CHALLENGES OF

NATION BUILDING
ONE-SHOT LECTURE
NOTES Pdf (Description)
Repeted PYQ (Last Year)
Map / Cartoon based
Question
Tryst with Destiny” - The famous speech of Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of
India, on the midnight of India’s independence,
14-15 August 1947.

Twin Goals: After Independence, two goals were

agreed upon:
➔ One, that after independence, we shall
run our country through democratic
government.
➔ Two, that the government will be run for
the good of all, particularly the poor and
the socially disadvantaged groups.
 CHALLENGES OF NATION BUILDING

The year 1947 was a year of unprecedented violence and trauma of

displacement.

Nation Building - To shape a

unified nation yet accommodative Development - Constitution laid
of the diversity in our society down principle of equality & special
protection to socially disadvantaged
To establish Democracy - India groups and religious communities.
adopted representative democracy Challenge - Evolve effective policies
based on the parliamentary form for economic development and
of government. eradication of poverty.
Challenge - Develop democratic
practices in accordance with the
Constitution.
Ans - Factors Responsible for
Partition :

- Divide & Rule Policy

- Stiff Competition b/w Ques - Analyse any two
Muslim League & Congress political developments that
- Jinnah’s demand for a led to the decision for the
seperate nation for muslims creation of pak (2 M) 2017
PARTITION OF INDIA

On 14-15 August 1947, British India

was partitioned into two nation
states–India and Pakistan. This
was based on Two Nation theory
propounded by Muslim League.
Initially, Congress did not accept
this theory but in 1940s, gave
consent for partition of India.
 1 No Single belt of Muslim Population -
Concentrated in both Eastern and Western
parts of erstwhile British India. There was no
possible way to unite these areas.

2 Decided - the new country, Pakistan, will

comprise two territories - Punjab and Bengal
bifurcated according to the religious majority
PROCESS / PROBLEM at the district or even lower level.

Principle of Religious Majorities 3 Not all Muslim majority areas wanted to be

in Pakistan. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (Frontier
Gandhi) the undisputed leader of the North
This basically means that areas where
Western Frontier Province opposed to the
the Muslims were in majority would
two-nation theory.
make up the territory of Pakistan.
The rest was to stay with India.
4 Problem of Minorities on both sides.
CONSEQUENCES
OF PARTITION
Communal Riots between Hindu & Muslim - Lahore, Amritsar
and Kolkata became divided into ‘communal zones’.

Forced to aboden their homes - Minorities secured temporary

shelter in ‘refugee camps’. Even during their journey they were
often attacked, killed or raped.

Women - Forced to convert their religion. In many cases women

were killed by their own family members to preserve the ‘family
honour’.

Writers, poets and film-makers have expressed the suffering

of displacement and violence in their novels, short-stories,
poems and films.

Division of administrative apparatus - Financial assets, and

things like tables, chairs, typewriters, paper-clips, books and
also musical instruments of the police band were also divided.
About 80 lakh people were forced to migrate and
between 5-10 million people were killed.

Economic recession, unemployment and poverty

loomed large on the country.

Question of religious minorities raised - Even after

large scale migration of Muslims , the Muslim
population in India accounted for 12% (1951). So,
how would the government of India treat its
Muslim citizens and other religious minorities
(Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists,
Parsis and Jews)?
The ideal of Secular Nation was enrished in
the Indian Constitution.
Ques - Highlight any four/six
Consequences of partition.
2017/ 2016 /2014
 STRUCTURE OF BRITISH INDIA

PRINCELY STATES

Several large and small states ruled by

BRITISH INDIAN princes, enjoyed some form of control
PROVINCE over their internal affairs as long as
they accepted British supremacy.
Directly under the control
of Britishers Covered 1/3rd areas & 1 out of 4 people
lived in princely state.

Called paramountcy or suzerainty of

the British crown.
 INTEGRATION OF PRINCELY STATES

With partition and independence of India, the

British Crown terminated its paramount over
princely states & gave them choice to join
India or Pakistan or declare themselves as
independent nations.

This meant that all these states, as many as 565

in all, would become legally independent.

