Author: selfstudyhistory

Q. Gunpowder changed the character of warfare in India during the Mughal era. Elucidate. [UPSC- 2025] Ans: The introduction and increasing use of gunpowder weapons—especially cannon, matchlocks and other firearms—fundamentally altered warfare in early modern India. Gunpowder was known in India before the establishment of the Mughal Empire and had been used by the Delhi […]

Q. Do you agree that the idea of permanent fixation of land revenue of 1793 in Bengal was highly influenced by the Physiocratic school of thinking? Discuss. [UPSC- 2025] Ans: The Permanent Settlement of Bengal, 1793, introduced under Lord Cornwallis, permanently fixed the land revenue payable by zamindars to the East India Company. It transformed […]

Q. Discuss the major initiatives taken by the Government of India for the removal of caste injustice and inequality after 1947. [UPSC- 2025] Ans: At Independence, Indian society was marked by untouchability, caste-based exclusion, occupational segregation, unequal access to education and land, and political marginalisation. The post-colonial Indian state therefore adopted a multi-pronged approach combining […]

Q. How did the temples of South India, as financial institutions, have deep impact on the social institutions of early medieval period? Critically examine. [UPSC- 2016] Ans: In early medieval South India, particularly between the 7th and 13th centuries CE, temples were far more than places of worship. Under the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas and other […]

Q. Discuss the main features of Malwa school of painting with examples. मालवा चित्रकला शैली की मुख्य विशेषताओं की उदाहरण सहित चर्चा कीजिए। [UPSC- 2024] Ans: The Malwa School of Painting was an important regional tradition of Rajasthani miniature painting that flourished mainly in the 17th century in the Malwa region of central India, especially […]

Q. The Congress Socialist Party agenda was not to cut off from the Congress, but ‘intended to give the Congress and the national movement a socialist direction’. Analyse. [UPSC- 2023] Ans: The Congress Socialist Party (CSP), founded in 1934, represented an important ideological current within the Indian national movement. Led by figures such as Acharya […]

Q. “The announcement of the creation of the Peoples’ Republic of China on October 1, 1949 by Mao Zedong ended the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party (KMT).” – Elaborate. [UPSC- 2012] Ans: The proclamation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October 1949 by Mao Zedong […]

Q. Is it true that the court intrigues and weak revenue system led to the collapse of the Maratha empire? Comment. [UPSC- 2016] Ans: The decline of the Maratha Empire in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was the result of a combination of political factionalism, fiscal weakness, military limitations, absence of institutional cohesion […]

Q. Do you agree then the economic effects of the Industrial Revolution were to add enormously to wealth and capital on the one hand and to degrade the masses to permanent poverty as the other ? Elucidate. [UPSC- 2022] Ans: The Industrial Revolution, beginning in Britain in the second half of the eighteenth century, transformed […]

Q. Critically examine various views regarding the Vedic-Harappan relationship in light of the latest discoveries. [UPSC- 2017] Ans: The relationship between the Harappan civilisation and the Vedic culture is among the most debated questions of ancient Indian history. Earlier scholarship often presented a sharp choice between an “Aryan invasion” destroying the Harappans and an “indigenous […]