Class 8 SST Chapter 2 – India’s Long Road to Independence: Powerful Objective Questions with Answers
Section A: Multiple-Choice Questions
1. In which year did the British Crown take direct control of India from the East India Company?
(a) 1857
(b) 1858
(c) 1878
(d) 1885
2. What did the British term for their supremacy over the princely states mean?
(a) Swaraj
(b) Dominion status
(c) Paramountcy
(d) Separate electorate
3. Which law of 1878 regulated and censored the Indian-language press?
(a) Vernacular Press Act
(b) Rowlatt Act
(c) Arms Act
(d) Government of India Act
4. Which reform organisation was founded by Raja Rammohun Roy in 1828?
(a) Arya Samaj
(b) Ramakrishna Mission
(c) Servants of India Society
(d) Brahmo Samaj
5. In which novel did Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay include the poem ‘Vande Mataram’?
(a) Gita Rahasya
(b) Anandamath
(c) Hind Swaraj
(d) The Discovery of India
6. Where was the first session of the Indian National Congress held in 1885?
(a) Calcutta
(b) Madras
(c) Bombay
(d) Lahore
7. Who was elected the first president of the Indian National Congress?
(a) Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee
(b) Dadabhai Naoroji
(c) Allan Octavian Hume
(d) Gopal Krishna Gokhale
8. Who led the Kuka or Namdhari Movement in Punjab during the 1860s and early 1870s?
(a) Lala Lajpat Rai
(b) Swami Dayananda Saraswati
(c) Birsa Munda
(d) Baba Ram Singh
9. By what name was the 1899–1900 tribal uprising led by Birsa Munda known?
(a) Home Rule
(b) Ulgulaan
(c) Ghadar
(d) Khilafat
10. What was the main political purpose behind the British partition of Bengal in 1905?
(a) To introduce provincial autonomy
(b) To promote Indian industries
(c) To apply the policy of divide and rule
(d) To create a national university
11. Which movement encouraged people to use Indian-made goods and reduce dependence on British products?
(a) Swadeshi Movement
(b) Khilafat Movement
(c) Home Rule Movement
(d) Quit India Movement
12. At which Congress session were Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott and National Education adopted as objectives?
(a) Surat Session, 1907
(b) Lucknow Session, 1916
(c) Lahore Session, 1929
(d) Calcutta Session, 1906
More MCQs:
13. Where was the All-India Muslim League founded in December 1906?
(a) Bombay
(b) Dhaka
(c) Delhi
(d) Allahabad
14. The Surat Split of 1907 mainly divided the Congress into which two groups?
(a) Congress and Muslim League
(b) Reformers and revolutionaries
(c) Moderates and Nationalists
(d) Peasants and industrialists
15. Who jointly launched the Home Rule Movement in 1916?
(a) Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant
(b) Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru
(c) Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal
(d) Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekar Azad
16. What is the literal meaning of Gandhi’s term ‘satyagraha’?
(a) Rule by the people
(b) Complete independence
(c) Boycott of foreign goods
(d) Insistence on truth
17. What power did the Rowlatt Act of 1919 give to the colonial police?
(a) To grant voting rights
(b) To detain people without trial
(c) To reduce land revenue
(d) To form provincial governments
18. Which event led Gandhi to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922?
(a) Jallianwala Bagh massacre
(b) Kakori train action
(c) Chauri Chaura incident
(d) Simon Commission protest
19. Why was the Simon Commission widely boycotted in India?
(a) It had no Indian member
(b) It proposed immediate Partition
(c) It abolished provincial councils
(d) It raised the salt tax
20. Which organisation carried out the Kakori train action to obtain government money for revolutionary work?
(a) Indian National Congress
(b) All-India Muslim League
(c) National Council of Education
(d) Hindustan Republican Association
21. At which Congress session was the demand for Purna Swaraj formally adopted?
(a) Calcutta Session, 1906
(b) Lahore Session, 1929
(c) Nagpur Session, 1920
(d) Surat Session, 1907
22. Which coastal village was the destination of Gandhi’s Salt March in 1930?
(a) Bardoli
(b) Porbandar
(c) Dandi
(d) Kheda
23. Which was an important term of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931?
(a) Release of non-violent political prisoners and limited private salt-making
(b) Immediate grant of Purna Swaraj
(c) Creation of Pakistan
(d) Abolition of all provincial governments
24. What did the Cripps Mission of 1942 mainly offer India?
(a) Immediate complete independence
(b) A permanent military alliance
(c) The abolition of provinces
(d) Dominion status after the war, with an opt-out provision for provinces
25. Who drew the boundary line that divided Punjab and Bengal during Partition?
(a) Stafford Cripps
(b) Cyril Radcliffe
(c) Lord Irwin
(d) A.O. Hume
Section B: Fill in the Blanks
1. The poem ‘Vande Mataram’ was composed by ________.
(a) Rabindranath Tagore
(b) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
(c) Subramania Bharati
(d) Sri Aurobindo
2. The first president of the Indian National Congress was ________.
(a) Dadabhai Naoroji
(b) A.O. Hume
(c) Gopal Krishna Gokhale
(d) Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee
3. Hand-spun and hand-woven cloth promoted as a symbol of self-reliance was called ________.
(a) Khadi
(b) Muslin
(c) Silk
(d) Jute
4. The Congress demanded complete independence under the name ________ at Lahore in 1929.
(a) Home Rule
(b) Dominion status
(c) Purna Swaraj
(d) Paramountcy
5. Gandhi gave the call ‘Do or Die’ during the ________ Movement.
(a) Non-Cooperation
(b) Quit India
(c) Khilafat
(d) Home Rule
Section C: Assertion–Reason Questions
Choose the correct option:
(a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true, but R is false.
