RAS question
Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner represented India at which international forum and is known for modernizing Bikaner?
Correct answer: (B) Paris Peace Conference, 1919 (Treaty of Versailles).
Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner represented India at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and signed the Treaty of Versailles.
Explanation
Maharaja Ganga Singh is linked with the Paris Peace Conference because the Treaty of Versailles preamble lists India separately under the British Empire delegation and names "Major-General His Highness Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh Bahadur, Maharaja of Bikaner" as one of India's representatives. That directly supports the MCQ's correct option: Paris Peace Conference, 1919, with the Treaty of Versailles. The same Rajasthan-history point also remembers him as a modernising ruler of Bikaner. The Gang Canal, now the Indira Gandhi Canal, along with railways and electricity, are the concrete markers of that modernisation.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The United Nations, 1945, is not the forum supported here; the treaty preamble places Ganga Singh with India at the 1919 Versailles settlement.
- (C) League of Nations, 1930, does not match the evidence: the Treaty of Versailles preamble names him in connection with the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
- (D) The Berlin Conference, 1884, is a different international forum and is not the event tied to Ganga Singh.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan's princely-state history through the international role of a ruler, not just local administration. RAS often returns to such figures because they connect Rajasthan's regional history with wider modern political developments.