Challenges to National Integration NCERT Solutions | Communicative English for Class 10 PDF Download

Textual Exercises

B.1 Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:
Where the Mind is Without Fear
WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high 
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments 
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth 
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection 
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way 
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit 
Where the mind is led forward by thee 
Into ever-widening thought and action 
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. 
 - Rabindranath Tagore

• Why does the poet say, ‘Where the mind is without fear’ ?
• What are the narrow domestic walls being referred to ?
• Why are they ‘narrow ’ ?
• How /when does the ‘clear stream of reason’ lose its way ?
• What is the poet’s appeal ?

Ans: 

• The poet dreams of an egalitarian society. He dreams of a land where people have freedom to think. He contemplates for a world where the minds are free from any fear leading to a complete development of one's individuality. Thus, the world becomes progressive and abounded with knowledge.
• The "domestic walls" in the poem refer to the petty social divisions prevailing in the society such as caste, creed, religion region, etc.
• The poet calls the "domestic walls" narrow as they are making the society stagnant and incapable for progress and revolutionary idea are unable to proliferate through these walls. Thus, it is capturing the society in old and obsolete customs, stopping it from evolving.
• The clear stream of reason loses its way when old customs and traditions shackle the society and people's thoughts from reaching "the depth of truth".
• The poet appeals to God to bestow humans with reason and that all the boundaries constraining the progress of mankind to be dissolved. He wishes for an ideal society which would lead people's minds into ever-widening thoughts and action. He prays to God to lead humans into a heaven where they may experience the purest form of freedom, unconstrained growth of this race and, just as said before, where people have freedom to think and their actions may be reasonable.

B2. SWOT ANALYSIS OF INDIA

S: Strengths  
W: Weaknesses 
O: Oppoprtunities 
T: Threats 
SWOT analysis is a tool used to develop effective strategies and plans for the progress and development of organizations, companies, institutions and even individuals. Working in groups, identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for our country. Present your group's views to the class. Your brief presentation should conclude with a 'vision statement' for India- where you want our country to be, say ten years from now and what we should do to achieve it.
Ans: Students to work in groups under the guidance and supervision of the class teacher. The following information shall enable them to identify and discuss the issues convincingly and appropriately :

Strengths of our country

• consistence in developing stages
• endowed with rich natural resources
• good infrastructure
• industrialized with consistent industrial growth
• self-dependent in all aspects
• steady economic growth
• strategically and geographically located –
• all fields like industry, agriculture, medical, transport, business, defence, communication, information technology etc, progressing as per international standards
• a strong economy equal to that of China or other fast developing countries
• in the footsteps of being a major power in Asia
• youngest population in the world
• knowledge bank
• On the path to become an Asian super power

Weaknesses

• prevalence of corruption
• lack of transparency in administration
• possibility of communal riots due to religious fanaticism, bigotry etc.
• absence of nationalistic feelings among the masses, though utter patriotism during war and humanism during natural calamities
• regionalism, superstition, communalism, lingualism
• terrorism
• lack of accountability
• population, poverty, adulteration
• parochialism in religious matters
• political opportunism and nepotism
• lack of political willpower to set things right
• bad governance

Opportunities

• stability to be strengthened more
• strength to be an emerging Asian power
• national unity to be strengthened through music, art, literature, Bollywood etc.
• people hardworking, having the capacity to stand united in the face of threats to the country
• Indian population youngest in the world
• great knowledge and information technology bank
• strong diaspora abroad
• Indians strategic planners and innovative entrepreneurs

Threats
Internal — sabotages through various terror groups

• possibility of communal riots instigated by anti-social elements
• bickerings due to regionalism, lingualism, communalism etc, leading to communal riots

External — neighbour countries due to border disputes and political adventurism

Vision Statement

• to be self-dependent and self-reliant
• 100% literacy
• removal of poverty, ignorance
• getting rid of religious fanaticism, bigotry, religious intolerance and fanaticism
• good transport, all kinds of infrastructure
• exporting of food grains, knowledge, information technology
• food for all, shelter, clothes etc.
• to be equal with developed countries
• to make problem-free country, every Indian to feel proud of

What we should do to achieve it

• ensuring transparency in every work
• eliminating corruption
• introducing accountability
• ending nepotism in all fields
• talent recognition and rewarding
• to develop sound work culture
• political interference to end
• identifying problems with an open mind and without bias and solving them
• spreading means to boost and encourage feelings of national integration
• enhancing human values like love, fellow-feeling, honesty, uprightness and righteousness

Note : Students on their own can identify the problems and add their solutions from their own sides as they look at them. They can add to these some more points from their side.

