According to the commonly cited chronology, to which place was the headquarters of the Rajputana Agency moved in 1845?

Shimla, the summer capital of British India

Ajmer, the seat from 1832 to 1845

Udaipur, seat of the Mewar Residency

Match each state with the form of its relationship with the British in 1817–1818. States: Mewar, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Bundi. Forms: P. British protectorate. Q. Treaty of Friendship, Alliances and Unity. R. Subsidiary alliance. Which pairing is correct?

Jodhpur–R, Mewar–Q, Bikaner–P, Bundi–R

Jodhpur–P, Mewar–Q, Bikaner–R, Bundi–P

Jodhpur–R, Mewar–Q, Bikaner–P, Bundi–R

Jodhpur–R, Mewar–P, Bikaner–Q, Bundi–R

Jodhpur–Q, Mewar–R, Bikaner–P, Bundi–R

Which succession levy did the Bijolia peasants oppose after the thakur imposed it in 1906?

Chavri, the levy on a daughter's marriage

Lata-kunta, an assessment on the standing crop

Sasan, a rent-free grant for religious purposes

Who founded the Mewar Praja Mandal in 1938?

Jai Narayan Vyas, leader of the Marwar Praja Mandal

Gokulbhai Bhatt, founder of the Sirohi Praja Mandal

Bhogilal Pandya, founder of the Dungarpur Praja Mandal

Where and when was the first session of the All India States' Peoples' Conference held?

Lucknow, 1928, when the Nehru Report was drafted

Jaipur, 1931, when the Jaipur Praja Mandal was formed

Haripura, 1938, the Congress session that opened the states to the people

Before the Haripura session of 1938, what was the Indian National Congress's stance on the princely states?

It kept the princely states outside its campaigns, and was slow to back the Praja Mandals.

It organised Praja Mandals directly in every princely state through its own branches.

It had launched satyagraha in the states under its own flag from the Nagpur session of 1920.

It urged the Praja Mandals of all states to merge into the Matsya Union.

The table shows three stages of integration. Which inference is best supported by it? Stage | Date | Capital Second | 25 March 1948 | Kota Third | 18 April 1948 | Udaipur Fourth | 30 March 1949 | Jaipur

Udaipur became the capital in the third stage, when Mewar joined.

Kota remained the capital through 1948 and 1949.

Udaipur became the capital in the third stage, when Mewar joined.

Jaipur was the capital of the first stage, because Alwar was its base.

The capital in the fourth stage was Udaipur, because Mewar led the merger.

Who was the Maharajpramukh, the senior post among the heads of the integrated Rajasthan?

Sawai Man Singh II, Rajpramukh of Greater Rajasthan

Bhim Singh II, Rajpramukh of the Rajasthan Union

Udai Bhan Singh, Rajpramukh of the Matsya Union

Modern Rajasthan: Political Conditions, Movements and Integration

This chapter answers the second half of the commission's Rajasthan history block, under the same heading “History, Art, Culture, Literature, Tradition & Heritage of Rajasthan”. It covers the items the commission lists as the political and social condition of the 18th and 19th centuries, the peasant and tribal movements of the 20th century, the Praja Mandal movements and mass awakening, and the integration of Rajasthan, which also answers the Mains Paper I part on the 19th and 20th century events of the state. It teaches the treaties that tied the states to the British, the 1857 rising in Rajputana, the Bijolia, Mangarh and Begu movements, the Praja Mandals state by state, and the seven stages of integration from March 1948 to November 1956, with the dates examiners ask for.

1. Political and social condition in the 18th and 19th centuries

In the eighteenth century the Rajput states were drawn into the decline of the Mughals and the expansion of the Marathas. Mahadji Scindia, acting as deputy of the Mughal emperor, demanded tribute from Jaipur and Jodhpur. The battle of Tunga, also called Lalsot, on 28 July 1787 did not break the Rajput armies, but in 1790 at Patan and Merta he crushed the two Rajput armies and reduced the major Rajput states to tributaries. The Jat state of Bharatpur, under Suraj Mal (1707–1763), was the chief power of the east. Court factions and succession disputes weakened the Rajput rulers, who could not agree among themselves on a common front.

