RAS question
The Partition of Bengal was annulled in which year?
Correct answer: (D) 1911.
The Partition of Bengal was annulled in 1911, when Bengal was reunited and the capital of British India was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.
Explanation
The Partition of Bengal, carried out in 1905 under Lord Curzon, divided Bengal into a Hindu-majority west and a Muslim-majority east. Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that this arrangement lasted until 1911, when it was annulled and the changes were reversed. The reversal reunited east and west Bengal, while Assam again became a separate province under a chief commissioner and Bihar and Orissa were separated from the Bengal Presidency. King George V announced the annulment at the Delhi Durbar, alongside the decision to shift the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. Therefore, among the given years, 1911 is the only year that matches the formal reversal of the partition.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 1910 is wrong because Bengal was still divided then; the annulment and reversal came the next year, in 1911.
- (B) 1908 is wrong because it falls during the period when the 1905 partition was still in force, not when it was reversed.
- (C) 1915 is wrong because it is after the annulment; Bengal had already been reunited in 1911.
Concept
This tests the chronology of the Swadeshi-era response to colonial administrative policy. RAS repeatedly asks such dates because the Bengal partition links Lord Curzon, nationalist mobilisation, the Delhi Durbar and the shift of the capital in one high-yield sequence.