Chapter – 1

Challenges of Nation Building

In this post we have given the detailed notes of class 12 Political Science Chapter 1 (Challenges of Nation Building) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 12 board exams.

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India’s independence 

• India became independent on the midnight of 14, 15 August 1947.
• At this time a speech was given by Jawaharlal Nehru which is called Tryst with Destiny
• After independence India was divided into three different parts. Of which the first part was British India, the second part was Pakistan and the third part was the princely states (princely states means the place where the kings used to rule)

The reason for this partition was the two-nation theory  

Two Nation Theory

This theory was introduced by the Muslim League. According to this principle, India was not the nation of one religion but two different religions, hence the demand for two different countries was made. Out of which the first country was India which became a Hindu nation and the second country was Pakistan which became a Muslim nation. There were also some problems with this partition.

Segmentation Problems

Two Pakistans

According to this theory, the place where Hindus were more was to be made India and where Muslims were more, Pakistan was to be made. But the problem was that at that time there were two areas in India where the Muslim population was more.   One was in the east and the other was in the west therefore two Pakistans (East Pakistan and West Pakistan) were created.

Division of states

Punjab and Bengal were two such states where both Muslims and Hindus were in equal quantity, due to which these states had to be divided.

Public dissent

There were many people who did not want to go to Pakistan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Frontier Gandhi. He openly opposed the two-nation theory. The voice of all such people was suppressed and they were forced to join Pakistan.

Problem of minorities

It was not that there were no Hindus in Pakistan’s territory or no Muslims in Indian territory. Minorities were present in both the regions. This was the biggest problem of partition and no solution could be found for this problem and this problem went on to become the biggest reason for the riots in both the countries.

Result of division

• East and West Pakistan came into existence
• There was extreme violence, with great loss of both life and property.
• The refugee problem arose in both Pakistan and India.
• The problem of Kashmir also arose due to partition. 

Nation building challenges

After dealing with the partition and its tragedy, the attention of the leaders turned to those problems which were of utmost importance. These were the issues on which all the leaders had agreed before independence and now they had to be brought into existence.

Building a united India

India was divided into three different parts. Of which the first part was British India, the second part was Pakistan and the third   part was the indigenous princely states. In such a situation, India has to convince those 565 independent princely states to be a part of India, to make a united India and this became a huge became a challenge

Establish democracy

At the time of independence, most of the people in India were illiterate and poor, in such a situation establishing democracy in India was no less than a challenge.

Development

At the time of independence, most of the people in India were poor and uneducated. It was necessary for the country to get out of this poverty and illiteracy therefore development was also one of the challenges present at the time of independence.

The problem of Princely states

• At the time of independence, the British announced that along with India, all the indigenous princely states would also become independent from the British rule.
• All the princely states were given the right to either join India or Pakistan or maintain their independent existence.
• The right to take this decision was given to the kings of the princely states. That’s where the whole problem started.
• After the demolition caused by partition, the biggest problem was to merge all the 565 indigenous princely states with India to form a united India. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel played an important role in this process.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and National Integration

The Indian government’s approach to the inclusion of princely states was flexible. Both normal negotiation and use of force were adopted by the government as per the need.  

Instrument of accession

A Memorandum of Understanding was prepared for the merger of the princely states. This MoU is called Instrument of Accession. Signing this meant that the princely state was ready to join India.

Most of the princely states agreed to join India, but there were problems in the inclusion of some princely states in India.

• The credit for the inclusion of all the princely states in India goes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• Through his understanding and political knowledge, he convinced all the princely states and got them included in India and made an important contribution in making a united India.
• Due to his contributions, he was given the title of Iron Man by Mahatma Gandhi and at the same time he became the first Home Minister of the country.
• In the present era, the Statue of Unity was built by the government in honor of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which is one of the largest statues in the world.

