SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 7 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following pairs (Governor-General – Policy followed) is correctly matched?

(a)Lord Hastings – Anti-expansionist policy
(b)Marquis of Hastings – Followed fiscal conservatism
(c)Lord Wellesley – Pursued imperialist conquests
(d)Henry Dundas – Opposed Charter renewal

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Lord Wellesley, Governor-General from 1798 to 1805, expanded Company rule by war and treaty.

He defeated Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, taking Seringapatam in 1799, fought the Second Anglo-Maratha War from 1803, and bound Indian rulers through the subsidiary alliance. 'Pursued imperialist conquests' fits him → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Lord Hastings – Anti-expansionist policy — Lord Hastings (1813–1823) fought the Anglo-Nepalese War and the Third Anglo-Maratha War, which made British power supreme in India. That is the opposite of anti-expansionist.
(b)
Marquis of Hastings – Followed fiscal conservatism — Marquis of Hastings is the title Lord Hastings took in 1816, so this is the same Governor-General. His tenure is defined by the Nepal and Maratha wars, not by a policy of fiscal conservatism.
(d)
Henry Dundas – Opposed Charter renewal — Henry Dundas was never Governor-General; he became President of the Board of Control in London in June 1793. On 23 April 1793 he had already moved a Commons resolution pledging renewal of the Company's monopoly, so he backed renewal.

Concept

The stem pairs each name with a policy, so place each man first. Wellesley (1798–1805) and Lord Hastings (1813–1823) were Governors-General who enlarged British territory by war. Henry Dundas worked from London, as President of the Board of Control from 1793 to 1801.

Wellesley's signature tool was the subsidiary alliance: an Indian ruler kept a British force at his own cost, accepted a British Resident and could not deal with other powers without British consent.

Two options name one man. Francis Rawdon-Hastings was Earl of Moira when he became Governor-General in 1813 and was made Marquess of Hastings in 1816, so 'Lord Hastings' and 'Marquis of Hastings' are the same person.

Key facts

Lord Wellesley was Governor-General from 1798 to 1805.
Tipu Sultan died when Seringapatam was captured on 4 May 1799, in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Marquess of Hastings, was Governor-General from 1813 to 1823.
Henry Dundas was President of the Board of Control from 1793 to 1801.

Study next

The subsidiary alliance and the states brought under itThe Third Anglo-Maratha War and the suppression of the PindarisThe Charter Acts of 1793, 1813 and 1833

Common traps

Treating Lord Hastings and the Marquis of Hastings as two people: both name Francis Rawdon-Hastings.
Confusing Lord Hastings with Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal.
Accepting Henry Dundas as a Governor-General: he ran Indian affairs from London as President of the Board of Control.

Here Governors-General are matched to policies. Wellesley is the answer at 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.23, which asks who devised the subsidiary alliance.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 218 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.