With reference to the Civil Administration in 1905, which of the statements is/are correct? 1) Lord Curzon decided to rearrange the provincial boundaries. 2) A new province was constituted, called East Bengal and Assam. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

Both statements hold, so the answer is B.

Statement 1 is correct. Lord Curzon, as Viceroy, decided to rearrange the provincial boundaries of Bengal, which was an overloaded presidency. He announced the plan in 1903, and the Partition took effect on 16 October 1905.

Statement 2 is correct in substance. The new province was Eastern Bengal and Assam, with Dacca as its capital. The question drops the word Eastern, a loose wording, but it describes the province created in 1905.

• Core concept: an administrative rearrangement that the government justified on efficiency grounds, but that nationalists read as divide and rule. It fuelled the Swadeshi and anti-partition movement.
• Syllabus link: Modern Indian History (Partition of Bengal, Swadeshi, Moderates and Extremists). For Mains, it shows how administrative reform becomes politicised.

The partition was annulled in 1911, when the Delhi Durbar announced the reunification of Bengal and the capital moved to Delhi. Keep 1905 and 1911 separate in your notes.

Trap: rejecting statement 2 over the missing word Eastern, or confusing this with the 1947 partition of Bengal.