History Solution Class 8 Chapter 12 India after Independence

12. India after Independence

Facts that Matter

·         Partition created a number of problems for independent India.

·         First and foremost task was to rehabilitate the refugees who had come into the country from the newly born Pakistan.

·         Then there was the problem of the princely states.

·         These two problems needed immediate solution. Afterwards the new nation had to adopt a political system that would best serve the hopes and aspirations of its people.

·         The population of India in 1947 was about 345 million. One could observe a lot of diversities in the country regarding languages, foods, dresses, professions etc. there was wide gap between high castes and low castes. In spite of all these diversities, people had to live together in one nation-state. This created the problem of unity.

·         The problem of development was another major point. Indian economy was very weak at the time the country got freedom. Farmers and peasants depended on the monsoon for their survival.

·         In the cities, factory workers lived in crowded slums with little access to education or health care.

·         The new nation had to do a lot of work in order to eradicate poverty, illiteracy, etc. it had to increase productivity of agriculture and promote new job-creating industries.

·         A written constitution was essential for the country. For this a series of meeting on the country’s political future was held. As a result the Indian Constitution came into being on 26 January 1950.

·         The constitution adopted Universal Adult Franchise. All Indians above the age of 21 would be allowed to vote in state and national elections. (Later it was reduced to 18 years.)

·         Our constitution guaranteed equality before the law to all citizens, regardless of their caste or religious affiliation.

·         A third feature of the constitution was that it offered special privileges for the poorest and most disadvantaged Indian. The practice of untouchability was abolished. A certain percentage of seats in legislatures as well as jobs in government were reserved for members of the lowest castes.

·         Along with the former untouchables, the Adivasis or Scheduled Tribes were also granted reservation in seats and jobs. Like the Scheduled Castes, these Indians too had been deprived and discriminated against.

·         In order to maintain balance between the central government and that of the state governments, the constitution provided three lists of subjects-a Union List, with subjects such as taxes, defence and foreign affairs, which would be sole responsibility of the Centre, a State List with subjects such as education and wealth, which would be taken care of mainly by the states, a Concurrent List under which would come subjects such as forests and agriculture, I which both the centre and states would have joint responsibility.

·         Language was also an important point. Several members of the Constituent Assembly wanted to replace English language with Hindi. But non-Hindi speakers had different opinion. They wanted English language to be continued. Therefore, a compromise was finally arrived at. It was resolved that while Hindi be the; official language’ of India. English would be used in the courts, the services and communication between one state and another.

·         Another major problem was that of the formation of state. Both Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel were against the creation of linguistic states. Nehru clearly said that he had to check disruptions tendencies caused due to partition and make the nation strong and united.

·         This caused great disappointment among the Kannada speakers, Malayalam speakers, the Marathi speakers and Telugu speakers. They began to protest. The strongest protest came from the Telugu-speaking districts of the Madras Presidency.

·         In October 1952 a veteran Gandhian named Potti Sriramula went on a hunger fast demanding the formation of Andhra state to protect the interests of Telugu speakers. As the fast went on, it attracted much support. Hartals and bandhs were observed in many towns.

·         Finally the new state of Andhra Pradesh came into being on 1 October 1953.

·         Now other linguistic communities also began to demand their own separate states. A States Reorganisation Commission was set up which submitted its report in 1956, recommending the redrawing of district and provincial boundaries to form compact provinces of Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu speakers respectively.

·         The large Hindi speaking region of north India was broken up into several states.

·         In 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was divided into separate states for Marathi and Gujarati speakers.

·         In 1966, the state of Punjab was also divided into Punjab and Haryana.

·         Now, planning for development began to be made. Lifting India out of poverty and building a modern technical and industrial base were among the major objectives of the new nation.

·         In 1950, the government set up a Planning Commission to help design and execute suitable policies for economic development.

·         In 1956, the Second Five year Plan was formulated which focused strongly on the development of heavy industries.

·         Sixty-two years of independence have passed. This is not a short duration. A lot have been achieved in this time but at the same time there have been a number of failures.

·         Successes

 India is still united and it is still democratic.

There is a free press.

There is an independent judiciary.

There is Unity in diversity.

·         Failures

Deep divisions persist.

Despite constitutional guarantee, the Untouchables or the Dalits face violence and discrimination.

The gulf between the rich and the poor has grown over years.

Words that Matter

·         Refugee: A person who has been forced to leave his country because of some political, social or religious reasons

·         Franchise: The right to vote.

·         Linguistic: Relating to language.

·         State: Concerned with the government or country.

·         Non-alignment: The policy of not providing support for or receiving support from any of the powerful countries (USA and USSR) in the world.

Dateline

·         15 August 1947: Indian got independence.

