Daily Quiz #1 UPSC Prelims Marathon – September 2, 2019

Explanation: The Ghadr Party was a revolutionary group organised around a weekly newspaper The Ghadr with its headquarters at San Francisco and branches along the US coast and in the Far East. These revolutionaries included mainly ex-soldiers and peasants who had migrated from the Punjab to the USA and Canada in search of better employment opportunities. They were based in the US and Canadian cities along the western (Pacific) coast. Pre-Ghadr revolutionary activity had been carried on by Ramdas Puri, G.D. Kumar, Taraknath Das, Sohan Singh Bhakna and Lala Hardayal who reached there in1911. To carry out revolutionary activities, the earlier activists had set up a ‘Swadesh Sevak Home’ at Vancouver and ‘United India House’ at Seattle. Finally in 1913, the Ghadr was established.

Explanation: By early 1915, Annie Besant had launched a campaign to demand self-government for India after the war on the lines of white colonies. She campaigned through her newspapers, New India and Commonweal, and through public meetings and conferences. At the annual session of the Congress in 1915, the efforts of Tilak and Besant met with some success. It was decided that the Extremists be admitted to the Congress. Although Besant failed to get the Congress to approve her scheme of Home Rule Leagues, the Congress did commit itself to a programme of educative propaganda and to a revival of local-level Congress committees. Not willing to wait for too long, Besant laid the condition that if the Congress did not implement its commitments, she would be free to set up her own league-which she finally had to, as there was no response from the Congress.

Explanation: In March 1918, Gandhi intervened in a dispute between cotton mill owners of Ahmadabad and the workers over the issue of discontinuation of the plague bonus. The mill owners wanted to withdraw the bonus. The workers were demanding a rise of 50 per cent in their wages so that they could manage in the times of wartime inflation (which doubled the prices of food-grains, cloth, and other necessities) caused by Britain’s involvement in World War I. The mill owners were ready to give only a 20 per cent wage hike. The workers went on strike.
The relations between the workers and the mill owners worsened with the striking workers being arbitrarily dismissed and the mill owners deciding to bring in weavers from Bombay. The workers of the mill turned to Anusuya Sarabhai for help in fighting for justice. Anusuya Sarabhai was a social worker who was also the sister of Ambalal Sarabhai, one of the mill owners and the president of the Ahmadabad Mill Owners Association (founded in 1891 to develop the textile industry in Ahmadabad), for help in fighting for justice. Anusuya Behn went to Gandhi, who was respected by the mill owners and workers, and asked him to intervene and help resolve the impasse between the workers and the employers. Though Gandhi was a friend of Ambalal, he took up the workers’ cause. Anusuya too supported the workers and was one of the chief lieutenants of Gandhi’s. It was Anusuya Behn who went on later to form the Ahmadabad Textile Labor Association in 1920. Gandhi asked the workers to go on a strike and demand a 35 per cent increase in wages instead of 50 per cent.

Explanation: Kailash Temple is located near the village of Ellora which is 30 km from Aurangabad. This temple is considered as one among the most astonishing buildings in the history of architecture. This temple is one of the largest 34 excavations at Ellora, which took almost a century. The Kailash Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and the idol here is 109 feet wide by 164 feet long. The Kailash Temple of the Ellora is the most and amazing architecture of the Rock art and the marvelous art. This Kailash temple was made by the Rashtrakuta King that is King Krishna I in the 8th Century A.D. It is the huge and big sculpture of the rocks that made the big elephant in the couple of the head and that are the sign of the great emperor.

Explanation: Alauddin Khilji was the second ruler and probably the most powerful monarch of the Khilji Dynasty. After conquering the throne by killing his uncle and predecessor, Jalaluddin Firuz Khilji, he continued his legacy of invading states and territories to increase his empire over the Indian subcontinent. He was the first Muslim ruler to successfully defeat and conquer southern parts of India. His passion for conquest helped him achieve success at wars, thereby expanding his influence to South India as well. In this endeavor of expansion, he was well supported by his loyal generals, especially Malik Kafur and Khusraw Khan. He ensured that he completely ousted the reigning kings and administered absolute power while invading the northern states. In south India, he used to loot the states and also extracted payment of annual taxes from the overthrown rulers. Besides his expeditions of raiding and conquering, he was engaged in defending the Delhi Sultanate from continuous Mongol invasions. He also acquired the Koh-i-noor, one of the largest known diamonds in human history, while invading the Kakatiya rulers of Warangal. He also introduced some agrarian as well as market reforms which produced mixed results.