B.3 Read the following extract from Wings of Fire, where the former President of India speaks of his childhood.

1.  I was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras State. My father, Jainulabdeen, had neither much formal education nor much wealth; despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He had an ideal helpmate in my mother, Ashiamma. I do not recall the exact number of people she fed every day, but I am quite certain that far more outsiders ate with us than all the members of our own family put together. 

2.  I was one of many children - a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents. We lived in our ancestral house, which was built in the middle of the nineteenth century. It was a fairly large pucca house, made of limestone and brick, on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram. My austere father used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries. However, all necessities were provided for, in terms of food, medicine or clothes. In fact, I would say mine was a very secure childhood, both materially and emotionally. 
3.  The Second World War broke out in 1939, when I was eight years old. For reasons I have never been able to understand, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in the market. I used to collect the seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street. A day's collection would fetch me the princely sum of one anna. My brother-in-law Jallaluddin would tell me stories about the War which I would later attempt to trace in the headlines in Dinamani. Our area, being isolated, was completely unaffected by the War. But soon India was forced to join the Allied Forces and something like a state of emergency was declared. The first casualty came in the form of the suspension of the train halt at Rameswaram station. The newspapers now had to be bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi. That forced my cousin Samsuddin, who distributed newspapers in Rameswaram, to look for a helping hand to catch the bundles and, as if naturally, I filled the slot. Samsuddin helped me earn my first wages. Half a century later, I can still feel the surge of pride in earning my own money for the first time. 
4.  Every child is born, with some inherited characteristics, into a specific socioeconomic and emotional environment, and trained in certain ways by figures of authority. I inherited honesty and self-discipline from my father; from my mother, I inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness and so did my three brothers and sister. I had three close friends in my childhood - Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan. All these boys were from orthodox Hindu Brahmin families. As children, none of us ever felt any difference amongst ourselves because of our religious differences and upbringing. In fact, Ramanadha Sastry was the son of Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of the Rameswaram temple. Later, he took over the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple from his father; Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims; and Sivaprakasan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways. 
5.  During the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony, our family used to arrange boats with a special platform for carrying idols of the Lord from the temple to the marriage site, situated in the middle of the pond called Rama Tirtha which was near our house. Events from the Ramayana and from the life of the Prophet were the bedtime stories my mother and grandmother would tell the children in our family. 
6.  One day when I was in the fifth standard at the Rameswaram Elementary School, a new teacher came to our class. I used to wear a cap which marked me as a Muslim, and I always sat in the front row next to Ramanadha Sastry, who wore the sacred thread. The new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priest's son sitting with a Muslim boy. In accordance with our social ranking as the new teacher saw it, I was asked to go and sit on the back bench. I felt very sad, and so did Ramanadha Sastry. He looked utterly downcast as I shifted to my seat in the last row. The image of him weeping when I shifted to the last row left a lasting impression on me. 
7.  After school, we went home and told our respective parents about the incident. Lakshmana Sastry summoned the teacher, and in our presence, told the teacher that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children. He bluntly asked the teacher to either apologise or quit the school and the island. Not only did the teacher regret his behaviour, but the strong sense of conviction Lakshmana Sastry conveyed ultimately reformed this young teacher. 
8.  On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social groups. However, my science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer, though an orthodox Brahmin with a very conservative wife, was something of a rebel. He did his best to break social barriers so that people from varying backgrounds could mingle easily. He used to spend hours with me and would say, "Kalam, I want you to develop so that you are on par with the highly educated people of the big cities." 
9.  One day, he invited me to his home for a meal. His wife was horrified at the idea of a Muslim boy being invited to dine in her ritually pure kitchen. She refused to serve me in her kitchen. Sivasubramania Iyer was not perturbed, nor did he get angry with his wife, but instead, served me with his own hands and sat down beside me to eat his meal. His wife watched us from behind the kitchen door. I wondered whether she had observed any difference in the way I ate rice, drank water or cleaned the floor after the meal. When I was leaving his house, Sivasubramania Iyer invited me to join him for dinner again the next weekend. Observing my hesitation, he told me not to get upset, saying, "Once you decide to change the system, such problems have to be confronted." When I visited his house the next week, Sivasubramania Iyer's wife took me inside her kitchen and served me food with her own hands.     - APJ Abdul Kalam

