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

As a result of Partition, 8 million refugees had come into the country from what was now Pakistan. These people had to be found homes and jobs.
There was the problem of the princely states, almost 500 of them, each ruled by a maharaja or a nawab. Each of whom had to be persuaded to join the new nation.
The new nation had also to adopt a political system that would best serve the hopes and expectations of its population.

Question 2.
What was the role of the Planning Commission?
Answer:
Role of Planning Commission

Lifting India and Indians out of poverty, and building a modem technical and industrial base were among the major objectives of the new commission.
A broad agreement was reached on “mixed economy” model.
In mixed economy both the State and the private sector would play important and complementary roles in increasing production and generating jobs.
These roles were:
- Which industries should be initiated by the state.
- Which industries by the market.
- How to achieve a balance between the different regions and states.
Roles of state and private sectors were to be defined by the Planning Commission.
To make 5-year plans.

Question 3.
Fill in the blanks:

Subjects that were placed on the Union List were Taxes, defense, and foreign affairs
Subjects on the Concurrent List were forests and agriculture
Economic planning by which both the state and the private sector played a role in development was called a mixed economy model.
The death of Potti Sriramulu sparked off such violent protests that the government was forced to give in to the demand for the linguistic state of Andhra.

Question 4.
State whether True or False:

At independence, the majority of Indians lived in villages. True
The Constituent Assembly was made up of members of the Congress party. False
In the first national election, only men were allowed to vote. False
The Second Five Year Plan focused on the development of the heavy industry. True

Question 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”?
Answer:

Dr. Ambedkar pointed out that political democracy had to be accompanied by economic and social democracy.
He wanted to say that giving the right to vote would not automatically lead to the removal of other inequalities such as between rich and poor, or between upper and lower castes.
He meant that with the new Constitution, India was going to enter into a life of contra¬dictions. In politics, we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one value. While in our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value.

Question 6.
After independence, why was there a reluctance to divide the country into linguistic lines?
Answer:
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.

Question 7.
Give one reason why English continued to be used in India after independence.
Answer:
Since a vast majority of the population of southern India did not speak Hindi but English, they could threaten to separate from India if Hindi was imposed on them.

Question 8.
How was the economic development of India visualized in the early decades after
independence?
Answer:
1. In 1956, the Second Five Year Plan
2. This plan focused strongly on the development of heavy industries like steel, and on the building of large dams.
3. These sectors would be under the control of the State.

The focus on heavy industry and the effort at state regulation of the economy was to guide economic policy for the next few decades.
This approach had many strong supporters, but also some vocal critics.

Question 9.
Who was Mira Behn? Find out more about her life and her ideas.
Answer:
(1) Mira Behn was an English women and her original name Was Madelene Slade. She was like a daughter of Bapu and often acted as a bridge between him and the British bureaucracy.
(2)

Mira Behn (November 22, 1892— July 20, 1982) was the daughter of a British admiral. She left her home in England to live and work with Gandhi.
She devoted her life to human development, the advancement of Gandhi’s principles, and the freedom struggle in India. She was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1982.

Question 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?
Answer:
(1) When the State of Pakistan was formed in 1947, it had two wings, one to the West of India and the other to the East. The two regions were split along cultural, geographical, and linguistic lines. In 1948, the government of Pakistan ordained Urdu as a sole national language which sparked extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Pakistan. The Bengali Language Movement of 1952 was the first sign of friction between the two wings of Pakistan. This movement was a political effort in then East Pakistan, which advocated the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan.

(2) Apart from linguistic discrimination, political and economic neglect led to popular agitations against West Pakistan. This led to the war of independence in 1971. With the help of Indian troops in the last few weeks of the war, East Pakistan defeated West Pakistan on December 16, 1971. This resulted in the establishment of Bangladesh. In February 1974, Pakistan also agreed to recognize the independent state of Bangladesh.

Objective Type Questions

1. Match the following:

Answer:
(i) a
(ii) e
(iii) f
(iv) b
(v) c
(vi) d

2. State whether True or False:

At Independence, the majority of Indians lived in cities. False
The Constituent Assembly was made up of members of the Muslim League. False
In the first national election, only men of age 30 were allowed to vote. False
The Second Five Year Plan focuses on the development of agriculture. False
B.R. Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, True
The Second Five Year Plan was formulated in 1952. False
The population of India in 1947 was 38 crore. False

3. Fill in the blanks:

Nathurain Godse assassinated Gandhiji.
On 26 January 1950, our Constitution was adopted.

Multiple Choice Questions

Choose the correct answer:
1. How many countries of the world joined the conference of Bandung in Indonesia?
(a) 29 countries
(b) Less than 20 countries
(c) More than 100 countries
(d) 100 countries

2. Dharavi, the largest slum of the world, is situated in
(a) Calcutta
(b) Chennai
(c) Delhi
(d) Mumbai

3. The leader who went on hunger strike for Andhra Pradesh to protect the interest of Telugu speakers is
(a) Chitta Ranjan Das
(b) Potti Sriramulu
(c) Krishna Menon
(d) None of these

4. The Bhilai steel plant was set up in the year
(a) 1950
(b) 1952
(c) 1955
(d) 1959

5. How many Indians formed the Constituent Assembly?
(a) One hundred
(b) Two hundred
(c) Three hundred
(d) Four hundred

6. New state of Andhra Pradesh came into being
(a) on 1 October 1953
(b) on 15 October 1953
(c) on 1 May 1953
(d) on 15 May 1953

7. Mukti Vahini was formed by the Bengali Population under the leadership of
(a) Mira Behn
(b) Muziburr Rehman
(c) Potti Sriramulu
(d) None of these

8. Which is NOT the features of our constitution?
(а) Adoption of Universal Adult Franchise
(b) Preference to Hindu Religion
(c) Equal rights to all citizens
(d) Special privileges for the poorest and most disadvantageous Indians

9. Up to which date was many of the princely states retained as administrative units?
(a) Up to October 15, 1947
(b) Up to October 31, 1947
(c) Up to October 15, 1955
(d) Up to October 31, 1956

10. The United Nations was formed in
(a) 1940
(b) 1945
(c) 1947
(d) 1950

11. India, celebrated its 60^th year of independence
(a) on August 15, 2007
(b) on August 15, 2009
(c) on January 26, 2005
(d) on January 15, 2005

12. Pakistan was divided into two parts because of
(a) the imposition of Persian on the Bengali speaking of the east
(b) the imposition of Islamic language on the Bengali speaking of the east
(c) the imposition of Urdu on Bengali speaking population of the east
(d) none of the above

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