From 1803 the British became the decisive power. Alwar entered a permanent alliance of friendship with the East India Company in 1803 (14 November), usually counted as the first lasting treaty in Rajputana, and after the Third Anglo-Maratha War most states signed in 1817 and 1818. The forms of the treaties differed, and the difference matters for answers. A subsidiary alliance tied the state's external relations and defence to British control. A protectorate or a treaty of friendship left more room for internal rule, though the British still held the decisive say. The Rajputana Agency, with its first agreements in 1817, was set up to supervise these states, with its headquarters at Ajmer from 1832; Mount Abu became its headquarters in the commonly cited chronology from 1845, though the Agent in practice divided his year between the two.

Principal treaties of the Rajputana states with the British, 1803–1826
State	Date	Form of relationship
Alwar	1803	Permanent alliance of friendship (14 November 1803)
Karauli	9 November 1817	Subsidiary alliance
Jodhpur (Marwar)	6 January 1818	Subsidiary alliance
Mewar (Udaipur)	13 January 1818	Treaty of Friendship, Alliances and Unity
Bundi	10 February 1818	Subsidiary alliance
Bikaner	9 March 1818	British protectorate
Jaisalmer	12 December 1818	British protectorate
Bharatpur	1826, after Lohagarh was taken in January	British protectorate after a siege

⚠️ Ajmer-Merwara was not a princely state

Ajmer-Merwara was a British province ruled directly, with only the exception of Kekri. Candidates who count it among the princely states will go wrong on the integration questions, where it is the one unit that was not a princely state at independence.

2. The revolt of 1857 in Rajputana

Rajputana's rising in 1857 was shaped by the states' own grievances as much as by the mutinies of the army. The clearest episode is at Auwa, a thikana of Jodhpur State held by Thakur Kushal Singh Champawat, a Rathore. His men joined rebel soldiers marching from Mount Abu towards Delhi, and at Bithoda the rebel army beat the Jodhpur state force. At Chelawas the Jodhpur Political Agent, Captain Monck Mason, was killed. The British sent a force under Brigadier Holmes, who, according to the usual account, took Auwa after a siege of about five days in January 1858. The fort was damaged and Kushal Singh's jagir was confiscated; he surrendered in 1860.

Tatya Tope, after losing Gwalior, fled into Rajputana and induced the army of Tonk to join him. The rising in Rajputana was therefore less a single movement than a chain of local revolts, some against the states and some against the British. It ended with the reassertion of British and princely control, and the examiner's usual question is about its character, which the candidate should describe as a mix of army mutiny, feudal grievance and local leadership.

3. Peasant and tribal movements of the twentieth century

In the princely states these movements were aimed at feudal dues. They often became the first organised political action in a state where parties were not allowed. Three are essential for the examination.

Bijolia (1897–1941). Bijolia was a thikana of Mewar in present-day Bhilwara district. Its peasants protested a long list of levies, reported as eighty-four kinds, including the chavri on a daughter's marriage, the talwar bandhai succession fee imposed after 1906, and the lata-kunta assessment on the standing crop. The protest began with a meeting at Girdharipura in 1897 and lasted, with breaks, for about forty-four years. Sadhu Sitaram Das and Fateh Karan Charan were among its early leaders, and about 1913 a no-tax campaign under Fateh Karan Charan left the fields uncultivated. From 1916 Vijay Singh Pathik brought the movement national attention through the press and the Congress, and a peasant panchayat (the Panch Board) was organised in 1916–17. An agreement of 1922 gave partial relief, and a settlement with the state in 1941 ended the movement. Historians often call it the first peasant satyagraha of the country.

Begu and the Mewar estates (1921). Pathik and the Rajasthan Seva Sangh, founded at Ajmer in 1920, carried the Bijolia method to Begu in 1921 and then to other estates such as Parsoli, Bhinder and Bassi. The Mewar government arrested Pathik and sentenced him to five years; he was released in April 1927. Mangarh (1913). In Banswara district, Govind Guru, a Banjara leader of the Bhagat movement, had founded the Samp Sabha in 1883 to teach abstention from liquor, meat and theft, and refusal to pay illegal levies and forced labour. On 17 November 1913 a large gathering on Mangarh hill was fired on by the forces of the state and the British, and many were killed. Estimates of the dead vary widely. Govind Guru was sentenced, later released, and died in Gujarat in 1931.

