Telangana SCERT Class 10 Social Science Chapter 17 Solution – Independent India (The First 30 years – 1947-77). Here in this post we have provided Class 10 Social Science Independent India (The First 30 years – 1947-77) Telangana State Board Solution. Telangana State Board English Class X Medium Students can download this Solution to Solve out Improve Your Learning Questions and Answers.
Telangana State Board Class 10 Social Science Chapter 17 Independent India (The First 30 years – 1947-77) Solution:
1.) What measures were taken to bring in socio-economic change during the initial years after independence?
Ans: The early years after independence are arguably the defining period in India’s post-independent history. The main challenge before the leadership was the need to maintain unity and integrity, bring about a social and economic transformation and to ensure the successful working of the democratic system. These challenges are interrelated and great care had to be taken to ensure that the system did not get imbalanced. For instance, developmental goals, unity and integrity should not come at the cost of democracy. In this chapter, we will examine three interrelated issues including how the Constitution and democracy worked and how India resolved some key issues of nation building.
The first general elections to be held under the new Constitution were immensely significant for Indian democracy. It represented India’s determination to take the path of democracy after independence from British rule. India adopted Universal Adult franchise at one go, unlike in the West where franchise was extended in stages, first to the propertied and only subsequently to other sections of society. For instance, women in Switzerland got the right to vote only in 1971.
2.) What do you understand about one party dominance? Would you consider it asdominance only in elections or also in terms of ideology? Discuss with reasons.
Ans: In Independent India’s first three general elections in 1952, 1957 and 1962, the Indian National Congress won reducing other participants to almost nothing. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India. None of the other parties individually got more than 11% of the votes polled. The Congress consistently won over 70% of the seats by obtaining about 45% of the total votes cast. No other party was anyway near the Congress. The Congress party formed the government in many of the states as well. This inaugurated what some observers called the Congress System. This period is identified specifically by the nature of the relationship between the almost always ruling Congress party and the other parties. However, the Congress always had smaller groups within it. Though these groups originated on the basis of personal competition between leaders, they shared in the overall goals of the party but differed on some policy issues. The groups took different positions on various issues depending on the interests of the members. This made the Congress appear as if it was a party representing diverse interests and positions. At times, these groups also tied up with other political parties to pressurise the leadership. This also acted as an inbuilt corrective mechanism within the ruling party. Political competition in the one-party dominant system therefore took place within the Congress and the opposition parties only posed a latent and not a real threat.
The Congress party had no ideology and didn’t strive towards asserting dominance.
3.) Language became a central rallying point in Indian politics on many occasions, either as a unifying force or as divisive element. Identify these instances and describe them.
Ans: Among the first challenges that the new nation faced was the demand for reorganisation of states on the basis of language. During the British period, the country was divided into Presidencies (Calcutta, Madras and Bombay) and a number of very large states like Central Provinces and Berar. A large part of the countrywas under princely states. In each of these, people speaking many different languages were living together. For example, Madras Presidency had in it people speaking Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Gondi and Oriya languages. All the people speaking a language and living in contiguous areas demanded to be organised under one state. These included the campaign for Samyukta Karnataka (uniting Kannada speakers spread across Madras, Mysore, Bombay and Hyderabad), Samyukta Maharashtra, the Mahagujarat movement, the merger of Travancore and Cochin princely states and the state of Punjab for Sikhs.
The partition of the country on the basis of religion had created doubts and fears about the security and stability of India in the minds of the leadership. There was a fear that language reorganisation would lead to break down of the country. Hence, even though the Congress itself was organised on the linguistic lines and had promised to restructure the country on those lines, it developed cold feet when independence came.
4.) What were the major changes in political system after 1967 elections?
Ans: The 1967 election was a landmark election in the history of India. It showed that elections had come to be taken very seriously and had a life of their own. By this time, there were gainers and losers from the economic development process and this changed the pattern of political competition. It was not surprising that the Congress party suffered its worst defeat till then. It was returned with the lowest majority it had since independence (284 seats). It was defeated in assemblies like Bihar, U.P., Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala. This was the first big transition in India. The party which had ruled continually for nearly 30 years was now being challenged. The defeated party did not try to cling to power but allowed the victors to form the government. This showed that democracy had taken roots in India and the country was moving towards a competitive multi-party system. The prominent losses for the Congress included Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK won by a huge margin. It also showed that strongly organised regional movements could challenge the dominant party. The DMK had strong links with the film industry and was able to galvanise fans organisations of the popular hero, M G Ramachandran popularly called MGR across the state. The Congress also lost in the neighbouring state, Kerala, as also in West Bengal and Odisha. These defeats and challenges also weakened the Congress internally.