(d) A is false, but R is true.
1. Assertion (A): The Partition of Bengal in 1905 helped give rise to the Swadeshi and Boycott movements.
Reason (R): Many Indians viewed the Partition as an attempt to divide communities and responded by promoting Indian goods.
2. Assertion (A): The Lucknow Pact of 1916 brought the Congress and the Muslim League to an agreement.
Reason (R): Tilak and Annie Besant launched the Home Rule Movement in the same year.
3. Assertion (A): The Rowlatt Act allowed the colonial government to detain people without trial.
Reason (R): The Act expanded the civil liberties of Indians.
4. Assertion (A): The Cripps Mission offered India immediate complete independence in 1942.
Reason (R): It proposed Dominion status after the Second World War and allowed provinces to opt out.
5. Assertion (A): The Royal Indian Navy mutiny weakened British confidence in maintaining colonial rule.
Reason (R): It showed that the British could no longer fully rely on Indian military personnel to protect the empire.
Section D: Statement-Type Questions
Choose the correct option:
(a) Only Statement I is true.
(b) Only Statement II is true.
(c) Both Statements I and II are true.
(d) Both Statements I and II are false.
1. Statement I: The Congress adopted Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott and National Education as objectives at its Calcutta Session of 1906.
Statement II: At that session, Swaraj was defined only as complete independence from Britain.
2. Statement I: The Simon Commission included several Indian members.
Statement II: The slogan ‘Simon Go Back!’ was raised during protests against the Commission.
3. Statement I: Under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, non-violent political prisoners were to be released.
Statement II: The Congress agreed to suspend Civil Disobedience and attend the Round Table Conference.
4. Statement I: The Cabinet Mission Plan permanently ended disagreements between the Congress and the Muslim League.
Statement II: Cyril Radcliffe was given several years to study India before drawing the boundary.
5. Statement I: Subhas Chandra Bose believed armed struggle was necessary to win freedom.
Statement II: He formed the INA from prisoners of war and volunteers in Singapore in 1943.
Section E: Match the Following
1. Match the reformers and movements
| Column I | Column II |
|---|---|
| 1. Raja Rammohun Roy | i. Arya Samaj |
| 2. Swami Dayananda Saraswati | ii. Ulgulaan |
| 3. Baba Ram Singh | iii. Brahmo Samaj |
| 4. Birsa Munda | iv. Kuka Movement |
Options:
(a) 1-iii, 2-i, 3-iv, 4-ii
(b) 1-i, 2-iii, 3-ii, 4-iv
(c) 1-iv, 2-ii, 3-i, 4-iii
(d) 1-ii, 2-iv, 3-iii, 4-i
2. Match the newspapers with their associated personalities
| Column I | Column II |
|---|---|
| 1. Kesari | i. Surendranath Banerjee |
| 2. Bande Mataram | ii. Bal Gangadhar Tilak |
| 3. The Bengalee | iii. Barindra Ghose and associates |
| 4. Yugantar | iv. Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghose |
Options:
(a) 1-i, 2-ii, 3-iii, 4-iv
(b) 1-iv, 2-iii, 3-ii, 4-i
(c) 1-ii, 2-iv, 3-i, 4-iii
(d) 1-iii, 2-i, 3-iv, 4-ii
3. Match the events with the correct years
| Column I | Column II |
|---|---|
| 1. First Congress session | i. 1930 |
| 2. Partition of Bengal | ii. 1885 |
| 3. Non-Cooperation Movement launched | iii. 1905 |
| 4. Salt March | iv. 1920 |
Options:
(a) 1-iii, 2-ii, 3-iv, 4-i
(b) 1-ii, 2-iii, 3-iv, 4-i
(c) 1-i, 2-iv, 3-ii, 4-iii
(d) 1-iv, 2-i, 3-iii, 4-ii
4. Match the organisations with their objectives
| Column I | Column II |
|---|---|
| 1. Home Rule Movement | i. Protect Muslim political interests |
| 2. Hindustan Republican Association | ii. Genuinely Indian education |
| 3. All-India Muslim League | iii. Self-government within the British Empire |
| 4. National Council of Education | iv. Revolutionary struggle against colonial rule |
Options:
(a) 1-i, 2-ii, 3-iii, 4-iv
(b) 1-iv, 2-iii, 3-ii, 4-i
(c) 1-ii, 2-i, 3-iv, 4-iii
(d) 1-iii, 2-iv, 3-i, 4-ii
5. Match the agreements and reports with their outcomes
| Column I | Column II |
|---|---|
| 1. Lucknow Pact | i. Reserved seats instead of separate electorates for the Depressed Classes |
| 2. Nehru Report | ii. Separate electorates for Muslims accepted by Congress |
| 3. Gandhi-Irwin Pact | iii. Dominion status for India |
| 4. Poona Pact | iv. Civil Disobedience suspended and limited salt-making allowed |
Options:
(a) 1-ii, 2-iii, 3-iv, 4-i
(b) 1-iii, 2-i, 3-ii, 4-iv
(c) 1-iv, 2-ii, 3-i, 4-iii
(d) 1-i, 2-iv, 3-iii, 4-ii
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Multiple Choice Questions
Chapter 1- World Geography: Some Glimpses
Chapter 2- India’s Long Road to Independence
Chapter 3-
Chapter 4-
Chapter 5-
Chapter 6-
Chapter 7-
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