The Bhil movements. Motilal Tejawat, the leader of the Bhils and Garasias, organised the Eki movement from the early 1920s against feudal oppression and forced labour. Its best-known episode was the firing of 7 March 1922 in the Vijaynagar area, which Rajasthan textbooks call the Nimda firing; estimates of the dead vary from a few dozen to over a thousand. Together with Govind Guru's Bhagat movement and Bijolia, these show that the tribal and peasant grievances of the princely states were fused with a wider demand for dignity and the end of illegal dues.

4. Praja Mandals and mass awakening

Praja Mandals, or people's councils, were formed in the princely states during the 1920s and 1930s. The All India States' Peoples' Conference, whose first session was held at Bombay in December 1927, was the umbrella body. Congress was slow to take up the states, and at its Haripura session in 1938 it allowed the people of each state to organise and press their own rights. The Praja Mandals then multiplied. The conference dissolved itself on 25 April 1948, and its units merged into Congress.

Praja Mandals of Rajasthan, by state and year of founding
State	Founded	Note
Bundi	1931	Founded by Kanti Lal and Nityanand
Jaipur	1931, re-formed 1936	Jamnalal Bajaj was elected its chief in 1938
Jodhpur (Marwar)	1934	Jai Narayan Vyas, with Bhanwarlal Sarraf
Bikaner	1936	Founded outside the state, at Calcutta
Dholpur	1936	Krishna Datt Paliwal and Jwala Prasad Jigyasu
Mewar (Udaipur)	24 April 1938	Manikya Lal Verma; first president Balwant Singh Mehta
Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli	1938	Local leaders in each state
Kota	1939	Abhinn Hari and Pt. Nayanu Ram Sharma
Sirohi	22 January 1939	Gokulbhai Bhatt, with seven others
Banswara	1943	Bhupendra Nath Trivedi and Haridev Joshi
Dungarpur	1944	Bhogilal Pandya
Jhalawar	1946	Mangilal Bhavya and Kanhaiyalal Mittal

The movements were not only political. Their leaders ran schools, khadi work and social reform, and the cost could be severe. Sagarmal Gopa of Jaisalmer, who had exposed the misrule of Maharawal Jawahar Singh in print, was arrested in 1941 and was set alight in custody on 4 April 1946; an inquiry under Gopal Swaroop Pathak later called the death suicide. Manikya Lal Verma, who founded the Mewar Praja Mandal, led the cabinet of the United State of Rajasthan in 1948. The lesson for the examiner is that the Praja Mandals were the organised face of popular demand, and they fed directly into the integration of 1948–49.

5. The stages of integration, 1948–1956

At independence the area of present Rajasthan held nineteen princely states, three chiefships and one British-ruled province, Ajmer-Merwara. The Indian Independence Act of 1947 ended the treaties with the Crown, and the rulers were brought in by the States Ministry under Sardar Patel, with V. P. Menon as its secretary. Bikaner's ruler was among the first to sign the Instrument of Accession, on 7 August 1947. The merger then proceeded in seven stages, each with a new name and a new unit, and the reorganisation of 1956 completed the state's present shape.

The seven stages of the integration of Rajasthan
Stage and date	Name and units	Head of the union
First: 18 March 1948	Matsya Union: Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Karauli; capital Alwar	Rajpramukh of Dholpur; first chief minister Shobha Ram Kumawat
Second: 25 March 1948	Rajasthan Union: Kota (capital), Bundi, Tonk, Jhalawar, Dungarpur, Banswara, Pratapgarh, Kishangarh, Shahpura, Kushalgarh	Rajpramukh Maharao Bhim Singh II of Kota
Third: 18 April 1948	United State of Rajasthan: the Rajasthan Union plus Mewar; capital Udaipur	Rajpramukh Maharana Bhupal Singh; Manikya Lal Verma led the cabinet
Fourth: 30 March 1949	Greater Rajasthan: plus Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer; capital Jaipur	Rajpramukh Sawai Man Singh II; Maharana Bhupal Singh Maharajpramukh
Fifth: 15 May 1949	Matsya Union merged into the united state	Shobha Ram Kumawat joined the cabinet
Sixth: 26 January 1950	Rajasthan becomes a state; Sirohi, except Abu and Delwara, merged	Hiralal Shastri, first nominated chief minister from 7 April 1949
Seventh: 1 November 1956	States Reorganisation Act: Ajmer, Abu Road taluka, Abu and Delwara, and Sunel-Tappa join; Sironj goes to Madhya Pradesh	Chief Minister Mohan Lal Sukhadia

