DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL BANGALORE NORTH

POL.SC CLASS 12
CLASS TEST -CHALLENGES (MARKING SCHEME)
MARCH 2024-25 MARKS 30

1.Explain the role played by Sardar Patel in the unification of princely states in India. (2)

Sardar Patel was the India’s deputy PM and the home minister during the crucial period
immediately following Independence. He played a historic role in negotiating with the
rulers of princely states firmly but diplomatically and bringing most of them into the Indian
Union.GIVE EXAMPLES OF JUNNAGARH ,MANIPUR,HYDERABAD,J&K.

2. Why did the central leadership decide to postpone the matters of reorganisation of
states? (2)

Our leaders felt that carving out states on the basis of language might lead to disruption and
disintegration. It was also felt that this would draw attention away from other social and
economic challenges that the country faced. The central leadership decided to postpone
matters. The need for postponement was also felt because the fate of the Princely States
had not been decided. Also, the memory of Partition was still fresh

3.What was government's approach towards the integration of princely states? (2)

The government’s approach was guided by three considerations.

Firstly, the people of most of the princely states clearly wanted to become part of the
Indian union. Secondly, the government was prepared to be flexible in giving autonomy to
some regions. The idea was to accommodate plurality and adopt a flexible approach in
dealing with the demands of the regions.

Thirdly, in the backdrop of partition which brought into focus the contest over demarcation
of territory, the integration and consolidation of the territorial boundaries of the nation had
assumed supreme importance.

4.Define” Two Nation theory” (2)

On 14-15 August 1947, not one but two nation-states came into existence – India and
Pakistan. This was a result of ‘partition’, the division of British India into India and Pakistan.
According to the ‘two-nation theory’ advanced by the Muslim League, India consisted of not
one but two ‘people’, Hindus and Muslims. That is why it demanded Pakistan, a separate

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country for the Muslims. The Congress opposed this theory and the demand for Pakistan.
But several political developments in 1940s, the political competition between the Congress
and the Muslim League and the British role led to the decision for the creation of Pakistan

4.Describe the challenges that India faced at the time of independence in 1947 . (4 )

ANS India faced the following three challenges at the time of independence in 1947 :

NATIONAL INTEGRATION-The first challenge was to shape a nation that was united, yet
accommodative of the diversity in our society. India was a land of continental size and
diversity. Its people spoke different languages and followed different culture and religions.
At that time it aws widely believed that a country full of such kinds of diversity could not
remain together for long.

(ii) DEMOCRACY-The second challenge was to establish democracy. The Constitution had
granted fundamental rights and extended right to vote to every citizen. India adopted
Representative democracy based on the parliamentary form of goverment.The challenge
was to develop democratic practices in accordance with the Constitution.

(iii)DEVELOPMENT- The third challenge was to ensure the development and well-being of
the entire society and not only of some sections. The Constitution had adopted the
principle of equality and provided special protection to socially disadvantaged groups and
religious and cultural communities. The real challenge was to evolve effective policies for
economic development and eradication of povert

5.Describe the Reorganisation of states in 1956 (4)

The accommodation of regional demands and the formation of linguistic states were also

seen as more democratic for this reason after independence the reorganization of states

was sought on a linguistic basis .The formation of Andhra Pradesh spurred the struggle for
making of other states on linguistic lines in other parts of the country. These struggles
forced the Central Government into appointing a States Reorganisation Commission in 1953
to look into the question of redrawing of the boundaries of states. The Commission in its
report accepted that the boundaries of the state should reflect the boundaries of different
languages. On the basis of its report the States Reorganisation Act was passed in 1956. This
led to the creation of 14 states and six union territories The acceptance of the principle of
linguistic states did not mean, however, that all states immediately became linguistic states.
There was an experiment of ‘bilingual’ Bombay state, consisting of Gujarati- and Marathi-
speaking people. After a popular agitation, the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were
created in 1960. Nagaland state came into being in 1961.

6. The state which came into existence due to bifurcation at the time of partition in
1947. West Bengal

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 i. A Princely State whose ruler resisted its merger with India J&K
ii. The state where the Congress Party failed to win majority in the First General
Election of India. kerala
iii. The state which was created in 1966. Haryana

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1.JUNNAGARH ,MANIPUR,HYDERABAD,J&K.

2.Sardar Wallabhai Patel

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3.Sardar Patel who is remembered for his diplomacy in integrating the princely sates into
the framework of federal India.

4. 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.

8. Analyse the consequences of the partition of India in 1947. (6)

1.Communal riots-The year 1947 was the year of one of the largest, most abrupt, unplanned
and tragic transfer of population that human history has known. There were killings and
atrocities on both sides of the border. In the name of religion people of one community
ruthlessly killed and maimed people of the other community.Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata
became divided into ‘communal zones’. Muslims would avoid going into an area where
mainly Hindus or Sikhs lived; similarly the Hindus and Sikhs stayed away from areas of
Muslim predominance

2.Minorities-Minorities on both sides of the border fled their home and often secured
temporary shelter in ‘refugee camps’. They often found unhelpful local administration and
police in what was till recently their own country

3.Women-Thousads of Women were abducted They were made to convert to the religion of
the abductor and were forced into marriage. In many cases women were killed by their own
family members to preserve the ‘family honour’. Many children were separated from their
parents. Those who did manage to cross the border found that they had no home. For lakhs
of these ‘refugees’ the country’s freedom meant life in ‘refugee camps’, for months and
sometimes for years.

4. ‘division of hearts’.- Writers, poets and film-makers in India and Pakistan have expressed
the ruthlessness of the killings and the suffering of displacement and violence in their
novels, short-stories, poems and films. While recounting the trauma of Partition, they have
often used the phrase that the survivors themselves used to describe partition

5.Division of Assets-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, books and also musical instruments of the police band! The
employees of the government and the railways were also ‘divided’. Above all, it was a
violent separation of communities who had hitherto lived together as neighbours. It is
estimated that the Partition forced about 80 lakh people to migrate across the new border.
Between five to ten lakh people were killed in partition related violence.