·         30 January 1948: Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.

·         26 January 1950: The Indian Constitution was adopted.

·         1 October 1953: The new state of Andhra Pradesh came into being.

·         1960: The bilingual state Bombay was divided into separate states for Marathi and Gujarati speakers.

·         1966: The state of Punjab was divided into Punjab and Haryana.

Let’s Recall

1. Name three problems that the newly independent nation of India faced.

The three problems that the newly independent nation of India faced are given below:

i) The problem of the rehabilitation of 8 million refugees who had come into the country from newly born Pakistan.

ii) The problem of the princely states. There were almost 500 princely states, each ruled by a Maharaja or a Nawab and each of them had to be persuaded to join the new nation.

iii) The new nation had to adopt a political system that would best serve the hopes and aspirations of the people.

2. What was the role of the planning Commission?

The Planning Commission helped design and execute suitable policies for economic development.

3. Fill in the blanks.

a) Subjects that were placed on the Union List were Taxes, defence and foreign affairs.

b) Subjects on the Concurrent List were Forests and agriculture.

c) Economic planning by which both the state and the private sector played a role in development was called a ‘mixed economy’.

d) The death of Potti Sriramulu sparked off such violent protests that the government was forced to give into the demand for linguistic state of Andhra.

4. State whether true or false:

a) At independence, the majority of Indians lived in villages. True

b) The Constituent Assembly was made up of members of the Congress Party. False

c) In the first national election, only men were allowed to vote. False

d) The Second Five Year Plan focused on the development of heavy industry. True

Let’s Discuss

5. What did Dr. Ambedkar mean when he said that “In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality”?

What Ambedkar wanted to say was that providing voting right to the lower caste people would not remove other inequalities such as between rich and poor, or between upper castes and lower castes. These classes of people could be labelled equal only politically but in reality it could possible due to our social and economic structure.

6. After Independence, why was there a reluctance to divide the country on linguistic times?

India got independence at the cost of its division. This division had been done on the basis of religion. As a result of this division more than a million people had been killed in riots between Hindus and Muslims. In such circumstances, it was not wise to further divide the country on the basis of language. Therefore, both Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Patel were against the creation of linguistic states.

7. Give one reason why English continued to be used in India after independence.

English continued to be used in India after Independence because south Indian states expressed strong opposition to Hindi.

8. How was the economic development of India visualised in the early decades after Independence?

In 1950, the government set up a Planning Commission to help design and execute suitable policies for economic development. There was a broad agreement on ‘mixed economy’ model. Here, both the state and the private sector would play important and complementary roles in increasing production and generating jobs. Now, it was on the Planning Commission to define which industries should be initiated by the state and which by the market and how to achieve a balance between the different regions and states.

In 1956, the Second Five Year Plan was formulated which focused on the development of heavy industries such as steel and on the building of large dams. These sectors would be under control of the state. This focus on heavy industry and the effort at state regulation of the economy was to guide economic policy for the next few decades.

Let’s Do

9. Who was Mira Behn? Find out more about her life and her ideas.

Mira Behn (1892-1982) was the daughter of a British Admiral. Her real name was Madeline Shade. She left England to live and work with Mahatma Gandhi. She devoted her life to human development, the advancement of Gandhiji’s principles and to the freedom struggle. She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1982.

10. Find out more about the language divisions in Pakistan that led to the creation of the new nation of Bangladesh. How did Bangladesh achieve independence from Pakistan?

Pakistan was divided into two regions-East Pakistan and West Pakistan. This division was done on the basis of linguistic majority. The East Pakistan was dominated by Bengala-speaking Muslims while the West Pakistan was dominated by Urdu-speaking Muslims. The people of the West Pakistan always considered the Bengali living in the East Pakistan inferior to them. So, the Muslims living in East Pakistan were devoid of all facilities and fundamental rights. It caused great dissatisfaction among them. They began migrating to India. Their number grew so large that India was compelled to intervene the situation. It supported the cause of the East Pakistan which resulted in a war between India and Pakistan. Finally India won the war in favour of the East Pakistan and declared it as a new country named Bangladesh on 16^th December 1971. Bangladesh was now recognised as a sovereign nation and Muziburr Rehman was its first President.

