NCERT Solutions for Class 10 History Ch-2 Nationalism in India

Here I am going to provide you NCERT Solutions For Class 10 History Chapter 2 Nationalism in India. I hope this will help in your studies!

Write in Brief:

1. Explain:

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

Answer:

1. People began discovering their unity in the process of their struggle with colonialism.
2. The sense of being oppressed under colonialism provided a shared bond that tied many different groups together.
3. But each class and group felt the effects of colonialism differently. Their experiences were varied and their notions of freedom were not always the same. 
4. The Congress under Mahatma Gandhi tried to forge these groups together within one movement. But the unity did not emerge without conflict.

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

Answer:

The First World War helped in the growth of the National Movement in India as it created a new economic and political situation as mentioned below :

1. The defense expenditure had increased.
2. War loans were taken and more taxes were imposed.
3. Custom duties were raised.
4. Income tax was introduced.
5. The rise in prices led to extreme hardships for the people.
6. There was widespread discontentment in the rural area due to forced recruitment of soldiers.
7. In 1918-19 and 1920-21 crops failed in many parts of India resulting in acute shortages of food.
8. There was influenza epidemic too. According to the Census of 1921, twelve to thirteen million people perished as a result of famines and epidemics. People thought that their hardships and suffering would come to an end after the war but that did not happen. So these factors were responsible for the rise of nationalism in India.

c. Why Indians were outraged by the Rowlatt Act.

Answer:

Indians were outraged by the Rowlatt Act (1919) due to the following reasons :

1. They had hoped that after the war their hardships would be over and the government would take steps to improve their condition.
2. But Rowlatt Act was introduced in 1919.
3. This act was hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council, although it was completely opposed by Indian members.
4. It had given the Government enormous powers to repress political activities.
5. It allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
6. The Rowlatt Act was considered as Black Law and the Indians under the leadership of Gandhi decided to oppose it by non-violent civil disobedience which would start with a hartal on 6 April.

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

Answer:

Gandhiji decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement due to the reasons as mentioned below :

1. The movement was turning violent in many places.
2. Gandhiji thought that Satyagrahis needed to be properly trained before they would be ready for mass struggles. 
3. This was in context of the incident in Chauri-Chaura, a village in Gorakhpur district UP where twenty two policemen were brutally killed after they had fired on a political procession.
4. There had been disturbances in Madras and Calcutta also. The above factors made it clear that the country was not yet ready of mass movement.
5. So Gandhiji prevailed upon the Congress Working Committee to call off the movement.

More resources for class 10:

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Chapterwise NCERT Solutions For Class 10 Sanskrit

CBSE Class 10 Sanskrit Chapterwise Summary

Chapterwise NCERT Solutions For Class 10 English

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2. What is meant by the idea of satyagraha?

Answer:

1. The idea of satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. 
2. It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then the physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor. 
3. Without seeking vengeance or being aggressive, a satyagrahi could win the battle through nonviolence. 
4. This could be done by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor. People – including the oppressors – had to be persuaded to see the truth, instead of being forced to accept truth through the use of violence. 
5. By this struggle, the truth was bound to triumph ultimately. Mahatma Gandhi believed that this dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians.

3. Write a newspaper report on

a) The Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Answer:

On 13 April, the infamous Jallianwalla Bagh incident took place. On that day a large crowd was gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh. Some came to protest against the government’s new repressive measures. Others had come to attend the annual Baisakhi fair. Being from outside the city, many villagers were unaware of the martial law that had been imposed. Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. His objective, as he declared later, was to ‘produce a moral effect’, in the minds of Satyagrahis. A feeling of terror and awe.

b) The Simon Commission

Answer:

When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928, it was greeted with the slogan ‘Go back, Simon’. All 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’ for India in an unspecified future, and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution. This did not satisfy the Congress leaders.

