Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Non-Cooperation Movement (1922):
The trigger was the Chauri Chaura incident (February 1922), where a violent mob clashed with police and burned a police station, killing several constables. Gandhi called off the movement immediately. His reasoning was rooted in satyagraha's core principle: non-violence was not merely a tactic but the moral foundation of the struggle. A movement built on violence would lose its legitimacy and corrupt the people's character.

Civil Disobedience Movement (1931):
Gandhi signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact to suspend the movement. The trigger was ongoing government repression and a political stalemate. Gandhi negotiated to secure the release of political prisoners and participate in the Round Table Conference, prioritising dialogue over confrontation at that moment.

Common Underlying Concern:
Both withdrawals reflected Gandhi's conviction that the moral integrity of the movement mattered more than immediate gains. Whether facing popular violence or state repression, he believed an uncontrolled or unprincipled movement would ultimately weaken rather than advance the cause of swaraj.

Source: Chapter 2, Sections 1.1, 3.2, and timeline

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• Examiners expect you to identify the specific trigger for each withdrawal (Chauri Chaura for 1922; Gandhi-Irwin Pact/repression for 1931) — don't merge them.
• The key conceptual link is Gandhi's philosophy of satyagraha — non-violence as a moral absolute, not just a strategy.
• Note from the timeline: NCM withdrawal = February 1922; CDM suspension = March 1931. Mentioning dates shows precision.
• The "assessment" part of the question only needs 2–3 lines; do not over-elaborate.