India After Independence Extra Questions Chapter 10 Class 8 History
Chapter 10 India After Independence Extra Questions for Class 8 History can be used to improve your marks and prepare for exams in a best way. Class 8 Extra Questions provided here will help you in grasping important concepts of the chapter properly.
India After Independence Very Short Answer Questions (VSAQs):
1. Who was Potti Sriramulu?
Answer
Potti Sriramulu was a Gandhian leader. He went on a hunger strike demanding the formation of Andhra state to protect the interests of Telugu speakers.
2. Which step has been described as revolutionary?
Answer
All Indians above the age of 21 would be allowed to vote in state and national elections.
3. When was the Indian Constitution adopted?
Answer
The Indian Constitution was adopted on 26 January, 1950.
4. How did people of India view the Bhili Steel Plant?
Answer
The Bhilai Steel Plant was considered an important sign of the development of modern India after Independence.
5. Why did Nathuram Godse assassinate Mahatma Gandhi?
Answer
Because he disagreed with Gandhiji’s conviction that Hindus and Muslims should live together in harmony.
6. What was the basic objective of the foreign policy of Independent India?
Answer
The basic objective of the foreign policy of Independent India was non-alignment, i.e. the American and Soviet alliances.
7. What did the non-aligned Movement urge countries of the world?
Answer
The non-aligned movement urged countries not to join either of the two major alliances named the USA and the USSR.
8. What happened when Potti Sriramulu died during unger fast?
Answer
The protests became widespread and intense. Finally, the central government had to accept their demand. And on 1 October 1953, the new state of Andhra Pradesh came into being.
9. What would happen if the economic development did not reach the common masses?
Answer
If economic development did not reach the common masses, it could widen the gap between the rich and the poor, between cities and the countryside, between the prosperous regions the and the poor regions.
10. Mention the period that witnessed the emergence of the cold war.
Answer
The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of the Cold War, i.e. power rivalries and ideological conflicts between the USA and USSR.
India After Independence Short Answer Questions (SAQs):
1. What was the label of development of India at the time it got independence?
Answer
At the time India got independence the label of its development was veiy low. A vast majority of Indians lived in the villages. Farmers and peasants depended on the monsoon for their survival. So did the non-farm sector of the rural economy, for if the crops failed, barbers, carpenters, weavers and other service groups would not get paid for their services either.
In the cities too the condition was not good. Factory workers usually lived in crowded slums. They had little access to education and health care.
2. What created problems in unifying the people of India after it got independence?
Answer
The points that created problems were:
• At the time of independence, India’s population was large. It was divided too. There were divisions between high castes and low castes, between the majority Hindu community and Indians who practised other faiths.
• The citizen of this country spoke different languages, wore different kinds of dresses, ate different kinds of foods and practised different professions.
3. What was the purpose of setting up a Planning Commission?
Answer
• At the time of Independence, poverty was widespread in India. Lifting India and its people out of this problem was a big task. Equally big task was to build a modern technical and industrial base for the country.
• To work out these tasks the government set up a Planning Commission in 1950. The Commission helped in formulating and executing suitable economic policies for development.
• There was a broad agreement on what was called a ‘mixed economy’ model. Here, both the state and the private sector would play important and complementary roles in increasing production and generating.
4. What special privileges were offered for the poorest and most disadvantaqed Indians by the constitution?
Answer
First of all the practice of untouchability was abolished. Hindu temples were thrown open to all including the former untouchables.
• A certain percentage of seats in legislatures as well as jobs in government were reserved for members of the lowest castes.
• Alongwith the former untouchables, the adivasis also known as the Scheduled Tribes were also granted reservation in seats and jobs. They too had been deprived and discriminated against like the Scheduled Castes.
5. Under what circumstances a compromise was made with respect to language?
Answer
Several members of the Constituent Assembly believed that the English language should be driven out of India with the British rule. They were of the opinion that Hindi should take place of English language. However, those who did not speak Hindi were of different opinion. T.T. Krishnamachari on behalf of the people of the south strongly opposed Hindi. Some threatened to separate from India if Hindi was imposed on them. Finally, a compromise was made. It was decided that while Hindi would be the ‘official language’ of India, English would be used in the courts, the services, and communications between one state and another.