In many states in the north, where it had won narrow victories, its members defected to opposition parties. Consequently, the Congress governments fell and they were replaced by Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) governments. These were basically a coalition of legislators against the Congress – made up Jan Sangh, Socialists, Swatantra Party, and Congress defectors, besides local parties.
Many of these SVD governments were however short-lived. Their life was marked by defections and corruption. Power seemed to be the only thing that united them. These governments had nothing to showcase. However, the problem is that even today, the regional or state parties are evaluated from this standpoint. This period saw a renewal of a regional sentiment in different parts of the country. In Andhra Pradesh, there was demand for the separation of Telangana. The movement was spearheaded by the students of Osmania University, whose main grouse was that the benefits of development were reaching only few regions of the state. In Assam, a new state called Meghalaya was created in December 1969 out of the tribal districts of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo hills. Punjab, despite being formed in 1966, did not have a capital of its own. During the period 1968-69, there were a series of demonstrations asking for Chandigarh which served as the common capital of Haryana and Punjab to be given to them. In Maharashtra, there was a curious demand of Bombay for Maharashtrians only. This was led by the Shiv Sena. The main target of this party was the South Indians who the party believed were cornering all the employment in the city. At the same time, old demands also continued. The Kashmir and the Nagaland demands also came up during this period. Sheikh Abdullah came back to the state after he was freed from house arrest. Similarly in Nagaland, a new younger leadership came up to take the struggle forward
- )Think of the other ways in which states could have been created and how would they be better than language based reorganisation.
Ans: Sampling out the population of a state would have been another way in which states could have been created, instead of language. The partition of the country on the basis of religion had created doubts and fears about the security and stability of India in the minds of the leadership. There was a fear that language reorganisation would lead to break down of the country. Thus, developing states on the basis of population or population-wise would be better than language based reorganisation.
6.) What measures of Indira Gandhi are called ‘left turn’? How do you think was this differentfrom policies of the previous decades? Based on the knowledge gained the economicschapters, describe how is it different from the current policies.
Ans: Indira Gandhi took up the challenge both from within her party as well those outside by taking a sharp left turn post the 1967 elections. She attempted to create a new social base of her own and for her party by identifying with the poor and down trodden. This move was a double edged weapon. Old promises of social and economic development were yet to be fulfilled and this was seen to be the major reason for the defeat of Congress party in 1967. Yet, the Congress under Indira Gandhi was making new promises. Less than a decade later, the lack of fulfilment of rising mass expectations created frustration and disheartenment and culminated with the imposition of Emergency.
Indira Gandhi charted a new path for the Congress and herself by introducing new policies and programmes. This policy also helped her get control over the party organisation. Until 1971, the elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly were held simultaneously in most States. Indira Gandhi broke this pattern, by calling for early elections in 1971 rather than 1972. The Congress went to elections using popular slogan “Garibi Hatao”. It also promised radical restructuring of the system to benefit the poor and marginalised. The Congress won with a record margin and this raised the popularity of Indira Gandhi. The opposition was decimated, her critics were silenced and she became the darling of the masses. Soon after, there was the war with Pakistan and India’s victory further raised the popularity of Indira Gandhi. In the legislative assembly elections held subsequently in 1972, the Congress did well and was riding on the popularity wave of Indira Gandhi. She now had control over both the party as well as the parliament.
Among the important legislations that were passed during this period apparently to achieve the goal of social and economic transformation were the nationalisationof many private banks and abolishing of princely pensions.The Supreme Court was afraid that the Constitution was being amended rapidly in the name of achieving social and economic change which and this was unbalancing the existing relations between different institutional structures.Events beyond her control put Indira Gandhi in a spot and made it difficult for her to fulfil all the promises. Her term coincided with a rather grave social and economic conditions.
7.) In what ways was the Emergency period a set back to the Indian democracy?
