Arrange the following developments in the correct sequence:(A) The Go…

Arrange the following developments in the correct sequence:

(A) The Government of India Act gives legal recognition to schedules of castes and tribes
(B) Independence marks a big but partial break with the colonial past
(C) The census becomes a regular ten-yearly exercise
(D) Gandhi and Ambedkar begin organising protests against untouchability
(E) A census under Herbert Risley seeks to record the hierarchy of caste

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 4

The correct answer is Option (4) → C, E, D, A, B

(C) The census becomes a regular ten-yearly exercise — First. The census became a regular ten-yearly exercise of the British Indian government from 1881 onwards. It is the earliest of the five developments, so it comes first.

(E) A census under Herbert Risley seeks to record the hierarchy of caste — Second. The 1901 Census under Herbert Risley tried to record the social order of precedence among castes in each region. It came twenty years after the regular census began, so it is second.

(D) Gandhi and Ambedkar begin organising protests against untouchability — Third. Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar began organising protests against untouchability from the 1920s onwards. This falls after the 1901 Census and before the 1935 Act, so it is third.

(A) The Government of India Act gives legal recognition to schedules of castes and tribes — Fourth. The Government of India Act of 1935 gave legal recognition to the lists or schedules of castes and tribes. This is how the terms Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes began, and it is fourth.

(B) Independence marks a big but partial break with the colonial past — Fifth. Indian independence in 1947 was a big but only partial break with the colonial past. It is the latest development, so it comes last.

NCERT (2026-27): “Colonialism and Caste …
But by far the most important official effort to collect information on caste was through the census. First begun in the 1860s, the census became a regular ten-yearly exercise conducted by the British Indian government from 1881 onwards. The 1901 Census under the direction of Herbert Risley was particularly important as it sought to collect information on the social hierarchy of caste – i.e., the social order of precedence in particular regions, as to the position of each caste in the rank order. This effort had a huge impact on social perceptions of caste and hundreds of petitions were addressed to the Census Commissioner by representatives of different castes claiming a higher position in the social scale and offering historical and scriptural evidence for their claims. Overall, scholars feel that this kind of direct attempt to count caste and to officially record caste status changed the institution itself. Before this kind of intervention, caste identities had been much more fluid and less rigid; once they began to be counted and recorded, caste began to take on a new life. The administration also took an interest in the welfare of downtrodden castes, referred to as the ‘depressed classes’ at that time. It was as part of these efforts that the Government of India Act of 1935 was passed which gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state. This is how the terms ‘Scheduled Tribes’ and the ‘Scheduled Castes’ came into being. …”

“Indian independence in 1947 marked a big, but ultimately only partial break with the colonial past. …”

“… Both Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar began organising protests against untouchability from the 1920s”