10 India After Independence

1 OUR PASTS III128 India After Independence10A New and Divided NationWhen India became independent in August 1947, itfaced a series of very great challenges. As a result ofPartition, 8 million refugees had come into the countryfrom what was now Pakistan. These people had to befound homes and jobs. Then there was the problemof the princely states, almost 500 of them, each ruledby a maharaja or a nawab, each of whom had to bepersuaded to join the new nation. The problems of therefugees and of the princely states had to be addressedimmediately. In the longer term, the new nation had toadopt a political system that would best serve the hopesand expectations of its 1 Fig. 1 Fig. 1 Fig. 1 Fig. 1 Mahatma Gandhi's ashes being immersed in Allahabad, February 1948 Less than six months After Independence the nation was in mourning. On 30 January 1948, MahatmaGandhi was assassinated by a fanatic, Nathuram Godse, because he disagreed with Gandhiji s convictionthat Hindus and Muslims should live together in harmony.

2 That evening, a stunned nation heard JawaharlalNehru s moving statement over All India Radio: Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our livesand there is darkness everywhere .. our beloved leader .. the Father of the Nation is no more. 2022-23129 ActivityImagine that you are aBritish administratorleaving India in are writing a letterhome where you discusswhat is likely to happento India without theBritish. What would beyour views about thefuture of India ? Franchise The right tovoteIndia s population in 1947 was large, almost 345million. It was also divided. There were divisionsbetween high castes and low castes, between themajority Hindu community and Indians who practisedother faiths. The citizens of this vast land spoke manydifferent languages, wore many different kinds of dress,ate different kinds of food and practised differentprofessions. How could they be made to live together inone nation-state?

3 To the problem of unity was added the problem ofdevelopment. At Independence , the vast majority ofIndians lived in the villages. Farmers and peasantsdepended on the monsoon for their survival. So did thenon-farm sector of the rural economy, for if the cropsfailed, barbers, carpenters, weavers and other servicegroups would not get paid for their services either. Inthe cities, factory workers lived in crowded slums withlittle access to education or health care. Clearly, thenew nation had to lift its masses out of poverty byincreasing the productivity of agriculture and bypromoting new, job-creating and development had to go hand in hand. Ifthe divisions between different sections of India werenot healed, they could result in violent and costlyconflicts high castes fighting with low castes, Hinduswith Muslims and so on. At the same time, if the fruitsof economic development did not reach the broad massesof the population, it could create fresh divisions forexample, between the rich and the poor, between citiesand the countryside, between regions of India that wereprosperous and regions that lagged Constitution is WrittenBetween December 1946 and November 1949, somethree hundred Indians had a series of meetings onthe country s political future.

4 The meetings of this Constituent Assembly were held in New Delhi, butthe participants came from all over India , and fromdifferent political parties. These discussions resultedin the framing of the Indian Constitution, which cameinto effect on 26 January feature of the Constitution was its adoption ofuniversal adult franchise. All Indians above the age of21 would be allowed to vote in state and nationalelections. This was a revolutionary step for never beforehad Indians been allowed to choose their own other countries, such as the United Kingdom andINDIA After INDEPENDENCE2022-23 OUR PASTS III130 Fig. 2 Fig. 2 Fig. 2 Fig. 2 Fig. 2 Jawaharlal Nehruintroducing the resolution thatoutlined the objectives of theConstitutionthe United States, this right had been granted in only men of property had the vote. Then men whowere educated were also added on. Working-class mengot the vote only After a long struggle.

5 Finally, After abitter struggle of their own, American and British womenwere granted the vote. On the other hand, soon afterIndependence, India chose to grant this right to all itscitizens regardless of gender, class or second feature of the Constitution was that itguaranteed equality before the law to all citizens,regardless of their caste or religious affiliation. Therewere some Indians who wished that the political systemof the new nation be based on Hindu ideals, and thatIndia itself be run as a Hindu state. They pointed to theexample of Pakistan, a country created explicitly toprotect and further the interests of a particular religiouscommunity the Muslims. However, the Indian PrimeMinister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was of the opinion that Indiacould not and must not become a Hindu Pakistan .Besides Muslims, India also had large populationsof Sikhs and Christians, as well as many Parsis andJains.

