📘 Question (IAS Prelims 2025 | GS-I)

Consider the following subjects with regard to the Non-Cooperation Programme:

I. Boycott of law-courts and foreign cloth
II. Observance of strict non-violence
III. Retention of titles and honours without using them in public
IV. Establishment of Panchayats for settling disputes

How many of the above were parts of the Non-Cooperation Programme?

(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) Only three
(d) All the four

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✅ Correct Answer

(c) Only three

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🎯 Theme of the Question

Modern India | National Movement | Gandhian programmes | Mass politics

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🧠 Classroom Explanation

The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) was the first nationwide mass movement launched under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. It marked a decisive shift from constitutional agitation to mass-based resistance, rooted in moral pressure and disciplined non-violence.

UPSC uses such questions to test whether aspirants clearly understand what constituted Gandhian non-cooperation, and what lay outside its ethical and political framework.

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📜 Background to the Movement

The movement arose in the aftermath of:

• The Rowlatt Act (1919)
• The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919)

These events shattered Indian faith in British justice. The programme was:

• Approved at the Calcutta Special Session of Congress (September 1920)
• Ratified at the Nagpur Session (December 1920), which reorganised Congress into a mass organisation

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🔍 Statement-wise Analysis

Statement I: Boycott of law-courts and foreign cloth ✅ (Correct)
A core element of the programme was the boycott of British institutions, including:

• Law courts
• Foreign cloth
• Government schools and colleges
• Legislative councils

Foreign cloth was publicly burnt, while swadeshi and khadi were promoted.

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Statement II: Observance of strict non-violence ✅ (Correct)
Non-violence was a non-negotiable foundation of the movement. Gandhi repeatedly emphasised that Swaraj could only be achieved through disciplined, ethical, non-violent struggle.

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Statement III: Retention of titles and honours ❌ (Incorrect)
The programme explicitly required the surrender of titles and honorary distinctions conferred by the British Government.
Even symbolic retention went against the spirit of non-cooperation.

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Statement IV: Establishment of Panchayats for settling disputes ✅ (Correct)
To build alternative indigenous institutions, the movement encouraged:

• National schools and colleges
• Private panchayat courts

These functioned as people’s courts, settling disputes outside colonial judicial structures.

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✅ Final Count

I ✅
II ✅
III ❌
IV ✅

Correct statements = 3
✔️ Answer: (c) Only three

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🧩 One-Line Ready Recall

Non-Cooperation meant boycott + non-violence + parallel institutions, not symbolic retention of colonial honours.

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🧠 Prelims Strategy Insight

Parallel institutions are a recurring Gandhian theme

Gandhian movements are defined by ethical discipline, not symbolism

If titles appear in options → check surrender vs retention