The old Bombay State (Continuation of the Bombay Presidency) was a multilingual state of __________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani
Note: The lines giving the examples of the old Bombay State and the Madras State, in the section ‘Regionalism in the Indian Context’ of the chapter ‘The Challenges of Cultural Diversity’, were there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This portion has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its account of the large multilingual presidencies are still there.
NCERT (2025-26): “6.2 Regionalism in the Indian Context … After Independence, initially the Indian state continued with the British-Indian arrangement dividing India into large provinces, also called ‘presidencies’. (Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta were the three major presidencies; incidentally, all three cities after which the presidencies were named have changed their names recently). These were large multi-ethnic and multilingual provincial states constituting the major political-administrative units of a semi-federal state called the Union of India.…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “6.2 Regionalism in the Indian Context … For example, the old Bombay State (continuation of the Bombay Presidency) was a multilingual state of Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada and Konkani speaking people. Similarly, the Madras State was constituted by Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam speaking people.…” |