NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Political Science Part 2 Chapter 1 - Challenges Of Nation Building
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106. Which among the following statements about the Partition is incorrect?
107. Match the principles with the instances:
| Column-A | Column-B |
| (1) Mapping of boundaries on religious grounds | (a) Pakistan and Bangladesh |
| (2) Mapping of boundaries on grounds of different languages | (b) India and Pakistan |
| (3) Demarcating boundaries within a country by geographical zones | (c) Jharkhand and Chattisgarh |
| (4) Demarcating boundaries within a and Uttarakhand country on administrative and political grounds | (d) Himachal Pradesh |
Ans. (i) (b), (ii) (a), (iii) (d), (iv) (c)
108. Take a current political map of India (showing outlines of states) and mark the location of the following Princely States:
(a) Junagadh
(b) Manipur
(c) Mysore
(d) Gwalior
Ans. The places are marked as (a), (b), (c) and (d).
109. Here are two opinions:
Bismay: “The merger with the Indian State was an extension of democracy to the people of the Princely States.”
Inderpreet: “I am not so sure, there was force being used. Democracy comes by creating consensus.”
What is your own opinion in the light of accession of Princely States and the responses of the people in these parts?
Ans. My Opinion: Government of India used their power according to the situation. First they tried to pursue and negotiate with the princely states to join India. However in some exceptional circumstances they used the power of force which was necessary to ensure security to the country.
110. Read the following very different statement made in August 1947:
“Today you have worn on your heads a crown of thorns. The seat of power is a nasty thing. You have to remain ever wakeful on that seat…. you have to be more humble and forbearing…now there will be no end to your being tested.” — M.K. Gandhi
“…India will awake to a life of freedom….we step out from the old to the new…we end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity…” — Jawaharlal Nehru
Spell out the agenda of nation building that flows from these two statements. Which one appeals more to you and why?
Ans.
- Mahatma Gandhi in these words is representing the political power as a seat of thorns. He was saying that after assuming the political power the leadership is always under a continuous test. They has to be very diligent in their work if they want to gain the trust of the people. The leadership had to look after the social, economic and political requirements of the people.
- Jawaharlal Nehru welcomed the independence of India and acknowledged that fact that the people of India now have the life of freedom. He said that there are plenty of opportunities ahead for the Indians to make progress and development. Independence is the beginning of the opportunities and challenges that lies ahead. Both the agendas are quite important in their own ways.
111. What are the reasons being used by Nehru for keeping India secular? Do you think these reasons were only ethical and sentimental?
Or
were there some prudential reasons as well?
Ans. Jawahar Lal Nehru has always defended the rights of the Muslims and other minorities in
India and has considered them the integral part of the country.
- He promised to deal with the Muslim minorities and the other in a peaceful and ethical manner granting them rights and liberties similar to the majority Hindus in India.
- Nehru clearly knew that for the collective development of the country it is very important to ensure the development of every community of India. It was prudential reasons that made Nehru to give
112. Bring out two major differences between the challenge of nation building for eastern and western regions of the country at the time of Independence.
Ans. There were numerous challenges that India was facing at the time of independence.
The problems for the western and eastern regions of the country was different in few ways:
- The western part of the country was undergoing the crisis of the reorganization of the states on basis of the language. However this problem was not very prominent in the eastern part of the country.
- The western part of the country however did not undergone severe secessionist movements nut such was not the case in the eastern part.
113. What was the task of the States Reorganisation Commission? What was its most salient recommendation?
Ans. The government of India formed the States Reorganisation Commission in 1953. The primary task of this commission was to draw the linguistic boundaries in the country.
- The Commission prepared its report and accepted the principle that the boundaries of the state should be realigned on the basis of the language.
- In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act was passed that led to the creation of 14 states and 6 union territories.
114. It is said that the nation is to a large extent an ‘imagined community’ held together by common beliefs, history, political aspirations and imaginations. Identify the features that make India a nation.
Ans. The features that make India a nation are as given below:
- Common beliefs: The Indian people have common beliefs. The festivals of Dussehra, Diwali, Holi etc., are celebrated all over India. The name of festivals may be different from place to place but people have common faith and belief.
- Common history: People of India have a common history. Every Indian is proud of its ancient part which was known as the golden age in history.
- Political aspiration: The India have been supporters of democratic institutions from the ancient time. During the vedic period there was Sabha and Samiti.
- One Geographical entity: India from the Himalayas to Kanya Kumari is one geographical entity. Mansoon is awaited by the people all over India. It binds the people together.
115. Read the passage and answer the questions below:
“In the history of nation-building only the Soviet experiment bears comparison with the Indian. There too, a sense of unity had to be forged between many diverse ethnic groups, religious, linguistic communities and social classes. The scale – geographic as well as demographic – was comparably massive. The raw material the state had to work with was equally unpropitious: a people divided by faith and driven by debt and disease.” — Ramachandra Guha
(i) List the commonalities that the author mentions between India and Soviet Union and give one example for each of these from India.
Ans. The India and Soviet Union has faced problems having numerous similarities on the grounds of ethnicity, diverse religious and linguistic communities and social classes. Apart from this both nations has large geography and demographic variations.
- One common problem that was in front of both the nations was the vast geographical area of the country. They had to establish a sound administration for managing such a large area.
- The inclusion of diverse ethnic groups in a single political arena was a complex task that both the nations had to face in their road to unification.
(ii) The author does not talk about dissimilarities between the two experiments. Can you mention two dissimilarities?
Ans. The two dissimilarities in the two nations are:
- India established a democratic government and on the other hand USSR established a communist government.
- Indian adopted a multi-party system of democracy whereas USSR has the presence of a single party who hold all the political power.
(iii) In retrospect which of these two experiments worked better and why?
Ans. Comparing the two nations we can say that the experiment with India worked out better.
The reasons supporting this are:
- India is a democratic nation where people have common rights and liberties.
- The people of India has the right to chose their representative and government after tenure of five years from different parties. On the other hand in USSR there is presence of only one party i.e. Communist party which is the sole political power in the country.
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