Hyderabad

• Hyderabad was one of the largest princely states of India at the time of independence. 
• Its ruler was called Nizam.
• The Nizam was one of the richest persons in the world at that time.
• The Nizam wanted Hyderabad to remain separate from India and become an independent state, but the people living in Hyderabad were not happy with his rule.
• Because of which the people of Hyderabad started agitating against the Nizam. 
• Seeing all this and to stop this rebellion, the Nizam sent the Razakars.
• The soldiers of Nizam were called Razakars. The Razakars committed robbery, murder and rape.
• In view of this atrocity on the people, in September 1948, the Indian Army attacked Hyderabad so that the general public could be saved from the Razakars.
• This war lasted for a long time and in the end the Nizam had to give up and thus Hyderabad became a part of India.  

Manipur

• Manipur was a princely state located in the east of India.
• The king of this was Bodh Chandra Singh.
• Due to the pressure of the people, the king had to hold elections in June 1948 and in this way the constitutional monarchy was established in Manipur
• There was a lot of difference of opinion in the Legislative Assembly of Manipur on the issue of full accession to India.
• Congress wanted Manipur to join India completely but the rest of the parties did not want it.
• If the resolution to remain separate from India was passed in the assembly, it would have been impossible to include Manipur in India.
• In view of this, the Indian government put pressure on the king of Manipur and got him to sign the complete accession letter, thus Manipur became a part of India.
• The people of Manipur did not like this and the people there were angry with this decision for a long time.

Jammu and Kashmir

• The state of Jammu and Kashmir is located on the northernmost part of India
• Before independence, Jammu and Kashmir used to be a princely state, whose king was Hari Singh.
• Raja Hari Singh wanted to remain independent while Pakistan used to say that Jammu and Kashmir has more Muslim population, therefore Jammu and Kashmir should be included in Pakistan.
• immediately after independence, in view of this demand, Pakistan attacked Jammu and Kashmir with the aim of capturing it.
• Raja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir asked India for help and India helped him
• Meanwhile, Raja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir signed the Instrument of India’s accession and officially Jammu and Kashmir became a part of India.
• During this, it was also said that when the situation becomes normal, a referendum will be held there. to know in which country the people of Jammu and Kashmir want to join.
• But this referendum was not conducted till date and Jammu and Kashmir was given special rights under Article 370.
• During the war in 1947, Pakistan occupied some part of Jammu and Kashmir, which Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir and by India it is called POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir).

Current status of Jammu and Kashmir

• Article 370 was revoked by the government in 2019 and the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was abolished
• At present Jammu and Kashmir is divided into 2 union territories.

Reorganization of states

• The biggest problem that existed after the merger of the princely states was how to determine the boundaries of the states in the country.
• It was necessary to do this so that people with the same culture and language could live in one state. 
• During the British rule, special attention was not paid to the boundaries of the states. Whenever a new area came under British rule, it was either made a new state or it was included in the old states. For this reason, it was necessary to reorganize the boundaries of the states. 

Problem

• The Indian leaders feared that if the states were formed on the basis of language, then it could lead to disorder and there could be a danger of the breakdown of the country.
• At the same time, doing so can divert the attention of the government from other main issues.
• But Movements started in the country regarding the issue of reorganization of states. The biggest movement took place in Madras where Telugu speaking people demanded the creation of a Telugu speaking state Andhra Pradesh from Madras. 
• Almost all the political parties and leaders present in Madras were in favour of creating a Telugu speaking state. 
• When this demand was not fulfilled by the central government, many MLAs resigned. 
• There was chaos all over Madras. People came on the streets in large numbers and violent incidents took place.

Result

• In view of this situation, the central government had to bow down and in December 1952, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a separate state named Andhra Pradesh. 

State Reorganization Commission

In view of the increasing disorder in the country, the government constituted the States Reorganization Commission for the reorganization of the states.

Work

The function of this commission was to consider the process of state reorganization.

Result

• The commission also agreed that the reorganization of the states should be on the basis of the language spoken there.
• On the basis of the report of this commission, the State Reorganization Act was passed in 1956.
• On the basis of this act, 14 states and 6 union territories were created in the country.

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