Q.1: In Indian Opinion, Gandhi introduced a column called “Great Men” to:
a) Praise British royalty
b) Inspire Indians with biographies of global reformers
c) List top donors to the NIC
d) List the names of arrested protesters
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: He wrote about figures like Tolstoy, Mazzini, and Lincoln to instill a sense of pride and possibility in Indian readers.
Q.2: Gandhi’s editorial style is often described as:
a) Sensationalist
b) Restrained and truthful
c) Aggressive and insulting
d) Purely fictional
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Gandhi famously avoided using adjectives or harsh language, believing that truth should be stated as simply as possible.
Q.3: Which year did Gandhi start Harijan Bandhu?
a) 1919
b) 1933
c) 1942
d) 1948
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: It was launched in 1933 as the Gujarati version of the Harijan weekly.
Q.4: What was Gandhi’s response when the British demanded security deposits from his press?
a) He paid the deposit immediately
b) He shut down the press rather than pay
c) He sued the government in London
d) He sought a loan from the Congress
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Gandhi refused to pay security deposits because he viewed them as “blood money” that admitted a paper could be seditious.
Q.5: Which article by Gandhi discussed the “Himalayan Miscalculation”?
a) The Crime of Chauri Chaura
b) Shaking the Manes
c) Tampering with Loyalty
d) My Life is My Message
Ans: a)
Imp Facts: Gandhi called his decision to start a mass movement without proper non-violent training a “Himalayan Miscalculation.”
Q.6: Before Gandhi, Young India was published as a:
a) Daily
b) Bi-weekly
c) Monthly
d) Quarterly
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Under its previous owners, it was a bi-weekly journal in Bombay before Gandhi moved it to Ahmedabad and made it a weekly.
Q.7: The Phoenix Settlement in South Africa was the headquarters for which paper?
a) Indian Opinion
b) Young India
c) Navajivan
d) The Leader
Ans: a)
Imp Facts: Gandhi moved the Indian Opinion press to Phoenix to combine community living with journalistic service.
Q.8: Which of these was a core pillar of Gandhi’s “Journalistic Ethics”?
a) To never print a correction
b) To always print the truth regardless of consequences
c) To prioritize commercial success
d) To hide the names of contributors
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Gandhi would often print corrections and admit his own mistakes in his papers to maintain total transparency.
Q.9: How many languages was Harijan eventually published in?
a) English only
b) English and Gujarati
c) English, Hindi, and Gujarati
d) Over 10 languages
Ans: c)
Imp Facts: The three main versions were Harijan (English), Harijan Sevak (Hindi), and Harijan Bandhu (Gujarati).
Q.10: Who was Gandhi’s personal secretary and a frequent contributor to his journals?
a) Mahadev Desai
b) Jawaharlal Nehru
c) Sardar Patel
d) B.R. Ambedkar
Ans: a)
Imp Facts: Mahadev Desai’s diaries and articles are a primary source for understanding the daily editorial workings of Gandhi’s papers.
Q.11: Gandhi’s writing in Indian Opinion helped lead to the repeal of which tax?
a) Salt Tax
b) 3-Pound Tax on indentured laborers
c) Income Tax
d) Property Tax
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: The paper was instrumental in the struggle that led to the abolition of the 3-pound tax in South Africa.
Q.12: In the article “A Penance for Our Sins,” what act of penance did Gandhi undertake?
a) A 21-day fast
b) A 5-day fast
c) Giving up salt
d) Walking to Dandi
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Following the Chauri Chaura violence, Gandhi undertook a five-day fast as a penance.
Q.13: What was Gandhi’s stance on “Copyright” for his articles?
a) He held strict copyright
b) He allowed anyone to reproduce his articles if they weren’t for profit
c) He charged a fee for every republication
d) He only allowed government papers to copy him
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Gandhi encouraged the free spread of his ideas, provided they were translated accurately and used for public benefit.
Q.14: Which newspaper did Gandhi say was his “most powerful weapon” in the fight against Untouchability?
a) Indian Opinion
b) Young India
c) Harijan
d) Navajivan
Ans: c)
Imp Facts: Harijan was founded specifically as a platform for the Anti-Untouchability League.
Q.15: The press where Young India was printed in Ahmedabad was called:
a) Phoenix Press
b) Navajivan Press
c) Sabarmati Press
d) Truth Press
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: The Navajivan Trust and Press still exist today, managing the copyrights of Gandhi’s works.
Q.16: Which British official presided over the 1922 trial of Gandhi?
a) Judge C.N. Broomfield
b) Lord Irwin
c) General Dyer
d) Sir John Simon
Ans: a)
Imp Facts: Judge Broomfield famously remarked that it would be impossible to ignore that Gandhi was in a different category from any person he had ever tried.
Q.17: The article “The Crime of Chauri Chaura” was published in:
a) February 1922
b) March 1930
c) August 1942
d) January 1948
Ans: a)
Imp Facts: It appeared in the February 16, 1922, issue of Young India.
Q.18: Which of these describes Gandhi’s “Journalism of Protest”?
a) Passive and quiet
b) Fearless and non-violent
c) Angry and violent
d) Secretive
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Gandhi’s journalism was loud in its truth-telling but strictly avoided inciting physical violence.
Q.19: Why did Gandhi move the Indian Opinion press to the Phoenix Settlement?
a) To save on city taxes
b) To implement the “Ruskinian” ideal of manual labor
c) To hide from the police
d) Because the Durban office burned down
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Inspired by John Ruskin’s Unto This Last, he wanted the journalists and printers to live on the land and work with their hands.
Q.20: Harijan Sevak was the Hindi version of Harijan. Who was its first editor?
a) Gandhi himself
b) Viyogi Hari
c) Kaka Kalelkar
d) Kishorelal Mashruwala
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: While Gandhi provided the content, Viyogi Hari managed the editorial duties for the Hindi version.
Q.21: The “Sedition” trial of 1922 is often compared to the trial of which historical figure?
a) Napoleon
b) Socrates
c) Alexander the Great
d) Julius Caesar
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: Historians often compare Gandhi’s calm acceptance of his sentence for “speaking the truth” to the trial of Socrates.
Q.22: What was the primary purpose of Indian Opinion?
a) To share cricket scores
b) To unify Indians in South Africa and fight for civil rights
c) To promote British trade
d) To teach English to Indians
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: It was the “voice” of the Natal Indian Congress and the broader Indian community.
Q.23: Gandhi wrote his famous autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth as a series of articles in which paper?
a) Young India
b) Navajivan
c) Harijan
d) Indian Opinion
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: The autobiography was first serialized in Navajivan from 1925 to 1929.
Q.24: In his journalism, Gandhi rarely used:
a) Quotations
b) Statistics
c) Adjectives
d) Logic
Ans: c)
Imp Facts: Gandhi believed adjectives often masked the truth or exaggerated it, so he stuck to a “lean” style of writing.
Q.25: Which of these papers was NOT started by Gandhi?
a) Indian Opinion
b) The Leader
c) Young India
d) Harijan
Ans: b)
Imp Facts: The Leader was an influential newspaper started by Madan Mohan Malaviya, not Gandhi.