Challenges of Nation Building

Class 12 Political Science

1. Who was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel? 

Ans:- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the first home minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. 

2. Who was the first Prime Minister of India?

Ans:- Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India.

3. Who was the Maharaja of Manipur in the time of independence? 

Ans:- Bodha Chandra Singh was the Maharaja of Manipur at the time of independence. 

4. What is princely state? 

Ans:- The state under the rule of Princes are known as princely state. 

5. How Many kinds of challenges that independent India faced? 

Ans:- Independent India Phase 3 kinds of challenges.

6. On 14-15 August 1947 two nation-states came into existence one is India, what is the other ?

Ans:- The other country get independent in 14-15 August was Pakistan. 

7. Name the two cities which became divided into communal zones at the time of partition. 

Ans:- The two cities which became divided into communal zones at the time of partition are Amritsar and Lahore. 

8. Give the concept of ‘Two Nations Theory’.

Ans:- The “Nations Theory” was propounded by Mohammad Ali Jinnah in 1940 as being the part of the Muslim League. The main aim of this theory was the “creation of separate state for Muslim”.

9. What was the issue related to Punjab and Bengal?

Ans:- Punjab and Bengal were the two Muslim majority provinces of British India.

* These provinces had very large areas where the non-Muslim were in majority. Thus, it was decided that these two provinces would be bifurcated according to the religious majority.

* The partition of these two provinces caused the deepest trauma of partition. 

10. Why did Amritsar and Kolkata become ‘Communal Zones’?

Ans:- Amritsar and Kolkata became ‘Communal Zones’ because Muslim avoided going into an area where mainly Hindus or Sikhs lived. Similarly the Hindus and Sikhs stayed away from areas of Muslim pre-dominance.

11. What do you mean by British Paramountcy?

Ans:- British Paramountcy or suzerainty was the forced British Supremacy accepted by the “Indian Princely states”. Actually princely states enjoyed same from of control over their internal affairs as long as they accepted Birish Supremacy.

12. Examine the role of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the integration of Princely States.

Ans:- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel also known as the Iron Man of India was India’s Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Minister during the integration of Indian states. He played a historical role in negotiating with the ruler of princely states firmly but diplomatically and bringing most of them into Indian Union.

It was a very complicated task which required skillful persuasion. For example, there were 26 small states in today’s Orissa. Saurashtra region of Gujrat had 14 big states, 119 small states and numerous other different administration.

13. What was the government’s approach towards the integration of princely states.

Ans:- The government’s approach was guided by three consideration.

(a)  The people of most of the Princely States clearly wanted to become part of the Indian Union.

 (b) The government was prepared to accommodate plurality and adopt a flexible approach in dealing with the demands of the regions.

(c) The concern towards the integrity and consolidation of the territorial boundaries of the Indian nation.

14. What was the task of the state Reorganization Commission? What was its most salient recommendation?

Ans:- The State Reorganization Commission was formed in 1953 by the central government to look into the question of redrawing of the boundaries of state. 

* The commission in its report accepted that the boundaries of the state should reflect the boundaries of different language.

* On the basis of its report the State Re organisation Act was passed in 1956 which led to the creation of 14 states and six union territories.

* It is recommended the formation of linguistic states, i.e., linguistic reorganization. This recommendation in turn gave some uniform basis to the drawing of state boundaries.

15. Examine the three challenges which Independent India faced for nation building.

Ans:- Immediately after independence there were many challenges or problems in Independent India that needed a solution. These challenges can be categorized as:

A challenge to shape a nation.

A challenge to establish democracy and

A challenge to ensure the development and well being of the entire society.

To shape a nation:- The first and foremost challenge to establish unity was the political unification and integration of the territory. India is a land of continental size and diversity. There were around 600 states of varying sizes and population. The partition of the country appeared to prove every one’s worst fears. Hence there was a serious question about the future of India, i.e., would India survive as a unified country. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel took upon the task of integriting these Princely States, which was sometimes completed in stages.

To establish Democracy:- Another challenge was to develop with the constitution, i.e., India cutopted  representative democracy, based on the parliamentary form of government.

To Ensure the Development and well being of the Society:- The third challenge came in the way to evolve effective policies for economic  development and eradication of poverty and unemployment. The Indian constitution set out in the Directive Principles of state policy, the welfare goals that democratic politics must achieve. All these challenges required a deliberate effort which India tried to put in the ways of accommodating social differences, establishing welfare state and by democratizing political institutions.

16. Discuss the problems involved with the Integration of Princely States.

Ans:- The very first challenge which came immediately after independence was the Integration of “Princely States” into the Indian Union. The Integration process was as usually not smooth and had various difficulties such as:

* At the time of Independence it was announced by the British that the end of their rule over India, paramountcy of the British crown over Princely States would also lapse.

* A result British government took the view that all these states were free to join either India or Pakistan or remain independent if they so wished. This was a very serious problem and could threaten the very existence of a united India.

* Another problem arose very soon. First of all, the ruler of Travancore announced that the state had decided on Independence.

* The Nizam of Hyderabad made a similar announcement.

