From the free UGC NET History Mock Test 8 — Unit 8: Colonial Economy unit-wise mock test — real question, real answer, real explanation.
The first jute mill in India was set up at Rishra near Calcutta in 1855 by:
George Acland ✓
Andrew Yule
Thomas Duff
David Sassoon
George Acland established India's first jute mill at Rishra near Calcutta in 1855, launching an industry that would come to be dominated by British managing agency houses (unlike Bombay's cotton mills, which were substantially Indian-owned) — a contrast worth remembering for the exam.
The Indian Railways network was officially opened for passenger traffic in 1853 running between:
Bombay to Thane ✓
Calcutta to Raniganj
Madras to Arkonam
Delhi to Agra
India's first passenger railway line opened in 1853 between Bombay and Thane — a landmark infrastructural moment, though nationalist critics like Naoroji and Wacha later criticized the financial structure (the Guarantee System) under which such railway expansion was funded.
The system under which private British companies built railways in India with a guaranteed minimum interest rate on capital investment paid from Indian revenues was called:
Guarantee System ✓
Deferred Payment Scheme
Joint-Stock Railway System
Imperial Subsidy System
Under the Guarantee System, private British railway companies were assured a minimum return on their capital, paid out of Indian revenues regardless of actual profitability — a system nationalist economists heavily criticized as shifting investment risk onto India while profits flowed to British shareholders.
The nationalist critic who described the Guarantee System of British Railways in India as "private enterprise at public risk" was:
D.E. Wacha (and G.K. Gokhale / M.G. Ranade) ✓
Dadabhai Naoroji
Jawaharlal Nehru
Subhas Chandra Bose
D.E. Wacha, along with Gokhale and Ranade, was among the sharpest nationalist critics of the Guarantee System, memorably summarizing it as "private enterprise at public risk" — a phrase capturing the core economic-nationalist objection to how railway finance was structured.
The Dadni System prevalent in early British trade operations in Bengal referred to:
Advances paid by East India Company merchants to native artisans and weavers to secure finished goods ✓
System of forced labor in salt manufacture
Inland transit tax system
Monopoly bidding on timber forests
Under the Dadni system, Company merchants advanced payment to weavers/artisans in exchange for a guaranteed future supply of finished goods — a system that, over time, evolved into increasingly exploitative terms for artisans as Company control tightened in Bengal.
This is one question from a free, complete 50-question Unit-Wise mock test — take the real thing, under real time pressure, for free.
Take the Free Mock Test →This question is part of our free Unit-Wise mock test series, drawn from the same real question bank used across every UGC NET History mock test on this site. For structured, chapter-by-chapter notes covering everything these questions test, see our UGC NET History Notes, or try the History Glossary Flashcard Quiz for daily term-by-term practice.
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Itihaaskar — UGC NET/JRF & UPSC History Optional notes by Parveen Malik (B.Tech. (CSE), M.A. (History), History JRF). Also spelt Itihaskar.
