UPSC 2000: Consider the following statements about the Indian National Congress: I. Sarojini Naidu was the first woman to be the President of the Congress. II. C. R. Das was in prison when he functioned as the President of the Congress. III. The first Britisher to become the President of the Congress was Alan Octavian Hume. IV. Alfred Webb was the President of the Congress in 1894. Which of these statements are correct?

Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman—but Annie Besant (1917) was the first woman overall—President of the INC, so statement I is false. C.R. Das had been elected for the 1921 Ahmedabad session but was in jail; Hakim Ajmal Khan presided in his absence, making statement II true. The first Britisher to preside was George Yule in 1888, not A.O. Hume, so statement III is false. Alfred Webb indeed presided over the 1894 Madras session, so statement IV is true. Hence only II and IV are correct ⇒ option (b). ([indianexpress.com](https://indianexpress.com/article/india/here-is-a-list-of-past-presidents-of-indian-national-congress-4967084/lite/?utm_source=openai))