Read the passage and answer the questions:
Events and the Constitution
The years immediately preceding the making of the Constitution had been exceptionally tumultuous: a time of great hope, but also of abject disappointment. On 15 August 1947, India had been made free, but it had also been divided. Fresh in popular memory were the Quit India struggle of 1942 – perhaps the most widespread popular movement against the British Raj – as well as the bid by Subhas Chandra Bose to win freedom through armed struggle. An even more recent upsurge had also evoked much popular sympathy – this was the rising of the ratings of the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay and other cities in the spring of 1946. Through the late 1940s there were periodic, if scattered, mass protests of workers and peasants in different parts of the country. One striking feature of these popular upsurges was the degree of Hindu-Muslim unity they manifested. In contrast, the two leading Indian political parties, the Congress and the Muslim League, had repeatedly failed to arrive at a settlement that would bring about religious reconciliation and social harmony. The Great Calcutta Killings of 1946 began a year of almost continuous rioting across northern and eastern India. The violence culminated in the massacres that accompanied the transfer of populations when the Partition of India was announced.
Which month and year is associated with the beginning of the Great Calcutta Killings?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → August 1946
The passage gives only the year, saying that the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946 began a year of almost continuous rioting across northern and eastern India. The month is August: the killings began on 16 August 1946, when bloody riots broke out in Calcutta. The violence ended in the massacres that came with the Partition of India in August 1947.
NCERT (2025-26): “1. A Tumultuous Time … One striking feature of these popular upsurges was the degree of Hindu-Muslim unity they manifested. In contrast, the two leading Indian political parties, the Congress and the Muslim League, had repeatedly failed to arrive at a settlement that would bring about religious reconciliation and social harmony. The Great Calcutta Killings of August 1946 began a year of almost continuous rioting across northern and eastern India (see Chapter 11). The violence culminated in the massacres that accompanied the transfer of populations when the Partition of India was announced.…” |