Arrange the following events in chronological order and select the correct answer from the codes given below: I. Poona Pact II. Gandhi – Irwin Agreement III. Cripps Mission IV. Civil Disobedience Movement Codes:

The correct answer is C. The sequence is Civil Disobedience Movement (1930), Gandhi–Irwin Agreement (5 March 1931), Poona Pact (24 September 1932), and Cripps Mission (March 1942).

Civil Disobedience began with the Dandi March in March 1930, after the Lahore Congress resolution for Purna Swaraj. The Gandhi–Irwin Pact ended the movement and took Congress to the Second Round Table Conference. The Poona Pact, signed between Gandhi and Ambedkar at Yerwada jail, replaced the separate electorates for the Depressed Classes granted under the Communal Award with reserved seats in the joint electorate. The Cripps Mission offered dominion status and a post-war constituent assembly, and Congress rejected it.

Option A puts the Cripps Mission before the Poona Pact, which reverses 1942 and 1932. Option B places the Gandhi–Irwin Pact before the 1930 Civil Disobedience Movement. Option D starts with the 1942 Cripps Mission, which is the last event, not the first.

Core concept: the chain of nationalist and constitutional milestones from the Simon Commission era to the Quit India run-up. For Mains, the Poona Pact is a useful reference for GS-2 on the evolution of safeguards for Scheduled Castes.

Trap: candidates tend to club the Poona Pact and Gandhi–Irwin Pact as both happening during the Round Table period and swap them. Fix the years, 1931 and 1932, and remember that Civil Disobedience comes before both.