Bihar Intermediate History (BSEB) case studies
Bihar Intermediate History (BSEB) · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Bihar Intermediate History examination is the Class XII Arts-stream History paper conducted under the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Patna. This page is an independent study resource for candidates preparing for that written, descriptive paper; it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Board. The Bihar Intermediate History (BSEB) case studies are 5 cases and about 3,675 words.
1Four Sources on Champaran, 1917: What Can Rukmini Actually Claim?
In Motihari, a Class XII student named Rukmini is preparing a project on the Champaran indigo cultivators' movement of 1917. She has gathered four sources: (1) an extract from Gandhi's An Autobiography (1927) describing the tinkathia system and the planters' pressure on tenants; (2) a 2019 recorded interview with a 92-year-old woman whose grandfather was a tenant on an indigo estate; (3) a 1917 report by a British district official concluding that "no illegal coercion was established"; and (4) an undated pamphlet issued by the local planters' association defending the "voluntary" character of the agreements.
735 words, about 4 min2Ashoka, Kalinga and the Limits of an Edict
At a school debate in Patna, two students disagree about Ashoka. Arun says: "Ashoka fought the Kalinga war in 261 BCE, was horrified by the killing, converted to Buddhism, renounced war and then issued his edicts." Meera replies: "The edicts never mention the Buddha or a conversion, so your sequence is not in the sources." Their teacher supplies three extracts: Rock Edict XIII, which describes the killing and deportation at Kalinga, Ashoka's remorse, and his turn toward dhamma; Rock Edict XII, which urges respect for brahmins and shramanas and for all sects; and a passage from the Mahavamsa, a Sri Lankan Buddhist chronicle composed several centuries later, which describes Ashoka's conversion under the guidance of the monk Moggaliputta Tissa.
752 words, about 4 min3Reading a Bharhut Panel: Symbols, Not a Portrait
Imran, a Class XII student, is writing a museum caption for a photograph of a carved stone panel from the railing of a stupa at Bharhut, datable to about the 2nd century BCE. The panel shows an empty throne beneath a bodhi tree, a pair of footprints on a low platform, a many-spoked wheel, and a crowd of men and women with folded hands.
749 words, about 4 min4Kunwar Singh and the Word 'Nationalist' in 1857
For a school magazine in Arrah, a local article marking the anniversary of 1857 claims that "Babu Kunwar Singh began the struggle for Indian independence from the very first day". Neelam, a Class XII student, checks the material available to her and finds four things: (a) Kunwar Singh was about eighty in 1857 and his immediate dispute concerned the family estate and pension at Jagdishpur; (b) he took command of a body of rebels, crossed the Ganga, fought at Azamgarh and Bibiganj, and issued proclamations in the name of the Mughal emperor; (c) British records call him a rebel and a plunderer; (d) local folk songs remember him as a hero who fought the British.
698 words, about 3 min5Testing the Claim That the Constitution Is 'Simply a Copy' of the 1935 Act
Sana, a Class XII student in Bhagalpur, begins an essay with the sentence: "The Indian Constitution is simply a copy of the Government of India Act, 1935." She offers three supports: the federal list of subjects, the office of the governor, and the emergency provisions, which she says are "the same". Her teacher gives her three passages to test the claim: Nehru's Objectives Resolution of 13 December 1946, which begins from the sovereignty of the people; Article 32, which guarantees the right to move the Supreme Court for enforcement of fundamental rights; and Ambedkar's remark in the Constituent Assembly that the Constitution can be "federal in normal times and unitary in emergencies".
741 words, about 4 min