RAS question
The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company was founded by:
Correct answer: (C) V.O. Chidambaram Pillai.
V.O. Chidambaram Pillai founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 to challenge British shipping dominance in the spirit of the Swadeshi Movement.
Explanation
V.O. Chidambaram Pillai is the right answer because the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company was a concrete economic expression of Swadeshi politics. He founded it in 1906 to compete with British shipping companies. The PIB account supports this: passenger and cargo services between Tuticorin and Colombo were monopolised by European shipping companies, especially the British Indian Steam Navigation Company, and by 1906 VOC had gathered support from merchants and industrialists for a Swadeshi merchant shipping outfit called the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company. PIB also says the company's formal birth on 16 October 1906 was largely VOC's personal achievement. That makes him, not the other nationalist or industrial figures listed, the founder connected to this specific company.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Bal Gangadhar Tilak influenced the Swadeshi climate in which VOC worked, but the Press Information Bureau, Government of India attributes the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company's formal birth to VOC, not Tilak.
- (B) Jamsetji Tata is associated with industrial enterprise in general, but the question asks about this specific shipping company, which PIB links to V.O. Chidambaram Pillai.
- (D) Dadabhai Naoroji was not associated with the founding of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company; VOC created the Swadeshi shipping outfit.
Concept
This tests the economic side of the Swadeshi Movement, where nationalist resistance took the form of Indian-owned enterprises against colonial monopolies. RAS often asks such examples because they connect personalities, movements and specific institutions in modern Indian history.