Students can access the CBSE Sample Papers for Class 12 History with Solutions and marking scheme Term 2 Set 3 will help students in understanding the difficulty level of the exam.
CBSE Sample Papers for Class 12 History Term 2 Set 3 with Solutions
Time allowed: 2 Hours
Maximum Marks: 40
General Instructions:
- This Question paper is divided into four sections-Section A, B, C and D.
- All questions are compulsory.
- Section-A: Question no. 1 to 4 are Short Answer type questions of 3 marks each. Answer to each question should not exceed 80 words.
- Section-B: Question no. 5 to 7 are Long Answer type questions, carrying 6 marks. Answer to this question should not exceed 150-200 words.
- Section-C: Question no. 8 and 9 are Case Based questions, carrying 4 marks each with subparts.
- Section-D: Question no. 10 is map based, carrying 2 marks.
- There is no overall choice in the question paper. However, an internal choice has been
provided in a few questions. Only one of the choices in such questions have to be attempted. - In addition to this, separate instructions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary.
Section – A
Short Answer Questions
Question 1.
Explain the relevance of Ain-i-Akbari of Abu’l Fazl as a historical source. (3)
Or
Architectural activities were important aspects of urbanism in imperial capital cities of Mughal empire. Explain.
Answer:
Ain-i-akbari is the third volume of the Akbar Nama written by Abu’l Fazl. It is about the political and administrative history of Akbar’s reign. It talks about the mode of governance of Akbar’s administrative and statistical reports of the government. It is an important historical source of Akbar’s reign for the following reasons.
- Its an imperial gazetteer of Akbar’s reign
- It talks about court life, administration and army
- Gives details of revenue administration
- Problems faced by provinces
- It gives information about culture and geography of the region
- It presents information about Mughal empire
- It gives information about diverse population consisting of Hindus, Jainas, Muslims and Buddhists
Or
It is true that architectural activities were important aspects of urbanism in imperial capital cities of Mughal empire. This is evident from the following developments in the field of architecture under Mughal rulers:
(i) Akbar commissioned the construction of marble tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti next to the majestic. Friday mosque at his capital city in Fatehpur Sikri.
(ii) He also built the enormous Buland Darwaza the arched gateway to remind visitors of Mughal victory of Gujarat.
(iii) Shah Jahan shifted the capital from Agra to Shahjahanabad. It was a new residential city of Delhi with the Red Fort and Jama Masjid with bazaars like Chandni Chowk and spacious homes for the nobility.
Question 2.
Explain the advantages of Permanent Settlement of Bengal. (3)
Answer:
The advantages of Permanent Settlement were
- It identified individuals who would improve agriculture and contract to pay a fixed revenue to the state.
- Entrepreneurs could feel sure of earning profit from their investment since the state would not siphon it off by increasing its claim.
- The process would lead to the emergence of yeoman farmers and rich landlords who would have the capital and the enterprise to improve agriculture.
- Nurtured by British it would be loyal to the British.
- It avoided evils of temporary settlement, the harassment of cultivators etc.
- It provided stability to the British government.
Question 3.
Write a note on the Chapatti Movement in the 1857 revolt. (3)
Answer:
The Chapatti Movement involved the distribution of thousands of chapattis, a type of unleavened, flatbread across several Indian villages carrying messages of native rulers seeking their services according to some scholars.
Though the meaning and purpose of distribution of chapattis is not clear to many even today. Some people read it as an omen for an upheavel. The movement came into known in the 1857 Revolt. These chapattis were being distributed from village to village.
A person would come at night and give a chapatti to the watchman of the village and ask him to make five more chapattis and distribute it in the next village and so on.
Question 4.
What were the problems faced in the formation of the Constituent Assembly? (3)
Answer:
Problems faced in the formation of the Constituent Assembly were
(i) The members of the Constituent Assembly were not elected on the basis of universal franchise . It was thus dominated by one party the Congress.
(ii) The Muslim League though captured the reserved seats but chose to boycott the Constituent Assembly pressing the demand for Pakistan with a separate Constitution.
(iii) The socialists were also unwilling to join the Constituent Assembly as they believed it was the creation of the British therefore incapable of being truly autonomous.
(iv) Members of the Congress party in the Constituent Assembly also had divergent views some were inspired by socialism some by landlordism while others were close to communal parties and some were assertively secular.
Section – B
Long Answer Questions
Question 5.
