MPSC PYQHistory

Identify the social reformer from the following information. a. He was an Assistant Professor at Elphinstone College. b. He started the first Marathi magazine named Digdarshan in 1840 A. D. c. The British Government appointed him as the 'Justice of the Peace' in 1840.

This MPSC previous-year question is drawn from MPSC Group B Combined Pre 2026 (English). It belongs to the History section 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.Balshastri Jambhekar
B.Gopal Ganesh Aagarkar
C.Mahadev Govind Ranade
D.Vishnushastri Chiplunkar

Correct answer: A

Explanation

Working through it, option A is the one. Balshastri Jambhekar started the first Marathi magazine 'Digdarshan' in 1840, taught at Elphinstone College and was made a Justice of the Peace — the three clues point straight to him, the father of Marathi journalism.

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

Read every option twice before committing to a choice. Once you commit, jot down in one line why each of the other three options is wrong — that elimination habit is what turns a 60-percentile score into a 90-percentile score. MPSC's favourite trap on history questions is to swap a single anchor word (a date, a place, a body, a ratio) so a mostly-right option becomes wrong.

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.

History in MPSC — Maharashtra threaded through India

MPSC History leans heavily towards Maharashtra's own story — the Satavahanas of the 2nd century BCE, the Vakatakas, the Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, the Yadavas of Devagiri (Daulatabad), the Bahmani sultanate and its five successor Deccan sultanates, the rise of the Maratha state under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the 17th century, the Peshwa era (1713–1818), the British / Bombay Presidency period and the freedom movement's Marathi voices from Bal Shastri Jambhekar and Tilak to Savarkar, Ambedkar and the Samyukta Maharashtra movement of the 1950s.

Threaded through this Maharashtra timeline is pan-India history: the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal empire, colonial land settlements (Permanent Settlement 1793, Ryotwari, Mahalwari), the Revolt of 1857, the Congress moderates and extremists, the Home Rule leagues, the four Gandhian movements (Non-Cooperation 1920, Civil Disobedience 1930, Individual Satyagraha 1940, Quit India 1942) and the post-1947 integration of princely states — including Hyderabad's Operation Polo (1948) which added parts of Marathwada.

MPSC History questions almost always pin a name to a date and a place. For every named leader, memorise the year of their most famous event and the geographic location; that three-tuple lets you eliminate three of four options in nearly every historical PYQ. Our Maharashtra History study guide arranges every ruler and every movement in exactly this three-column form.

Source and editorial process

Source: MPSC Group B Combined Pre 2026 (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.

Related study material

Deepen your preparation on this topic with our long-form MPSC study guides. Every guide is written specifically for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission preliminary syllabus and takes twelve to sixteen minutes to read in full.

Practice the full subject

MPSC Group B Combined Pre 2026 (English)

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