RAS question
Usha Mehta is known for operating during the Quit India Movement:
Correct answer: (D) Underground Congress Radio from Bombay.
Usha Mehta is known for operating the underground Congress Radio from Bombay during the Quit India Movement of 1942.
Explanation
During the Quit India Movement, Usha Mehta helped run the underground Congress Radio from Bombay, a transmitter-based operation that broadcast news of the movement when the press was censored and official radio was not available to nationalists. eGyanKosh, IGNOU Unit 30: National Movement and Women records that Usha Mehta, with Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Babubhai Khakar and Rammanohar Lohia, set up Freedom Radio in Bombay, broadcasting from 3 September 1942 to 12 November 1942. Her own explanation was that a transmitter was the best way to spread news of the movement beyond Bombay across India. This is why her role is associated with underground radio work, not armed action, a parallel government, or a public procession. She was arrested in November 1942.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Arms smuggling does not fit Usha Mehta's documented role here, which was using a transmitter for underground broadcasts during Quit India.
- (B) The parallel government in Satara is associated with Nana Patil, not with Usha Mehta's Bombay-based radio work.
- (C) Leading a women's march misses the specific role for which she is known in this context: running underground Congress Radio broadcasts from Bombay.
Concept
This tests the Modern Indian History theme of underground activity during the Quit India Movement. RAS repeatedly asks such questions because 1942 was not only about mass protest but also about censored communication, local initiative and covert organisation.