SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 21 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 10 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.

The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy devised by which of the following Governor-Generals of India?

(a)Lord Mayo
(b)Lord Dalhousie
(c)Lord Wellesley
(d)Lord Canning

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Lord Dalhousie, Governor-General from 1848 to 1856, devised the Doctrine of Lapse: where a dependent ruler died without a natural heir the state lapsed to the Company, and an adopted son's claim was refused.

He applied it to Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur and Sambalpur, among others.

Awadh is the exception worth holding — annexed in 1856 on the ground of misgovernment, not lapse — and that qualification is why the policy itself pins to option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Lord Mayo — Lord Mayo was Viceroy from 1869 to 1872 and is remembered for financial decentralisation. Company annexation policy had already been abandoned more than a decade before he arrived.
(c)
Lord Wellesley — Lord Wellesley devised the Subsidiary Alliance, a different instrument — rulers kept their thrones but surrendered defence and foreign relations. Annexation by lapse came half a century later.
(d)
Lord Canning — Lord Canning was Governor-General during the Revolt of 1857 and became the first Viceroy under Crown rule. The Doctrine of Lapse was given up in his time, not framed by him.

Concept

The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation rule, not a war. Where a dependent ruler died without a natural heir, the Company declined to recognise an adopted successor and took the state.

Dalhousie pressed it hardest between 1848 and 1856, and the resentment it produced — most visibly at Jhansi, whose ruler Rani Lakshmibai lost her claim under it — fed directly into the Revolt of 1857.

It was abandoned after 1858, when the Crown's proclamation confirmed Indian princes in their right to adopt.

Two policies get swapped constantly. Subsidiary Alliance was Wellesley's and left rulers on their thrones, while the Doctrine of Lapse was Dalhousie's and removed them. The word annexation in the stem points to the second.

Key facts

Lord Dalhousie was Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856.
Under the Doctrine of Lapse a princely state without a natural heir lapsed to the East India Company, and adoption was not recognised.
Satara was annexed in 1848, Jhansi in 1853 and Nagpur in 1854 under this policy.
Awadh was annexed in 1856 on the ground of misgovernment rather than under the Doctrine of Lapse.

Study next

The Subsidiary Alliance system and the states that accepted itCauses of the Revolt of 1857 and the part played by annexation policyThe Government of India Act, 1858 and the shift from Company to Crown rule

Common traps

Attributing the annexation of Awadh to the Doctrine of Lapse
Swapping Wellesley and Dalhousie because both expanded British control, by different means

Modern history stems pair one Governor-General with one policy or reform. Compare 09 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.23 on who devised the Subsidiary Alliance, and 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.7 on the Governor-General who helped abolish sati.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.