The Indian National Congress in the early years raised a number of economic…
2024
The Indian National Congress in the early years raised a number of economic issues against the British. Choose the correct option.
(i) The Congress declared that the British rule had led to poverty and famines.
(ii) It demanded reduction of revenue and cut in military expenditure.
(iii) Congress demanded more funds for irrigation.
(iv) It raised the voice against entertainment tax.
- A.
Only (i) and (ii) are correct
- B.
Only (ii) and (iii) are correct
- C.
Only (i), (ii) and (iii) are correct
- D.
Only (ii), (iii) and (iv) are correct
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
The Moderate phase of the Indian National Congress (1885 to around 1905) built its critique of British rule chiefly as an economic one, most famously articulated through Dadabhai Naoroji's "Drain of Wealth" theory. Its recurring economic charges against colonial administration centred on the impoverishment of India, the burden of land revenue and military spending on the exchequer, and the government's neglect of productive investment such as irrigation.
Checking each statement against this record: (i) the Congress did hold British economic policy responsible for the poverty and recurring famines of the period -- a core plank of the Drain of Wealth critique -- so this is correct. (ii) it demanded a reduction in land revenue and a cut in the disproportionately high military expenditure funded from Indian revenues -- also correct. (iii) it pressed the government to spend more on irrigation to support agriculture and reduce vulnerability to famine -- correct as well. (iv) a campaign against "entertainment tax" has no basis in this economic programme -- entertainment tax is a much later taxation issue, not a grievance the early Congress raised against British rule.
The combination limited to statements (i) and (ii) leaves out the irrigation-funding demand, so it is incomplete.
The combination limited to statements (ii) and (iii) leaves out the poverty-and-famines charge, so it too is incomplete.
The combination of statements (i), (ii) and (iii) covers every genuine demand and adds nothing false.
The combination of statements (ii), (iii) and (iv) is incomplete in the other direction: it drops the poverty-and-famines charge and adds the unsupported entertainment-tax claim on top.
Cross-check: this reading matches NCERT's account of the early nationalist programme (Our Pasts-III, "The Making of a Nation") and the official CTET July 2024 Paper II answer key, both of which support statements (i), (ii) and (iii) and record the salt tax -- not an entertainment tax -- as the tax-related protest of this period.
Hence exactly (i), (ii) and (iii) are correct.