NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History - India After Independence

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED
 

Q.1. Name three problems that the newly independent nation of India faced.
 Ans. The three problems that the newly idependent nation of India faced are given below:
(i) The problem of the rehabilitation of 8 million refugees who had come into the country from newly born Pakistan.
(ii) The problem of the princely states. There were almost 500 princely states, each ruled by a Maharaja or a Nawab, and each of them had to be persuaded to join the new nation.
(iii) The new nation had to adopt a political system that would best serve the hopes and aspirations of the people.
 

Q.2. What was the role of the Planning Commission?
 Ans. The Planning Commission helped design and execute suitable policies for economic development.
 

Q.3. Fill in the blanks. (a) Subjects that were placed on the Union List were ............., .............. and ........... .
 (b) Subjects on the Concurrent List were ........... and ........... .
 (c) Economic planning by which both the state and the private sector played a role in development was called a ........... model.
 (d) The death of ........... sparked off such violent protests that the government was forced to give into the demand for linguistic state of Andhra.
 Ans. (a) Taxes, defence, foreign affairs (b) Forests, agriculture (c) ‘mixed economy’ (d) Potti Sriramulu

Q.4. State whether true or false:
 (a) At independence, the majority of Indians lived in villages.
 (b) The Constituent Assembly was made up of members of the Congress Party.
 (c) In the first national election, only men were allowed to vote.
 (d) The Second Five Year Plan focused on the development of heavy industry.
 Ans. (a) True (b) False (c) False (d) True

Q.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”?
 Ans. What Ambedkar wanted to say was that providing voting right to the lower caste people would not remove other inequalities such as between rich and poor, or between upper castes and lower castes. These classes of people could be labelled equal only politically but in reality it could not be possible due to our social and economic structure.
 

Q.6. After Independence, why was there a reluctance to divide the country on liguistic times?
 Ans. India got independence at the cost of its division. This division had been done on the basis of religion. As a result of this division more than a million people had been killed in riots between Hindus and Muslims. In such circumstances, it was not wise to further divide the country on the basis of language. Therefore, both Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Patel were against the creation of linguistic states.
 

Q.7. Give one reason why English continued to be used in India after Independence.
 Ans. English continued to be used in India after Independence because south Indian states expressed strong opposition to Hindi.
 

Q.8. How was the economic development of India visualised in the early decades after Independence?
 Ans. In 1950, the government set up a Planning Commission to help design and execute suitable policies for economic development. There was a broad agreement on ‘mixed economy’ model. Here, both the state and the private sector would play important and complementary roles in increasing production and generating jobs. Now, it was on the Planning Commission to define which industries should be initiated by the state and which by the market and how to achieve a balance between the different regions and states.
In 1956, the Second Five Year Plan was formulated which focused on the development of heavy industries such as steel, and on the building of large dams. These sectors would be under the control of the state. This focus on heavy industry, and the effort at state regulation of the economy was to guide economic policy for the next few decades.
 

Q.9. Who was Mira Behn? Find out more about her life and her ideas.
 Ans. Mira Behn (1892–1982) was the daughter of a British Admiral. Her real name was Madeline Shade. She left England to live and work with Mahatma Gandhi. She devoted her life to human development, the advancement of Gandhiji’s principles and to the freedom struggle. She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1982.
 

Q.10. Find out more about the language divisions in Pakistan that led to the creation of the new nation of Bangladesh. How did Bangladesh achieve independence from Pakistan?
 Ans. Pakistan was divided into two regions—East Pakistan and West Pakistan. This division was done on the basis of linguistic majority. The East Pakistan was dominated by Bengala-speaking Muslims while the West Pakistan was dominated by Urdu-speaking Muslims. The people of the West Pakistan always considered the Bengali Muslims living in the East Pakistan inferior to them. So, the Muslims living in East Pakistan were devoid of all facilities and fundamental rights. It caused great dissatisfaction among them. They began migrating to India. Their number grew so large that India was compelled to intervene the situation. It supported the cause of the East Pakistan which resulted in a war between India and Pakistan. Finally India won the war in favour of the East Pakistan and declared it as a new country named Bangladesh on 16th December 1971. Bangladesh was now recognised as a sovereign nation and Muziburr Rehman was its first President.