UPSC Prelims 2009 Q53: Modern History – Constitutional Developments & British Plans (1909 - 1947)

UPSC Prelims 2009, General Studies Paper I · Modern History

Who of the following Prime Ministers sent Cripps Mission to India?

Answer: (d) Winston Churchill

Explanation

Which British Prime Minister sent the Cripps Mission

The Cripps Mission (1942) was dispatched to India under a specific wartime British government.

Option	Verdict	Reason
(a) James Ramsay MacDonald	Incorrect	Served as PM in an earlier period, not during the Cripps Mission
(b) Stanley Baldwin	Incorrect	Also served earlier, unrelated to this 1942 mission
(c) Neville Chamberlain	Incorrect	Chamberlain's tenure ended before 1942, prior to this mission
(d) Winston Churchill	Correct	Winston Churchill, as wartime Prime Minister, sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India in 1942 to negotiate wartime political cooperation

Cripps Mission facts:

Point	Detail
Sent by	Winston Churchill's wartime government
Envoy	Sir Stafford Cripps
Year	1942

Answer: (d) Winston Churchill.

(a) Incorrect. MacDonald served as PM in an earlier period, unrelated to 1942.
(b) Incorrect. Baldwin also served earlier, unrelated to the Cripps Mission.
(c) Incorrect. Chamberlain's tenure ended before this 1942 mission.
(d) CORRECT. Winston Churchill, as wartime PM, sent the Cripps Mission to India in 1942.

Winston Churchill, as Britain's wartime Prime Minister, sent the Cripps Mission (led by Sir Stafford Cripps) to India in 1942.

Winston Churchill sent the Cripps Mission to India in 1942.

Confusing Churchill's wartime premiership with earlier British Prime Ministers (MacDonald, Baldwin, Chamberlain).
Not knowing the 1942 timeline places this squarely within Churchill's tenure.
Mixing up different British PMs' distinct roles in India's constitutional history.

Cripps Mission (1942) = sent by Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime Prime Minister.