Arrange the following events in their chronological order and select the correct answer from the codes given below: A) Hunter - Commission B) Sadlar - Commission C) Wood's - Despatch D) Sargeant - Plan

The correct order is C (Wood's Despatch, 1854), A (Hunter Commission, 1882), B (Sadler Commission, 1917-19), D (Sargent Plan, 1944), which is option D.

The core concept is the sequence of colonial and post-colonial education policy in India. Wood's Despatch of 1854 is often called the Magna Carta of English education in India. It proposed a graded system from primary to university and set up the department of education in each province. The Hunter Commission (Indian Education Commission, 1882), chaired by W.W. Hunter under Lord Ripon, reviewed primary education and the role of aided and private institutions. The Sadler Commission (Calcutta University Commission, 1917-19), under Michael Sadler, examined university and secondary education and recommended reforms in the Indian university system. The Sargent Plan (1944), by John Sargent of the Central Advisory Board of Education, proposed a post-war blueprint for universal free and compulsory education over about 40 years.

Option A puts Hunter before Wood's Despatch, which is impossible. Option B puts Wood's Despatch after Sadler, and Option C places Sargent before Sadler. Each of these breaks the chronology.

Mains angle: the Sargent Plan's targets were never fully met, which explains later steps like the 86th Amendment and Article 21A.

Trap: aspirants often mix up the 1882 Hunter Commission with the 1917 Sadler Commission, or assume the Sargent Plan came earlier because it is a 'plan' rather than a commission.