Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET January 2025 Political Science
M.C Rajah of Madras was the first elected president of-
AAll India Depressed Classes Association ✓ Correct
BAll Assam Students Union
CIndian National Congress
DBritish Indian Association
Correct answer: (A) All India Depressed Classes Association — M.C. Rajah of Madras was the first elected president of the All India Depressed Classes Association, which is option (1).
Explanation
★M.C. Rajah of Madras was the first elected president of the All India Depressed Classes Association, which is option (1).
★Rao Bahadur M.C. Rajah was a prominent leader who worked for the welfare of the Dalit or Depressed Classes in India.
★The All India Depressed Classes Association was an important organisation aimed at improving the social and political status of the Depressed Classes, later known as the Scheduled Castes.
★Rajah was a strong advocate for social justice and played a key role in the social reform movements of the colonial era.
★He was among the earliest Depressed Class leaders to enter the central legislature, sitting as a nominated member.
★He is also remembered for the Rajah Moonje Pact of 1932, an agreement on reserved seats for the Depressed Classes through joint electorates.
★That pact reflected one approach to Depressed Class representation, an alternative to separate electorates.
★The wider debate of the period was settled by the Poona Pact of 1932 between Dr B.R. Ambedkar and leaders acting for Gandhi.
★The Poona Pact replaced separate electorates for the Depressed Classes with reserved seats within the general electorate.
★The option All Assam Students Union is wrong, since it is a regional students body of Assam founded much later and unconnected to Rajah.
★The option Indian National Congress is wrong, since Rajah was not a Congress president, a list that began with Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee in 1885.
★The option British Indian Association is wrong, since that was a nineteenth century body of landlords and notables in Bengal, not a Depressed Classes organisation.
★The Depressed Classes movement of this era is a key theme linking social reform with the constitutional politics of representation.
★The safeguards demanded by these leaders fed into the later constitutional provisions for the Scheduled Castes.
★For NET, anchor M.C. Rajah to the All India Depressed Classes Association and the Rajah Moonje Pact, alongside Ambedkar and the Poona Pact of 1932.
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