From the free UGC NET History Mock Test 8 — Unit 8: Colonial Economy unit-wise mock test — real question, real answer, real explanation.
What was the purpose of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act passed by the colonial administration?
To regulate indentured labor recruitment and prevent tea plantation laborers from deserting estates ✓
To guarantee minimum wages for tea garden workers
To promote free movement of industrial labor
To grant land rights to tribal workers
The Assam Labour and Emigration Act regulated indentured recruitment specifically to bind tea plantation laborers to their estates and criminalize desertion — legislation that served plantation owners' interests far more than workers', part of the broader coercive colonial labor regime.
The Workmen's Breach of Contract Act (1859) was enacted by the British state to:
Criminalize breach of contract by workers and penalize desertion in plantations and factories ✓
Provide health insurance to laborers
Protect workers against wrongful dismissal
Limit working hours to eight hours daily
The Workmen's Breach of Contract Act criminalized workers leaving employment before their contract term ended — effectively giving planters and factory owners a legal tool to coerce labor discipline, reflecting the generally employer-favoring character of early colonial labor law.
The first Indian Factory Act regulating child labor and working hours in modern industrial units was enacted in which year?
1881 (under Lord Ripon) ✓
1891
1911
1922
The first Indian Factory Act, regulating child labor specifically, was passed in 1881 under Lord Ripon — a modest first step in factory regulation, later followed by successive Acts (1891, 1911, 1922) progressively expanding worker protections, though still limited by colonial-era standards.
What was the maximum age of children protected and working hours fixed for them under the Factory Act of 1881?
Children between 7 and 12 years limited to 9 hours of work per day ✓
Children under 18 limited to 6 hours
Children under 10 totally banned
Children under 14 limited to 12 hours
The 1881 Factory Act specifically limited children aged 7 to 12 to 9 hours of daily work — a real but quite modest first regulation by later standards, illustrating how gradually and incompletely colonial labor protections developed over subsequent decades.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was established in 1935 following the recommendations of which body?
Hilton Young Commission (Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance) ✓
Babington Smith Committee
Chamberlain Commission
Fowler Committee
The Hilton Young Commission's recommendations directly led to the RBI's establishment in 1935 — a landmark institutional development in Indian monetary policy, though it remained under British control until independence.
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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.
