RAS question
Lord Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse led to the annexation of which of the following states?
Correct answer: (C) Satara, Jhansi, and Nagpur.
Lord Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse led to the annexation of Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur.
Explanation
The Doctrine of Lapse was a British annexation policy used under Lord Dalhousie against protected Indian states whose rulers died without a natural heir. The NIOS lesson explains that adopted sons could no longer inherit the ruler's property or pension granted by the British, which allowed such states to be absorbed into the British Empire. Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur were annexed under this policy. That is why option C is the correct group: all three names fit the Doctrine of Lapse pattern, unlike states taken over through wars, earlier conquest, subsidiary arrangements or misgovernance.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Hyderabad and Mysore were not annexed under the Doctrine of Lapse; NIOS treats Mysore in the context of the Anglo-Mysore Wars, not Dalhousie's lapse policy.
- (B) Punjab was annexed after the Anglo-Sikh Wars, while Sindh was occupied separately in 1843, so this pair does not match the Doctrine of Lapse annexations.
- (D) Awadh is not the right paired answer here because it was annexed on grounds of misgovernance, not by the Doctrine of Lapse, and Bengal is not part of the listed lapse annexations.
Concept
This tests British expansion under Governor-General Dalhousie, especially the distinction between annexation by lapse and annexation by war or misgovernance. RAS repeats this because modern Indian history questions often turn on the precise policy used to absorb a princely state.