Class 8 NCERT Solutions History Chapter 12 - India After Independence

Three problems which were faced by the newly independent nation of India were;

(i) India had to settle around eight million refugees which had migrated into the country from newly born independent state of Pakistan. These people not only had to be settled but also had to be provided with employment.

(ii) The unity and integrity of the country had to be maintained by persuading the maharajas and nawabs of the princely states (almost 500) to join India.

(iii) India had to frame and adopt a political system which would serve the the hopes and expectations of the Indian population.

The Planning Commission was set up to formulate, plan and execute suitable policies for the economic development of India.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar emphasised that political democracy should be accompanied by economic and social democracy. He believed that giving the right to vote to each and every citizen would not necessarily lead to the removal of inequalities between the rich and the poor or between the people of the upper and the lower castes. It is only when the people themselves would work for eliminating inequalities existing in the society, the equality granted by the Constitution in the sphere of politics will be (equal voting rights) be of any value.

The government was reluctant to divide the country on the linguistic lines because the country was already divided on the basis of religion. The partition had killed millions of people. It feared that further division of the country on linguistic lines could disrupt its unity and integrity. It felt that it was required for the country to remain strong and to reject any force which could disturb the peace and unity of the country.

India has been a land of diversity in which many languages are spoken in various parts of the country. In 1956, the Indian states were reorganised on the basis of language. It was realised that imposing any one language over the entire country may affect the peace and unity of the country. Our government had the example of Pakistan before it where its government had imposed Urdu on the Bengali speaking people of East Pakistan (present Bangladesh).

Various discussions and debates were held by the Government regarding the selection of the official language of India in the Constituent Assembly. While many states wanted Hindi to become the official language of the country, many other states were against the imposition of Hindi over them. A compromise was thus arrived by which it was agreed that while Hindi would be the "official language" of India, English would continued to be used in all the government departments and court orders.

Economic development of India was visualised in the early decades after independence in the following ways:

1. Elimination of poverty and building of a modern and technologically advanced nation were the major objectives of the country. To fulfill this aim, a Planning Commission was set up. The main aim of the Planning Commission was to formulate, plan and execute suitable policies for the economic development of India.
2. Mixed Economy: Model of mixed economy was practiced in the country, where important and key industries were to remain under the government while encouragement was also to be given to the setting up of the private industries. It was expected that both the public and the private industries would play an important role in the development of the country’s economy.
3. The Second Five Years Plan laid emphasis on the development of heavy industries like steel. Stress was also given to the building of large dams. These were to remain under the control of the government. However, this approach of the Second  Five Year Plan was criticised on the grounds that it did not give adequate emphasis on agriculture and it also neglected primary education.