⚠️ Abu and Delwara moved twice

Abu and Delwara left Sirohi and went to Bombay State in 1950, not Rajasthan. They came to Rajasthan only in the 1956 reorganisation, together with the Abu Road taluka. Candidates who answer “Abu joined Rajasthan in 1950” will lose the mark on the sixth stage.

Two early dates are often confused. Matsya Union is dated to 18 March 1948 in the standard account, although some sources give 17 March for the first merger. Rajasthan Day falls on 30 March, the date the Greater Rajasthan was inaugurated at Jaipur in 1949 by Sardar Patel, and that date is the one examiners expect. Udaipur joined only after the Rajasthan Union had been formed, the Maharana having agreed to join in the weeks before, and the union being inaugurated at Udaipur on 18 April 1948.

6. Rajasthan after integration: the constitutional settlement

The former rulers were given a constitutional role in the united states. The Rajpramukh and the Maharajpramukh were heads of the new units, the Maharana of Udaipur holding the senior post of Maharajpramukh. The Seventh Amendment of 1956 abolished the Rajpramukh post. The Twenty-sixth Amendment of 1971 abolished the privy purses that had been guaranteed to the former rulers. The High Court of Rajasthan was established on 29 August 1949 under a 1949 ordinance, with its principal seat at Jodhpur; a permanent bench was set up at Jaipur in 1977. Gurumukh Nihal Singh was the first Governor. The integrity of the new state was tested in September 1965, when fighting reached the Rajasthan border; positions captured by either side were returned under the Tashkent Declaration of January 1966.

🎯 Why the merger was phased

The planners built the state around the units that could stand alone and then drew in the weaker ones. Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Bikaner were the four states judged viable on population and income; Udaipur came in at the third stage and the other three at the fourth, because their rulers had the most to lose and bargained over privy purses. Phasing allowed the planners to secure the south-east first, then the desert states, with privy purses as the price. For a Mains answer, present integration as a negotiated settlement that combined security, economic viability and the rulers' demands.

Key takeaways

The 18th and 19th century states moved from Maratha tribute (Tunga 1787, Patan and Merta 1790) to British treaties: Alwar's permanent alliance came in 1803, most treaties in 1817–1818, and Bharatpur's protectorate in 1826.
The 1857 rising in Rajputana was a chain of local revolts; Auwa's Kushal Singh Champawat defeated the Jodhpur force at Bithoda and killed the Political Agent at Chelawas before the British took the fort.
Peasant and tribal movements had fixed dates to remember: Bijolia from 1897 to 1941 against a list of levies, Mangarh firing on 17 November 1913, and the Eki movement among the Bhils from the early 1920s.
Praja Mandals began in the states in 1931 and multiplied after Haripura in 1938, when Congress allowed the states' people to organise; the All India States' Peoples' Conference, founded in 1927, dissolved into Congress in 1948.
Integration ran in seven stages: Matsya Union (18 March 1948), Rajasthan Union (25 March 1948), United State of Rajasthan with Mewar (18 April 1948), Greater Rajasthan (30 March 1949), the Matsya merger (15 May 1949), statehood (26 January 1950) and reorganisation (1 November 1956).

