NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science History Chapter 2 - Nationalism in India

This article contains solution of NCERT Social Science History Chapter 2. The solutions are well researched and explained in detail. These solutions are very helpful for students appearing for class 10 board exams. Trough these solutions students will be able to prepare better for their school exams also.

Exercise: Page No. 50

Write in brief.

Question:

1.) Explain

a.) Why the growth of nationalism in the colonies is linked to an anti-colonial movement?

Answer:

1. Due to their struggle against colonialism, people started to realize their unity.
2. The experience of colonialism-related oppression was a unifying factor among numerous diverse groups.
3. However, how colonialism affected each class and group varied, and their perspectives on freedom varied based on their diverse experiences. Mahatma Gandhi's Congress tried to unite these groups under a single banner. But the conflict was necessary for unity to develop.

Question:

b.) How the First World War helped in the growth of the National Movement in India?

Answer:

A new political and economic environment resulted from the war.

1. As a result of the war, defense spending significantly increased, which was paid for by war loans and higher taxes. Income tax was added, and customs charges were raised.
2. Widespread resentment resulted from forced recruitment in villages.
3. Crops failed, causing severe food scarcity.
4. Famines and diseases claimed the lives of 12 to 13 million people.

Question:

c.) Why were Indians outraged by the Rowlatt Act?

Answer:

1. The Rowlatt Act was presented in 1919.
2. Despite the Indian members' vehement opposition, this act was swiftly approved by the Imperial Legislative Council.
3. It had given the government vast authority to stifle political activity.
4. It permitted the two-year unjustified detention of political prisoners.

Question:

d.) Why Gandhiji decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement?

Answer:

Mahatma Gandhi abandoned the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922. He believed that the satyagrahis needed proper training before they were prepared for large-scale struggles because the movement was becoming violent in many places.

Question:

2.) What is meant by the idea of Satyagraha?

Answer:

The Satyagraha movement emphasized the importance of seeking out the truth and the strength of the truth. It implied that if the cause was justified and the fight was against injustice, fighting the oppressor did not require physical force. A satyagrahi could triumph in battle without pursuing retribution or being aggressive. By appealing to the oppressor's conscience, this could be accomplished. Instead of forcing people to accept the truth through force, including the oppressors, it had to be persuaded that it exists. The truth was destined to prevail through this conflict ultimately. Mahatma Gandhi thought that the dharma of nonviolence could bring all Indians together.

Question:

3.) Write a newspaper report on:

a) The Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Answer:

On April 13, the notorious Jallianwalla Bagh incident happened. On that particular day, a sizable crowd had assembled in the Jallianwalla Bagh's enclosed space. Some people showed up to voice their opposition to the government's new restrictive policies. Some people had come to the yearly Baisakhi fair. Many locals didn't know martial law had been enacted because they were from outside the city. After entering the area and closing off the exits, Dyer started shooting at the gathering, killing numerous people. His goal, he subsequently stated, was to "create a moral effect" in the satyagrahis' thoughts. People were terrified and in awe after the tragedy.

b) The Simon Commission

Answer:

"Go back, Simon," was shouted at the Simon Commission when it arrived in India in 1928. The demonstrations included participation from all parties, including the Muslim League and the Congress. Viceroy Lord Irwin made a hazy offer of India having "dominion status" in the future and convened a Round Table Conference to debate a new constitution to garner their support in October 1929. The Congress leaders weren't happy about this.

Question:

4.) Compare the images of Bharat Mata in this chapter with the image of Germania in Chapter 1.

Answer:

Germania:

1. A representation of Germany.
2. Philip Veit painted the picture in 1848.
3. Holding a flag and a sword in the other.
4. As the German oak symbolizes courage, Germany is adorned with an oak leaf crown.

Bharat Mata:

1. An emblem for India.
2. Painted in 1905 by Abanindranath Tagore.
3. Bharat is positioned next to a Trishul and two powerful animals, an elephant and a lion.

Discuss

Question:

1.) List all the different social groups which joined the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921. Then choose any three and write about their hopes and struggles to show why they joined the movement.

Answer:

Different social groups that joined Non-Cooperation Movement were as follows:

Middle-class Participation in Cities

Numerous instructors and administrators quit their positions, thousands of students left government-run schools and colleges, and attorneys stopped practicing law. The majority of provinces boycotted the council elections, except for Madras, where the Justice Party, a non-Brahmanic party, believed that winning a seat on the council would give it access to power that was often reserved for Brahmans. On the economic front, non-cooperation had more pronounced impacts. Foreign products were boycotted, bars were picketed, and foreign clothing was set ablaze in huge fires.

Between 1921 and 1922, the value of imported foreign clothing dropped from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore, or by half. Many merchants and traders refused to engage in international trade or provide financing. As the boycott movement gained traction and more individuals started wearing only Indian-made clothing instead of imported ones, the output of Indian textile factories and hand looms rose. However, for various reasons, this urban movement progressively slowed down.