More Questions Solved

I. Multiple choice questions:

Choose the correct option.

i) Which one is not a feature of the Indian Constitution?

a) It adopted universal adult franchise

b) It gave politicians special powers.

c) It provided equality before law to all citizens.

d) It offered special Privileges for the poorest and most disadvantaged Indians.

ii) Which one is the subject of the State List?

a) Education               b) Defence

c) Forests                     d) Agriculture

iii) Who is called the father of the Indian Constitution?

a) Mahatma Gandhi               b) Jawaharlal Nehru

c) Vallabhbhai Patel                d) Bhimrao Ambedkar

iv) The bilingual state of Bombay was divided onto separate states for

a) Marathi and Telugu speakers

b) Marathi and Malayalam speakers

c) Marathi and Gujarati speakers

d) Bengali and Gujarati speakers

v) Who was the Deputy Prime Minister of the Independent India?

a) Motilal Nehru                     b) Bhim Rao Ambedkar

c) Vallabhbhai Patel              d) Maulana Azad

II. Fill in the blanks:

Fill in the blanks with appropriate words to complete each sentence.

i) Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was also the Foreign minister of newly independent India.

ii) The Bhilai steel plant was set up with the help of the former civilised in 1959.

iii) In 1966, the state of Punjab was divided into Punjab and Haryana.

iv) India’s population in 1947 was almost 345 million.

v) Soon after Independence, India chases to grant Voting right to all its citizens regardless of gender, class or education.

III. True/False:

State whether each of the following statements is true or false.

i) The Adivasis or the Scheduled Tribes were not granted reservation in seats and jobs. False

ii) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar belonged to a Marathi-speaking Dalit family. True

iii) Bridges and dams became the symbol of development in free India. True

iv) Dharavi in Gujarat is one of the world’s largest slums. False

v) Nehru and Patel wanted to divide the country on the basis of language. False

IV. Matching Skills:

Match the items given in column A correctly with those given in Column B.

Column A	Column B
i) Gandhi Sagar Dam	a) Madhya Pradesh
ii) Bhilai Steel Plant	b) Chhattisgarh
iii) Krishna Menon	c) Led the Indian delegation to the UN between 1952 and 1962
iv) Mira Behn	d) Gandhi’s followers
v) Potti Sriramulu	e) Andhra Pradesh

V. Very short answer type questions.

1. When was the Indian Constitution adopted?

The Indian Constitution was adopted on 26 January 1950.

2. Which step has been described as revolutionary?

All Indians above the age of 21 would be allowed to vote in state and national elections.

3. On what point did Nathuram Godse disagree with Gandhiji?

Nathuram Godse disagreed with Gandhiji’s conviction that Hindus and Muslims should live together in harmony.

4. Name two subjects of the State List.

Education and health.

5. Name two subjects of the Concurrent List.

Forests and agriculture.

6. Who was Potti Sriramulu?

He was a veteran Gandhian who went on a hunger strike demanding the formation of Andhra state to protect the interests of Telugu speakers.

7. When did the new state of Andhra Pradesh come into existence?

The new state of Andhra Pradesh came into existence on 1^st October, 1953.

8. What were the points of focus of the Second Five Year Plan?

i) Development of heavy industries.

ii) Building of large dams.

9. How was the Bhilai Steel Plant viewed?

The Bhilai Steel Plant was viewed as an important sign of the development of modern India after Independence.

10. What was the basic objective of the foreign policy of Independent India?

The basic objective of the foreign policy Independent India was non-alignment, i.e. American and Soviet alliances.

VI. Short answer type questions

1.  What created PROBLEMS in unifying the people of India after it got independence?

The point that created problems were:

 a) At the time of independence was large .it was divided too. There were divisions between high castes and low castes, between the majority Hindu community and Indians who practised other faiths.

b) The citizen of this country spoke different languages, wore different kinds of dresses, and ate different kinds of foods practised different professions.

2. What was the label of development of India at the time it got independence?

At the time India got independence the label of its development was very low.

A vast majority of Indians lived in the villages. Farmers and peasants depended on the monsoon for their survival .so did the non-farm sector of the rural economy , for if the crops failed ,barbers ,carpenters, weavers and other service groups would not get paid for their services either .

In the cities to the condition was not good .Factory workers usually lived in crowded slums. They had little access to education and health care.

3. What special privileges were offered for the poorest and most disadvantaged Indians by the constitution?

First of all practice of untouchability was abolished .Hindu temples were thrown open to all including the former untouchables.

A certain percentage of seats in legislatures as well as jobs in government were reserved for members of the lowest castes.

Along with the former untouchables, the Adivasis also known as the Scheduled Tribes were also granted reservation in seats and jobs. They too had been deprived and discriminated against like the Scheduled Castes.

4. How have powers and functions of the Central and State Governments been divided by the Constitution?

The Indian Constitution gives the division of power in the form of three lists, known as Union list, State List and Concurrent List .the union List includes subjects such as taxes, defence and foreign affairs. On these subjects such as education and health it is the exclusive responsibility of the state government to take care of these subjects. In the last comes the Concurrent List which contains subjects such as forests and agriculture. On these subjects the Centre and the states have joint responsibility.