B.4 On the basis of your reading of the passage answer the following questions by ticking the most appropriate options. Give reasons for your choices. 

1.  'Despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit'. The expression 'these disadvantages' here refers to 
(a) lack of formal education and riches 
(b) middle class social status and a small town 
(c) lack of comforts and luxuries

2. Kalam's childhood was 
(a) secure 
(b) insecure 
(c) austere

3. 'That forced my cousin Samsuddin'… 'That' here refers to 
(a) world War II 
(b) increase in the demand of tamarind seeds 
(c) withdrawal of train halt at Rameshwaran station 

4. Samsuddin was forced to seek a helping hand because 
(a) the Second World War had begun 
(b) the train now halted at Rameshwaram station 
(c) newspapers thrown from the moving train had to be collected

5. Kalam continues to be proud of the money he had earned during the time of World War-II because
 (a) his cousin Samsuddin had helped him earn it 
(b) it was the first wages he had earned 
(c) he was able to supplement his father's income

6. Kalam owes his honesty and self-discipline to his 
(a) brothers 
(b) father 
(c) mother

7. As children Kalam and his friends did not have any 
(a) religious differences
(b) right upbringing 
(c) realization that they were different in any way

8. Paragraph 5 shows that Kalam's mother and grandmother had 
(a) great scholarship and wisdom 
(b) excellent ability to tell stories of historic importance 
(c) all embracing outlook on religion and communities

9. 'As the new teacher saw it' (Paragraph 6). Which of the following best explains the meaning of this expression? 
(a) as our new teacher understood it 
(b) as our new teacher wanted it 
(c) as our new teacher was asked to ensure

10. Lakshmana Sastry made the newly appointed teacher realize that 
(a) it was wrong on his part to discriminate on the basis of religion 
(b) it was wrong to separate two great friends 
(c) it was wrong to impose one's own ideas on others

11. Kalam's science teacher Sivasubramania was something of a rebel in the sense that 
(a) he used to spend hours with his students 
(b) he used to defy his wife 
(c) he encouraged people of different communities and castes to mix up freely

12. The science teacher's wife's behaviour during Kalam's second visit to their home showed that 
(a) she had understood and adopted her husband's outlook on the oneness of mankind 
(b) she wanted to repent for her earlier mistake 
(c) she had purified her kitchen ritually

13. Father gave Kalam the example of the seagull to 
(a) encourage him to be adventurous and fearless 
(b) encourage him to study the science of flying 
(c) encourage him to be creative and imaginative

14. "Once you decide to change the system, such problems have to be confronted." Which problems are referred to here?
(a) keeping kitchens ritually pure 
(b) discrimination and boycott on the basis of one's faith 
(c) differences in the way people of different communities live

Ans: 

1. (a) lack of formal education and riches
2. (c) austere
3. (c) withdrawal of train halt at Rameswaram station
4. (c) newspapers thrown from the moving train had to be collected
5. (b) it was the first wages he had earned
6. (b) father
7. (a) religious differences
8. (b) excellent ability to tell stories of historic importance
9. (a) as our new teacher understood it
10. (a) it was wrong on his part to discriminate on the basis of religion
11. (c) he encouraged people of different communities and castes to mix up freely
12. (a) she had understood and adopted her husband’s outlook on the oneness of mankind
13. (a) encourage him to be adventurous and fearless
14. (b) discrimination and boycott on the basis of one’s faith

