Given below are two statements, one is labelled asAssertion (A) :and the other as Reason (R).Assertion (A):The Asiatic Society of Bengal was established in the period of Warren Hastings and he modestly declined the offer of Presidentship of that learned body in favour of Sir William Jones.Reason (R):Warren Hastings was himself a great scholar and an ardent orientalist who used to encourage the study of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic.Select the correct answer from the codes given below:

1. A

   Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)

   (a) Both true and (R) explains (A). Hastings’s oriental scholarship is true, but it does not explain why he declined the presidency in favour of Jones; that was a separate act of courtesy at the 1784 founding.

2. B

   Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)

   (b) Both true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A). The Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded in 1784 under Hastings’s government; he declined the chair for Sir William Jones. Hastings was himself a Persian scholar and patron of Sanskrit and Arabic. Those facts sit side by side: patronage does not cause the refusal of the chair. Official key.

3. C

   (A) is true, but (R) is false

   (c) (A) true, (R) false. (R) is not false: Hastings encouraged oriental learning (Calcutta Madrasa, 1781, among other acts).

4. D

   (A) la falso, but (R) is true

   (d) (A) false, (R) true. (A) is not false: Jones was the first president; Hastings declined.

Summary. Official key is (b). Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) does not explain (A). Society 1784, Hastings declined, Jones presided; Hastings was an orientalist. Scholarship explains patronage, not the modest refusal of office. Honour the stored letter (b).