of a much later era. So the two statements that stand are a and b, and only option (1) takes exactly those. The wider point is that the Home Rule movement of 1916-18 was fought largely through newspapers on both wings: Besant used New India and Common Weal from Madras while Tilak used Kesari and Mahratta from Pune, and it was Besant's paper that drew the government's fire and led to her internment in June 1917 — an internment that made her so popular that she was elected president of the Congress at its Calcutta session in December of the same year.

• (2)b and c only — This option keeps Common Weal but exchanges New India for the Bombay Gazette, and both halves of the exchange are wrong. New India is the paper most closely identified with Besant's political work — the daily whose vigour brought the Madras government's action against her — so no correct answer can omit it. The Bombay Gazette, by contrast, was an established English-language paper of the Bombay Anglo-Indian world, not a nationalist organ and not Besant's. A candidate lands here by recognising two of the four printed titles as real newspapers and inferring that both real ones must be the answer. Existence is not ownership: the question asks which papers she used to put forward her thoughts on Home Rule.
• (3)a and d only — This option pairs New India, which is right, with the Telegraph, which is not. The Telegraph is included precisely because the name is familiar to any newspaper reader today, and familiarity is doing all the work — the Calcutta daily of that name belongs to a much later period and has no connection with the Home Rule agitation. The error to avoid is answering a historical question from present-day recognition. It is worth noting that this option would also require Besant's second paper, Common Weal, to be excluded, and Common Weal is the weekly she founded in the same year as she took over New India, so the two belong together in any correct answer.
• (4)a, b and c only — This is the near-miss, and the most instructive of the three. It takes the two genuine papers, New India and Common Weal, and then adds the Bombay Gazette, so a candidate who knows Besant's press correctly can still lose the mark by reasoning that a longer answer is a safer one. In combination questions the temptation to include one extra plausible item is the single commonest cause of error, and it is fatal in exactly the same way as omitting a correct one. The Bombay Gazette was an Anglo-Indian paper of Bombay and had no part in Besant's Home Rule campaign, which was conducted from Madras.

The Home Rule movement of 1915-18 filled the gap left by the Congress's caution during the First World War, and it did so through two leagues and four newspapers. Annie Besant, an Irishwoman who had come to India in 1893, become president of the Theosophical Society in 1907 and founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras, announced her intention in 1915 and launched her Home Rule League from Madras in 1916; her papers were New India, the daily she took over and renamed in 1914, and Common Weal, the weekly she started in the same year. Bal Gangadhar Tilak founded his Indian Home Rule League separately in April 1916 and worked through Kesari and Mahratta, with his league concentrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka, the Central Provinces and Berar while Besant's covered the rest of the country. The agitation demanded self-government within the empire, was carried on by lectures, pamphlets and branch organisation, and drew in men who would matter later, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jamnadas Dwarkadas among them. The government interned Besant in June 1917; the protest at her internment made her a national figure, she was released in September, and she presided over the Calcutta Congress in December 1917. The Montagu declaration of August 1917 was, in part, an answer to this agitation.

Newspapers are one of MPSC's most heavily worked topics, in the Maharashtra chapter and in the all-India chapter alike, and the questions come in three shapes: who founded a named paper, which papers a named leader used, and which paper carried a particular movement's message. The combination format used here — four titles, of which two belong to the person named — is the hardest of the three, because a candidate who recognises three of the four titles as genuine newspapers can still be led into adding one that belongs to somebody else. The defence is to work from the leader outward rather than from the titles inward: list what you know Besant published before you look at the printed titles, and admit nothing you cannot attach to her. It is also worth pairing the two Home Rule leagues in memory, since MPSC asks about them together — Besant with New India and Common Weal from Madras, Tilak with Kesari and Mahratta from Pune — because the contrast makes both sets easier to hold.

• Annie Besant acquired the Madras Standard in 1914 and renamed it New India, running it as a nationalist daily; in the same year she began the weekly Common Weal.
• Her Home Rule League was launched from Madras in 1916, while Bal Gangadhar Tilak founded his separate Indian Home Rule League in April 1916 and worked through Kesari and Mahratta.
• The Madras government's action against New India under the wartime regulations culminated in Besant's internment in June 1917; she was released in September and presided over the Calcutta Congress in December 1917.
• The Bombay Gazette was an established English-language Anglo-Indian paper of Bombay and was never one of Besant's publications.
• Besant came to India in 1893, became president of the Theosophical Society in 1907 with its headquarters at Adyar, and founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras.

• Adding one extra plausible title to an otherwise correct combination, which is exactly what the longest option in this set invites
• Answering from present-day familiarity with a newspaper name rather than from its history; the Calcutta daily called the Telegraph belongs to a much later era
• Assuming that any real newspaper of the period must have belonged to the leader named in the stem; existence is not ownership
• Attaching Besant's papers to Tilak or the reverse; hers were New India and Common Weal from Madras, his Kesari and Mahratta from Pune

MPSC sets at least one newspaper question in most papers, and often more than one, because the topic supports so many formats — founder, editor, language, city, year, movement served. Annie Besant is asked about both as a Theosophist and as a Home Rule leader, and the Home Rule questions almost always involve either her two papers or the division of territory between her league and Tilak's. Combination questions like this one reward a candidate who can name what belongs to the person before reading the printed list, and punish one who tests each printed title for general plausibility. Expect the same material to appear as a match-the-columns item pairing papers with founders, and expect the Commission to print titles in slightly non-standard forms, as it does here with 'Common Weal' and with the hyphenated 'Annie-Besant'.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Annie Besant's Home Rule League was launched from which city, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Indian Home Rule League in which month and year ?

  • (a)Madras; April 1916
  • (b)Bombay; September 1916
  • (c)Madras; December 1917
  • (d)Calcutta; April 1916

  Answer(a) Madras; April 1916 — Tilak founded his Indian Home Rule League in April 1916 and worked mainly in Maharashtra, Karnataka and the Central Provinces and Berar, while Besant's league, launched from Madras later in the same year, covered the rest of the country. Besant was interned in June 1917 and presided over the Calcutta Congress in December 1917.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The newspaper New India, used by Annie Besant for the Home Rule campaign, was created by renaming which existing paper ?

  • (a)The Madras Standard
  • (b)The Bombay Gazette
  • (c)The Hindu
  • (d)The Indian Mirror

  Answer(a) The Madras Standard — Besant acquired it in 1914 and renamed it New India, running it as a daily alongside her weekly Common Weal. The Bombay Gazette was an established Anglo-Indian paper of Bombay and had no connection with her campaign, which is why it is the standard distractor in questions about her press.