This was a very serious problem and could

threaten the very existence of a united India.
Ques - What was meant by
princely states? How many princely
states were there in India at the
time of independence? (2M) 2011
The problem started very soon

First of all, the ruler of Travancore announced that

the state had decided on Independence.

Nizams of Hyderabad made a similar announcement

the next day.

This response of the rulers of the Princely States

meant that after Independence there was a very real
possibility that India would get further divided
into a number of small countries.
STRANGE SITUATION

Since the Indian Independence was

aimed at unity, self-determination as
well as democracy.
In most of these princely states, govt.
were run in a non-democratic manner
& the rulers were unwilling to give
democratic rights to their populations
 The interim government took Sardar Patel (Deputy PM &
a firm stance against the Home Minister)- undertook the
possible division of India. daunting tasks of uniting all
565 princely states of India.

By his political experience, diplomatic He was not in favour of any

prowess and foresightedness, out of compromise with the territorial
India's 565 princely states many had integrity of India.
already given their consent to merge
with India even before achieving the
independence.
Read the passage given below carefully and answer the following questions:
The interim government took a firm stance against the possible division of
India into smaller principalities of different sizes. The Muslim League opposed
the Indian National Congress and took the view that the States should be
free to adopt any course they liked. Sardar Patel, India's Deputy Prime
Minister and the Home Minister during the crucial period, immediately after
Independence, played a historic role in negotiating with the rulers of Princely
States in bringing most of them into the Indian Union. 2015 ( 5M)

(i) Which government has been referred to as the interim government ?

(ii) Why did Muslim League oppose the Indian National Congress ?

(iii) What makes the role of Sardar Patel a historic one? Explain.
People of most of Integration &
the princely states consolidation of
wanted to become the territorial
part of the Indian boundaries was
union. priority

Government’s Approach

Govt. was
prepared to be
flexible in giving
autonomy to some
regions.
Ques - Evaluate the role of
Sardar Patel towards the
integration of princely states
with India. (1M) 2019
Before 15 August 1947, peaceful negotiations had
brought almost all states into the Indian Union.

The rulers of most of the states signed a

document called the ‘Instrument of Accession’
which meant that their state agreed to become
a part of the Union of India.

Accession of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir and

Manipur proved more difficult than the rest.
 Issue of Junagarh

Resolved after a
plebiscite(जनमत-संग्रह)
confirmed people’s desire
to join India.
 Movement against Nizam’s Oppressive
Rule
The peasantry in the Telangana region in
Story of HYDERABAD : The particular, was the victim of Nizam’s
largest Princely State oppressive rule and rose against him.

Women - worst of this oppression joined

Its ruler carried the title, ‘Nizam’, the movement in large numbers.
and he was one of the world’s
richest men. The Nizam wanted an The Communists and the Hyderabad
independent status for Hyderabad. Congress were in the forefront of the
He entered into what was called movement.
the Standstill Agreement with India
in November 1947 for a year while The Nizam responded by unleashing a
negotiations with the Indian para-military force known as the
government were going on. Razakars on the people.
Razakar murdered, maimed, raped and looted,
targeting particularly the non-Muslims.

The central government had to order the army to

tackle the situation.

In September 1948, Indian army moved in to control

the Nizam’s forces.

After a few days of intermittent fighting, the Nizam

surrendered. This led to Hyderabad’s accession to
India.
Ques - How did the state of
Hyderabad became a part of
the Indian Union after
partition? (HOTS 4M) 2009
 MANIPUR

Before Independence, the Maharaja, Thus Manipur was the

Bodhachandra Singh, signed the first part of India to hold
Instrument of Accession with the an election based on
Indian govt. with the assurance of universal adult franchise.
internal autonomy

Under the pressure of public opinion,

the Maharaja held elections in June
in 1948 and the state became a
constitutional monarchy.
In the Legislative Assembly of Manipur
there were sharp differences over the
question of merger of Manipur with India ?

While the state Congress wanted the merger,

other political parties were opposed to this.

The Government of India succeeded in

pressurising the Maharaja into signing a Merger
Agreement in September 1949, without
consulting the popularly elected Legislative
Assembly of Manipur.