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

Answer:

Germania:

• Symbol of Germany
• The image was painted by Philip Veit in 1848.
• Carrying a sword in one hand and flag in another hand
• Germania is wearing a crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stands for heroism.

Bharat Mata:

• Symbol of India
• Painted by Abanindranath Tagore in 1905
• Bharat is standing with a Trishul, standing beside a lion and elephant, symbols of power and authority.

Discuss

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:

Social Groups who took part in the Non­Cooperation Movement. In the Non- Cooperation Movement (1920-1922), the following social groups took part.

(I) Middle-class people in the towns.

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 non­Brahmans, 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 for 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.

(II) Peasants in rural areas.

(i) Participants: In the countryside, the movement was led by the peasants, tribals and the local leaders. For example, in Awadh, it was Baba Ramchandra sanyasi, who had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer.

(ii) Why rural people participated?

The movement here was not against the Britishers but against talukdars and landlords. The problems of the rural people were different from those of the urban people:

1. The talukdars and landlords were demanding very high rents and a variety of other taxes.
2. Peasants had to do begarand work at the landlord’s farms without any payment.
3. The peasants had no security of tenure. They were regularly evicted so that they could acquire no security of tenure.
4. As the problems of the people were different, their demands were also different. 

The peasant movement demanded:

• Reduction of revenue
• Abolition of begar
• Redistribution of land
• Social boycott of oppressive landlords.

(iii) Ways of protests: The Movement in the countryside had a different angle. In many places, Nai-dhobi bandhs were organised by the Panchayats to deprive the landlords of the services of barbers, cobblers, washermen, etc. Even national leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru went to villages in Awadh to know the grievances of the people. By October, the Awadh Kissan Sabhas was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra, and a few others. When the movement spread in 1921, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked. The movement turned violent which was not liked by some of the Congress leaders.

(III) Tribal people.

Most of the tribal people were dependent on forests for their livelihood but under the new Forest Policy, the government had put several restrictions on the people :

1. Closing large forest area for the tribal people.
2. Forcing the local people to contribute begar.
3. Preventing people from entering the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuelwood and fruits.
4. All these steps enraged the hill people. Not only were their livelihoods affected, but they felt that their traditional rights were also being denied. So the people revolted.

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

Answer:

1. Mahatma Gandhi found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation. On 31 January 1930, he sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands. 
2. Some of these were of general interest; others were specific demands of different classes, from industrialists to peasants. 
3. The idea was to make the demands wide-ranging so that all classes within Indian society could identify with them and everyone could be brought together in a united campaign.
4. The most stirring of all was the demand to abolish the salt tax. Salt was something consumed by the rich and the poor alike, and it was one of the essential items of food. 
5. The tax on salt and the government monopoly over its production, Mahatma Gandhi declared, revealed the most oppressive face of British rule.
6. Mahatma Gandhi started his famous salt march accompanied by 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march was over 240 miles, from Gandhiji’s ashram in Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi. 
7. The volunteers walked for 24 days, about 10 miles a day. Thousands came to hear Mahatma Gandhi wherever he stopped, and he told them what he meant by Swaraj and urged them to peacefully defy the British. 
8. On 6 April he reached Dandi, and ceremonially violated the law, manufacturing salt by boiling seawater.
9. Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law, manufactured salt and demonstrated in front of government salt factories. 
10. As the movement spread, the foreign cloth was boycotted, and liquor shops were picketed. 
11. Peasants refused to pay revenue and chowkidar taxes, village officials resigned, and in many places, forest people violated forest laws – going into Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle.

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

Answer:

Ye wala khud se karlo because iska answer sabke case me vary karega. Because every students will imagine different answers for this question.

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

Answer:

Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the Dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for Dalits. 

When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates for Dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society. Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position, and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was willing to give up the demand for separate electorates if Muslims were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in proportion to population in the Muslim-dominated provinces (Bengal and Punjab). Negotiations over the question of representation continued, but all hope of resolving the issue at the All Parties Conference in 1928 disappeared when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts at compromise.