CLASS VIII

SOCIAL SCIENCE

CHAPTER 15 India Marches Ahead

REFERENCE NOTES
The Indian Independence Act, 1947

 Passed by the British Parliament

 Designed by Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of Britain
 Based on the Mountbatten Plan
 The Indian political parties agreed to
- the transfer of power from the British Government to the independent
Indian Government.
- partition of India into two nations: India and Pakistan.

Main Features of The Indian Independence Act, 1947

 The British rule over India would end with immediate effect.
 An independent dominion of India was made including the United Provinces under the
British like Madras Presidency, Carnatic, East Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, etc.
 West Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and East Bengal would go to
Pakistan.
 The Princely states were given the freedom to decide which dominion to join.
 The dominion of India and Pakistan were granted complete freedom and they became
members of British Commonwealth.

 Lord Mountbatten-last Viceroy of India and first Governor-General of Independent

India.
 Chakravarti Rajagopalachari- Next Governor General; first and the last Indian to
become a Governor- General.
 562 Princely states joined India.
 The states of Junagadh and Hyderabad joined India after military action.
 Other colonial states which were under foreign rule and also liberated:
 Pondicherry (from French in 1953-54)
 Goa (from Portuguese in 1961)
 Sikkim (British protectorate) became part of free India in 1975.
 Indian Constitution

 Before independence, a Constituent Assembly was formed with indirectly elected

members of the Provisional Legislative Assemblies.
 It held its first session in 1946. It re-assembled on August 14, 1947 as the sovereign
Constituent Assembly for the dominion of India.
 The Constitution was passed on November 26, 1949 and adopted on January 26, 1950
when India became a Republic.
 The Constituent Assembly took two years, eleven months and seventeen days to
complete the drafting of the Constitution for Independent India.
 It elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India. Jawaharlal Nehru became
the Prime Minister and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister of free
India.

India held its first General Elections in 1952. The voter turnout exceeded 62%.

India - On the path of progress

1. Diversity in India:- Many people had predicted that India, because of its diversity in
culture, religion, caste, language, custom and identity, would not be able to work as a
united democratic country.

2. Hurdles to progress:- Inspite of having numerous internal and external problems, India
has survived as a nation with a single unified identity. The progress has been hampered
by terrorism and cross border attacks.

3. Progress sectors:- Our economic progress can be witnessed in expansion and

diversification of production both in industry and agriculture.

4. Progress in the field of industry:- The government has built the infrastructure like power,
information technology, communication, transport, etc., which are the basic requirements
of the industry. Indian government has also followed the policy of encouraging
indigenous industries and given them a lot of assistance.
 5. Progress in the field of agriculture:- In the agricultural sector mechanization, irrigation,
fertilizers and research have improved the scenario. As a result, the agricultural
production has shot up both qualitatively and quantitatively. The development can be
witnessed in the Green Revolution, the White Revolution, etc.

Planning Commission

 India adopted the path of planned development from the pattern that was followed by
earlier USSR.
 Five Year Plans are made to ensure systematic progress in all sectors.
 The Planning Commission was set up in 1950.
 The First Five Year Plan was presented for a period of 1951-56 by the Prime Minister
of India, Jawaharlal Nehru in Parliament.
 In 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by Niti Aayog.

Let’s know more!

 Niti Aayog or the National Institute for transforming India was formed in 2015.
 It is a policy think tank of Government of India.
 It was established by Narendra Modi government to replace the planning commission of India.
 The aim of Niti Aayog is to foster involvement and participation by State Governments in
economic policy making process.
 The emphasis is on bottom up approach to make India move towards a cooperative federation.
Indian Democracy

Why did India opt for a democracy?

1. The path that independent India had to follow aimed at vesting the sovereign power in the
hands of the people.
2. It was necessary to have a system where every section of society would be represented.
Every community, religion and language would enjoy equal status.
3. Equality means equality of status and opportunity without any discrimination. Our
democratic government has also protected the interest of the backward sections of the
society. Hence, India opted for a democracy.
Democratization of Indian Politics :-

 The Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru controlled the reins of the government after
independence till 1964.
 The year 1967 proved to be a turning point when some state parties (regional parties)
came into prominence. This was a period of actual democratization of Indian politics.
 After that Gandhi family dominated the Indian political scene till 1977.
 Indian democracy has been functioning successfully, except for two years, when a state
of emergency was imposed in 1975 by Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister.
 After 1977, some political parties succeeded in controlling the power for short periods
but they could not sustain their governments.

