Question 1.
Explain: anti-colonial movement?
(a) Why
growth of nationalism in the colonies is linked to an National Movement in
India?
(b) How did the First World War, help
in the growth of the National Movement in India?
(c) Why were Indians outraged by the Rowlatt Act?
(d) Why did Gandhiji decide to withdraw the non-cooperation movement?
Answer:
(a) The anti-colonial movement is
a movement that demands opposition to all those measures which establish
colonialism. It is essentially a movement that demands urge for nationalism.
It is correct to describe the growth of nationalism in the colonies to an
anti-colonial movement. Nationalism means love for one’s own country and hence
opposition to any move that strengths the colonial rule.
(b) The World War I helped in the growth of the national movement in India in more than one way. The war created a pressing economic and political situation, inflation, calling upon the people to get recruited in the army, failure of crops in many parts of India. These created a sense of unity among the people that they must utilize the war situation. The union between the moderates and the extremists and the Lucknow Pact (both in 1916) developed among the Indians, sense of oneness. This helped in the growth of national movement in India.
(c) The Indians were outraged by the Rowlatt Act because the act gave arbitrary powers to the police to arrest any person on grounds of mere suspicion, without trial.
(d) Gandhiji had asked for launching the non¬cooperation. movement peacefully, i.e., without using violence. A violent” incident in Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh) made Gandhiji withdraw the movement.
Question 2.
What is meant by the idea of
Satyagraha?
Answer:
The idea of Satyagraha emphasized on the power of truth and the need for the
search of truth. The underlying principle was that if the cause was true, then
the physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.
Question 3.
Write a newspaper report on :
(a) The Jallianwala Bagh massacre
(b) The
Simon Commission
Answer:
(a) The jallianwala Bagh Massacre: General Dyer opened fire on a group of
villagers gathered in Jallianwala Bagh. He entered the area, blocked all the
exit points. The firing led to killing of hundreds of villagers who were
unaware of the imposition of the martial law in the city. His object was to
create in the minds of satyagrahis all over the country, a feeling of terror.
(b) Simon Commission: Simon Commission (1927) came to India in 1928 to review the working of the Government of India Act, 1919. The commission, headed by Sir John Simon, consisted of all Englishmen. The Indians had no faith in the commission. Hence they boycotted it wheresoever it visited
Question 4.
Compare the images of Bharat
Mata and Germania in Chapter 1.
Answer:
The images of Bharat Mata and Germania are of feminine look. The image of
Bharat Mata in one figure on page 71 of the textbook dispences learning, food
and clothes, i.e. like the mother, while on page 72, she gives the symbols of
power and authority. The figure of Germania, on page 23, symbolizes heroism.
Discuss
Question 1.
List all the different social
groups which joined the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920. Then choose any
three and write about their hopes and struggles to show why they joined the
movement,
Answer:
The social groups which joined the non-cooperation” movement included
students, lawyers, peasants etc. The students joined the non-cooperation
movement because they wanted the nationalist institutions so that they do not
get the fabricated pictures of India as the English writers would oftenly do.
The lawyers joined the movement because they were opposed to the costly and delaying judicial procedures. They wanted to go back to the Panchayati and arbitration system so that early justice is dispensed with. The peasants joined the movement because they wanted the scrapping of land revenue extracted from them.
Question 2.
Discuss the Salt March to make
clear why it was an”effective symbol of resistance against colonialism.
Answer:
Following the passage of the Purna
Swaraj resolution passed at the Lahore session of the Congress (1929),
Gandhiji decided to launch a movement. This movement is known as the Civil |
Disobedience movement which he started with | the Salt (or Dandi) March. With
his 78 trusted volunteers, he marched from his ashram to Dandi where he
violated the Salt Law. He covered about 240 mile distance in 24 days.
On the way, he addressed the villagers and pointed to them the evils of the British colonial rule. The march was significant and effective symbol of resistance. With the violation of the Salt law, the people in other parts of the country violated the other civil laws.
Question 3.
Imagine you are a woman
participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Explain what the experience
meant to”your life.
Answer:
As a woman satyagrahi, my participation in the civil”disobedience movement
will extend to:
- boycott of the foreign goods,
- use of swadeshi,
- picketing at the shops selling wine and foreign goods
- spinning charkha,
- emphasizing on the unity of the people,
- attempting to improve the conditions of the Harijans.
My experience as a satyagrahi would be an experience worth remembering the whole of my life; my proud experience of participating in a national movement.
Question 4.
Why did political leaders differ
sharply over the”question of separate electorates?
Answer:
The question of separate
electorate was one over which political leaders differed drastically. There
were the nationalist leaders headed by Gandhiji who did not favour the move
because that would mean further split among the people, especially the Hindus.
There were the leaders of the scheduled castes/tribes who favoured separate
electorate because it would help them have their representation in the
legislature. The differences were sorted out in the Poona Pact of 1932.
Project Work
Find out about the anti-colonial movement in Kenya Compare Kenya became
independent and contrast India’s national movement with the ways in which
Kenya became independent.
Answer:
Students to do this project with the help of their teachers.
Intex Question
Source D:
“In 1930, sir Muhammad Iqbal, as
president of the Muslim League, reiterated the importance of separate
electorates for the Muslims as an important safeguard for their minority
political interests. His statement is supposed to have provided the
intellectual justification for the Pakistan demand that came up in subsequent
years.
This is what he said:
T have no hesitation
in declaring that if the principle that the Indian Muslim is entitled to full
and free development on the lines of his own culture and tradition in his own
Indian homelands is recognised as the basis of a permanent communal
settlement, he will be ready to stake his all for the freedom of India. The
principle that each group is entitled to free development on its own lines is
not inspired by any feeling of narrow communalism.
A community which is inspired by feelings of ill-will towards other communities is low and ignoble. I entertain the highest respect for the customs, laws, religions and social institutions of other communities. Nay, it is my duty according to the teachings of the Quran, even to defend their places of worship, if need be. Yet I love the communal group which is the source of life and behaviour and which has formed me what I am by giving me its religion, its literature, its thought, its culture and thereby its whole past as a living operative factor in my present consciousness.
Communalism in its higher aspect, then, is indispensable to the formation of a harmonious whole in a country like India. The”units of Indian society are not territorial as in European countries… The principle of European democracy cannot be applied to India without recognising the fact of communal groups. The Muslim”demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India is, therefore, “perfectly justified.
‘The Hindu thinks that separate electorates are contrary to the spirit of true nationalism because he understands the word “nation” to mean a kind of universal amalgamation in which no communal entity ought to retain its private individuality. Such a state of things, however, does not exist India is a land of racial and religious variety. Add to this the general economic inferiority of the Muslims their enormous debt, especially in the Punjab, and their insufficient majorities in some of the provinces as at present constituted and you will begin to see clearly the meaning of our anxiety to retain separate electorates.
Discuss
Question 1.
Read the Source D carefully. Do
you agree with Iqbal’s idea of communalism? Can you define communalism in a
different way?
Answer:
In Iqbal’s view, India is a land of racial and religious variety. He says
that the units of Indian society are not territorial and the principle of
European democracy can not be applied to India without recognising the fact of
communal groups.
Such views are not acceptable because India is a country of unity in diversity. From time immemorial people of different caste, creed, colour and race have been living together in this country.
In my view, communalism is a ideology in which a particular religious group tries to protect and promote its own interest at others expense.