Arrange the following events in a chronological order and select correct answer from the codes given below : I. Poona Pact II. Gandhi-Irvin Agreement III. Cripps Mission IV. Civil Disobedience Movement Codes :
- (a)IV, II, III, I
- (b)II, IV, I, III
- (c)IV, II, I, III
- (d)III, I, IV, II
Correct — C, IV, II, I, III. The four events fall in a single unbroken sequence. IV. The Civil Disobedience Movement opened with Gandhi's Dandi March, which began on 12 March 1930 and reached the sea at Dandi on 6 April 1930, when the salt law was broken. II. The Gandhi-Irwin Agreement, signed at Delhi on 5 March 1931, suspended that movement and brought the Congress to the Second Round Table Conference. I. The Poona Pact was signed at Yerwada jail, Poona, on 24 September 1932, ending Gandhi's fast against the separate electorates for the Depressed Classes that the Communal Award had granted. III. The Cripps Mission came last: Sir Stafford Cripps reached India in March 1942 and his proposals were rejected by the Congress, after which the Quit India Movement followed in August 1942. So 1930 → 1931 → 1932 → 1942, that is IV, II, I, III.
- (a)IV, II, III, I — The first two are right, but this puts the Cripps Mission (1942) before the Poona Pact (1932) — a gap of a decade in the wrong direction. Cripps is the last of the four events, not the third.
- (b)II, IV, I, III — It places the Gandhi-Irwin Agreement before the Civil Disobedience Movement. That reverses cause and effect: the pact of 5 March 1931 was signed precisely in order to suspend the movement that had been running since March 1930.
- (d)III, I, IV, II — It begins with the Cripps Mission, which is the latest event of the four (1942), and ends with the Gandhi-Irwin Agreement (1931). The whole sequence is close to being inverted.
These four items belong to the last phase of the national movement and are causally linked, not merely consecutive. The Civil Disobedience Movement (1930) forced the government to negotiate, producing the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931) — the truce under which political prisoners not guilty of violence were released, coastal villagers were allowed to make salt for their own use, and Gandhi went to London for the Second Round Table Conference. The failure of that conference and Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award of August 1932, which gave separate electorates to the Depressed Classes, provoked Gandhi's fast unto death and the Poona Pact of September 1932, by which separate electorates were replaced with seats reserved for the Depressed Classes inside joint electorates. A decade later, with Japan at India's eastern frontier, the British War Cabinet sent Cripps in March 1942 with an offer of Dominion status after the war and a constitution-making body — an offer the Congress rejected, opening the road to Quit India.
Chronology questions are quickest to solve by finding one impossible ordering rather than dating everything. Here the pair to test is Civil Disobedience and Gandhi-Irwin: a pact that suspends a movement cannot precede it, so any code beginning with II is out, which removes (b). Cripps in 1942 is the obvious outlier and must be last, which removes (a) and (d). Only (c) survives, without your having to remember whether the Poona Pact came in 1932 or 1933. Note also the paper's spelling 'Gandhi-Irvin', which is the usual Indian rendering of Irwin, the Viceroy Lord Irwin (later Lord Halifax).
- Civil Disobedience Movement — launched with the Dandi March, 12 March 1930; the salt law was broken at Dandi on 6 April 1930.
- Gandhi-Irwin Pact — 5 March 1931; Congress suspended civil disobedience and agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference, and the government released political prisoners not convicted of violence.
- Poona Pact — 24 September 1932, at Yerwada jail; joint electorates with reserved seats for the Depressed Classes replaced the separate electorates promised by the Communal Award of 16 August 1932.
- Cripps Mission — March 1942; Sir Stafford Cripps offered Dominion status after the war and a constitution-making body, with the right of provinces not to accede; the Congress rejected it.
- Order: 1930 Civil Disobedience → 1931 Gandhi-Irwin → 1932 Poona Pact → 1942 Cripps Mission.
- 12 March 1930 — Civil Disobedience Movement begins with the Dandi March (item IV)
- 5 March 1931 — Gandhi-Irwin Pact suspends the movement and takes Congress to the Second Round Table Conference (item II)
- 16 August 1932 — Communal Award grants separate electorates to the Depressed Classes; Gandhi begins his fast
- 24 September 1932 — Poona Pact: joint electorates with reserved seats replace separate electorates (item I)
- March 1942 — Cripps Mission arrives; its proposals are rejected, and Quit India follows in August 1942 (item III)
Answer (c): IV, II, I, III — the Cripps Mission, a decade after the other three, is the last event of the four.
- Putting the Gandhi-Irwin Pact before the Civil Disobedience Movement — the pact exists only because the movement did.
- Confusing the Communal Award (16 August 1932) with the Poona Pact (24 September 1932); the Award came first, the Pact modified it.
- Slipping the Cripps Mission back into the 1930s — it belongs to March 1942, in the middle of the Second World War.
UPPSC asks the bare sequence with roman-numeral codes and often mixes one wartime item into three interwar ones; UPSC prefers statement-based questions on what a particular pact or mission actually provided.
85. What is the correct sequence of the following events? I. The Lucknow Pact II. The Introduction of Dyarchy III. The Rowlatt Act IV. The Partition of Bengal Choose the correct answer from the codes given below:
- (a) I, II, III, IV
- (b) IV, I, III, II
- (c) I, III, II, IV
- (d) IV, III, II, I
Answer(b) IV, I, III, II
The identical exercise on an earlier stretch of the freedom struggle — order four landmark events by date using roman-numeral codes.
The Poona Pact which was signed between the British Government and Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 provided for
- (a) the creation of dominion status for India
- (b) separate electorates for the Muslims
- (c) separate electorate for the Harijans
- (d) joint electorate with reservation for Harijans
Answer(d) joint electorate with reservation for Harijans
Item I of this UPPSC sequence examined on its content — what the Poona Pact of September 1932 actually settled about electorates for the Depressed Classes.
Consider the following events and arrange them into chronological order : I. Sharda Act II. Nehru Report III. Constitution of Simon Commission IV. Dandi March Select the correct answer using the codes given below. Codes :
- (a) III, II, I and IV
- (b) I, II, III and IV
- (c) IV, III, II and I
- (d) I, IV, II and III
Answer(a) III, II, I and IV
UPPSC repeating the same format two years later, and ending where this 2019 question begins — the Dandi March that launched the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Poona Pact of 1932 provided for which one of the following?
- (a)Separate electorates for the Depressed Classes
- (b)Joint electorates with seats reserved for the Depressed Classes
- (c)Reservation of posts in the civil services for the Depressed Classes
- (d)Universal adult franchise in the provincial legislatures
Answer(b) Joint electorates with seats reserved for the Depressed Classes — the pact of 24 September 1932 replaced the separate electorates offered by the Communal Award with reserved seats inside a common electorate.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following was an outcome of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931?
- (a)The Congress agreed to join the interim government
- (b)The Congress agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference
- (c)Provincial autonomy was granted to British India
- (d)The Rowlatt Act was repealed
Answer(b) The Congress agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference — in return the Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended and political prisoners not convicted of violence were released.