Aspirant Academy
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RAS question

The Widow Remarriage Association (1861) was founded in Maharashtra by:

Correct answer: (B) M.G. Ranade.

Mahadev Govind Ranade founded the Widow Remarriage Association in 1861 in Maharashtra.

  1. (A)

    Gopal Hari Deshmukh

  2. (B)

    M.G. Ranade

  3. (C)

    Bal Gangadhar Tilak

  4. (D)

    Vishnu Shastri Pandit

Explanation

NIOS identifies Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade as the founder of the Widow Remarriage Association in 1861. NIOS places him within the Prarthana Samaj reform circle in Bombay, alongside R.C. Bhandarkar, and states that these reformers worked on social questions such as inter-caste dining, inter-caste marriage, widow remarriage, and the improvement of women and depressed classes. The association belonged to the wider nineteenth-century social reform agenda in western India, rather than being an isolated name to memorise. Vishnu Shastri Pandit was also connected with widow-remarriage reform, but for the association dated 1861, the answer is M.G. Ranade.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) Gopal Hari Deshmukh, known as Lokhitwadi, was a western Indian social reformer, but the NIOS chapter does not identify him as the founder of the Widow Remarriage Association.
  • (C) Bal Gangadhar Tilak was not the 1861 widow-remarriage association founder; NIOS instead notes his opposition to the Age of Consent Bill.
  • (D) Vishnu Shastri Pandit was associated with widow-remarriage reform, but the answer for the 1861 association is M.G. Ranade.

Concept

Nineteenth-century socio-religious reform movements in western India included a reform agenda around women and caste. RAS repeats this area because reform associations, founders, regions, and objectives are easy to confuse across Maharashtra, Bengal, and north India.

Source

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