Consider the following events and arrange them in correct chronological order. 1. Poona Pact 2. End of Civil Disobedience Movement 3. Gandhi-Irwin Pact 4. Second Round Table Conference Select the correct answer from the code given below : Code :
- (a)3, 4, 2, 1
- (b)4, 3, 2, 1
- (c)4, 3, 1, 2
- (d)3, 4, 1, 2
Correct — D, 3, 4, 1, 2. Take the four events in their real order. (3) The Gandhi-Irwin Pact — also called the Delhi Pact — was signed on 5 March 1931: Gandhi agreed to suspend the Civil Disobedience Movement and to attend the next Round Table Conference, and the government agreed to withdraw the repressive ordinances and release prisoners not convicted of violence. (4) The Second Round Table Conference followed directly from that bargain and ran in London from 7 September to 1 December 1931, with Gandhi attending as the sole Congress representative; it deadlocked over separate representation for minorities and the Depressed Classes. (1) The Poona Pact came on 24 September 1932 — after Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award of 16 August 1932 granted separate electorates to the Depressed Classes and Gandhi began a fast unto death in Yerwada jail on 20 September, Gandhi and Dr B. R. Ambedkar settled on a joint electorate with reserved seats instead. (2) The end of the Civil Disobedience Movement came last: the movement was relaunched in January 1932 after Gandhi returned from London, was suspended in May 1933 and was formally withdrawn in April 1934. So 1931 → 1931 → 1932 → 1934, which is 3, 4, 1, 2.
- (a)3, 4, 2, 1 — The first two are right, but this places the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement before the Poona Pact. That is the classic slip: the Gandhi-Irwin Pact did stop the movement in March 1931, so 'the end' feels like a 1931 event. It was only a SUSPENSION — Gandhi relaunched civil disobedience in January 1932, and the movement was finally wound up in 1933-34, well after the Poona Pact of September 1932.
- (b)4, 3, 2, 1 — Two errors at once. It puts the Second Round Table Conference before the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, whereas Congress attended that conference only because of the pact, and it repeats the mistake of ending the movement before the Poona Pact. The first half is tempting only if you are thinking of the FIRST Round Table Conference (November 1930 - January 1931), which Congress boycotted.
- (c)4, 3, 1, 2 — The last two are correctly ordered, but the first two are reversed. The Second Round Table Conference (September-December 1931) came six months AFTER the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931; indeed one clause of the pact was the invitation to Congress to take part in it.
The four events belong to one continuous chain running from 1930 to 1934. The Civil Disobedience Movement opened with the Dandi March on 12 March 1930. Because Congress boycotted the First Round Table Conference (November 1930 - January 1931), that conference achieved nothing, and the government needed Congress at the table — hence the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931, which traded the suspension of the movement for Congress participation. The Second Round Table Conference then broke down on the question of who would represent the minorities and the Depressed Classes, which produced the Communal Award of August 1932, which produced Gandhi's fast and the Poona Pact of September 1932. Meanwhile the movement, restarted in January 1932 and met with mass repression, faded and was formally withdrawn in April 1934. Each event is the cause of the next, so the sequence can be reconstructed from the logic even if a date slips.
Sequencing questions are won on the pair that most candidates invert. Here there are two such pairs. First, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and the Second Round Table Conference are both 1931 events, and the only way to order them is to remember that the pact was the price of Congress's attendance — so pact first, conference second. Second, 'end of the Civil Disobedience Movement' is a 1934 marker, not a 1931 one; the 1931 event was a suspension that lasted less than a year. Fix three anchor dates and every UPPSC or UPSC question on this decade falls out: 1930 Dandi, 1931 pact and Second Round Table Conference, 1932 Communal Award and Poona Pact, 1934 withdrawal.