B.5 Complete the following sentences.
(a) An example of the generosity and kindness of Kalam’s parents is ________
(b) Kalam feels he had a very secure childhood because ________
(c) The suspension of train halt at Rameswaram station proved to be a blessing in disguise for Kalam because ________
(d) Kalam continues to feel proud about the money he had earned in childhood by picking up bundles of newspaper because ________
(e) Some traits and values Kalam and his siblings inherited from their parents were ________
(f) The salient feature of Kalam’s relationship with his three childhood friends was that ________
(g) Two unique examples of communal harmony and brotherhood of mankind are ________
(h) The nation should be wary of people like the grade V teacher of the narrator because________
(i) However, the country needs more and more people like Kalam’s Science teacher Sivasubramania and Kalam’s mother and grandmother because ________
(j) Kalam’s second visit to his science teacher’s house surprised him because ________
Ans:

(a) the feeding daily of the outsiders.
(b) his austere father provided all necessities in terms of food, medicine or clothes.
(c) he got a job of picking the bundles of newspapers thrown from the train. He felt pride in earning his own money for the first time.
(d) it was his own money earned by him through hard work.
(e) honesty, selfdiscipline, kindness, generosity, goodness etc.
b uf real brothers despite being different in religious beliefs.
(g) (i) Abdul Kalam’s family’s arranging boats for carrying idols of the Lord (Ram(a) from the temple to the marriage site.
(ii) Abdul Kalam’s mother’s and grandmother’s relating bed time stories to the children. These stories used to be from the Ramayana and the life of the Prophet.
(h) such people are a threat to the unity and integrity of the country as they spread social inequality. They create divisive valls and communal intolerance among the people through religious fanaticism and narrow-mindedness.
(i) these persons symbolise communal harmony, kindness, generosity and social tolerance. National integration is fully secure in the hands of such people.
(j) his wife herself took Abdul Kalam inside her kitchen and served him food with her own hands. Earlier, it was she who couldn’t tolerate even Abdul Kalam’s presence inside the kitchen, not to speak of feeding him.

B.6 Role Play :
Your teacher will divide the class into groups of four and ask them to act out the following roles :