* Similar way Nawab of Bhopal was averse to joining the Constituent Assembly.

* This response of the rulers of the Princely States – meant that after independence there was a very role possibility that India would be further divided into a number of small countries. This was a strange situation since India independence was aimed at unity, self determination as well as democracy.

17. Write a note on the people’s movement of Hyderabad.

Ans:- Hyderabad was the largest princely state of Indian territory. Its ruler was titled as Nizam and was one of the world’s richest man. Regarding joining Indian Union the Nizam wanted an independent state for Hyderabad and entered into Standstill Agreement with India.

But the people of Hyderabad were not happy with the non-democratic rule of Nizam. So, in the meantime a movement of the people of hyderabad state against the Nizam rule gathered force.

Various sections of society participated in the movement:

* The peasantry – the Telengana region in particular was the victim of Nizam’s oppressive rule and rose against him.

*Women who had seen the worst of the oppression joined the movement in large number.

*The communists and the Hyderabad congress were in the forefront of the movement.

*Hyderabad town was the nerve centre of this movement.

*In retaliation the Nizam responded by unleashing a paramilitary force known as the Razakars on the people.

*Ultimately the Centre Government had to order the army to tackle the situation. And in September 1948 Indian army moved into control the Nizam’s force.

All this led to the accession of Hyderabad to India.

18. How Manipur was merged with Indian Union.

Ans:- As part of integration of Princely States, a few days before independence the Maharaja of Manipur Bodhachandra Singh signed the Instrument of Accession with the Indian Government on the assurance that internal autonomy of Manipur would be maintained.

* To follow up the Maharaja held elections in Manipur on June 1948 and the state become a “constitutional Monarchy”. Thus Manipur become the first state to held an election based on “Universal Adult Franchise. 

*But in the Legislative Assembly there were sharp differences over the question of merger of Manipur with India. While the state congress wanted the merge other political parties were opposed to this.

*Ultimately the Government of India succeeded in the pressurizing the Maharaja into signing ‘a merger agreement’ in September 1949 without consulting the popularly elected Legislative Assembly of Manipur.

19. Discuss the consequences of partition of India.

Ans:- The partition year 1947 was the year of one of the longest, most abrupt, unplanned and tragic train of population that human history has known.

*Communal Riots:- In the name of religion people of one community ruthlessly killed and maimed people of the other community. There were killings and atrocities on both sides of the border cities like Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata became divided into “communal zones.” 

*Social Sufferings:- People went through immense suffering. They were forced to abandon their homes and move across borders. Minorities on both sides of the border fled their homes and after secured temporary shelter in “refugee camps”. Thousands of woman were abducted on both sides of the border.

(i) In many cases women were killed by their own family members to preserve the “family honour.”

(ii) Many children were separated from their parents. Those who did manage to cross the border found that they had no home. Hence, for lakhs of these “refugee” the country’s freedom meant life in ‘refugee camps.’

* Administration concerns and financial strains:- The partition saw not merely a division of properties, liabilities and assets or a political division of the country and the administrative apparatus, what also got divided were the financial assets and things like tables, chairs, typewriters, paper-clips, book and also musical instruments of police band.

(i) The employees of government and the railways were also divided.

(ii) Above all it was a violent separation of communities who had hitherto lived together as neighbours. It estimated that the partition forced about 80 lakh people migrated across the new border. Between five to ten lakh people were killed in partition related violent.

20. Discuss the principles and difficulties involved in the process of partition.

Ans:- (i) First of all there was no single belt of muslim majority areas in British India. There were two areas of the concentration, one in the west and one in the east. There was no way these two parts could be joined. So it was decided that the new country, Pakistan is comprise two territories, west and east Pakistan, separated by a long expanse of Indian territory.

(ii) Secondly, not all Muslim majority areas wanted to go in Pakistan. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, the undisputed leader of the North Western frontier province and known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’, was staunchly opposed to the two-nation theory. Eventually his voice was simply ignored and the NWFP was made to merge with Pakistan.

(iii) The third problem was that two of the Muslim majority provinces of British India- Punjab and Bengal, had large areas were the non-Muslims were in majority. Eventually it was decided that these two provinces would be at the bifurcated according to the religious majority at the district or even lower level. This decision could not be made by the midnight of 14-15 August. It meant that a large number of people did not know on the day of independence whether they were in India or in Pakistan. The partition of these two provinces coused the deepest trauma of partition.

(iv) The fourth point was the problem of minorities on both sides. Lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs in the areas that were now in Pakistan and equally large number of Muslim on the Indian side of Punjab and Bengal (and to some extent Delhi and surrounding areas) found themselves trapped. They were to discover that they were undesirable aliens in their own home, in the land where they lived and their ancestors had lived for centuries. As soon as it became clear that the country was going to be partitioned, the minorities on both sides became easy targets of attack. 

Dr. Ratanlal Brahma, M.A., B.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D.
Post Graduate Teacher (Political Science)
H.N.Seminary Model HS School, Bagribari, Dhubri, Assam
Email : brahmaratan@gmail.com
Whatsapp no. : 7020477396