- Gandhi-Irwin (Delhi) Pact, 5 March 1931 — Congress to attend the Second Round Table Conference and suspend civil disobedience; ordinances withdrawn and prisoners not convicted of violence released. Gandhi's demand for a public enquiry into police excesses was refused
- Second Round Table Conference, 7 September - 1 December 1931, London — Gandhi was the sole Congress representative and the talks collapsed over minority and Depressed Classes representation
- Communal Award announced by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on 16 August 1932, extending separate electorates to the Depressed Classes
- Poona Pact, 24 September 1932 — Gandhi (fasting in Yerwada jail from 20 September) and Dr B. R. Ambedkar replaced separate electorates with a joint electorate carrying 148 reserved seats for the Depressed Classes in the provincial legislatures
- The Civil Disobedience Movement was relaunched in January 1932, suspended in May 1933 and formally withdrawn in April 1934; Gandhi left the Congress organisation later the same year
- The Karachi session of the Congress (March 1931) endorsed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and passed the resolution on Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programme
- 5 March 1931 — Gandhi-Irwin (Delhi) Pact: civil disobedience suspended, Congress agrees to attend the next Round Table Conference (event 3)
- 7 Sep - 1 Dec 1931 — Second Round Table Conference, London: Gandhi the sole Congress delegate; deadlock on minority representation (event 4)
- 16 Aug 1932 — Communal Award: separate electorates offered to the Depressed Classes; Gandhi begins his fast on 20 September
- 24 September 1932 — Poona Pact: joint electorate with 148 reserved seats replaces separate electorates (event 1)
- April 1934 — Civil Disobedience Movement formally withdrawn, after being relaunched in Jan 1932 and suspended in May 1933 (event 2)
Answer (d) 3, 4, 1, 2. The two traps are treating the 1931 suspension as the movement's end, and putting the Second Round Table Conference before the pact that made Congress attend it.
- Reading the Gandhi-Irwin Pact's suspension of the movement (March 1931) as the 'end' of the Civil Disobedience Movement, which came only in 1934
- Mixing up the First Round Table Conference (1930-31, boycotted by Congress) with the Second (1931, attended by Gandhi) and so ordering the conference before the pact
- Assuming the Communal Award and the Poona Pact are a year apart — both fall in 1932, with the Award (August) preceding the Pact (September)
UPPSC repeatedly asks this decade as a pure sequencing item — arrange the pact, the conference and the pact-of-Poona in order; UPSC prefers the content of each event, such as what exactly the Gandhi-Irwin Pact conceded or what the Poona Pact substituted for separate electorates.
With reference to Indian freedom struggle, consider the following events: 1. Mutiny in Royal Indian Navy 2. Quit India Movement launched 3. Second Round Table Conference What is the correct chronological sequence of the above events?
- (a) 1-2-3
- (b) 2-1-3
- (c) 3-2-1
- (d) 3-1-2
Answer(c) 3-2-1
The same skill and one of the same anchors — UPSC also builds a sequencing item around the Second Round Table Conference, and getting it right depends on placing that conference firmly in 1931.
Mahatma Gandhi undertook fast unto death in 1932, mainly because
- (a) Round Table Conference failed to satisfy Indian political aspirations
- (b) Congress and Muslim League had differences of opinion
- (c) Ramsay Macdonald announced the Communal Award
- (d) None of the statements (a), (b) and (c) given above is correct in this context
Answer(c) Ramsay Macdonald announced the Communal Award
Supplies the hinge that dates the Poona Pact — the fast began on 20 September 1932 against the Communal Award and ended with the Pact four days later, which is why the Pact sits after the Second Round Table Conference and before 1934.
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
Answer(c) IV, II, I, III
Almost the same question six years earlier — three of the four items (Civil Disobedience Movement, Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Poona Pact) are identical. UPPSC clearly treats this 1930-34 sequence as a recurring test, so the dates are worth memorising rather than reasoning out under time pressure.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following was a term of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931?
- (a)Grant of Dominion Status to India within a year
- (b)Participation of the Congress in the Second Round Table Conference
- (c)Immediate abolition of the salt tax
- (d)A public enquiry into police excesses during the movement
Answer(b) Participation of the Congress in the Second Round Table Conference — the pact also withdrew the ordinances and released prisoners not convicted of violence, but Lord Irwin refused Gandhi's demand for an enquiry into police excesses.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Poona Pact of 1932 was signed in the immediate context of:
- (a)The Simon Commission's report
- (b)The Communal Award announced by Ramsay MacDonald
- (c)The failure of the Cripps Mission
- (d)The Cabinet Mission Plan
Answer(b) The Communal Award announced by Ramsay MacDonald — its grant of separate electorates to the Depressed Classes provoked Gandhi's fast unto death, which ended with the Poona Pact.