Prominent Personalities in Modern History: UPSC Previous Year Questions (Modern History)

Explanation

Option (a) is incorrect: The Indian tricolour was designed by Pingali Venkayya, who was a freedom fighter and was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Pingali Venkayya had designed the flag of India and presented it to Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 during the session of the All India Congress Committee in Vijayawada.

Option (b) is incorrect: Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramaiah, a member of the working committee was one of the key leaders of Quit India Movement. His contributions were largely at the national level rather than being confined to any one location like Madanapalle.

Option (c) is correct: The National Anthem was created by Rabindra Nath Tagore and it was originally called ‘Bharat Bhagya Bidhata’. The Anthem was first sung at the annual session of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta on December 27, 1911. Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English in Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh.

Option (d) is incorrect: The Theosophical Society was founded by Madame H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in New York in 1875. In 1882, the headquarters of the Society were established in Adyar, near Madras (now Chennai) in India.

Explanation

"Songs from Prison" is a collection of ancient Indian religious lyrics translated into English by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. During his imprisonment in Yeravda Jail, Poona, in 1934, Gandhi undertook the task of translating these spiritual texts to make them accessible to a broader audience. His work reflects a deep engagement with spirituality and an effort to share the essence of Indian religious thought with the Englishspeaking world.