RAS question
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre — how many rounds were fired according to official British records?
Correct answer: (A) 1,650 rounds.
According to the official British record reflected in standard accounts of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, General Dyer's troops fired about 1,650 rounds at the crowd on 13 April 1919.
Explanation
The figure is 1,650 rounds. Britannica describes the massacre as the moment when British troops under Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire on a large crowd at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13 April 1919. The crowd had gathered in an almost enclosed garden with only one exit, after a ban on public meetings had been imposed. Dyer's soldiers sealed the exit and, without warning, fired hundreds of rounds, about 1,650 in all, until they ran out of ammunition. This matches the official-record figure used in the question. The official death toll was 379, while the Indian National Congress put the deaths at over 1,000.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) 500 rounds understates the firing, because the recorded figure was about 1,650 rounds, not merely a few hundred.
- (C) 100 rounds is far below the scale described in the official account and cannot explain the recorded firing until ammunition ran out.
- (D) 3,000 rounds exaggerates the figure; the cited account gives about 1,650 rounds, not three thousand.
Concept
This tests Modern Indian history, especially the factual chronology and official records around the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. RAS repeats this theme because the event is central to the post-Rowlatt Act phase of the national movement and to understanding colonial repression.