History
Optional Paper II
Modern
India & World History
Max
Marks 250 Max
Time : 180 min
Q1
and Q5 are compulsory. Answer any other three questions, by taking at least one
question from each part
PART A
Q1 Write notes/Comment on the
following in about 150 words each [10x5=50]
a.
Role of
Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar in Indian society
b.
“Often rendered an exemplary form of
epistemological violence wrought by British colonial rule in much postcolonial
inquiry, the 1872 census was conducted by analyzing several major reports
following its implementation in the context of wider 19 th century
conversations about the so-called science of statistics”
c.
Four broadly conceived
historiographical schools and their interpretations of Anticolonial Nationalism
: nationalist, Marxist, Cambridge, and Subaltern Studies.
d.
The 18th century in Indian history
marks it relevance by two crucial developments - the decline of Mughal Empire and
the expansion of British Empire. These two events changed India's social,
economic and political structure.
e.
The Construction of Ascetic Masculinity in Vivekananda’s
Photographs and Posters
Q2a Can it be said that Bhagat Singh
was a revolutionary with a vision while Jatindranath Mukherjee was a
revolutionary terrorist?
Q2b Examine the monetary foundation
of the Raj.
Q2c In contrast to the Muslim Ulemas
tracing their spiritual lineage from the Wahabi movement who dubbed India under
the non-Muslim British rule as a daarul harb (land of war) where jihad
(religious war) should become continuous, Sir Syed considered the same not only
as daarul aman (land of peace) but also offered a new interpretation of jihad.
Sir Syed’s approach was relatively modern. Critically discuss
[20+15+15=50]
Q3a Modern India
is also a test of two middle-ground philosophies. As an early proponent of
non-alignment in international politics, India has attempted to establish a
[middle] position between Western and [communist] oriented states. Over the
years, its leadership in carving out a Third World posture demonstrated that
there is a viable route for nations who did not want to take sides in Cold War
politics, an approach which many other nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America,
and the Middle East have followed and hope to sustain. Comment.
Q3b Did science and technology in India
develop during British colonial rule from 1858 onwards?
Q3c Posit a critique of the Sanyasi and Fakir
rebellion of the 1770s.
[20+15+15=50]
Q4a A radical
educational change in the early nineteenth century, an imperial civil society
movement promoted modern elementary 'schools for all'. This movement included
British, American and German missionaries, and Indian intellectuals and social
reformers. They organised themselves in non-governmental organisations, which
aimed to change Indian education. Deiberate.
Q4b Gandhi was not doctrinally opposed to violence as he had
enlisted soldiers for the British during the first world war. He had also
stated that he felt morally bound to help, using non-violent means, those who
further a just cause even if they do not shun violence. Analyse critically.
Q4c How poets and litterateurs
contributed to India’s national struggle. Cite instances. Were they gender
biased?
PART
B
Q5 Write notes/Comment on the
following in about 150 words each [10x5=50]
a.
We are 50 or 100
years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in 100
years.
b.
Reign of Terror
during the French Revolution
c.
Role of Leon
Trotsky in the Bolshevik Revolution and after
d.
Post-Tito
Yugoslavia
e.
Role of individual
leaders in eradicating apartheid in South Africa
Q6a Would you agree that the
Continental System of Napoleon led to his undoing?
Q6b Can it be said that the American
Revolution confirmed the economic theory and practice of capitalism?
Q6c Describe the formation of the
state of Australia. [20+20+10=50]
Q7a Has the United Nations achieved
its stated objective? Discuss.
Q7b Hitler solely was not
responsible for this hatred against the Jews. Do you agree?
Q7c By the time the foreign ministers of the four
victorious powers met in Moscow in March 1947, there was no doubt about the
fragile state of the wartime alliance. That month President Truman proclaimed
the doctrine, which bore his name, of a global US anti-Communist
ideology. Discuss. [15+15+20=50]
Q8a How did the
first world war come to an end? Why the Weimar republic failed?
Q8b Map the contest
between China and Japan post 1905 till 1945.
Q8c Bring out the
commonalities between Africa and Latin America post decolonisation.
[20+15+15=50]
Modern
India [Paper II] [11 Aug 2019]
Max Marks : 250
Max Time : 180 min
All questions are compulsory
Q1 Comment in about 150 words each
[5x10=50]
a.
Rumours and
conspiracies made up the uprising of 1857
b.
Resistance to
partition signalled the beginning of the swadeshi movement
c.
The Bengalees
formed just over 50 per cent of the population of undivided Pakistan, but were
poorly represented
d.
Bombs and pistols
do not make a revolution. The sword of revolution is sharpened on the
whetting-stone of ideas.
e.
The 1919 agitaion
had many remarkable features.
2a
Were Gandhi and Nehru the two visions of India?
2b
Note the advancement of education in post-independent India till 1964.
2c Has
forests dwindled and water gone scarce post-independence? Critically
analyse. [20+10+20=50]
3a How
did Ram Krishna Mission help in awakening Indian society in the 19th
century?
3b Mention
the measures taken by the social reformers to uplift the position of women in
Indian society.
3c Did
Gandhi express the ideals of the Moderates? [15+20+15=50]
4a Present
an unbiased assessment of British administrative practices
4b Posit
on the development of science and technology during the British colonial era.
4c What
is ‘history from below’? [15+20+15=50]
5a Identify
features that show the importance of spirituality in Indian culture.
5b Why
the Marathas were unable to form a stable pan-India Empire?
World History [Paper II] [18 Aug
2019]
Max Marks : 250
Max Time : 180 min
All questions are compulsory
Q1 Comment in about 150 words each
[5x10=50]
a.
On Monday 16 August 1819, 60,000 men, women and children
gathered for a mass rally in Manchester. They had progressed to St Peter’s
Field on the southern edge of the town from the city’s working-class districts.
b.
Starvation and disease killed
millions in British India during the Second World War.
c.
Vietnam was a war
that never ended
d. 1917 shows
how revolutions incubate extremes
e. ‘Revolution is not a dinner party’,
Mao said
2a
After
the Second World War, why did Japan abolish its armed forces?
2b
Napoleon had his work cut
out; several of the measures he introduced continue to influence French life
today, from the Code
Napoléon, France’s civil code, to the baccalauréat, the French equivalent
of A-Levels. Discuss.
2c Found guilty of
fraud, the French chemist Lavoisier was executed on 8 May 1794. Critically analyse. [10+20+20=50]
3a Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini became a lightning rod for the mass protests which overthrew
the Shah of Iran in 1979, but the causes of the Iranian Revolution lay
elsewhere. Discuss.
3b Enumerate
the causes of the American Civil War.
3c Can
we say that there were two Industrial Revolutions? [15+15+20=50]
4a Did
Socialism exist before ‘The Communist Manifesto’?
4b How
did Netherlands and USA spread their influence over South-East Asia?
4c Is
African history correlated with the ‘scramble by the Europeans’ for it? [15+15+20=50]
5a Do
you agree with Samuel Huntington’s 1999 thesis that USA was the only superpower
in the post-Cold War era?
5b Sketch
the three steps towards Italian unification.
5c Was
Stalin responsible for the collapse of USSR in 1991? Critically analyse. [15
+15+20=50]
