MPSC PYQHistoryMaharashtra Social Reformersenglish

The book, 'Jatibhed Viveksar' was written by _________.

This MPSC previous-year question is drawn from MPSC CS Gazetted Combined Pre 2025 (English). It belongs to the History section under the topic Maharashtra Social Reformers and is reproduced here in English exactly as it appeared in the official Maharashtra Public Service Commission paper, along with the four options, the official Set A answer key and a compact explanation of why the correct option is correct.

A.Mahatma Jyotiba Phule
B.Tukaram Tatya Padval
C.Vitthal Ramji Shinde
D.Bhaurao Paigonda Patil

Correct answer: B

Explanation

Working through the options, Tukaram Tatya Padval is the correct one. Aspirants who miss this item usually pick a nearby-sounding option; the fix is to read the stem twice before scanning the options.

Why this question matters

Questions of this type recur almost every year across MPSC Group B, Group C, PSI and Gazetted Civil Services prelims because history carries a high, stable weightage in the syllabus. Practising the original paper wording — rather than paraphrased mock questions — is the fastest way to internalise MPSC's option-framing style and the specific way its examiners plant trick choices.

How to attempt this in the exam

Watch for negation traps — words like "not", "except", "incorrect" that flip the intent of the question. MPSC deliberately embeds them in maharashtra social reformers items to catch aspirants who read the question in a hurry. Re-read the stem with a mental highlight on any negation word before selecting an option.

Subject-specific tip

Tip for History: anchor the answer to a date, a king or leader and a primary source. MPSC History options usually contain one option with the wrong date and one with the wrong dynasty — eliminate those first.

Marathas, Peshwas and the freedom struggle

The Maratha half of MPSC History is anchored on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's coronation at Raigad (1674), the ashta-pradhan council, the guerrilla warfare doctrine, the Treaty of Purandar (1665) with the Mughals, the sack of Surat (1664), and the succession through Sambhaji, Rajaram, Shahu and Tarabai to the Peshwa era. Under Bajirao I (1720–1740) the Maratha confederacy reached its northern peak; under Nana Sahib and Madhav Rao I it consolidated; under Bajirao II it fell to the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818) after the defeat at Kirkee.

The freedom-movement paragraph most MPSC papers ask about is the Maharashtra contribution: Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav (from 1893) and Shivaji Utsav (from 1895) as public-mobilisation tools; his newspapers Kesari and The Mahratta; his six years of imprisonment in Mandalay after the 1908 sedition trial; Gopal Krishna Gokhale as Congress moderate and mentor to Gandhi; Dadabhai Naoroji and the drain theory; Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the 1857 History; the Chapekar brothers; Bhagat Singh at HSRA (linked via Maharashtra activists); and later Ambedkar's Poona Pact (1932) with Gandhi.

The 1960 formation of Maharashtra state, following the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti's decade-long agitation, the martyrdom of 106 activists at Flora Fountain (later renamed Hutatma Chowk) in 1956, and the eventual reorganisation of the erstwhile Bombay state into Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 is the single most-asked modern-history question in the MPSC set.

Source and editorial process

Source: MPSC CS Gazetted Combined Pre 2025 (English). This question, its four options and the marked correct answer are transcribed verbatim from the official Maharashtra Public Service Commission Set A paper. Our editorial team cross-checks each question against the original PDF released on mpsc.gov.in and against the corresponding official answer key.

We never paraphrase the wording. Where MPSC has issued a revised key after an objection round, the answer highlighted above reflects the revised key and the revision is logged in our internal change-log. If you spot a discrepancy, please email us at dontknowacademy@gmail.com — we acknowledge every report within 24 hours and push a fix within 48 hours.

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MPSC CS Gazetted Combined Pre 2025 (English)

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