PSIR Optional · Paper I · Section B: Indian Government and Politics
Indian Nationalism Notes · PYQs · Solved Answers
Free notes, every previous year question and the solved answers for Indian Nationalism (Paper I, Section B: Indian Government and Politics), arranged so you can read a topic and immediately see how UPSC has asked it. Syllabus: Political strategies of the freedom struggle; perspectives on the national movement.
37
Solved answers
1907–2026
Years covered
42
Questions listed
5
Free notes
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Free notes Previous year questions Solved answers All PSIR Optional units
Paper I · Unit 01
Indian Nationalism notes
Topic-wise notes for this unit in syllabus order. Read a topic, then open its previous year questions below.
Free notes
Free practice
Previous year questions: Indian Nationalism
Every question UPSC has asked from this unit, year-wise, with a link to its solved answer.
Topic-wise question list
Year-wise question papers
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UPSC PSIR Optional Question Paper 2026
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2025
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2024
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2023
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2022
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2021
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2020
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2019
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2018
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2017
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2016
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2015
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2014
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PSIR Optional Question Paper 2013
Solved answers
Solved PYQ answers: Indian Nationalism
Model answers to the previous year questions of this unit, newest exam year first.
PYQ Solutions
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Answer in about 150 words: How did Swadeshi grow into a demand for Swaraj?
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From passive resistors to armed revolutionaries, the Indian Freedom Struggle has a strong imprint of women freedom fighters. Elucidate.
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Explain briefly the role of Peasant Movements after 1857 and before independence.
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Write a note on the Dalit perspective of Indian National Movement.
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Discuss the contribution of the Dalit struggle to establish egalitarianism in Indian society during freedom movement.
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Comment on Satyagraha and Indian Nationalism.
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Analyse the workers’ movement in India in the pre-Independence period.
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Analyze the Marxist perspective of the nature of Indian National Movement. (150 words)
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Trace the role of militant and revolutionary movements in Indian national movement.
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Answer in 150 words: Role of Socialists in Indian National Movement.
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National movement in India was anti-imperialist and increasingly radical ·in its socio-economic and political programmes. Discuss.
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Comment in 150 words: Revolt of 1857 is a ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ or ‘First War of Independence’.
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The success of Mahatma Gandhi lay in transforming both political and non-political movements into a unified nationalist movement. Comment.
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Differentiate Moderate Nationalism from Extremist/Militant Nationalism in terms of their objectives and means.
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Critically examine the Radical Humanist perspective on Indian National Movement.
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Comment in 150 words: Satyagraha as a Strategy in the Indian National Movement.
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Explain how peasant movements promoted nationalist ideas during the struggle for Indian independence.
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Comment on the efficacy of Satyagraha as moral resistance to colonial rule.
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Comment on views of Gandhi and Ambedkar on ‘social justice’.
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Comment: Significance of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
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Comment: Indian nationalism as depicted in S.N. Banerjea’s ‘A Nation in the Making’.
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Comment: “Swaraj is the culmination of Swadeshi and Sarvodaya”.
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Comment: Views of Jaya Prakash Narayan on ‘Total Revolution’.
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Explain the ‘federal scheme’ under the Government of India Act, 1935. Why could this scheme not be implemented?
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Comment: Surat Split (1907).
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Comment: The Government of India Act, 1919.
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Highlight Mahatma Gandhi’s role in the Indian National Movement.
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Comment: Simon Commission.
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Comment: Gandhi’s concept of Truth and Non-violence. Why was he opposed to modern civilisation?
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Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru comes before us as a great Nationalist, Internationalist and Humanist. Piscuss.
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Comment: ‘Dyarchy’ under Montague-Chelmsford Reforms.
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Examine the salient features of the Indian Independence Act (1947) relating to the transfer of power. What specific provisions did this Act make for the lapse of paramountcy?
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Comment: Ideas of Gokhale and Tilak and their impact on the Indian struggle for freedom.
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Comment: Raja Ram Mohan Roy as a social reformer.
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Comment: Jinnah’s two-nation theory.
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Comment: Swadeshi movement.
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Comment: Anarchism in Gandhi’s philosophy.
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Other units in Paper I · Section B: Indian Government and Politics
- Making of the Indian Constitution
- Salient Features of the Indian Constitution
- Principal Organs of Government
- Grassroots Democracy
- Statutory Institutions and Commissions
- Federalism
- Planning and Economic Development
- Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics
- Party System
- Social Movements
Paper I · Section B: Indian Government and Politics — section overview · All PSIR Optional units