GS Paper I — Q12
Bring out the constructive programmes of Mahatma Gandhi during Non-Cooperation Movement and Civil Disobedience Movement. (Answer…
Bring out the constructive programmes of Mahatma Gandhi during Non-Cooperation Movement and Civil Disobedience Movement. (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
असहयोग आंदोलन एवं सविनय अवज्ञा आंदोलन के दौरान महात्मा गांधी के रचनात्मक कार्यक्रमों को स्पष्ट कीजिए । (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)
Model answer
Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 250-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key. How we build rubrics and answers.
Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) Swadeshi and khadi: spinning, wearing khadi and boycotting foreign cloth tied self-reliance to resistance, and the Tilak Swaraj Fund (1921) financed the work. National education: Gujarat Vidyapith and Kashi Vidyapith, with national schools teaching in the vernaculars, offered an alternative to government institutions. Social causes: campaigns against liquor, village sanitation, Hindu–Muslim unity through Khilafat cooperation, and the Congress call to remove untouchability.
Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34) Khadi and village industries: the All India Spinners' Association (1925) organised khadi production and sales, and the All India Village Industries Association (1934) promoted cottage industries. Prohibition: women led picketing of liquor shops. Anti-untouchability: the Harijan Sevak Sangh (1932) gave the work an institutional form, and Gandhi's Harijan tour of 1933–34 raised funds and awareness.
Gandhi treated these programmes as the positive side of non-cooperation: they built village self-reliance and social unity that gave swaraj a practical content.
How this answer will be evaluated
Framework: GS1 History: Movements (causes, social base, methods, limits, legacy)
What earns full marks: Detailed, specific programmes linked to movement goals with clear objectives.
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Identify and explain the constructive programmes of Gandhi during Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience movements. 15 marks · 250 words
highlight— name the salient points → one line of substance each → close
Must cover
- Distinguish constructive work from negative boycotts
- List specific programmes (e.g., Khadi, Swadeshi, education)
- Link programmes to the specific movement context
- Explain the social or political objective of the work
Loses marks
- Narrating general history of the movements
- Focusing only on negative aspects (boycotts)
- Vague generalities without naming specific programmes
Earns more
- Mention specific institutions (e.g., Gujarat Vidyapeeth)
- Reference specific campaigns (e.g., Harijan, Temple Entry)
- Connect constructive work to the goal of Swaraj
- Mention the role of the masses in these programmes
Extra mark
- Cite a specific date or resolution (e.g., 1920 Congress session)
- Mention a specific leader associated with a programme
What "Bring out" is asking you to do
Make the specific content emerge in its own right — the programmes, effects or implications the stem names — set down concretely rather than left for the reader to infer from general discussion.
Structure that answers it
The subject placed in one line → each particular brought out, with the evidence that establishes it → what the particulars show when taken together
Where marks are lost
Circling the topic in general terms. Bring out is marked on the particulars actually produced, not on the framing around them.
Practice this exact question
Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.
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