RAS Pre 2021, held on 27 October 2021. Question text as printed in RPSC's booklet; answer as per RPSC's final answer key.

During the Quit India Movement, a girl named Kanaklata Barua led a public procession and defying the police, tried to enter the police station but was shot dead. This incident took place at -

Q: What is the answer to RAS Pre 2021 Q13?

(4). Correct — option (4), Gohpur. Kanaklata Barua was shot at Gohpur in Assam on 20 September 1942, while leading a procession to hoist the national flag at the police station. Women in the Indian Freedom Struggle (P. N. Chopra, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, 1975) says she "was shot dead while leading a procession to Gohpur police station to hoist the tricolour". She was a teenager: Wikipedia's article as of October 2021 gives her dates as 22 December 1924 to 20 September 1942. It says she belonged to the Mrityu Bahini, a group of youth from the Gohpur sub-division formed in answer to Gandhi's "Do or Die" call. NCERT's chapter "Nationalism in India" names her among the women of the Quit India Movement, with Matangini Hazra in Bengal and Rama Devi in Odisha. Kanaklata Barua — Gohpur police station, Assam, 1942.

(1)Sonitpur
(2)Midnapur
(3)Korapur
(4)Gohpur

Answer

(4)

Why

Correct — option (4), Gohpur.

Kanaklata Barua was shot at Gohpur in Assam on 20 September 1942, while leading a procession to hoist the national flag at the police station.

Women in the Indian Freedom Struggle (P. N. Chopra, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, 1975) says she "was shot dead while leading a procession to Gohpur police station to hoist the tricolour".

She was a teenager: Wikipedia's article as of October 2021 gives her dates as 22 December 1924 to 20 September 1942. It says she belonged to the Mrityu Bahini, a group of youth from the Gohpur sub-division formed in answer to Gandhi's "Do or Die" call.

NCERT's chapter "Nationalism in India" names her among the women of the Quit India Movement, with Matangini Hazra in Bengal and Rama Devi in Odisha.

Kanaklata Barua — Gohpur police station, Assam, 1942.

Why the others are wrong

(1)
Sonitpur — Sonitpur is the name of an Assam district, with its headquarters at Tezpur, not the place of the firing. The procession Kanaklata led was going to Gohpur police station.
In 2021 Gohpur lay in Biswanath district, created on 15 August 2015. When Kanaklata was born, her village Borangabari was in undivided Darrang district.
(2)
Midnapur — Midnapur (Midnapore) in Bengal is linked with a different woman of the Quit India Movement, Matangini Hazra, who was shot at Tamluk on 29 September 1942.
Chopra (1975) says she led a procession to the Tamluk Civil Court; Wikipedia says her procession set out to take over the Tamluk police station. Either way, the place is in Bengal, not Assam.
(3)
Korapur — Korapur is not the place the accounts give: Chopra (1975) and Wikipedia both send Kanaklata's procession to Gohpur.
A similar name, Koraput, is a district of Odisha. There Laxman Nayak led a procession to Mathili police station on 21 August 1942, and the police opened fire. He was hanged in Berhampur Jail on 29 March 1943.

Concept

The Quit India resolution was endorsed by the All India Congress Committee in Bombay on 8 August 1942, when Gandhi gave his "Do or Die" call. In Assam and Bengal, processions set out to hoist the national flag at a police station and a court.

NCERT names three women of this phase from the east: Matangini Hazra in Bengal, Kanaklata Barua in Assam and Rama Devi in Odisha.

Chopra's volume records the firings: Kanaklata Barua at Gohpur and Matangini Hazra at Tamluk (29 September 1942). Kanaklata Barua, born on 22 December 1924, was not yet eighteen.

RPSC's 2021 Prelims syllabus lists "The Freedom Struggle & Indian National Movement- its various stages, streams and important contributors, contributions from different parts of the country." under modern Indian history.

NCERT's account of the Quit India Movement names women from Bengal, Assam and Odisha. Tying each of them to a place keeps these regional events apart.

Key facts

Kanaklata Barua was shot dead on 20 September 1942 while leading a procession to Gohpur police station, Assam.
Matangini Hazra was shot at Tamluk, then in Midnapore district of Bengal, on 29 September 1942.
Laxman Nayak led a procession to Mathili police station in Koraput, Odisha, on 21 August 1942, and was hanged on 29 March 1943.
The AICC endorsed the Quit India resolution in Bombay on 8 August 1942 (NCERT).
In 2021 Gohpur was in Biswanath district of Assam, created on 15 August 2015.

Quit India martyrs and places

Kanaklata Barua→Gohpur police station, Assam — 20 September 1942

Matangini Hazra→Tamluk, Midnapore (Bengal) — 29 September 1942

Laxman Nayak→Mathili police station, Koraput (Odisha) — 21 August 1942

Option (4), Gohpur, is the answer. Sources: P. N. Chopra (1975); NCERT; Wikipedia as of October 2021.

Study next

Quit India Movement: the resolution of 8 August 1942 and its spreadMatangini Hazra and the Tamluk national governmentWomen in the Quit India Movement: Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta, Kanaklata BaruaLaxman Nayak and the tribal movement in KoraputQuit India Movement in Rajasthan's princely states

Common traps

Sonitpur is a district name; the stem asks the place of the incident, which was Gohpur.
Kanaklata Barua (Gohpur, Assam) and Matangini Hazra (Tamluk, Bengal) were both shot while leading flag processions in September 1942.
Korapur is not Koraput; the Koraput firing, at Mathili, involved Laxman Nayak.

A question can describe a freedom fighter's last act and ask where it took place, as this one does.

A question can also match Quit India martyrs to their regions, or ask who led a procession at a named place.

Related PYQs

UnlockIAS compared this question with questions from other RAS Prelims papers and found none similar enough to link.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
During the Quit India Movement, Matangini Hazra was shot dead at
- (a)Gohpur
- (b)Tamluk
- (c)Mathili
- (d)Tezpur
Answer(2) — Matangini Hazra was shot at Tamluk, in Midnapore district of Bengal, on 29 September 1942. Option (1), Gohpur, is where Kanaklata Barua was shot; option (3), Mathili, is where Laxman Nayak's procession met police fire; option (4), Tezpur, is the headquarters of Sonitpur district in Assam.
practice — not a real PYQ
Laxman Nayak led a procession to which police station on 21 August 1942 ?
- (a)Tamluk
- (b)Gohpur
- (c)Mathili
- (d)Borangabari
Answer(3) — Laxman Nayak of Koraput led a procession to Mathili police station, where the police opened fire. Option (1), Tamluk, is linked with Matangini Hazra; option (2), Gohpur, with Kanaklata Barua; option (4), Borangabari, is Kanaklata Barua's village.