• Kalam
  
• Ramanadha Sastry
  
• Aravindan
  
• Sivaprakasan

In your group you should play the role allocated to you by engaging in a conversation in which the friends
(a) Express surprise and joy at meeting each other after nearly fifty years
(b) Fondly recall their childhood times
(c) Compare the problems facing the country then with the problems she is facing now.
(d) Discuss what can be done to rid her of these problems (Refer to the SWOT analysis of India)
After the role play, your teacher will invite some of the groups to share with others what problems they discussed and the solutions they proposed.
Ans: Students to role play as desired above. One version of one group is given below :
(a), (b) Kalam : Oh What a pleasant surprise to meet after nearly fifty years !
Rarnanadha Sastry : I never expected to see all of you as I am seeing now!
Aravindan : I agree with you, Kalarn. No one knew that we all shall meet like this.
Sivaprakasan : Yes, it is a fact. You can guess how many of our childhood friends have met so far ! Really those days were very carefree and enjoyable ! Now it is truly amazing and exciting to meet together.
Kalarn : What times were those of our childhood ! We used to sit together, play and laugh together. Do you remember our new teacher who asked me to sit on the back bench?
Ramanadha Sastry : I can perceive how he felt ashamed of himself when my father asked him to either resign or apologise. He did a good thing to have regretted his lapse.
(c), (d) Sivaprakasan : Our childhood days were really heavenly and worth relishing. As we grew up, we all separated. Kalam went out to pursue higher studies. T became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways. Ramanadha became the priest. I realize that times have changed now. Now there is fear in the hearts of all caused by regionalism, communalism, religious fanaticism, lingualism and above all terrorism.
Aravindan : I agree with Sivaprakasan. We have the problems of corruption, bribery, cheating, adulteration etc.
Kalam : These were not there in our childhood days. What makes mc sad is that we are slowly losing the moral values. These were everything in life in the past. But not now. In our childhood days we all were an integral part of one whole society. Now there are feelings of distrust, dishonesty and deception.
Swaprakasan : What pains me much is that we have become self-centred, selfish and opportunistic.
Ramanadha Sastry: In our childhood days, these things were not known. Then we all had great respects for adults, grandparents, etc. But now the society is breaking up due to inhuman relationships.
Kalam : No doubt, social and familial values are changing. But what matters is that we still can set things right.. The problems pointed out by you facing the society and the country can be tackled successfully if we become honest to ourselves. We shall have to counter these problems by taking the help of the law. For instance, we shall have to report to the Anti-corruption Bureau about those demanding bribery _____.
Araujndan : I agree with ICalam. To counter these problems we first shall have to be fearless, upright and true to our consciences. These problems are essentially of a moral nature.
Sivaprakasan : These are problems of a different nature like poverty, hunger, communal riots, terrorism, religious intolerance, exploitation, child labour, regionalism etc.
Kalam : These can be tackled by discussing across the table. India, you know, is great and has the capacity to get rid of these problems. We mustn’t forget that we all are the children of Mother india. We must sit together to thrash out their solutions and first make a plan.
Ramanadha Sastry:  I think we must provide measures for the people to create an emotional bond. Also we must unite them in one great emotional string through basic humanism.
Kalam: i think we must create these values through education, constitution, art, literature, music, national festivals, flag, anthem, sports and Bollywood. What is needed is changing the vision of all towards the self, society and the country. After all, we must think that we arc a big family. The culture of such a family runs across different religions, cultures, beliefs, faiths etc.
All : We all must work towards building a great country through material progress and humanism. Humanism, you know, used to be our basic ideology and culture and it must continue.

Note : Teachers to invite some of the groups to share with others the problems discussed above and solutions proposed.

B.7 Diary Entry: 
Suppose you are Kalam/Ramanadha Sastry. You are upset about being made to sit away from your best friend in the class. Write a diary entry expressing your feelings and reactions. In your diary entry you should 
(a) Describe the incident briefly 
(b) Say how you and your friend felt about it 
(c) Decide what you are going to do about it 
Things to do: 
1. Narrate the incidents described in the memoir in the form of a comic strip 
2. Make a short film on the incidents narrated in the memoir 
3. Script and stage a skit on the incident that happened in V grade.

Ans: Thursday, 13th January, 20 — 9.00 pm
I am very sad at what our new teacher has done. I and Ramanadha Sastry used to sit together in the front row in our classroom. No one had ever objected to our sitting together. Our new teacher looked at me wearing a cap and Ramanadha Sastry a sacred thread. It didn’t take him long to understand that I was a Muslim and Ramanadha Sastry, a Hindu. He didn’t like it and asked me to sit at the last bench. This made me sad and Ramanadha downcast. This action of the new teacher amounted to spreading the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance. This really broke our hearts as such things had never been known earlier among us in the island. Sadly the teacher later stood reformed after the elders intervened.
This action of our new teacher can’t be accepted as it amounts to breaking communal harmony of all castes, religions and faiths here. By this action the teacher aims at sowing the seeds of hatred, ill-will and fragmentation of the people. They have long been living like a big family. I am surely going to complain about this to our seniors who have always felt proud of living in complete harmony. This action should not be taken lightly as it aims at creating walls between Hindus and Muslims. Such a development is unhealthy for our society.
Kalam /Ramanadha Sastry

Things to do :

• Narrate the incidents described in the memoir in the form of a comic strip
• Make a short film on the incidents narrated in the memoir
• Script and stage a skit on the incident that happened in Vgrade.

Note : Things to do : Teachers to organize these on their own at class level.

