RAS question
The Telangana Armed Struggle (1946-51) was directed against the oppressive feudal system in the princely state of:
Correct answer: (C) Hyderabad.
The Telangana Armed Struggle of 1946-51 was directed against the oppressive feudal order of the Nizam's Hyderabad princely state.
Explanation
The Telangana Armed Struggle began in the Hyderabad state under the Nizam, not in a British province or another princely state. The SCERT Telangana text links it to the Hyderabad state's deshmukhs, doras and jagirdars, and says the Communist Party-led Sanghams fought illegal feudal exactions, excessive land rent, tenant evictions and vetti, or unpaid labour. After Doddi Komuraiah's death on 4 July 1946, the struggle spread through village Sanghams, armed squads and Gram Raj committees. Where they gained control, vetti was abolished, evictions stopped, rents reduced, wages increased and excess landlord land redistributed. The movement also became anti-Nizam, demanded Hyderabad's merger with independent India, and continued after the 1948 police action to enforce land reforms and protect peasants from doras.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Baroda was in Gujarat, while the cited Telangana struggle is placed in the Nizam's Hyderabad state and its Telangana districts.
- (B) Travancore was a princely state in Kerala, whereas this peasant movement is described as a struggle against Hyderabad state's Nizam, doras and deshmukhs.
- (D) Mysore is not the setting named by the source; the struggle centred on Hyderabad state's feudal exactions, vetti and Nizam rule.
Concept
This tests peasant movements in modern Indian history, especially the link between princely-state politics and agrarian exploitation. It recurs in RAS because Telangana connects feudal land relations, communist mobilisation, integration of princely states and post-1947 land reform debates.