SSC CGL History · Modern India
Gandhi and the Mass Movements
Gandhi from South Africa to Champaran, the Non-Cooperation Movement, the road from the Simon Commission to the Salt March and the Poona Pact, and the other movements of the 1920s and early 1930s.
Why this matters
Thirty-eight questions in the bank: 15 from the 2023 shifts, 19 from the 2024 shifts and four from the 2025 shifts, and 36 of them EASY. They are the most predictable questions in the chapter: a date, a place or a leader for an event every textbook covers. A year line from 1915 to 1932 answers most of them.
Concept 1 of 4: Gandhi's early life and first satyagrahas
Gandhi learned his method in South Africa and tried it in India on three local struggles before leading the whole country. SSC asks the year, the place and the people of each.
Definition
In time order:
- Born 2 October 1869 at Porbandar, Gujarat.
- Natal Indian Congress (1894): founded by Gandhi at Durban, South Africa, against racial discrimination.
- Hind Swaraj (1909): written by Gandhi in Gujarati; published in English as Indian Home Rule (1910).
- Returned to India: January 1915 (9 January, now Pravasi Bharatiya Divas).
- Champaran, Bihar (1917): his first satyagraha in India, for indigo cultivators. Rajkumar Shukla persuaded him to come.
- Ahmedabad (1918): mill workers. Kheda (1918): peasants, over land revenue.
- His non-violence won admirers abroad, among them Albert Einstein.
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
SSC CGL · 2024 · Tier I, 10 Sep 2024, Shift 1 · Q45Easy
Example 1 · Modern India · Gandhi and the Mass Movements
Which of the following places is related to Gandhi’s Satyagraha of the year 1917?
Bardoli was Patel's, in 1928
Gandhi's satyagrahas of 1917 and 1918 were Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda. Bardoli (1928) was led by Vallabhbhai Patel.
Concept 2 of 4: Rowlatt, Jallianwala and Non-Cooperation (1919 to 1924)
A harsh law in 1919 led to a massacre, and the massacre led to the first all-India movement. When it turned violent Gandhi stopped it, and some Congress leaders took a different path into the councils.
Definition
In time order:
- Rowlatt Act (1919): allowed detention without trial for up to two years. Gandhi called a satyagraha against it.
- Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919), Amritsar: General Dyer's troops fired on a crowd on Baisakhi day. Rabindranath Tagore gave up his knighthood in protest.
- All India Trade Union Congress (1920), Bombay: first president Lala Lajpat Rai.
- Non-Cooperation Movement (1920 to 1922): called off after Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur, United Provinces, February 1922), where a crowd burned a police station.
- Swaraj Party (1923): C. R. Das (Deshbandhu) and Motilal Nehru, to contest council elections.
- Belgaum session (1924): the only Congress session Gandhi presided over.
| Event | Year | Fact |
|---|---|---|
| Rowlatt Act | 1919 | Detention without trial for two yearsQ |
| Jallianwala Bagh | 13 April 1919 | Amritsar; Tagore returned his knighthoodQ |
| AITUC founded | 1920 | Bombay; Lala Lajpat Rai presidentQ |
| Chauri Chaura | February 1922 | Non-Cooperation called offQ |
| Swaraj Party | 1923 | C. R. Das and Motilal NehruQ |
| Belgaum session | 1924 | Gandhi presidedQ |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
SSC CGL · 2024 · Tier I, 11 Sep 2024, Shift 3 · Q30Easy
Example 2 · Modern India · Gandhi and the Mass Movements
Which of the following events took place in the United Provinces in February, 1922?
Chauri Chaura was in the United Provinces
Chauri Chaura is in Gorakhpur, in present Uttar Pradesh, then the United Provinces. Kakori (1925) is also in UP but is a train robbery, three years later.
Concept 3 of 4: From the Simon Commission to the Poona Pact (1927 to 1932)
An all-British commission set off protests, the Congress raised its demand to full independence, and the Salt March began a second mass movement. It ended with talks in London and a pact in Poona. Learn the six years in order.
Definition
In time order:
- Simon Commission (appointed 1927): all seven members British, so the Congress boycotted it ("Simon Go Back"). Lala Lajpat Rai was hurt in the lathi charge at Lahore in 1928 and died weeks later.
- Bardoli Satyagraha (1928): led by Vallabhbhai Patel, who earned the title Sardar.
- Lahore session (December 1929): Jawaharlal Nehru presided; it passed the Purna Swaraj resolution. 26 January 1930 was kept as Independence Day, which is why the Constitution began on 26 January 1950.
- Dandi March (12 March 1930): against the British monopoly on salt; it began the Civil Disobedience Movement. The Viceroy was Lord Irwin.
- Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931): Gandhi then went to the Second Round Table Conference in London as the Congress's sole representative.
