RAS question
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in which year?
Correct answer: (A) 1919.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place at Amritsar on 13 April 1919.
Explanation
The year is 1919 because the massacre occurred at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13 April 1919, during the Baisakhi festival. The PIB account says the British Indian Army, under Colonel Reginald Dyer, opened fire on a crowd staging a pro-independence demonstration, leaving over 400 people, including 41 children, dead. The firing was ordered on a peaceful gathering and the episode caused widespread outrage, feeding into the Non-Cooperation Movement. For RAS, the key is to connect the date with the larger nationalist response: Jallianwala Bagh is not just a memory-based year question, but a marker of the hardening of anti-colonial politics after 1919.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) 1920 is too late; the massacre had already occurred on 13 April 1919, and the outrage from it links to the Non-Cooperation Movement.
- (C) 1918 is too early; the PIB source places the firing at Amritsar during the Baisakhi festival on 13 April 1919.
- (D) 1921 is two years after the event; 1919 is the year of the massacre.
Concept
This tests the Modern Indian History chronology of landmark nationalist events. It recurs in RAS because Jallianwala Bagh links a precise date with colonial repression and the political build-up to Non-Cooperation.