Rajasthan Board RBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Chapter 23 India after Independence
India became independent on 15th August, 1947. At that time there were many challenges before Independent India like:
- Rehabilitation of 70 to 80 lac refugees who came to India after Partition.
- Integration of 562 Indian states.
- Fixation of boundaries with the neighboring countries and making good relations with them.
- Reviving and strengthening India’s economy.
- Arousing spirit of unity among the diversities of language, caste and regionalism by recognizing elements of unity in them and in calculating feeling of glory towards nation.
Organisation of Constituent Assembly and the Formation of the New Constitution:
Before 1947 India had British rule and in that period to run administration essential rules were made by the British Parliament. British Parliament while making laws kept only the interest of British in mind. There was no participation of Indians in it, on and off just to please Indians some demands of Indians were accepted. Hence from a long period Indian people were demanding their participation in constitution making.
Organisation of Constituent Assembly:
When resentment of Indians increased after Second World War against British, Bombay Navy Revolt and struggle of Azad Hind Fauj made realized British rulers that now they have to leave India. They sent a commission of ministry in which demand of making Constitution by Indian was accepted.
On the basis of report of the Cabinet Mission, the Indian constituent Assembly was formed in 1946. The representative from provinces and from the British India were included by the British Governor. It was democratically structured body, with one elected member representing the population of 10 lacs. Provincial representatives were elected on the basis of restricted franchise and the representatives from British India were nominated by the rulers. Out of total of 389 members in the Constituent Assembly, 292 were from the British ruled provinces, four from Chief Commissioner Governed provinces and 93 from the Riyasats.
Dr. Rajendar Prasad was the Chairman of the constituent Assembly. With the partition of India by the British into India and Pakistan, the constituent Assembly too was bifurcated. Now Indian constituent Assembly was left with 299 members as Pakistan was separated and Hyderabad representatives did not join. It took nearly three years to prepare the constitution based on the system of Parliamentary Democracy.
In which interests of all classes of Indian society were kept in mind, the objective of Parliamentary democratic admistrative system was to give opportunity to participate common people and able people could give leadership to the nation. In this way the constituent assembly prepared a new constitution for Indians and even today India is world’s main Democratic Republic. The President of this constituent assembly was Dr. Rajendra Prasad who later became the first President of Independent India.
Few facts about constituent assembly:
- On 9th December, 1946 the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held in the Central Hall of Lok Sabha.
- It had 389 members.
- After the Partition of Pakistan on June 3, 1947, 299 members were left in the Constituent assembly.
- 17 samities were formed for preparing the constitution. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution.
- On 26th November, 1949 the Constitution was notified, dedicated and adopted.
- Finally on 26th January, 1950 it was enforced in the country.
Merger of the Princely States in India:
In British India there were two types of states in Indian Empire.
- The state ruled over by the British Governor.
- Desi riyasats (provincial States) ruled over by the Indian kings under the British. These provincial states were located in all parts of India. Amongst them few had very large area while few were very small. These riyasats were under the British Empire by the pacts and agreements.
British divided India at the time of making it free and divided all regions in two Nations-Bharat and Pakistan. English ended all the pacts done with riyasats before, and left their rights over them and give them right that to either join Pakistan or India or to remain independent. It made the condition typical because rulers of some riyasats wanted to remain free while some wanted to merge with Pakistan.
Though these Riyasats located in the centre of the India and subject of here too wanted to merge with India. Due to such step of these rulers there could be danger to the integrity of India. So to sort out this problem, the interim government of India set up a riyasat deparment under the chairmanship of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He inspired the rulers of the Indian states to merge with India and suggested to keep in mind the geographical, economical and wishes of the people in mind.
The rulers of Baroda and Bikaner were the first to join the Indian union. Nawab of Bhopal on the encouragement of India made a plan to merge with Pakistan by merging few rulers of Rajasthan with him, but Rajasthan Mewar was in mid of their state and Pakistan hence, they sent their representative to contact Maharana of Mewar Bhoopal Singh, but he replied that my fore father have already given decision regarding the merger of Mewar, if treacherous would be done them. I would have large riyasats than Hyderabad. In this way he set an example of patriotism and decided to merge with India and failed the plan of Jinnah of merging desi riyasat in Pakistan. Prior to 15th August, 1947, except Junagarh, Hyderabad and Kashmir, all the states gave their consent to join the Indian union. Later the Junagarh public revolted against the Nawab and Junagarh was merged with India. Hyderabad was merged with India after military action by Sardar Patel. Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir and the political parties too gave their consent to join the Indian union.
In this way with the great efforts of Sardar Patel desi riyasats merged in Indian Union and rest of the India saved from disintegration. The way in which Sardar Patel showed his firm determination during whole incident because of it he was called ‘Iron Man’.
Rehabilitation of Refugees:
About 70 – 80 lakhs of people had migrated to India due to division of India and Pakistan. It was the biggest challenge for India to rehabilitate them. Migration from Pakistan to India – Sindhis in the West India, Punjabis in the North India and Bengalis in the East India. They were, in the beginning, sheltered in camps with all the facilities. Gradually they were provided work facilities too to earn their livelihood. After sometime they contributed a lot to the progress of Indian industry.
The Sindhis developed new cities as Ulhaspur (Maharashtra), Gandhidham (Gujarat), Aadipur (Gujarat) etc. The Punjabis developed farming in Peelibhit (U.P), Shivpuri (M.P) and Sriganganagar (Rajasthan) Many of the migrator set up small and large scale factories in Delhi, Karnal and Kanpur. In fact they contributed in every field such as political, cinema, business, research, journalism, etc. They proved whether adverse condition may be they can face any challenge.