B.8 Vocabulary
Read each of the following sentences from the story and tick the word/ phrase that gives the correct meaning for the italicized words/ phrases in the context in which they are used here.
1. For reasons I have never been able to understand, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in the market. 
(a) came up 
(b) blew up 
(c) ended 

2. My brother-in-law Jallaluddin would tell me stories about the War which I would later attempt to trace in the headlines in Dinamani. 
(a) draw 
(b) locate 
(c) copy 

3. The first casualty came in the form of the suspension of the train halt at Rameswaram station. 
(a) target 
(b) something destroyed as an indirect result of a particular event or circumstances 
(c) victim 

4. My cousin Samsuddin, was looking for a helping hand to catch the bundles and, as if naturally, I filled the slot. 
(a) was found suitable for the purpose
(b) applied for the job 
(c) was rejected 

5. The new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priest's son sitting with a Muslim boy. 
(a) tolerate 
(b) dislike 
(c) face 

6. He looked utterly downcast as I shifted to my seat in the last row. 
(a) happy 
(b) angry 
(c) dejected 

7. Sivasubramania Iyer was not perturbed, nor did he get angry with his wife 
(a) relaxed
(b) agitated 
(c) panicky 

8. Then the Second World War was over and India's freedom was imminent. 
(a) at hand 
(b) well-known 
(c) distant
Ans: 

1. → (a)  came up
2. → (b)  locate
3. → (c)  victim
4. → (a) was found suitable for the purpose
5. → (a) tolerate
6. → (c) dejected
7. → (b) agitated
8. → (a) at hand

B.9 Phrases:
 Match the phrases in Column A with their meanings in Column B

Ans:
(a) → (iii)
(b) → (i)
(c) → (iv)
(d) → (v)
(e) → (ii)

B.10 Write a letter to the editor of a leading newspaper / an article for your school magazine on 'The Importance of Celebrating Diversity, but Working for Unity'.
Ans:
198, Sector 14
Gurgaon
18th September, 20 – –
The Editor
The Daily Times
New Delhi

Subject : Celebrating Diversity, but Working for Unity

Dear Sir
Kindly publish the following views of mine on the above subject in the appropriate columns of your esteemed daily.
Life becomes beautiful if there is diversity but coupled with unity. If there were uniformity there could not be or have been any charm. This factor is available almost everywhere in nature, in animals and in human beings. So it must be and is in our beautiful country. All places, regions and human beings are not alike, yet they are the same. So we must celebrate this diversity but must work for national unity as we all are Indians—Children of the same mother, Mother India.
We all are the sons and daughters of our Mother India. We have different religions, sects or creeds, different festivals, different traditions, beliefs and customs, yet we are Indians. Our focus should be on celebrating this diversity. We should celebrate the festivals of other communities and live in perfect peace and harmony. For instance, if Muslims celebrate Diwali or Hindus celebrate Id or Christmas, love between them becomes all the more deep and cemented. Then we should partake in social functions like marriage, birthday celebrations or other joyous occasions of other neighbours belonging to different religions. This shall cement our relations at social level. But we should never forget that we all are Indians.

Thanking you
Yours faithfully
Praveen

Note : Students to write an Article as desired using the above matter under the format of an Article.

B.11 Assignments
If you were in the selection committee for the National Integration Award who would you choose and why ?
Design a stamp in honour of your hero that captures the important moment of his contribution. You could create a fictional hero also.
Ans:
1. In that case I would choose a person with the following attributes/qualities :
(a) He must have a broad outlook of life.
(b) He mustn’t be narrow-minded, communal, a religious fanatic, a linguist, an egoist, etc.
(c) He should have the capacity to inspire the people of all races. i(d) He must be altruistic, selfless and inspiring.
(e) He must be secular in his beliefs ; should be respectful to all religions, races and communities.
(f) He must not be superstitious, a bigot, exploiting or invested with vested interests.
(g) He must be trustworthy, dependable and a man of integrity.
(h) He must have the capacity to generate love in the masses for the country.

Note : Students may add a few more points from their own side.

2. Students to design a stamp as desired. They could consider the above points in drawing out their own stamps, as desired.

