question_answer

Explain any three consequences of partitions of British India in 1947.

Or

Explain the process and basis of the reorganization of states of Indian Union.

Answer:

(i) The year 1947 was the year of one of the largest, most abrupt, unplanned and tragic transfer of population that Indian history has known. There were killings and atrocities on both sides of the border. In the name of religion people of one community ruthlessly killed and maimed people of the other community. Cities like Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata became divided into ?communal zones?.

(ii) Minorities on both sides of the border fled their homes and often secured temporary shelters m ?refugee camps?. They often found unhelpful administration. They travelled to the other country. They travelled to the other side of the new border by all sorts of means, often by foot. Even during this journey they were often attacked, killed or raped. Thousands of women were abducted on both sides of the border. They were made to convert to the religion of the abductor and were forced into marriage. In many cases women were killed by their own family members to preserve the family honour. Many children were separated from their parents. Those who did manage to cross the border found that they had no home. For millions of these ?refugees? the country?s freedom meant life in "refugee camps" for months and years.

(iii) The employees of the government and the railways were also divided. Above all, it was a violent separation of communities who had hitherto lived together as neighbours. It is estimated that the partition forced about 80 lakh people to migrate across the new border. Between five to ten lakh people were killed in partition related violence. Even after large scale migration of Muslims to the newly created Pakistan, the Muslim population in India accounted by 12% of the total population in 1951. So how would the government of India treat its Muslim citizens and other religious minorities. The partition had already created severe conflict between the communities.

Or

The process of nation - building did not come to an end with partition and integration of princely states. Now the challenges were to draw the internal boundaries of the Indian states. This was not just a matter of administrative divisions. The boundaries had to be drawn in a way so that the linguistic and cultural plurality of the country could be reflected without affecting the unity of the nation.

During colonial rule, the states? boundaries were drawn either on administrative convenience or simply coincides with the territories annexed by the British government or the territories ruled by the Princely Powers. Our national movement had rejected these divisions as artificial and had promised the linguistic principle as the basis of formation of states. In fact after the Nagpur session of Congress in 1920 the principle was recognized as the basis of the reorganization in the Indian National Congress Party itself. Many provincial Congress Committees were created by linguistic zones, which did not follow the administrative divisions of British India.

Our leaders felt that carving out states on the basis of language might lead to disruption and disintegration. It was also felt that this would draw attention away from each other?s social and economic challenges that the country faced. The central leadership decided to postpone matters. The need for postponement was also felt because the fate of the princely states had not been decided. Also, the memory of partition was still fresh.

The decision of the national leadership was challenged by the local leaders and the people. Protests began in the Telugu speaking areas of the old Madras province which included present day Tamilnadu parts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. The Vishalandhra movement demanded that the Telugu speaking areas should be separated from the Madras province of which they were a part and be made into a separate Andhra Province. Nearly all the political forces in the Andhra region were in favour of linguistic reorganization of the Madras province.