Overview
Previous Year UPSC-CSE Questions By the end you will be able to draft model answers for the following UPSC questions. Each question carries a collapsible framework showing how to approach it in the exam.
- UPSC Mains 2016 GS-IHighlight the differences in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for freedom.
How to structure the answer in the exam
Introduction: Open with the shared aim of full independence pursued by two opposite methods.
Body (sub-themes to develop):
- Means: Gandhi's non-violence (ahimsa) against Bose's armed struggle.
- Base: a mass movement within India against an army raised abroad with foreign allies.
- Tempo: Gandhi's patient, phased pressure against Bose's call for total and immediate action.
- Convergence: both widened mass participation and both hastened the end of the Raj.
Conclusion: Conclude that the two streams, though opposed in method, together brought freedom closer.
- UPSC Prelims 2005 GS Paper IWhich party was founded by Subhash Chandra Bose in the year 1939 after he broke away from the Congress?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Tie 1939 to the right organisation.
Trap to watch: The Azad Hind Fauj (option b) is the INA, formed later in South-East Asia; the 1939 party was the Forward Bloc.
Key facts to recall:
- Forward Bloc founded 1939
- After the Tripuri crisis
- Azad Hind Fauj = the INA, later
Answer signal: Forward Bloc, so option (d).
- UPSC Prelims 2000 GS Paper IThe Indian National Army (INA) came into existence in 1943 in
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Match the 1943 revival to its place.
Trap to watch: The question dates the INA to 1943 (Bose's revived army at Singapore), not the 1942 first force; the answer is Singapore.
Key facts to recall:
- Bose took the INA at Singapore, 1943
- First INA 1942 under Mohan Singh
- Azad Hind proclaimed at Singapore
Answer signal: Singapore, so option (c).
- UPSC Prelims 2008 GS Paper IDuring the Indian Freedom Struggle, who of the following raised an army called ‘Free Indian Legion’?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Attach the Free Indian Legion to its founder.
Trap to watch: Rash Behari Bose helped found the first INA but the Free India Legion in Germany was Subhas Chandra Bose's; Lala Hardayal belongs to the Ghadar movement.
Key facts to recall:
- Free India Legion = Subhas Chandra Bose
- Raised in Germany from POWs
- Rash Behari Bose = first INA in the East
Answer signal: Subhas Chandra Bose, so option (c).
- UPSC Prelims 2021 GS Paper IIn the context of Colonial India, Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon are remembered as
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Recall who the Red Fort trio were.
Trap to watch: They were neither Swadeshi leaders nor constitution-makers; they were the three INA officers court-martialled together in 1945.
Key facts to recall:
- Shah Nawaz Khan, Sahgal, Dhillon = INA officers
- Red Fort trials 1945
- One Muslim, one Hindu, one Sikh
Answer signal: Officers of the Indian National Army, so option (d).
- UPSC Prelims 1999 GS Paper IWhich Indian nationalist leader looked upon a war between Germany and Britain as a god-sent opportunity which would enable Indians to exploit the situation to their advantage?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Match the strategic view to the leader.
Trap to watch: Gandhi and Nehru opposed aiding the war effort but did not seek to exploit Britain's difficulty by allying with its enemies; Bose did.
Key facts to recall:
- Bose: Britain's difficulty = India's opportunity
- Sought Axis help
- Escaped to Germany then Japan
Answer signal: Subhas Chandra Bose, so option (c).
The Indian National Army (INA), or Azad Hind Fauj, was the armed force that Subhas Chandra Bose led against British rule during the Second World War. Disillusioned with the slow, non-violent path, Bose broke with the Congress in 1939, escaped from India in 1941, and sought the help of Britain's enemies. From Singapore in 1943 he took command of the INA and of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, leading his soldiers, alongside Japan, to the very border of India. The military campaign failed, but the army's story, and the INA trials of 1945, left a deep mark on the freedom struggle.
Introduction: The Armed Stream of the Freedom Struggle
Why Bose and the INA Matter
Why this matters: alongside the Gandhian mass movement ran a second, very different current. Subhas Chandra Bose believed that British rule would yield only to force, and his Indian National Army was the boldest armed challenge the freedom struggle ever produced.
What is the significance of the INA: it carried the fight beyond India's borders and brought it back to Indian soil. Though Bose's army was defeated in the field, the trial of its officers in 1945 stirred a wave of national feeling that struck at the loyalty of the very forces the Raj depended on.
Bose's Two Journeys: Out to the West, Back from the East
Distinguishing the geography of Bose's struggle is the place to begin. His path ran in two great arcs: an escape westward from Calcutta through Kabul to Berlin in 1941, and an armed return from the East that reached Indian soil at Moirang in 1944.
What the map shows is how far Bose travelled to find allies, and how close his army came to home: the Imphal-Kohima front lay on India's own eastern border, as set out below.
The Rise of Bose and the Forward Bloc (1939)
Why Bose Broke with the Congress High Command
What is the significance of the Tripuri crisis: it marked the parting of the radical and the Gandhian wings of the Congress. Bose, already president at Haripura in 1938, was re-elected at Tripuri in 1939, defeating Gandhi's preferred candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya, but found he could not work with a leadership loyal to Gandhi, and resigned.
Distinguishing his response: rather than submit, Bose founded the All India Forward Bloc in June 1939 to rally the left within the Congress. The deeper difference, set out below, was one of method: Bose looked to armed struggle and to the coming war, while Gandhi held to non-violence.
The Great Escape and the Road to East Asia (1941-1943)
From Elgin Road to Berlin and Beyond
Observable outcomes began with one of the most daring episodes of the struggle. In January 1941, under house arrest at his Elgin Road home in Calcutta, Bose slipped past the British watch in disguise and travelled overland through Kabul to reach Nazi Germany.
Distinguishing the German phase: in Berlin Bose raised the Free India Legion from Indian prisoners of war and met Hitler, but found Germany too far from India to be of real use. In February 1943 he left by submarine for East Asia, where a larger opportunity awaited, as the diagram below sets out.
The Indian National Army and the Azad Hind Government (1943)
From the First Force of 1942 to Bose's Command
Distinguishing the two phases of the army avoids a common confusion. The first Indian National Army was raised in 1942 by Captain Mohan Singh from Indian prisoners taken at Singapore, but it was dissolved in December 1942 amid quarrels with the Japanese.
Observable outcomes followed Bose's arrival. Reaching Singapore in 1943, Bose took command of the revived INA on 4 July 1943, gave it fresh purpose and discipline, and turned it into the army of a government in exile, as set out below.
The Rani of Jhansi Regiment and the Cry of 'Dilli Chalo'
What is the significance of the Azad Hind government: it gave the armed struggle the form of a state. On 21 October 1943 Bose proclaimed at Singapore the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, which was recognised by the Axis powers and even declared war on Britain.
Distinguishing its features: the government had its own flag, currency and stamps, the greeting 'Jai Hind' and the battle cry 'Dilli Chalo', the march to Delhi. Most strikingly, it raised an all-woman combat unit, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment under Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, as the list below records.
- A government in exile: the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, proclaimed at Singapore in 1943 and recognised by the Axis powers.
- The Rani of Jhansi Regiment: an all-woman combat unit led by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal.
- Its own symbols: the INA had its own flag, currency and postage stamps, and the greeting ‘Jai Hind’.
- The battle cry: ‘Dilli Chalo’, the march to Delhi, was the army’s rallying call.
- A force from many lands: it drew Indian prisoners of war and civilians across South-East Asia into its ranks.
The Imphal-Kohima Campaign and the Retreat (1944)
Reaching Indian Soil at Moirang, then Falling Back
Observable outcomes came in the spring of 1944. Advancing with the Japanese, the INA reached the eastern border and, at Moirang in Manipur in April 1944, raised the tricolour on Indian soil for the first time, a moment of high symbolic power.
Distinguishing the military reality: the joint advance on Imphal and Kohima was halted and then thrown back. Cut off by the monsoon, short of supplies and broken by disease and Allied air power, the INA shared in the Japanese collapse and retreated through Burma, its dream of marching on Delhi at an end. Bose himself did not survive the war, dying of his injuries after a plane crash at Taihoku, in Japanese-held Formosa, on 18 August 1945.
The INA Trials and the Nationalist Response (1945-1946)
The Red Fort Court-Martial and the Wave of Sympathy
What is the significance of the INA trials: defeat in the field turned into a political triumph at home. After the war, the British put INA officers on trial at the Red Fort in Delhi from November 1945, expecting to brand them as traitors, but the public saw them as patriots.
Distinguishing the trial's effect: the first and most famous case tried three officers together, Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, a Muslim, a Hindu and a Sikh, which made the trial a symbol of unity. The Congress formed a defence committee, huge protests broke out, and the loyalty of the Indian armed forces was visibly shaken, as the table below records.
| Officer | Community | Role in the INA |
|---|---|---|
| Shah Nawaz Khan | Muslim | Division commander |
| Prem Kumar Sahgal | Hindu | Officer and aide to Bose |
| Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon | Sikh | Division commander |
Significance: The Armed Stream and Its Impact on the Raj
What the INA Achieved
Contemporary linkages run from the INA straight into the events of 1946 and 1947. The army failed to win freedom by force, but the trials turned Bose's soldiers into heroes, sparked mass protests, and contributed to the unrest in the armed forces, including the naval mutiny of 1946, that convinced Britain it could no longer rely on Indian troops.
The larger significance is that the INA gave Indian nationalism a powerful new symbol of courage and unity across religion. Bose himself became a legend, and the slogan 'Jai Hind' passed into the language of free India. The next part turns to the deepening communal divide and the demand for Pakistan that ran alongside these years.
Prelims MCQ practice
Each question below tests one specific concept on the topic. Click to reveal the answer and a full option-wise explanation.
Q1. Subhas Chandra Bose founded the All India Forward Bloc in:
- 1937
- 1939
- 1942
- 1945
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1939
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Bose formed the Forward Bloc in 1939, after resigning the Congress presidency following the Tripuri crisis. Hence option (b).
Q2. Bose took command of the revived Indian National Army in 1943 at:
- Tokyo
- Rangoon
- Singapore
- Berlin
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Singapore
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. Bose assumed command of the INA at Singapore in 1943, where he also proclaimed the Azad Hind government. Hence option (c).
Q3. Consider the following statements about the Indian National Army:
- The first INA was raised in 1942 by Mohan Singh.
- The all-woman Rani of Jhansi Regiment was led by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Explanation.
Both are correct. Mohan Singh raised the first INA in 1942, and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment was commanded by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. Hence option (c).
Q4. At which place in Manipur did the INA first raise the flag on Indian soil in 1944?
- Imphal
- Kohima
- Moirang
- Dimapur
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Moirang
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. The INA first hoisted the tricolour on Indian soil at Moirang in Manipur in April 1944. Hence option (c).
Q5. Bose raised the 'Free India Legion' during his stay in:
- Japan
- Germany
- Italy
- Burma
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Germany
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Bose raised the Free India Legion from Indian prisoners of war while he was in Germany. Hence option (b).
Q6. Consider the following statements about the INA (Red Fort) trials of 1945:
- The first trial put a Muslim, a Hindu and a Sikh officer in the dock together.
- The Congress organised a defence committee for the accused.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Explanation.
Both are correct. Shah Nawaz Khan (Muslim), Prem Sahgal (Hindu) and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (Sikh) were tried together, and the Congress set up the INA Defence Committee. Hence option (c).
Sources and Further Reading
- Wikipedia: Subhas Chandra Bose
- Wikipedia: Indian National Army
- Wikipedia: Azad Hind (Provisional Government of Free India)
- Wikipedia: INA trials
- NCERT, India's Struggle for Independence / Themes in Indian History III
- Ministry of Culture: Indian Culture Freedom Archive
- Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (Freedom Movement portal)
- Press Information Bureau, Government of India
- National Portal of India
Editorial Disclaimer
This article is prepared for UPSC examination preparation. Verify key facts and interpretations against standard reference histories before relying on them.