India’s Relations with the Neighbouring Nations:
When India and Pakistan were separated a commission under the chairmanship of a British officer, Redcliff was organised. It determined the boundary line between India and Pakistan. This line is today known as the Redcliff Line. The Indian states were free to join either Pakistan or India or remain independent.
Kashmir ruler Maharaja Hari Singh along with other rulers had given their consent to merge with India, but Pakistan attempted to occupy Kashmir in the shadow of tribes though the Indian army pushed the tribal and Pakistani army back, but it succeeded in having its unauthorised occupation over a part of Kashmir territory. After the war in 1948, there have been wars between India and Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and 1994. Though Pakistan has suffered a defeat every time yet the tension continue to exist in the area.
On the Northern side there is a dispute with China over territories. China has occupied a large part of the Indian territory illegally. We have good relations with other neighboring nations such as Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Our boundaries are open with Nepal and Bhutan.
Economic Development:
English converted Indian economy according to their interest. During the period of Dominionism in India, the British had ruined our cottage industries and made our country a producer of raw material for the British Industries. Some of the fertile areas of India were transferred to Pakistan as a result of partition.
To restructure India’s economy and eliminate poverty there was a need of well managed planning. In 1950 the Planning Commission was organised and under it plans for the periods of five years were prepared to boost the Indian economy, known as the Five Year Plans. In the second Five Year Plan stress was given on the development of heavy industries and construction of huge dams. Later five year plans aimed at the agricultural and community development. Presently 12th five year plan started from 2012.
In order to give representation to all the states and to speed up the economic development, a new institution the Niti Aayog was organized in 2015 to replace the Planning Commission. Prime Minister is its Ex- office Chairman and Chief ministers of all the states and the governors of union territories are its members. A well known economist, Arvind Pangaria is its first Deputy Chairman. In independent India demand remarking of State boundaries arose. So people could easily communicate with the administration.
Reorganisation of States:
Post Independence Integration of India: Before independence some states had very large size, like – Bombay in this state present Maharashtra and Gujarat were included. In Madras state present Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and few parts of Karnataka, were included.
In state named Central Province and Barar many parts of Central Hindustan were included. Among the state some in view of population and area were bigger than many countries of the world. Beside them there were more than 500 riyasats which had to be merge in another unit. For solving this problem from administrative point of view the States Reorganisation Commission was formed. Decision was taken after discussions and consultations that the states should be reorganised on the basis of language.
Accordingly, Madras was divided into Mysore, Andhra Pradesh and Madras. Later Madras was named Tamil Nadu. Mysore was renamed as Karnataka. Bombay state was divided into Gujarat and Maharashtra. Central province became Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan whose integration process had already started, require a stable state. In 1966 Punjab and Haryana states were formed. In November 2000 Uttaranchal now Uttarakhand was separated from Uttar Pradesh. Chhatisgarh has been separated from Madhya Pradesh, and similarly Jharkhand from Bihar. Telangana is created by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. Same demand is raised to create Bundelkhand and Vidarbha states but these are not organized yet.
Unification of Rajasthan:
Different Stages of Integration of Rajasthan:
Today Rajasthan was known as Rajputana prior to independence of India. There were many princely states in Rajputana. Their rulers administered under the directions and supervision of the British government. After Independence – they were integrated to form Rajasthan. It was decided by the States Department that the princely states having population less than 10 laks or income less than one crore should be merged with the neighboring larger states. The whole process of merger began in 1948 and continued till 1956 as given below. Status of Prime Minister in all the princely states of the country was changed to Chief Minister after India’s independence.
- First step: It was Matsay Sangh, organised in 17-03-1948 by merging Alwar, Bharatpur, Dhaulpur and Karauli. Shobharam was its Prime Minister. Udaibhan Singh of Dhaulpur was the Raj Pramukh. Alwar was the capital of Matsay Sangh.
- Second Step: Sanyukta Rajasthan was formed by merging Banswara, Kota, Bundi, Tonk, Jhalawar, Pratapgarh, Shahpura, Kishangarh and Dungarpur and two chief sheep Kusalgarh and Lava were included on 25.03.1948. Its capital was Kota, Gokul Lai Aasawa was the Prime Minister, Bheem Singh was Raj Pramukh. After three weeks Mewar or Udaipur also merged in it, Udaipur was its capital.
- Third Step: Manikya Lai Verma became Prime Minister (Chief Minister) and Bhoopal Singh of Mewar as Raj Pramukh.
- Fourth Step: Vrihat Rajasthan was formed on 30-03-1949 by merging Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner. Jaipur was its capital, Heera Lai Shastri was the Chief Minister (Prime Minister). Man Singh, Jaipur was Raj Pramukh. After enforcement of Indian constitution in whole country Prime Ministers of the states were called as Chief Minister.
- Fifth Step: Vrohat Rajasthan was enlarged by merging, Matsay Sangh in it 15-05-1949. Its capital continued to be Jaipur, Hiralal Shastri as the Chief Minister, Mansingh Jaipur as Raj Pramukh. Till now only Sirohi was left which was not merged in Rajasthan.
- Sixth Step: When India’s first Republic day was being celebrated. At that time expect Dilwara and Abu region rest Sirohi become the part of Rajasthan, recognisation state Commission organised by the Indian government ordered to merge region of Ajmer merwada in Rajasthan in 1956. Along sunel and Tappa of Madhya Pradesh, Dilwara and Abu Sirohi tehsils were also made the part of Rajasthan. The Siroohi of Rajasthan was merged with Madhya Pradesh. In this way present Rajasthan’s unification was done on 1st November 1956, but Rajasthan Diwas is celebrated on 30 March on the basis of Vrihat Rajasthan.