Poor people could not afford to purchase khadi cloth since it was frequently more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth. The boycott of British institutions was problematic as well. For the campaign to succeed, substitute Indian institutions that could be used in place of the British ones had to be established. These took a while to appear. As a result, pupils and teachers gradually returned to public schools, and attorneys started working in courts.

Peasants and Tribals

Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi who had previously worked as an indentured laborer in Fiji, led the peasants in Awadh. There, there was a movement against landlords and talukdars who demanded various cesses and exorbitantly high rents from peasants. At the farms of their landlords, peasants had to work for free and engage in beggary. As tenants, they lacked the security of tenure because they were frequently evicted, preventing them from acquiring any ownership rights to the leased land. A decrease in revenue, the elimination of begging, and a social boycott of repressive landlords were demands made by the peasant movement. Panchayats organized "nai-dhobi bandhs" in many locations to deny landlords the services of washermen and barbers.

The message of Mahatma Gandhi and the concept of swaraj were seen by tribal peasants differently. A militant guerrilla organization, which Congress could not support, began to expand in the Andhra Pradesh region's Gudem Hills in the early 1920s. In other forested areas, the colonial authority had locked off huge tracts of forest, preventing residents from going there to graze their livestock or gather fuelwood and fruits. The hill people were furious about this. Their livelihoods were not the only thing at stake; they also believed their traditional rights were being violated. The hill people protested when the government started requiring them to pay beg for constructing roads.

Workers in the Plantations

Additionally, workers had their interpretations of Mahatma Gandhi and the concept of Swaraj. For plantation workers in Assam, freedom meant the ability to enter and exit the little area in which they were housed at will and maintain ties to the village from whence they had come. The Inland Emigration Act of 1859 prohibited plantation employees from leaving the tea gardens without permission, and in reality, such permission was infrequently granted.

Thousands of employees disobeyed the authorities, fled the plantations, and went home after learning about the Non-Cooperation Movement. They thought that when Gandhi Raj arrived, everyone would receive land in their communities. They, however, were never able to get there. A railway and ship strike left them stranded on the route, and the police apprehended them and savagely assaulted them.

Question:

2.) Discuss the Salt March to make clear why it was an effective symbol of resistance against colonialism.

Answer:

Mahatma Gandhi discovered salt was a potent symbol that could bring the country together. He sent Viceroy Irwin a letter on January 31, 1930, outlining eleven demands. Some of these had universal interests, while others were special needs of various classes, from industrialists to peasants. It was intended to broaden the demands so that all social groups in Indian society could connect with them and be brought together in a single campaign. Demanding the salt charge be eliminated was the most crucial point. One of the basic food ingredients, salt, was consumed by the wealthy and the poor. Mahatma Gandhi exposed the most repressive aspect of British rule?the levy on salt and the government's monopoly over manufacturing.

With the help of 78 of his dependable volunteers, Mahatma Gandhi began his well-known salt march. The march covered more than 240 kilometers between Gandhiji's ashram in Sabarmati to the coastal town of Dandi in Gujarat. About 10 miles every day for 24 days, the volunteers walked. Wherever Mahatma Gandhi went, crowds of people flocked to hear him speak. He explained what he meant when he said "Swaraj" and urged them to oppose the British peacefully. On April 6, he arrived in Dandi and ceremonially broke the law by using salt water to make salt.

Numerous people disobeyed the salt ban, produced salt, and protested in front of government salt factories across the nation. As the movement gained momentum, people protested liquor stores and boycotted foreign clothing. Village officials resigned, farmers quit their jobs, and in many cases, people broke the law by taking their cattle into Reserved Forests to graze and refusing to pay revenue and chowkidar taxes.

Question:

3.) Imagine you are a woman participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Explain what the experience meant to your life.

Answer:

An individual from the Civil Disobedience Movement? I focused much of my efforts in the civil disobedience movement on picketing liquor stores and boycotting imported clothing. As a result, the British people's income sources were destroyed. I was forced to help the Satyagrahis who had been harmed by British forces' harsh repression, especially women and children. Although I was one of many women who went to prison, most of the ladies who participated came from upper castes and wealthy families. I got to know national figures like Sarojini Naidu and understood the idea of national service as a holy obligation.

Question:

4.) Why did political leaders differ sharply over the question of separate electorates?

Answer:

At the second Round Table Conference, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar disagreed with Dr. Ambedkar's proposal for separate electorates for Dalits, who had organized the Dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930. Gandhiji started a death-defying fast after the British administration acceded to Ambedkar's demand. He thought creating separate electoral districts for Dalits would delay their social integration. In the end, Ambedkar sided with Gandhiji, and the Poona Pact of September 1932 was the consequence.

If Muslims were promised reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in proportion to the population in the provinces with a majority of Muslims, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was willing to abandon the demand for separate electorates (Bengal and Punjab). Even though negotiations over the issue of representation went on, there was little chance of a resolution at the All Parties Conference in 1928 since M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha vehemently rejected any attempts at compromise.