RAS question
The immediate cause of the 1857 Revolt was:
Correct answer: (D) Introduction of greased cartridges for the new Enfield rifle.
The immediate cause of the 1857 Revolt was the introduction of greased cartridges for the new Enfield rifle, which sepoys believed were coated with cow and pig fat.
Explanation
The 1857 Revolt had wider causes such as the Doctrine of Lapse, the annexation of Awadh, racial discrimination and economic exploitation, but its immediate trigger was the Enfield rifle cartridge issue. The Ministry of Culture page on the Meerut uprising records that, early in 1857, rumours spread among Indian sepoys that cartridges for the newly introduced Enfield rifles were covered with pig and cow fat. Hindu and Muslim soldiers refused to use these greased cartridges because the rumour offended both communities. The same page notes that 85 soldiers who refused were imprisoned and penalised for ten years, after which soldiers at Meerut revolted on 10 May 1857. That sequence makes the cartridge issue the direct spark, not merely a background grievance.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The Doctrine of Lapse was one of the wider political grievances, but it was not the immediate spark described in the Meerut sequence.
- (B) Permanent Settlement was an earlier revenue arrangement and does not match the immediate 1857 trigger identified in the question and source.
- (C) English education may relate to broader colonial change, but it was not the direct cause that led sepoys to refuse orders in 1857.
Concept
This tests the distinction between long-term causes and the immediate trigger of the 1857 Revolt. RAS repeatedly asks this because modern Indian history questions often turn on chronology and causal precision, not just a list of grievances.