Practice questions (17)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

Which of the following Rajputana states concluded a treaty of permanent friendship and alliance with the East India Company in 1803 that stayed in force?
1. Jaipur
2. Alwar
3. Jodhpur
4. Kota
Show answer
Answer: B — Alwar
Alwar concluded a mutual offensive and defensive alliance of permanent friendship with the Company in 1803, usually counted as the first lasting treaty in Rajputana (Bharatpur's own 1803 treaty broke down by 1804, and Bharatpur is not an option here). Jaipur and Jodhpur are the tempting answers because they were the largest states, but both signed their subsidiary alliances in 1818. Kota came under British suzerainty in 1817.
According to the commonly cited chronology, to which place was the headquarters of the Rajputana Agency moved in 1845?
1. Shimla, the summer capital of British India
2. Ajmer, the seat from 1832 to 1845
3. Mount Abu
4. Udaipur, seat of the Mewar Residency
Show answer
Answer: C — Mount Abu
The Rajputana Agency had its headquarters at Ajmer from 1832 and moved to Mount Abu in 1845 according to the commonly cited chronology. Ajmer is the tempting answer because it was the earlier seat, but the question asks for the place of the 1845 move. Udaipur was the seat of the Mewar Residency, a subordinate post, not the Agency's headquarters.
Match each state with the form of its relationship with the British in 1817–1818.
States: Mewar, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Bundi.
Forms:
P. British protectorate.
Q. Treaty of Friendship, Alliances and Unity.
R. Subsidiary alliance.
Which pairing is correct?
1. Jodhpur–P, Mewar–Q, Bikaner–R, Bundi–P
2. Jodhpur–R, Mewar–Q, Bikaner–P, Bundi–R
3. Jodhpur–R, Mewar–P, Bikaner–Q, Bundi–R
4. Jodhpur–Q, Mewar–R, Bikaner–P, Bundi–R
Show answer
Answer: B — Jodhpur–R, Mewar–Q, Bikaner–P, Bundi–R
Mewar signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliances and Unity on 13 January 1818, Bikaner accepted a British protectorate on 9 March 1818, and Jodhpur and Bundi signed subsidiary alliances on 6 January and 10 February 1818. The tempting error pairs Bikaner with a subsidiary alliance, since Bikaner was also a large state, but its form was the protectorate.
Arrange these events in the order they occurred.
P. Mahadji Scindia's battle against the Jaipur and Jodhpur armies at Tunga, also called Lalsot.
Q. The battles of Patan and Merta, which reduced the Rajput states to tribute.
R. The capture of Lohagarh, which led to Bharatpur's British protectorate.
S. The shift of the Rajputana Agency headquarters to Mount Abu (commonly dated 1845).
Which sequence is correct?
1. P, R, Q, S
2. Q, P, R, S
3. R, P, Q, S
4. P, Q, R, S
Show answer
Answer: D — P, Q, R, S
Tunga was fought in 1787, Patan and Merta in 1790, Lohagarh was taken in January 1826, and the Agency's headquarters moved to Mount Abu in 1845 by the commonly cited chronology. The tempting error is placing Lohagarh early, because it was a famous fort, but it fell more than three decades after the 1790 battles.
Consider the following statements about the revolt of 1857 at Auwa.
P. Kushal Singh was the Thakur of Auwa, a thikana of Jodhpur State.
Q. At Chelawas, Captain Monck Mason, the Jodhpur Political Agent, was killed.
R. Auwa was a thikana of Mewar.
S. Tatya Tope, after losing Gwalior, fled into Rajputana and induced the Tonk army to join him.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
1. P and R only
2. P, Q and S only
3. Q, R and S only
4. P, Q, R and S
Show answer
Answer: B — P, Q and S only
Statements P, Q and S are correct. Auwa was a thikana of Jodhpur State, not Mewar, so R is wrong, and it is the tempting error because Mewar is the state most associated with thikana disputes of the period. Mason's death at Chelawas and Tatya Tope's move into Rajputana with the Tonk army are both recorded.
On 17 November 1913, firing on a large gathering on Mangarh hill took place in which district of present-day Rajasthan?
1. Banswara
2. Dungarpur
3. Pratapgarh
4. Udaipur
Show answer
Answer: A — Banswara
The Mangarh hill lies in Banswara district. Dungarpur is the tempting answer because Govind Guru was born in Dungarpur district and the movement spread across the Vagad region, but the firing took place at Mangarh in Banswara. Pratapgarh and Udaipur had their own movements, not this one.
Which succession levy did the Bijolia peasants oppose after the thakur imposed it in 1906?
1. Chavri, the levy on a daughter's marriage
2. Talwar bandhai
3. Lata-kunta, an assessment on the standing crop
4. Sasan, a rent-free grant for religious purposes
Show answer
Answer: B — Talwar bandhai
The talwar bandhai was a fee charged when a new holder took over the estate, and Bijolia's peasants resented it after 1906. Chavri, the levy on a daughter's marriage, is the tempting answer because it was also among the Bijolia levies, but it was a marriage levy, not a succession fee. Lata-kunta was a crop assessment, and sasan was a rent-free grant, not a levy.
The table gives four movements, their regions, their years and their leaders. In which row is the leader incorrectly stated?