In Mughal India high culture centred around the Mughal Court. Explain the courtly culture under the Mughals in reference to the statement. (6)
Answer:
In Mughal India high culture centred around the Mughal Court. Emperors, princes grand amirs perfected the highly refined court cultural set up. The physical arrangement of the court focused on the Sovereign, mirrored his status as the heart of the society.
Its centrepiece was the throne or the takht which gave physical form to the function of the sovereign as axis mundi (pillar or pole that is visualised as the support of the earth). The canopy was the symbol of kinship in India. In the court the status of the elites was determined by the spatial proximity to the king.
Once the emperor sat on the throne no one was permitted to move from his position or to leave without permission. Social control in the court society was exercised through carefully defining in full detail the forms of address, courtesies and speech which were acceptable to the court. The slightest infringement of etiquette was punished on the spot. The forms of salutation to the ruler indicated the person’s hierarchy.
Sijda (complete prostration), chahar taslim (mode of solution) and zaminbos (kissing the ground) were forms of court etiquettes followed by elites. There were protocols for envoys to the Mughal court. They were expected to offer acceptable form of greeting either by bowing down or kissing the ground or follow the Persian custom of clasping one’s hands infront of the chest. Hence, the Mughal courtly culture was highly perfected and refined.
Question 6.
The nature of 1857 Revolt is debated among historians some believe it to be a Sepoy
mutiny while others consider it as the First War of Independence. Both set of historians cite valid reasons to support their views. Explain. (6)
Or
Rumours and prophecies were an important part of the 1857 Revolt. Cite examples which floated during this time period.
Answer:
The Revolt of 1857 was an unprecedented event in the history of British rule in India. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar termed the 1857 revolt as the First War of Independence.
Reasons of considering the Revolt of 1857 as the First War of Independence are
(i) It united though in a limited way many sections of Indian society for common cause.
(ii) It was the first time that the entire nation irrespective of the caste creed race and religion had come together and staged an armed protest against the Britisher’s to gain independence from the colonial rule.
(iii) It led to the dissolution of the East India Company.
(iv) It was not a sudden occurrence but a culmination of a century old long resistance to the British rule and a whole world of nationalist imagination was woven around the revolt.
(v) It was celebrated as the First war of Independence in which all sections of people of India came together against the imperial rule.
The British historians like Sir Jhon Lawrence and Seeley considered the revolt of 1857 as a sepoy mutiny. Mutiny is a collective disobedience of rules and regulations within the armed forces revolt on the other hand is a rebellion of the people against established authority and power. Revolt of 1857 is considered by a section of historians as a sepoy mutiny because it was initiated by the Sepoys of Awadh. There are many reasons for this consideration. These include
- The revolt was triggered because of the usage of greesed cartridges by the sepoys.
- Racial discrimination in the army made sepoys revolt.
- Opportunities in the armed forces was limited as an Indian sepoy cold not rise above the rank of Subedar.
- Open display of religious symbols was prohibited in the army which annoyed the sepoys.
- A vast number of soldiers became jobless when Awadh was annexed by the British in 1856 which made them rebel against the British rule.
Or
Rumours and propheceies played an important role in moving people into action. Some of the important rumours that floated in the revolt of 1857 were.
(i) The sepoys who had arrived in Delhi from Meerut had told Bahudur Shah about bullets coated with the fat of cows and pigs and that biting them would corrupt their caste or religion. They were reffering to the cartridges of the Enfield rifles which had just been given to them.
(ii) Captain Wright, commandant of the Rifle Instruction Depot, reported a low caste Khalasi who worked in the magazine in Dum Dum had asked a Brahman Sepoy for a drink of water from his lota.
The sepoy had refused saying that the lower castes touch would defile the lota. The Khalasi retorted that the Sepoy would loose his caste when he would be forced to bite the cartridges covered with the fat of cows and pigs.
(iii) There was a rumour that the British government had hatched a gigantic conspiracy to destroy the caste and religion of hindus and muslims. Rumours said that the British had mixed bone dust of cows and pigs into the flower that was sold in the market. In towns and confinements, sepoys and the common people refused to touch the atta. There was a fear that the British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity.
(iv) Rumours were circulating at that time that chapattis were being distributed from village to village. People read it as an omen of an upheavel.
Question 7.
Give a description highlighting the important features of the new class that emerged in the 18th century. (6)
Or
Highlight the main features of the Fifth Report. What were its shortcomings?
Answer:
The jotedars was the new dass that emerged in the eighteenth century after the zamindars faced crises in the land revenue policy implementation by the British. The important features of this dass was.
- The jotedars had acquired vast areas of land sometimes as much as several thousand acres.