Ans: The government reacted harshly by coming up with a series of laws which violated civil rights in the name of maintaining order. The opposition also criticised the P.M. for personalising the government. Meanwhile, due to a decision of Allahabad High court, Indira Gandhi was unseated from Lok Sabha for violating some election provisions during the 1971 elections. However, she got a stay from the Supreme Court. A few days later, with the JP movement gaining more strength, the government imposed Emergency and justified it as necessary to preserve order, save democracy, protect the social and economic transformation and preserve national integrity.
With this, democracy was put on hold. The government began a series of repressive measures, claiming that this was necessary to bring order in the country. Many of the fundamental rights were suspended. There were also instances of arbitrary detention, torture and other violations of civil liberties. While people welcomed control over price rise and the campaign against black marketing and bonded labour, many programmes undertaken by the emergency government such as demolition of slums and forced sterilisation in the name of population control became very unpopular. However, in the absence of civic freedom, people could not express their discontent and the government, therefore, could not take corrective measures.
8.) What were the institutional changes that came up after the Emergency?
Ans: The major highlight of the ‘Emergency’ was the 42nd Constitutional Amendment which brought about a series of changes. It had the following aims: a) Excluding the courts from election disputes; b) Strengthening the central government vis-à-vis the state governments; c) Providing maximum protection from judicial challenges to social and economic transformation legislation; d) Making the judiciary subservient to parliament. While the supposed aim of the Amendment was to protect social and economic development from judiciary, strengthen national unity and so on, in reality, it actually weakened the democratic fabric of this country.
9.) Locate the following on the map of India.
a) Maharashtra b) Gujarat c) Bihar d) Uttar Pradesh
e) Jammu-Kashmir f) Nagaland g) Punjab h) Meghalaya
Ans:
10.) Analyse the advantages and problems faced by the people done to the Multi-party system in India.
Ans: The 1967 electionshowed that elections had come to be taken very seriously and had a life of their own. By this time, there were gainers and losers from the economic development process and this changed the pattern of political competition. It was not surprising that the Congress party suffered its worst defeat till then. It was returned with the lowest majority it had since independence (284 seats). It was defeated in assemblies like Bihar, U.P., Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala.This showed that democracy had taken roots in India and the country was moving towards a competitive multi-party system. The prominent losses for the Congress included Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK won by a huge margin. It also showed that strongly organised regional movements could challenge the dominant party. The DMK had strong links with the film industry and was able to galvanise fans organisations of the popular hero, M G Ramachandran popularly called MGR across the state. The Congress also lost in the neighbouring state, Kerala, as also in West Bengal and Odisha. These defeats and challenges also weakened the Congress internally.In many states in the north, where it had won narrow victories, its members defected to opposition parties. Consequently, the Congress governments fell and they were replaced by Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) governments. These were basically a coalition of legislators against the Congress – made up Jan Sangh, Socialists, Swatantra Party, and Congress defectors, besides local parties.
The new governments are an important marker in India’s political history because it was in a way the first democratic upsurge. It was for the first time that the intermediate castes; the groups who had first benefitted from the land reforms and acquired some degree of economic standing gained political power. These castes included the Jats in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Kurmis and Koeris in Bihar, Lodhs in MP as well as the Yadavs in all these states; the Reddys and Kammas in Andhra Pradesh, the Vokkaligas in Karnataka and the Vellalas in Tamil Nadu. They were the dominant castes in their respective states and also had a significant numerical presence. The DMK itself is the best example of the coming to age of the other dominant (backward) castes.
11.) Read the para 2 of page 239 and comment on it.
Ans: The early years after independence are arguably the defining period in India’s post-independent history. The main challenge before the leadership was the need to maintain unity and integrity, bring about a social and economic transformation and to ensure the successful working of the democratic system. These challenges are interrelated and great care had to be taken to ensure that the system did not get imbalanced. For instance, developmental goals, unity and integrity should not come at the cost of democracy. In this chapter, we will examine three interrelated issues including how the Constitution and democracy worked and how India resolved some key issues of nation building.
Though the first thirty years ended with the Emergency, if a balance sheet were to be drawn, there would be more credits than debits. The most important achievement of this period was the establishment of a stable democracy. The gradual emergence of a competitive multi-party system, with parties representing diverse interests was a real achievement if one were to compare India with other countries that got independence around the same time. India, unlike other countries, not only had regular, free and fair elections but also had genuine change of governments and leaders as well. The Indian Constitution not only guaranteed civil rights but also had an institutional architecture in place to ensure its protection.