This caused a lot of anger and resentment in

Manipur, the repercussions of which are still
being felt.
Ques 1 - Identity the leader shown in the
cartoon ?
Ans - Sardar Vallabhai Patel

Ques 2 What type of relationship does the

cartoon Indicate b/w the people & the ruler ?
Ans - The cartoon shows that the princely
ruler oppressed & exploited the people.

Ques 3 In your opinion, how successful was

the approach adopted by the leader on the
right to solve the issue of princely state ?
Ans - Through his diplomacy, Sardar Patel
was successful the issue of princely state.
REORGANIZATION OF
STATES
Process of nation-building did not come to an
end with Partition and integration of Princely
States.

Now the challenge was to draw the internal

boundaries of the Indian states.

The boundaries had to be drawn in a way so

that the linguistic and cultural plurality of the
country could be reflected without affecting
the unity of the nation.
During colonial rule - State boundaries were drawn either on
administrative convenience or with territories annexed by the
British government or the territories ruled by the princely powers.

Our national movement had rejected these divisions as artificial

and had promised the linguistic principle as the basis of
formation of states.

Things changed after Independence and Partition - Our leaders

felt that carving out states on the basis of language might lead
to disruption and disintegration.

They felt - this would draw attention away from other social and
economic challenges that the country faced.

The central leadership decided to postpone matters - because

the fate of the Princely States had not been decided. Also, the
memory of Partition was still fresh.
This decision was challenged by the local leaders
and the people
Vishalandhra Movement - Protests began in the
Telugu speaking areas of the old Madras province,
they demanded for a seperate state - Andhra
Pradesh.
Potti Sriramulu, a Congress leader and a veteran
Gandhian, went on an indefinite fast that led to his
death after 56 days.
Caused great unrest and resulted in violent outbursts
- Many were injured or lost their lives in police firing.
In Madras, several legislators
resigned their seats in protest.
Dec 1952 - PM announced formation of Andhra
Pradesh
 STATE REORGANIZATION
COMMISSION

The formation of Andhra spurred the struggle

for making of other states on linguistic lines in
other parts of the country.

These struggles forced the Central Govt. into

appointing a States Reorganisation Commission
in 1953 - to redraw the state boundaries
reflecting different langauges.

On the basis of its report States Reorganisation

Act was passed in 1956 - led to the creation of
14 states and six union territories.
Ques - Mention the main
recommendation of the states
reorganisation commission. (1M)
2014/2012
Now it is more than fifty years since
the formation of linguistic states. It
did not lead to disintegration of the
country as many had feared earlier.
On the contrary it strengthened
national unity & changed the nature
of democratic politics & leadership.
FAST FORWARD : CREATION OF STATES

The acceptance of the principle of linguistic states did not mean, that all
states immediately became linguistic states.

BOMBAY - ‘Bilingual State’, (Gujarati-Marathi-speaking) After a popular

agitation, the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were created in 1960.

PUNJAB - (Hindi-Punjabi speaking) 1966 Haryana & Uttrakhand were

craved out of Punjab

Reorganization of States in N-E - Meghalaya was carved out of Assam

in 1972.
Manipur and Tripura too emerged as separate states in the same year.
The states of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh came into being in 1987.
Nagaland had become a state much earlier in 1963.
On the basis of Religion - Chhattisgarh,
Uttrakhand & Jharkhand were created in
2000.
Ques - How did the
reorganization of the state take
place after independence? (6 M)
2014
Ques 1 - Identity the person in the centre of the
cartoon and mention the challenges surrounding
him.
Ans - The person is the first PM, Jhawarlal Nehru.
Challenge - State formation on linguistic &
religious basis.

Ques 2 - What does the cartoon actually refer?

Ans - The cartoon refers the probelm of
reorganisation of states on linguistic basis with
the fear of disintegration in the country.

Ques 3 - How did India avoid all this conflict ?

Ans - India identified & respected regional
demands of the people & enhanced democracy
by providing some autonomy to states also.
 PYQ BASED - MAP WORK
C - Haryana

B - Meghalaya 2019
A. State resisted it's merger with India -Manipur
A - Manipur B. State carved out of Assam in 1972 -Meghalaya
D - Chattisgarh C. State formed in 1966 - Haryana

2018
D. State formed in 2000 - Chattisgarh