- They controlled local trade and moneylending.
- They exerdsed immense power over the poor cultivators of the region.
- A large part of their land was cultivated through sharecroppers who brought their own plough laboured in the field and handed over half the produce to the jotedars after the harvest.
- Jotedars were located in the villages exerdsing direct control over the poor villagers.
- They fiercely resisted the zamindars to increase the jama of the village.
- They prevented zamindari offidals from executing their duties mobilised ryots and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the zamindar.
- When lands of zamindars were auctioned due to failure of land revenue payment jotedars were often amongst the purchasers.
- They were most powerful in North Bengal
- In some places they were called haoladars, ghantidars and mandals.
Or
Fifth Report was the fifth of the series of reports of the administration of the East India Company in India. The important features of the report were
(i) It was submitted to the British Parliament in 1813.
(ii) It ran into 1002 pages out of which 800 pages were appendances that reproduced petitions of zamindars and ryots, reports of collectors from different districts, statistical tables on revenue returns and notes on revenue and judicial administration of Bengal and Madras written by officials.
(iii) It became the basis of intense parliamentary debates on the nature of the East India Company’s rule in India.
The shortcomings of the Fifth Report were.
- The evidence given in the Fifth Report is considered to be important but it was an unofficial report. It should be read and analysed very carefully.
- It represented the fall of traditional zamindari power and the rate at which zamindars were losing their lands. However, zamindars were not always displaced given the indigenous methods they used to retain their lands.
- The report was biased because it wanted to highlight the maladministration of the East India Company.
Section – C
Source Based Questions
Question 8.
Read the source given below and answer the following questions.
The Miraculous and the Unbelievable a Local newspapers in the United Provinces recorded many of the rumours that circulated at that time. There were rumours that every person who wanted to test the power of the Mahatma had been surprised.
Sikandar Sahu from a village in Basti said on 15th February that he would believe in the Mahatmaji when the karah (boiling pan) full of sugar cane juice in his karkhana (where gur was produced) split into two.
Immediately the karah actually split into two from the middle. A cultivator in Azamgarh said that he would believe in the Mahatmaji’s authenticity if sesamum sprouted on his field planted with wheat. Next day all the wheat in that field became sesamum.
(i) What was Gandhiji referred by Indian Peasantry? (1)
(ii) What is the meaning of Subaltern? (1)
(iii) What stories or rumours were floated about Gandhiji? (2)
Answer:
(i) Gandhiji was referred by the Indian peasantry as Barrister Gandhi.
(ii) Subaltern means lower social classes.
(iii) Stories or rumours that floated about Gandhiji was that he had superior power to the British monarch and if someone opposes Gandhiji it may lead to crop failure.
Question 9.
Read the source given below and answer the following questions.
“British Element is Gone but they have left the Mischief Behind”
Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel said: It is no use saying that we ask for separate electorates, because it is good for us. We have heard it long enough.
We have heard it for years and as a result of this agitation we are now a separate nation… Can you show me one free country where there are separate electorates? If so, I shall be prepared to accept it.
But in this unfortunate country, if this separate electorate is going to be persisted in, even after the division of the country, woe betide the country; it is not worth living in. Therefore, I say, it is not for my good alone, it is for your own good that I say it, orget the past. One day, we may be united… The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind.
We do not want to perpetuate that mischief(hear, hear). When the British introduced this element they had not expected that they have to go so soon. They wanted it for their easy administration. That is all right. But they have left the legacy behind. Are we to get out of it or not?
(i) Why were separate electorates considered as a mischief? (1)
(ii) State an arguments given by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel for building political unity and forming the nation. (1)
(iii) How did the philosophy of separate electorates result in a separate nation? (2)
Answer:
(i) Separate electorates were considered as a mischief because in the name of giving representation to minorities and making the administration easy, Britishers divided two major communities of India politically.
(ii) Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel asked from supporter of separate electorates that if there was any country in the world which had a provision of separate electorate.
(iii) Philosophy of separate electorates saw Hindus and Muslims as separate political identity. It believed that interest of Hindus and Muslims were not common, so to represent Muslims there should be a Muslim only, similarly for Hindu, only Hindu should represent. This policy separated the people on the basis of religion and result in a separate nation.
Section – D
Map Based Question
Question 10.
(i) A. Identify the location marked as A on the map given below which was ruled by Bahudar Shah Zafar II during 1857 Revolt.
(ii) Mark any one of the following places on the Map of India. (1)
(a) Banaras Or
(b) Calcutta
Answer:
