RAS question
In May 1925, which forum took up the Sikar farmers' grievances after Ram Narayan Choudhary publicised them abroad?
Correct answer: (A) House of Commons in England.
On 4 May 1925, the Sikar peasants' grievances were raised in England's House of Commons when Mr. Pethick-Lawrence questioned the Under-Secretary of State for India.
Explanation
The sequence matters: Ram Narayan Choudhary's advocacy had first pushed the Sikar peasants' struggle into foreign publicity, including articles associated with London's Daily Herald, but the formal forum in May 1925 was parliamentary. The verified Hansard entry for 4 May 1925 records a House of Commons question titled "Sikar Estate (Peasants and Labourers)", in which Mr. Pethick-Lawrence asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether complaints had been received about the treatment of peasants and labourers in Sikar and what action was proposed. Earl Winterton's reply referred to a press article and declined action without an authentic statement of facts, which confirms that the Commons question, not the newspaper itself, was the forum asked about.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Daily Herald, London was linked with the publicity through articles, but the May 1925 forum where the grievance was taken up was the House of Commons question recorded in Hansard.
- (C) The Office of the Secretary of State for India relates to the administrative pressure that followed, whereas the cited May 1925 event was a question asked in the House of Commons.
- (D) The Cabinet Mission belongs to the 1946 constitutional setting, so it cannot explain a Sikar farmers' grievance being raised in May 1925.
Concept
This tests the Rajasthan peasant movements strand of RAS history, especially how local agrarian grievances entered wider press and parliamentary channels. It recurs because RAS often asks not only who led a movement, but which institution or forum marked a turning point.