Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
New technologies speeded up various forms of communication. The printing press, telegraph, and later the microphone, movement of people and goods through steamship and railways helped quick movement of new ideas. Within India, social reformers from Punjab and Bengal exchanged ideas with reformers from Madras and Maharashtra. Keshav Chandra Sen of Bengal visited Madras in 1864. Pandita Ramabai travelled to different corners of the country. Some of them went to other countries. Christian missionaries reached remote corners of present day Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. Modern social organisations like the Brahmo Samaj in Bengal and Arya Samaj in Punjab were set up. The All-India Muslim Ladies Conference (Anjuman-E-Khawatn-E-Islam) was founded in 1914. Indian reformers debated not just in public meetings but through public media like newspapers and journals. Translations of writings of social reformers from one Indian language to another took place. For instance, Vishnu Shastri published a Marathi translation of Vidyasagar's book in Indu Prakash in 1868.
According to the passage, which of the following states were most involved in communicating and sharing ideas of social reforms?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Bengal, Punjab, Madras and Maharashtra
Option (2) Bengal, Punjab, Madras and Maharashtra — Correct. New technologies such as the printing press, the telegraph, steamships and railways sped up the movement of ideas, and social reformers from Punjab and Bengal exchanged ideas with reformers from Madras and Maharashtra. Keshav Chandra Sen of Bengal visiting Madras in 1864 is one example.
Note: The passage of Q6-Q10 is taken from the NCERT chapter ‘Cultural Change’, from its pages on the modern framework of change in colonial India, word for word. One paragraph of the book gave five questions here; read the chapter’s opening pages slowly, names and dates included.
NCERT (2025-26): “2.1 Social reform movements in the 19th and early 20th century … New technologies speeded up various forms of communication. The printing press, telegraph, and later the microphone, movement of people and goods through steamship and railways helped quick movement of new ideas. Within India, social reformers from Punjab and Bengal exchanged ideas with reformers from Madras and Maharashtra. Keshav Chandra Sen of Bengal visited Madras in 1864. Pandita Ramabai travelled to different corners of the country. Some of them went to other countries. Christian missionaries reached remote corners of present day Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya.…” |