SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 4 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following battles is considered the formal beginning of the British Raj in India?

(a)Battle of Buxar
(b)First Carnatic War
(c)Battle of Plassey
(d)Battle of Wandiwash

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Battle of Plassey, 1757 is the one textbooks treat as the formal beginning of British rule in India.

Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal with Mir Jafar's defection doing most of the work, and the Company then installed Mir Jafar as Nawab.

From that point the Company chose who ruled the richest province in India, which is what makes it a beginning rather than one more victory — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Battle of Buxar — Buxar, 1764 confirmed what Plassey began — it defeated the combined force of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daula and Shah Alam II and led to the Diwani in 1765. Confirmation, not commencement.
(b)
First Carnatic War — The First Carnatic War, 1746-48 was an Anglo-French contest, the Indian extension of the War of the Austrian Succession in Europe. It settled nothing about rule over Indians.
(d)
Battle of Wandiwash — Wandiwash, 1760 broke French power in India, not the power of an Indian ruler. It decided the Third Carnatic War and left the English without a European rival.

Concept

Two dates compete for the title of beginning.

Plassey (1757) gave the Company a Nawab of its choosing and the revenues of Bengal in practice. Buxar (1764) gave it the legal title — the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, the right to collect revenue, granted by the Mughal emperor in 1765.

A question asking for the beginning wants Plassey. A question asking when Company rule became lawful wants Buxar and the Diwani.

In its strict sense the phrase British Raj means Crown rule after 1858, when the Company was wound up by the Government of India Act. This stem uses it loosely for the start of British political ascendancy, and the key follows the usual textbook convention.

Key facts

The Battle of Plassey was fought in 1757 between Robert Clive and Siraj-ud-Daulah.
Mir Jafar's betrayal decided Plassey and he was made Nawab of Bengal afterwards.
The Battle of Buxar was fought in 1764 and led to the grant of the Diwani in 1765.
Crown rule, the British Raj in the strict sense, began in 1858.

Study next

Battle of Buxar and the Treaty of AllahabadThe three Carnatic Wars and Anglo-French rivalryDual government in Bengal between 1765 and 1772

Common traps

Answering Buxar because it was the more decisive battle — the stem asks for the beginning.
Dating the grant of the Diwani to 1764, the year of the battle, instead of 1765.

This family is asked by date as well as by name — 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.17 asks the year of the Battle of Buxar, and GA Q.7 of that same paper asks whom Humayun fought at Chausa.

Store each battle as a year, a pair of opponents and a consequence, because SSC will ask for any one of the three.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.