- Poona Pact (September 1932): signed by Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar; reserved seats in joint electorates replaced separate electorates for the depressed classes. Gandhi then founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh (1932).
| Event | Year | Name to remember |
|---|---|---|
| Simon Commission protests | 1928 | Lala Lajpat Rai died after the Lahore lathi chargeQ |
| Bardoli Satyagraha | 1928 | Vallabhbhai PatelQ |
| Purna Swaraj resolution | 1929 | Lahore session, Nehru presidingQ |
| Dandi March | 1930 | Viceroy Lord IrwinQ |
| Gandhi-Irwin Pact | 1931 | Then the Second Round Table ConferenceQ |
| Poona Pact | 1932 | Gandhi and AmbedkarQ |
Practice this conceptself-check · 5 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 24 Sep 2025, Shift 3 · Q32Easy
Example 3 · Modern India · Gandhi and the Mass Movements
The Simon Commission, appointed in 1927, was boycotted by the Indian National Congress because:
Lahore 1929 is Purna Swaraj, Karachi 1931 is Fundamental Rights
The demand for complete independence was passed at Lahore (1929). The Karachi (1931) session passed the resolution on Fundamental Rights.
Irwin at Dandi, Willingdon after
Lord Irwin was Viceroy from 1926 to 1931, so the Dandi March and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact fall in his time. Willingdon came in 1931.
Concept 4 of 4: Red Shirts, kisan sabhas and the revolutionaries of 1930
Alongside Gandhi's movements ran others: a non-violent army of Pathans, peasant unions in Bihar, and young revolutionaries in Bengal who raided an armoury and stormed the secretariat. SSC asks the leader of each.
Definition
The movements:
- Khudai Khidmatgar (1929), the Red Shirts: a non-violent movement of the Pathans of the North-West Frontier, founded by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the Frontier Gandhi.
- Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929): Swami Sahajanand Saraswati.
- Chittagong Armoury Raid (18 April 1930): led by Surya Sen (Masterda).
- Writers' Building, Calcutta (8 December 1930): Benoy, Badal and Dinesh shot the Inspector General of Prisons, N. S. Simpson.
- Baikuntha Shukla (1932), Bihar: killed Phanindra Nath Ghosh, the approver whose evidence helped send Bhagat Singh to the gallows. He was hanged in 1934.
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 24 Sep 2025, Shift 3 · Q48Easy
Example 4 · Modern India · Gandhi and the Mass Movements
The trio of Binoy, Badal, and Dinesh are remembered for their daring armed attack on which building, a symbol of British administration in Calcutta?
The Red Shirts were non-violent
The Khudai Khidmatgars were a non-violent body allied with the Congress. Do not mix them with the armed revolutionaries of the same years.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Reference tables (4)
Rowlatt, Jallianwala and Non-Cooperation (1919 to 1924)6 rows
| Event | Year | Fact |
|---|---|---|
| Rowlatt Act | 1919 | Detention without trial for two yearsQ |
| Jallianwala Bagh | 13 April 1919 | Amritsar; Tagore returned his knighthoodQ |
| AITUC founded | 1920 | Bombay; Lala Lajpat Rai presidentQ |
| Chauri Chaura | February 1922 | Non-Cooperation called offQ |
| Swaraj Party | 1923 | C. R. Das and Motilal NehruQ |
| Belgaum session | 1924 | Gandhi presidedQ |
From the Simon Commission to the Poona Pact (1927 to 1932)6 rows
| Event | Year | Name to remember |
|---|---|---|
| Simon Commission protests | 1928 | Lala Lajpat Rai died after the Lahore lathi chargeQ |
| Bardoli Satyagraha | 1928 | Vallabhbhai PatelQ |
| Purna Swaraj resolution | 1929 | Lahore session, Nehru presidingQ |
| Dandi March | 1930 | Viceroy Lord IrwinQ |
| Gandhi-Irwin Pact | 1931 | Then the Second Round Table ConferenceQ |
| Poona Pact | 1932 | Gandhi and AmbedkarQ |
Watch out for (5)
- Bardoli was Patel's, in 1928→ Gandhi's early life and first satyagrahas
- Chauri Chaura was in the United Provinces→ Rowlatt, Jallianwala and Non-Cooperation (1919 to 1924)
- Lahore 1929 is Purna Swaraj, Karachi 1931 is Fundamental Rights→ From the Simon Commission to the Poona Pact (1927 to 1932)
- Irwin at Dandi, Willingdon after→ From the Simon Commission to the Poona Pact (1927 to 1932)
- The Red Shirts were non-violent→ Red Shirts, kisan sabhas and the revolutionaries of 1930
Test yourself on Modern India
20 past SSC CGL questions from this chapter, timed at 12 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.