5. Under what circumstances a compromise was made with respect to language?

Several members of the Constituent Assembly believed that the English language should be driven out India with the British rule. They were of the opinion that Hindi should take place of English language. However, who did not speak Hindi were of different opinion. T.T. Krishnamachari on behalf of the people of the south strongly opposed Hindi. Some threatened to separate from India if Hindi was imposed on them. Finally, a compromise was made. it was decided that while Hindi would be the

‘Official language ‘of India, English would be used in the courts, the services, and communications between one state and another.

6. Under what circumstances did the new state of Andhra Pradesh come into being?

The decision of the Congress leaders not to divide the country on linguistic lines disappointed the Kannada speakers, Malayalam speakers and the Marathi speakers.

They had all looked forward to having their own state. The Telugu speakers’ districts of what was the Madras Presidency raised the strongest protests. In October 1952, a veteran Gandhian named potti  Sriramulu went on a hunger fast demanding the formation of Andhar state to protect the interests of Telugu-speakers . The fast went on and with it hartals and bandhs began to be observed. MEANWHILE, POTTI Sriramulu died . This incidence intensified the situation. The protests now became widespread and intense. This forced the central Governmant to give in to demand. On 1 October, 1953, the new state of Andhra Pradesh came into being.

VII Long Answer type questions:

1. Give detailed descriptions of the features of the Indian Constitution.

We have written Constitution which was adopted on 26 January 1950.

 Features

 (a) One feature of the Indian Constitution was that it adopted UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISE. All Indians above the age of 21 (now 18) would be allowed to vote in state and national elections.

(b) Our Constitution guaranteed equality before the law to all citizens, regardless of their caste or religious affiliation.

(c) The Constitution offered special privileges for the poorest and most disadvantaged Indians. The evil practice of untouchability was abolished. Hindu temples were thrown open to all, including the former untouchability. After a long debate, the Constituent Assembly also recommended that a certain percentage of seats in legislatures as well as jobs in government be reserved for member of the lowest

 Castes including the Adivasis.

 (d) Our Constitution clearly defined the powers and functions of the central and the state governments. it gave division of power in the form of three lists-a Union List with subjects such taxes, defence and foreign affairs, which would be the exclusive and health, which would be taken care of mainly by the States, a concurrent List under which would come subjects such as forests and agriculture in which the centre and the States would have joint responsibility.

3. Write in brief the process of state formation.

The congress leaders were in no mood to further divide the country on linguistic lines. The created great disappointment among the Kannada speakers, Malayalam speakers, and the Marathi speakers, and the Telugu speakers, because they had all looked forward to having their own state. The Telugu speakers, however, showed the stronger protests. Their leader Potti  Sriramulu went on a hunger fast demanding the formation of Andhra state to protect the interests of Telugu speakers. As the fast went on, it attracted many Hartals and bandhs began to be observed. Meanwhile, potti sriramulu died. This incidence intensified the situation. The protests took intense form. This forced the Central Government the situation. The protests took intense form. This forced the central government to give in to the demand and the new state of Andhra Pradesh came into existence on 1 October, 1953.

After the formation of Andhra Pradesh, other linguistic communities also demanded their own separate states. Hence, a State Reorganisation commission was set up , which submitted its report in 1956 . It recommended the redrawing of district and provincial boundaries to form compact provinces of Assamese, Bengali, Oriya Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu speakers respectively. The large Hindi-speaking region of north India was broken up into several states. Then in 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was broken up into several states for Marathi and Gujarati speakers. In the year 1960, the state of Punjab was also divided into Punjab and Haryana, Punjab for the Punjabi speakers and Haryana for the rest who spoke Haryanvi or Hindi.

3. Give an account of the successes and failures of the country during sixty-two years of its independence.

A- Sixty-two years of independence have passed. This duration covers a long journey. A lot have been achieved during this time. But at the same time there have been a number of failures.

Successes

a) India is still united and it is still democratic. These   achievements definitely make us proud. Many foreign observers had felt that India could not survive as a single country. Others believed that it would come under military rule. Neither of these predictions proved to be true. As many as thirteen general elections have been held since independence, as well as hundreds of state and local elections.

b) There is a free press and an independent judiciary.

c) The fact that people speak different languages or practise different faiths has not come in the way of national unity.

Failures

a)  Deep divisions are still there. Despite constitutional guarantees, people belonging to the lowest castes, such as dalits face violence and discrimination. In many parts of rural India they are not allowed access to water sources, temples, parks and other public places.

b) The gulf between the rich and the poor has grown over the years. Some groups of people avail all facilities while many others continue to live below the poverty line.

c) Our Constitution provides equality before the law but in real life this does not happen. Some Indians are more equal than others.