6 Under the new Constitution, they would havethe same rights as Hindus the same opportunitieswhen it came to seeking jobs in government or theprivate sector, the same rights before the third feature of the Constitution was that it offeredspecial privileges for the poorest and most disadvantaged2022-23131 Nehru wrote in a letter tothe Chief Ministers of states:.. we have a Muslimminority who are so largein numbers that theycannot, even if they want,go anywhere else. That is abasic fact about whichthere can be no the provocationfrom Pakistan andwhatever the indignitiesand horrors inflicted onnon-Muslims there, wehave got to deal with thisminority in a civilisedmanner. We must givethem security and therights of citizens in ademocratic 1We must give themsecurity and rightsActivityImagine a conversationbetween a father and sonin a Muslim family. AfterPartition, the son thinks itwould be wiser for them tomove to Pakistan while thefather believes that theyshould continue to live inIndia.

7 Taking informationfrom the chapter so far(and Chapter 11), act outwhat each would say. India After INDEPENDENCEI ndians. The practice of untouchability, describedas a slur and a blot on the fair name of India ,was abolished. Hindu temples, previously open toonly the higher castes, were thrown open toall, including the former untouchables. After along debate, the Constituent Assembly alsorecommended that a certain percentage of seatsin legislatures as well as jobs in government bereserved for members of the lowest castes. It hadbeen argued by some that Untouchable or as theywere now known, Harijan, candidates did not havegood enough grades to get into the prestigiousIndian Administrative Service. But, as one memberof the Constituent Assembly, Khandekar,argued, it was the upper castes who wereresponsible for the Harijans being unfit today .Addressing his more privileged colleagues,Khandekar said:We were suppressed for thousands of engaged us in your service to serve yourown ends and suppressed us to such anextent that neither our minds nor our bodiesand nor even our hearts work, nor are weable to march with the former Untouchables, theadivasis or Scheduled Tribes were also grantedreservation in seats and jobs.

8 Like the ScheduledCastes, these Indians too had been deprived anddiscriminated against. The tribals had beendeprived of modern health care and education,while their lands and forests had been taken awayby more powerful outsiders. The new privilegesgranted them by the Constitution were meant tomake amends for Constituent Assembly spent many daysdiscussing the powers of the central governmentversus those of the state governments. Somemembers thought that the Centre s interestsshould be foremost. Only a strong Centre, it wasargued, would be in a position to think and planfor the well-being of the country as a whole . Othermembers felt that the provinces should havegreater autonomy and freedom. A member fromMysore feared that under the present system democracy is centred in Delhi and it is not allowedto work in the same sense and spirit in the rest ofthe country.

9 A member from Madras insisted that2022-23 OUR PASTS III132 ActivityDiscuss in your class,one advantage and onedisadvantage today ofthe decision to keepEnglish as a languageof India . the initial responsibility for thewell-being of the people of theprovinces should rest with theProvincial Governments .The Constitution sought tobalance these competing claims byproviding three lists of subjects: aUnion List, with subjects such astaxes, defence and foreign affairs,which would be the exclusiveresponsibility of the Centre; aState List of subjects, such aseducation and health, whichwould be taken care of principallyby the states; a Concurrent List,under which would come subjectssuch as forests and agriculture,in which the Centre and the stateswould have joint major debate in theConstituent Assembly concerned language. Manymembers believed that the English language shouldleave India with the British rulers.

10 Its place, theyargued, should be taken by Hindi. However, those whodid not speak Hindi were of a different opinion. Speakingin the Assembly, Krishnamachari conveyed awarning on behalf of people of the South , some of whomthreatened to separate from India if Hindi was imposedon them. A compromise was finally arrived at: namely,that while Hindi would be the official language of India ,English would be used in the courts, the services, andcommunications between one state and Indians contributed to the framing of theConstitution. But perhaps the most important role wasplayed by Dr Ambedkar, who was Chairman ofthe Drafting Committee, and under whose supervisionthe document was finalised. In his final speech to theConstituent Assembly, Dr Ambedkar pointed out thatpolitical democracy had to be accompanied by economicand social democracy. Giving the right to vote wouldnot automatically lead to the removal of otherinequalities such as between rich and poor, or betweenupper and lower castes.