Movement | Region | Years | Leader
Mangarh | Banswara | 1913 | Govind Guru
Begu | Mewar | 1921 | Motilal Tejawat
Eki | Mewar Bhil belt | 1920s | Motilal Tejawat
Bijolia | Mewar, Bhilwara | 1897–1941 | Sitaram Das (first leader)
1. Mangarh
2. Begu
3. Eki
4. Bijolia
Show answer
Answer: B — Begu
The Begu row is wrong: the 1921 Begu agitation was carried on by Vijay Singh Pathik through the Rajasthan Seva Sangh, while Motilal Tejawat led the Eki movement among the Bhils. The Eki row is correct, and Tejawat is the tempting name because he appears twice in the table. Mangarh with Govind Guru and Bijolia with Sitaram Das as its first leader are both correct.
Who founded the Mewar Praja Mandal in 1938?
1. Manikya Lal Verma
2. Jai Narayan Vyas, leader of the Marwar Praja Mandal
3. Gokulbhai Bhatt, founder of the Sirohi Praja Mandal
4. Bhogilal Pandya, founder of the Dungarpur Praja Mandal
Show answer
Answer: A — Manikya Lal Verma
Manikya Lal Verma founded the Mewar Praja Mandal at Udaipur on 24 April 1938. Jai Narayan Vyas is the tempting answer because he led the Marwar Praja Mandal, which was formed in 1934, a state other than Mewar. Gokulbhai Bhatt founded the Sirohi Praja Mandal in 1939, and Bhogilal Pandya the Dungarpur one in 1944.
Where and when was the first session of the All India States' Peoples' Conference held?
1. Bombay, in December 1927
2. Lucknow, 1928, when the Nehru Report was drafted
3. Jaipur, 1931, when the Jaipur Praja Mandal was formed
4. Haripura, 1938, the Congress session that opened the states to the people
Show answer
Answer: A — Bombay, in December 1927
The conference held its first session at Bombay in December 1927. Lucknow in 1928 is the tempting answer because the Nehru Report was taken up there at the All Parties Conference, a different body, not the first session of the States' Peoples' Conference. Jaipur in 1931 and Haripura in 1938 were stages in Rajasthan's politics, not its origin.
Before the Haripura session of 1938, what was the Indian National Congress's stance on the princely states?
1. It kept the princely states outside its campaigns, and was slow to back the Praja Mandals.
2. It organised Praja Mandals directly in every princely state through its own branches.
3. It had launched satyagraha in the states under its own flag from the Nagpur session of 1920.
4. It urged the Praja Mandals of all states to merge into the Matsya Union.
Show answer
Answer: A — It kept the princely states outside its campaigns, and was slow to back the Praja Mandals.
Before 1938 Congress kept the states at a distance, and the Praja Mandals had to press their cause without its direct backing. The tempting option is the claim that Congress organised them directly, which was true only after Haripura allowed the states' people to organise. The Matsya Union was formed in 1948, years after the Praja Mandals began, so it could not have been their target.
Arrange these events of the integration in the order they occurred.
P. The Matsya Union is formed on 18 March 1948.
Q. The Rajasthan Union is formed at Kota on 25 March 1948.
R. The United State of Rajasthan is inaugurated at Udaipur on 18 April 1948.
S. Greater Rajasthan is inaugurated at Jaipur on 30 March 1949.
Which sequence is correct?
1. P, Q, S, R
2. Q, P, R, S
3. P, Q, R, S
4. P, R, Q, S
Show answer
Answer: C — P, Q, R, S
The dates run 18 March 1948, 25 March 1948, 18 April 1948 and 30 March 1949. The tempting error is placing Greater Rajasthan before the United State of Rajasthan, because Greater Rajasthan is the more familiar name, but 1949 is later than 1948 for both. The sequence has to be read from the years first.
Which date is observed as Rajasthan Day, commemorating the inauguration of Greater Rajasthan in 1949?
1. 15 May
2. 26 January
3. 18 April
4. 30 March
Show answer
Answer: D — 30 March
Rajasthan Day is observed on 30 March, the date Greater Rajasthan was inaugurated at Jaipur in 1949. The tempting answer is 15 May, the date the Matsya Union merged in 1949, but that was a merger, not the inauguration. 26 January is the day the state of Rajasthan was formed in 1950, and 18 April is the Udaipur inauguration of 1948.
Consider the following statements about the integration of Rajasthan.
P. The Matsya Union of 1948 included Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli.
Q. Udaipur joined the merger in 1948, after the Rajasthan Union had been formed.
R. Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer joined in March 1949.
S. Abu and Delwara became part of Rajasthan in 1950 along with Sirohi.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
1. P and Q only
2. P, Q and R
3. Q, R and S only
4. P and S only
Show answer
Answer: B — P, Q and R
Statements P, Q and R are correct. Statement S is wrong: Abu and Delwara went to Bombay State in 1950 and reached Rajasthan only in the 1956 reorganisation. The tempting error is S, because Sirohi did join Rajasthan in 1950, but without Abu and Delwara.
Who was the first Chief Minister of Rajasthan state after its formation in 1949-50?
1. Tika Ram Paliwal
2. Jai Narayan Vyas
3. Hiralal Shastri
4. Mohan Lal Sukhadia
Show answer
Answer: C — Hiralal Shastri
Hiralal Shastri was the first nominated Chief Minister, taking office on 7 April 1949. Tika Ram Paliwal is the tempting answer because he was the first elected Chief Minister, from 1952, not the first in office. Jai Narayan Vyas was Chief Minister in the 1950s, and Mohan Lal Sukhadia served from 1954 to 1971.
The table shows three stages of integration. Which inference is best supported by it?

