Nationalism in India: 10th Social Science

Question: Explain the course of the Non-Cooperation Movement in the towns.
Or
Describe the extent of peoples participation in the Non-cooperation Movement in the towns. What were its economic effects?
Or
How did ‘Non-Cooperation Movement’ spread in cities across the country? Explain its effects on the economic front.

Answer:

1. The movement in the cities: The Movement started with middle-class participation in the cities. Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up their legal practices.
2. Boycott of council elections: The Council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras (Chennai), where the Justice Party, the party of the non ­Brahmans, felt that entering the council was one way of gaining some power, something that usually only Brahmans had an access to.
3. Swadeshi: The Non-Cooperation Movement had a great impact on the Indian textile industry. Swadeshi goods, especially cloth got a great impetus. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires.
4. Impact on industry: In many places, merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade. Due to this, the demand of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up. The increase in demand provided a big relief to the vanishing textile industry of India.
5. Movement in the countryside: Though people in the countryside interpreted the idea of ‘Swaraj’ in their own way but they participated in the movement on large scale. In Awadh, peasants launched the movement against the talukdars and landlords. Whereas the plantation workers launched the movement against the tea estate owners.

Question: Under what circumstances the Civil Disobedience or the Salt Movement was launched? Explain.
Or
Describe the main events leading to Salt March and Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930

.Answer:

1. Failure of the Simon Commission: The Simon Commission was constituted in response to the nationalist movement. But the Commission failed to satisfy the Indian people and the leaders. All the parties, including the Congress and the Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations. In an effort to win them over the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced in October 1929, a vague offer of dominion status. But even this failed to satisfy the leaders.
2. Puma Swaraj: In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalized the demand of ‘Puma Swaraj’ or full independence for India. It was declared that 26th January, 1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day when people were to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence. But the celebrations attracted very little attention. So Mahatma Gandhi had to find a way to relate this abstract idea of freedom to more concrete issues of everyday life.
3. Rejection of Gandhi’s Eleven Demands: On 31st January, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi, in a statement, put forward Eleven Demands to correct the wrongs done to the Indians.He assured the Viceroy that he would withdraw the Civil Disobedience on British Government’s acceptance of these demands. However, Gandhi’s demands were declared to be unrealistic by the Viceroy.
4. Economic Causes: The Great Depression of 1929 had a deep impact on the Indian economy, especially on agriculture. Prices of agricultural produce began to fall from 1926, and collapsed after 1930. As the demand for agricultural goods fell and export declined, peasants found it difficult to sell their harvest, and to pay their revenue. The government refused to lower the taxes. So by 1930, the farmers were in poor condition.
5. Support from business class: The business class was keen on expanding their business and were against the colonial policies that restricted business activities. They decided to provide financial support to the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was launched.

Question: Explain the course of the Salt March.

Answer:  

1. On January 31st, 1930, Gandhi wrote a long letter to the Viceroy, communicating his decision to start the Civil Disobedience Movement.
2. On 12th March, Mahatma Gandhi began his historic march from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a village on the Gujarat sea-coast.
3. He was accompanied by 78 of his trusted volunteers, but as Gandhiji advanced, others joined the party.
4. On the morning of 6th April, Gandhiji violated the salt laws by picking up some salt from the sea water. Gandhiji’s campaign against the salt laws was a signal to disobey the Government laws.The Programme of the Movement: The Civil Disobedience campaign involved defiance of salt laws, boycott of liquor, boycott of foreign cloth and British goods of all kinds.

Question: ‘Large sections of Muslims did not respond to the call for a united struggle during the Civil Disobedience Movement.’ Explain.
Or
“Some of the Muslim political organisations in India, were lukewarm in their response to the ‘Civil Disobedient Movement’.” Examine the statement.

Answer:

1. Association of Congress with Hindu Mahasabha: After the decline of the Non­Cooperation – Khilafat movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress. From the mid-1920s, the Congress came to be more visibly associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.
2. Communal Clashes: As relations between the Hindus and the Muslims worsened, each community organised religious processions with militant fervour, provoking Hindu- Muslim communal clashes and riots in various cities. Every riot deepened the distance between the two communities.
3. Issue of demand for separate electorates: Some of the Muslim leaders demanded a separate electorate for the Muslims which was not supported by the Congress leaders.
4. Status of Muslims in Hindu majority state: Many Muslim leaders and intellectuals expressed their concern about the status of Muslims as a minority within India. They feared that the culture and identity of minorities would be submerged under the domination of a Hindu majority.
5. Issue of reserved seats in the Central Assembly: Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah demanded reservation of seats for the Muslims in the Central Assembly but this was not acceptable to the Congress leaders. So Muslims could not respond to the call for a united struggle.

Question: Explain the progress of the Civil Disobedience Movement in the countryside.
Or
Why did the rich peasants of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat join the Civil Disobedience Movement?
Describe any three features of the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930.
Evaluate any three features of the peasant movement during Civil Disobedience Movement in India.
Or
Mention three reasons by which the rich peasant communities took active part in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Answer:

1. In the countryside, rich peasant communities-like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh-were active participants.
2. They participated in the Movement because they suffered the most due to the economic depression. As their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.
3. They demanded a reduction in revenue but the government refused to do so. This led to a widespread resentment. These rich landlords participated in the boycott programmes, and refused to pay revenues. For them, the fight for Swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.
4. But they were deeply disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931 without the revenue rates being revised. So when the movement was restarted in 1932, many of them did not participate.
5. The poor peasantry also participated on a large scale in a hope that their unpaid rent to the landlords will be remitted.