B.12 The following passage is an excerpt from an article presented by the author at a meeting organized to observe the national integration week (19-25 November ) by  the India - Canada Association and the High Commission of India on 25 Nov. 2009. Read it carefully and answer the questions that follow: 

Challenges to National  Integration: Dr. Subhash C. Biswas 
As the population of India comprises many different races, religions, cultures and language groups, the importance of national integration comes to the forefront. In order to establish peace and stability and ensure progress, all different societies must be brought into one single nation with a national consciousness. National integration should aim at improving socio-cultural relations, reducing economic inequalities and strengthening unity and solidarity. If we ask what the forces that challenge national integration are, the answers are not difficult to find. Regionalism, communalism, religious fanaticism, lingualism and now terrorism are the main forces among others. The patriotic doctrine that for a citizen, the country comes first and all other issues come second, doesn't always work to motivate the people for national causes. As we know, the second is an under dog that always vigorously tries to overcome the first. This explains why national integration is always under threat from with in the country as well as from outside. It's unfortunate that pernicious forces-often coming from a few individuals with extraordinary capability to gather and organize followers-are always present posing threat to national integration for narrow political goals.
Regional aspirations of the people, if not controlled, may be dangerous for the country as it may break it up or create more and more new states. Communalism may encourage clashes between communities. No community should be placed above the nation. Lingual preferences should be peacefully dealt with so that no excessive bias or favour for any one language brings about agitation in the country. Religious fanaticism is another dangerous force that often leads to violence, not only in India, but all over the world. India is a secular country, but that hasn't solved all problems. Let us recollect what our secularist founding fathers thought about religions. Mahatma Gandhi said, "I am a Hindu, I am a moslem, I am a jew, I am a Christian, I am a Buddhist". And Pandit Nehru: The spectacle of what is called religion or at any rate organized religion in India and elsewhere, has filled me with horror and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it. Almost always it seemed to stand for blind belief and reaction, dogma and bigotry, superstition, exploitation and the preservation of vested interests."
Rabindranath Tagore held humanity above anything else. Religion has become an explosive issue. But fanaticism and radicalism have to be eliminated in order to ensure stability. In order to achieve National Integration, we must first identify the force that may blissfully bind the people of the country, create an emotional bond and help them share common ideas and values. Constitution, territorial continuity, art, literature, music, national festivals, national flag, national anthem, sports and, let us not forget, Bollywood- these are the vital aspects that may be exploited to promote national integration. Economic development of the unprivileged and underprivileged regions should get primary importance. More facilities should be extended to distant regions and tribal groups. The education system in general should be revised with the aim of fostering national integration. Some special means should be adopted within the education system to instill a sense of belonging and unity in the mind from childhood. An old American song by Paul Robeson, very appropriate in this context, comes to my mind. 
"We're in the same boat brother, 
We're in the same boat brother, 
And if you shake one end, 
You gonna rock the other 
It's the same boat brother." (Lyrics by Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter).
Last but not the least, I would like to mention a very special point, often ignored, that may be considered extremely vital for national integration. Exercise of power and authority may be successful temporarily, but fails in the long run. It's essential to attain internal freedom for the people first, by which I mean a mind free of selfish ego and aware of basic values and humanity in general, a conscience always awakened and strong, and love and true spirit in the core of heart. Such a free mind remains open to other cultures, religions and languages and will easily accept different people of the country.

B.13 Based on your reading of the passage answer the following questions:
(a) Why is national integration important for a country like India? 
(b) What are the aims of national integration? 
(c) What are the forces that challenge national integration? 
(d) What are the steps that we should take to strengthen the nation and its unity? 
(e) How can we bind the people of the country and create an emotional bond? 
(f) How can we attain internal freedom for the people of the country?
Ans: 
(a) National integration is important for a country, like India because it has different races, religions, cultures and language groups of its population.
(b) The aims of national integration are : improving socio-cultural relations ; reducing economic inequalities ; and strengthening unity and solidarity.
(c) These forces are : regionalism ; communalism, religious fanaticism ; lingualism, terrorism.
(d) First, we must identify the force that may blissfully bind the people of the country. We should create an emotional bond and help them share common ideas and values,
(e) We can bind the people of the country in one thread. We can also create an emotional bond through art, literature, music, national festivals, national flag, anthem, sports and finally, Bollywood.
(f) We can attain internal freedom by creating the importance of basic values of life. These are : humanity, mutual love, respect, trust and the feelings of‘ownness’. We should try to create a ‘true mind’ which accepts different people of the country.