Stage | Date | Capital
Second | 25 March 1948 | Kota
Third | 18 April 1948 | Udaipur
Fourth | 30 March 1949 | Jaipur
1. Kota remained the capital through 1948 and 1949.
2. Udaipur became the capital in the third stage, when Mewar joined.
3. Jaipur was the capital of the first stage, because Alwar was its base.
4. The capital in the fourth stage was Udaipur, because Mewar led the merger.
Show answer
Answer: B — Udaipur became the capital in the third stage, when Mewar joined.
The table shows the capital moving from Kota to Udaipur in the third stage, which followed Mewar's joining, and then to Jaipur in the fourth. The claim that Kota stayed the capital through 1949 is contradicted by the table, which moves the capital on in April 1948. The first stage's capital was Alwar, not Jaipur, and Mewar did not lead the 1949 merger, which Sardar Patel inaugurated at Jaipur.
Who was the Maharajpramukh, the senior post among the heads of the integrated Rajasthan?
1. Sawai Man Singh II, Rajpramukh of Greater Rajasthan
2. Bhim Singh II, Rajpramukh of the Rajasthan Union
3. Bhupal Singh of Mewar
4. Udai Bhan Singh, Rajpramukh of the Matsya Union
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Answer: C — Bhupal Singh of Mewar
Maharana Bhupal Singh of Mewar was made Maharajpramukh, the senior post above the Rajpramukh, when Greater Rajasthan was formed. Sawai Man Singh II was the Rajpramukh of Greater Rajasthan, the tempting answer for those who recall the head of the state's Rajpramukh. Bhim Singh II was Rajpramukh of the Rajasthan Union, and Udai Bhan Singh was Rajpramukh of the Matsya Union.