India After Independence

1. Name three problems that the newly independent nation of India faced.

Answer; After Partition, 8 million refugees had come into the country so to give them jobs and home was major problem.

There was the problem of the princely states, almost 500 of them to merge in country.

There were divisions between high castes and low castes The citizens spoke many different languages, wore many different kinds of dress, ate different kinds of food and practiced different professions.

Farmers and peasants depended on the monsoon for their survival.

2. What was the role of the Planning Commission?

Answer; In 1950, the government set up a Planning Commission to help design policies for economic development.

It initiated the mixed economy in which both State and the private sector would play important roles in increasing production and generating jobs.

In 1956, the Second Five Year Plan was formulated. This focused strongly on the development of heavy industries such as steel, and on the building of large dams.

3. What was the criticism related to second five year plan designed by planning commission in 1956?

Answer; Some felt that it had put less emphasis on agriculture. Others argued that it had neglected primary education. Still others believed that it had not taken account of the environmental implications of economic policies.

4. When and by whim’s collaboration the Bhilai steel plant was set up?

Answer; The Bhilai steel plant was set up with the help of the former Soviet Union in 1959. It is Located in the backward rural area of Chhattisgarh.

  5. What did Dr Ambedkar mean when he said that “In politics we will have equality, and in social and economic life we will have inequality”?

Answer: By political equality, Dr. Ambedkar meant the universal adult franchise which gave equal rights to all citizens. By socioeconomic inequality, he meant the income disparities among people.

6. After Independence, why was there a reluctance to divide the country on linguistic lines?

Answer: The partition of the country along communal lines changed the mindset of the nationalist leaders.

Both Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel were against the creation of linguistic states.

They wanted to prevent further divisions in the country on sectarian lines.

 7.  Give one reason why English continued to be used in India after Independence.

Answer: Some leaders believed that English should be done away with and Hindi should be promoted as the national language. But this idea was opposed by the leaders from non-Hindi areas. They did not want an imposition on Hindi on the people of those areas. Finally, it was decided that while Hindi would be the ‘official language’; English would be used for communication among various states.

 8. How was the economic development of India visualized in the early decades after Independence?

Answer: Removing poverty and building a modern technical and industrial base were important objectives for the new nation. The Planning Commission was set up in 1950 to plan and execute policies for economic development.

The policy makers followed the model of the mixed economy. As per this model, both the State and the private sector had to play important and complementary role in economic development.

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