GS Paper I — Q3
What were the events that led to the Quit India Movement? Point out its results. (Answer in 150 words)
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
वे कौन-सी घटनाएँ थीं जिनके कारण भारत छोड़ो आंदोलन शुरू हुआ? इसके परिणामों को स्पष्ट कीजिए। (उत्तर 150 शब्दों में दीजिए)
Model answer
Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-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.
Causes. The Quit India Movement arose from the failure of the Cripps Mission (March–April 1942), which offered Dominion Status but refused immediate independence, against a backdrop of the Japanese advance through Southeast Asia to India’s borders, World War II’s strain, inflation, food shortages and the exhaustion of constitutional methods. Gandhi’s “Do or Die” call and the AICC’s Bombay resolution of 8 August 1942 transformed this frustration into a mass non-cooperation campaign.
Results. The British responded with mass arrests of Congress leaders and brutal repression, yet the movement produced spontaneous uprisings and parallel governments in Ballia, Tamluk and Satara. Though suppressed by 1943 and not dismantling British administration, it weakened British moral authority, accelerated post-war transfer of power, and made independence seem inevitable. Socialist and communist influence rose in post-war politics, though the CPI remained isolated for supporting Britain’s war effort; the later INA trials further deepened nationalist resentment. Thus, it became a decisive turning point in the freedom struggle.
How this answer will be evaluated
Framework: GS1 History: Movements (causes, social base, methods, limits, legacy)
What earns full marks: Precise causes (Cripps) and results (repression/legacy) with analytical depth.
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Explain the events that led to the Quit India Movement and point out its results. 10 marks · 150 words
explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close
Must cover
- Failure of the Cripps Mission (March–April 1942): dominion status after the war, provincial opt-out, no immediate transfer of power
- Wartime context: Japanese advance to Burma and India's frontier, fear of a 'scorched earth' British retreat, price rise and shortages, discontent with unilateral entry into the war
- AICC's Quit India resolution at Bombay (8 August 1942), Gandhi's 'Do or Die'; arrest of leaders on 9 August and leaderless mass upsurge
- Results: severe repression; parallel governments (Ballia, Tamluk, Satara); movement crushed by 1943 but independence placed on the immediate agenda; rise of new leadership (JP, Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta's Congress Radio)
Loses marks
- Dating the movement to 1940 or linking it to the Simon Commission
- Claiming it won immediate independence
Earns more
- Differing stands: CPI (people's war), Muslim League (strengthened), Hindu Mahasabha; princely states and bureaucracy's loyalty strained
- Link to INA trials and RIN mutiny in hastening transfer of power
Extra mark
- Assessment that it showed the limits of Raj's legitimacy rather than its military defeat
What "Enumerate" is asking you to do
Produce the complete set of items asked for, countable and correctly named. The examiner marks against a checklist, so a missing item costs and an elaborated one gains nothing — where discussion is wanted the stem asks for it as a separate sub-part.
Structure that answers it
One line naming the basis on which the set is drawn → items numbered, each in a phrase or a single line → the discussion sub-part taken up separately, after the list is complete
Where marks are lost
Treating it as an essay. Six items named in six lines score better than three items explained at length.
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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