Coalition Government and Politics of Fronts or Alliances:-

 In recent times we have witnessed coalition governments and politics of fronts or

alliances.
 Fronts are formed before the elections to contest collectively whereas the coalitions are
formed after the elections to form the government.
 The supporting parties either join the government or support it from outside without
joining the government, depending on the conditions of the alliances or fronts.

Multi-party System:-

 The multi-party system of India has become the axis of democracy. It provides a
government that is accountable to the citizens and responsive to their needs and
expectations.
 Like all other federal systems of the world, India also has two kinds of political parties –
some at the national level and others at the state/regional level.
 Political parties at the national as well as regional level are the axis of democracy and
play an important role in strengthening democracy.
 All the national as well as state parties are recognized by the Election Commission of
India subject to fulfillment of the criteria laid down by the Election Commission.
 Indian National Congress, Bhartiya Janta Party, Communist Party of India, etc., are
examples of national political parties. Bahujan Samaj Party, Shromani Akali Dal,
Rashtriya Janta Dal, National Conference etc., are examples of state parties also known
as regional parties.

Election Commission of India

 The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible

for administering the election process in India.
  Free and fair elections are conducted by the Election Commission with the help of
Electronic Voting machines (EVM’s).
 As a country of 1.3 billion people, more than 800 million of whom are eligible to vote,
India takes great pride in being the world's largest democracy.

India’s Foreign Relations

 Foreign policy of a country reflects its role and involvement in world affairs.
 Jawaharlal Nehru was the chief architect of our foreign policy.
 The basic features of India’s foreign policy are:-

Promotion
Belief in of World
United Nations Peace Anti-
and Non- Racialism
Aligned
Movements

Regional
India's
Cooperation Foreign Panchsheel
Policy

Friendly Co- Anti-

relations with Colonialism
Neighbours and Anti-
Non-
Imperialism
Alignment

Let’s know more!

The bases of our foreign policy are the following five principles of Panchsheel:-

1. Mutual respect for each others’ territorial integrity and sovereignty.

2. Mutual non-aggression.
3. Mutual non-interference in each others’ internal matters.
4. Equality and mutual benefits.
5. Peaceful Co-existence.
 Indian Society

Hurdles/ Challenges during the post independence nation building period:-

1. Diverse religious, social and economic conditions.

2. Discrimination of castes, classes, communities and gender.
3. Poverty and illiteracy.

Steps taken to achieve social progress:-

1. Many steps have been taken to achieve social progress in India through legislations like
provision for reservation in legislatures, government jobs and educational institutions for
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes.

Challenges to Indian Democracy

 The Indian democracy has achieved multi-faceted social-economic progress. The extreme
poverty, millions of refugees and empty coffers created a delicate situation for the newly
formed independent country.
 The Indian state was short of everything from food to medicine, from industry and
infrastructure to skilled manpower and from housing to education facilities.
 Caste system and social evils were hampering the progress of our country. There was a
wide gulf between the Hindus and Muslims.
 Poverty, illiteracy and poor health continue as the biggest threats to the peace and
progress of the country.
 India has made remarkable progress in each and every field. May it be industry,
economy, transport, communication, science or any other sphere.
 India’s focus is on creating a unified and developed nation. Our country has undergone
many major political, cultural and economic changes since independence but there are
many avenues that still need improvement.

India Vision 2020

 Every country needs a vision which will stir the imagination and motivate all segments of
society to greater effort.
 It is the dream of all Indians that India should emerge as a vibrant and dynamic country
and make great progress in all fields.
  Better quality of education is required at all levels from basic literacy to high tech science
and technology.
 Raising of agricultural productivity and industrial quality, spurring growth of IT and
biotechnology, improving health and nutrition are essential.
 Tackling issues related to population growth, energy and water conservation, peace and
security are required.

In the words of our late President Dr. Abdul Kalam, “The day is not far when enlightened and
ignited minds will transform India into a competitive beautiful Nation.”