6. Mention the problems that the newly independent nation of India faced.
Answer
The problems that the newly independent nation of India faced were:
• The problem of rehabilitation of 8 million refugees who had come into the country from newly formed Pakistan.
• Then there was the problem of the princely states. The number of such states were about 500. Each of them was ruled by maharaja or a nawab. The government had to persuade each of them to join the new nation.
• The new nation had to adopt a political system that would best serve the hopes and expectation of its population which was so large and diverse. The first two problems had to be addressed immediately.
7. Describe three lists of the subjects provided by the Indian Contitution?
Answer
Our Constitution provides three lists of subjects in order to bring a balance between the powers and functions of the central government and the state government. These lists are:
(i) Union List: Subjects such as taxes, defence and foreign affairs would be the exclusive responsibility of the centre.
(ii) State List: Subjects such as education and health would be taken care of principally by the states.
(iii) Concurrent List: The subject such an forest, agriculture list. These are subjects in which the centre and the states would have joint responsibility.
India After Independence Long Answer Questions (LAQs):
1. Write in brief the process of state formation.
Answer
• The Congress leaders were in no mood to further divide the country on linguistic lines. This created great disappointment among the Kannada speakers, Malayalam speakers, and the Marathi speakers, and the Telugu speakers, because they had all looked forward to having their own state.
• The Telugu speakers, however, showed the strongest protests. Their leader Potti Sriramulu went on a hunger fast demanding the formation of Andhra state to protect the interests of Telugu speakers. As the fast went on, it attracted much Hartals and bandhs began to be observed. Meanwhile, Potti Sriramulu died. This incidence intensified the situation. The protests took intense form. This forced the Central Government to give in to the demand and the new state of Andhra Pradesh came into existence on 1 October, 1953.
• After the formation of Andhra Pradesh, other linguistic communities also demanded their own separate states. Hence, a State Reorganisation Commission was set up, which submitted its report in 1956. It recommended the redrawing of district and provincial boundaries to form compact provinces of Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu speakers respectively.
• The large Hindi-speaking region of north India was broken up into several states. Then in 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was divided into separate states for Marathi and Gujarati speakers. In the year 1960, the state of Punjab was also divided into Punjab and Haryana, Punjab for the Punjabi speakers and Haryana for the rest who spoke Haryanvi or Hindi.
2. Give a detailed descriptions of the features of the Indian Constitution.
Answer
• One feature of the Indian Costitution was that it adopted universal adult franchise. All Indians above the age of 21 (now 18) would be allowed to vote in state and national elections.
• Our Constitution guaranteed equality before the law to all citizens, regardless of their caste or religious affiliation.
• The Constitution offered special privileges for the poorest and most disadvantaged Indians. The evil practice of untouchability was abolished. Hindu temples were thrown open to all, including the former untouchables. After a long debate, the Constituent Assembly also recommended that a certain percentage of seats in legislatures as well as jobs in government be reserved for members of the lowest castes, including the adivasis.
• Our Constitution clearly defined the powers and functions of the central and the state governments. It gave division of power in the form of three lists—a Union List with subjects such as taxes, defence and foreign affairs, which would be the exclusive responsibility of the Centre, a State List of subjects such as education and health, which would be taken care of mainly by the States, a Concurrent List under which would come subjects such as forests and agriculture in which the Centre and the States would have joint responsibility.
3. Give an account of the successes and failures of the country during sixty-two years of its independence.
Answer
Sixty-two years of independence have passed. This duration covers a long journey. A lot have been achieved during this time. But at the same time there have been a number of failures.
Successes :
• India is still united and it is still democratic. These achievements definitely make us proud. Many foreign observers had felt that India could not survive as a single country. Others believed that it would come under military rule. Neither of these predictions proved to be true. As many as thirteen general elections have been held since independence, as well as hundreds of state and local elections.
• There is a free press and an idependent judicially.
• The fact that people speak different languages or practise different faiths has not come in the way of national unity.
Failures:
• Deep divisions are still there. Despite constitutional guarantees, people belonging to the lowest castes, such as dalits face violence and discrimination. In many parts of rural India they are not allowed access to water sources, temples, parks and other public places.
• The gulf between the rich and the poor has grown over the years. Some groups of people avail all facilities while many others continue to live below the poverty line.
• Our Constitution provides equality before the law but in real life this does not happen. Some Indians are more equal than others.