B.14 Read the passage carefully and familiarize yourself with the new words used in the passage by working out their meanings. Match the words in column A with their meanings in column B.
Ans:
(a) → (iii)
(b) → (iv)
(c) → (i)
(d) → (ii)
(e) → (iv)

B.15 Organize a group discussion on the topic: "Destabilizing Forces Within a Country: Challenges to a Nation"
The discussion will enable you to identify the forces that may 'blissfully bind the people of the country, create an emotional bond and help them share common ideas and values'. 

• CONSTITUTION
• TERRITORIAL  CONTINUITY
• ART
• LITERATURE
• MUSIC
• NATIONAL FESTIVAL
• NATIONAL FLAG
• NATIONAL ANTHEM
• SPORTS
• BOLLYWOOD 

The class will be divided into groups with six students per group. The teacher will ensure that the students adhere to the Do's and Don'ts of participating in a Group Discussion.
Ans:
Teachers to supervise the GD as desired in this question. A sample ofGD on the topic is given below :
A : There is no doubt that today the country faces the challenge of breaking or weakening the country by some destabilizing forces. These are operating within it. These threaten the national integration and the very roots that make the country great. These challenges are : regionalism, communalism, religious fanaticism, lingualism, terrorism etc.
B : I would say that the most ferocious destabilizing force of all these is terrorism. It is the most violent and destructive and a threat to our age-old culture.
C : I agree with B that terrorism has now become the worldwide force to destabilize the world peace. No one knows how many innocent lives will have to be sacrificed before this monster is wiped out completely and peace is restored throughout the world.
D : I think other forces than terrorism are not less in unrest and destruction. We need to identify and isolate the causes that are behind regionalism, communalism, religious fanaticism etc.
C : I find it very amazing what the people causing communal riots on frivolous bases gain from them. I personally feel that they simply become the leaders of a few like-minded persons. For instance, what do I gain if I say something undesirable against a community’s faith or religion ?
A : C is right but he must know that such anti-social elements have no aim except to cause bloodshed among different communities. This they do by causing hatred among them.
B : Terrorism is an extremist’s tool to create hatred and deaths. And its gain is nothing but misguiding the innocent youth by brainwashing. If one terrorist’s group says that the suicide bomber gets to heaven if he plants a bomb and kills innocent lives, it is simply a trick. How can one get to heaven after one dies ? And if one dies finally what use is to get to heaven ? Or does heaven exist ? Such questions negate the ideology of these persons whose aim is to merely destabilize the country. What is needed is the application of mind to the terrorists’ idealogue of brainwashing.
D : I personally feel that we need to identify the forces that blissfully bind the people of the country. These create an emotional bond and help them share common ideas and values. These are like art, music, literature, national functions relating to national flag, anthem, sports and finally Bollywood …. These can be attained through various means.
A : I would further say that we can cement the forces of our being children of our Mother India by celebrating the festivals of all communities. Secondly, we must create an education system that enhances the humanism, fellow-feeling, compassion, pity, mutual trust and faith ….
B : I agree with A. In addition, I would say that we must aim at the economic development of all communities. We should nurture a feeling that they all are not aliens but our own if they have a different faith, caste, creed or religion. After all, they are human beings, born of this soil. They are the faithful soldiers to protect the Motherland.
C : For this I would say that the destabilizing and destructive elements that threaten the unity and oneness of the people of the country should be identified. They must be condemned publicly. At the same time, these should be tackled through legal provisions. After all, what one takes after one dies ! We must understand the value of peace and prosperity in ‘Vasudhev Kutumbkam’… .