📘 IAS Prelims 2025 — GS-I | Q.74 | Classroom Explanation
(Modern Indian History | National Movement)

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📌 Question

Q.74)
Subsequent to which one of the following events, Gandhiji, who consistently opposed untouchability and appealed for its eradication from all spheres, decided to include the upliftment of ‘Harijans’ in his political and social programme?

(a) The Poona Pact
(b) The Gandhi–Irwin Agreement (Delhi Pact)
(c) Arrest of Congress leadership at the time of the Quit India Movement
(d) Promulgation of the Government of India Act, 1935

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✅ Correct Answer: (a) The Poona Pact

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🧑‍🏫 Classroom Explanation

The decisive turning point in Gandhiji’s systematic, nation-wide campaign against untouchability came after the Poona Pact of 1932.

In September 1932, Gandhiji undertook a fast unto death in Yerwada Jail against the Communal Award, which had proposed separate electorates for the Depressed Classes.
After intense negotiations, a compromise was reached between Gandhiji and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, known as the Poona Pact.

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🔑 What Changed After the Poona Pact? (Core of the Question)

After the Pact, Gandhiji:

• Made eradication of untouchability a central national mission, not merely a social reform
• Integrated Harijan upliftment into the freedom struggle itself
• Asserted that Swaraj without social equality was hollow freedom

This marked a clear expansion of his political programme to include sustained social reform.

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🔍 Option-wise Elimination (UPSC Style)

🔹 (a) The Poona Pact ✅

Why Correct:

• Immediate trigger for Gandhiji’s focused Harijan programme
• Led to:
  • Nationwide campaigns against untouchability
  • Temple entry movements
  • Village-level social reform work
• Gandhiji began consistently using the term “Harijan” (Children of God)

📌 UPSC Insight: Social justice entered Gandhian politics institutionally only after Poona Pact.

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🔹 (b) Gandhi–Irwin Agreement (1931) ❌

Why Incorrect:

• Concerned with:
  • Suspension of Civil Disobedience Movement
  • Release of political prisoners
  • Participation in Round Table Conference
• No direct linkage with Harijan upliftment

📌 Trap: Major pact ≠ social reform trigger

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🔹 (c) Quit India arrests (1942) ❌

Why Incorrect:

• Occurred a decade later
• By then:
  • Harijan Sewak Sangh already active
  • Journal Harijan already published
• Not the starting point

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🔹 (d) Government of India Act, 1935 ❌

Why Incorrect:

• Constitutional-administrative reform
• No role in Gandhiji’s social reform decisions

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📚 High-Value Add Points (Prelims Ready)

• Gandhiji renamed his journal Young India → Harijan (1933)
• Harijan Sewak Sangh was institutionalised after the Pact
• The term Harijan was inspired by the Bhakti saint Narsinh Mehta
• Gandhiji toured villages, ashrams, and temples focusing on:
  • Manual scavenging
  • Temple entry
  • Social dignity of Depressed Classes

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🧠 One-Line Memory Hook (Prelims Gold)

“Poona Pact turned Gandhian reform into a Harijan mission.”

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📍 GS Mapping

Social Reform & Caste Question

GS Paper I

Modern Indian History

National Movement: Civil Disobedience Phase

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