NCERT Solutions For Class 10 History Chapter 3 Nationalism In India Long Questions And Answers
Question 1. What were the causes of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre? What were its effects?
Answer:
The following were the causes of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre:
- Rowlatt Act was passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the opposition of the Indian members.
- Rowlatt Act gave the government enormous powers to suppress political activities and allowed the detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
- Mahatma Gandhi decided to start a non-violent civil disobedience movement against the Rowlatt Act.
- Rallies were organised in various cities and workers went on strike.
- Local leaders were picked from Amritsar and Mahatma Gandhi was barred from entering Delhi.
- On 10 April, police fired upon a peaceful procession in Amritsar provoking widespread attacks on banks, post offices, and railway stations.
- Martial Law was declared in Amritsar and General Dyer took command.
- On 13 April, a large crowd was gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh to protest against the government’s new repressive measures.
- Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit, and opened fire killing hundreds.
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Jallianwala Bagh massacre Effects
- As the news of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre spread, crowds came to the streets in many north Indian towns.
- There were strikes, clashes with the police, and attacks on government buildings. The government retaliated with brutal repression.
- Satyagrahis were forced to rub their nose on the ground, crawl on the streets, and salute all officers. People were flogged and villages were bombed.
Question 2. Which incident marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement? How was the Civil Disobedience Movement different from the Non-Cooperation Movement?
Answer:
On 6 April 1930, Gandhiji reached Dandi and violated the law, manufacturing salt by boiling seawater. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Difference between the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Non-Cooperation Movement
Question 3. Why did Mahatma Gandhi take up the Khilafat issue?
Answer:
Satyagraha was a widespread movement. But it was limited only to cities and towns. Mahatma Gandhi now felt the need to launch a more broad-based movement in India.
But any movement of this type was not possible without bringing the Hindus and the Muslims closer together. Gandhiji was well aware of this fact. So he felt that one way of doing this was taking up the Khilafat issue.
The First World War ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. There were rumors that a harsh peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman the spiritual head of the Islamic world to be called Khalifa.
In March 1919 in Bombay, a Khilafat Committee was formed. Leaders like Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali began discussing with Mahatma Gandhi the possibility of a united mass action under the umbrella of a unified national movement.
At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, it was decided to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as Swaraj.
Question 4. Write a note on the rebellion in the countryside during the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Answer:
From the cities, the movement spread to the countryside. It drew into its fold the struggles of peasants and tribals which were developing in different parts of India in the years after the war.
Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi, led the peasants of Awadh in the
Non-Cooperation Movement. Baba Ramchandra had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured laborer.
The movement was aimed against landlords who demanded from peasants extraordinarily high rents and a variety of other cesses.
Peasants had to begar and work at landlords’ farms without any payment. The peasant’s movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive landlords.
In many places, nai-dhobi bandhs were organized by the panchayats to deprive landlords of the services of even barbers and washermen.
The name of the Mahatma was invoked to sanction all actions and aspirants. In the early 1920s, in the Guden Hills of Andhra Pradesh, a militant guerrilla movement spread.
Alluri Sitaram Raju was the leader of the revolt in the Guden Hills of Andhra Pradesh. He claimed that he had a variety of special powers.
He could make correct astrological predictions and heal people, and he could survive even bullets.
Captivated by Raju, the rebels proclaimed that he was an incarnation of God. Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi.
Inspired by the Non- Non-Cooperation Movement he persuaded the people to wear khadi and give up drinking. But at the same time, he also asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence.
The Guden rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials, and carried on guerilla warfare to achieve Swaraj. Raju was captured and executed in 1924 CE and over time became a folk hero.
Question 5. Describe the revolt of plantation workers of Assam. What was its result?
Answer:
For plantation workers of Assam, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed and it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come.
Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not allowed to leave the tea gardens without permission, and in reality, they were rarely given such permission.
Result:
During the Non-Cooperation Movement, countless workers defied the authorities, left the plantations, and headed home.
They believed that Gandhi Raj had been established and everyone would get land in his own village. But they were caught on the way and beaten up by the police.
The visions of these movements were not defined by the Congress program. They interpreted the term Swaraj in their own ways, imagining it to be a time when all suffering and troubles would be over.
The tribals raised slogans of ‘Swatantra Bharat’ and identified themselves with an all-India agitation and acted in the name of Mahatma Gandhi.
Question 6. Why did Mahatma Gandhi choose the abolition of the Salt Tax in his demand?
Answer:
The demand for the abolition of the Salt Tax was the most stirring demand. Salt was one of the most essential items of food. It was something consumed by the rich and the poor alike.
The tax on salt and the government monopoly over its production revealed the most oppressive face of British rule. So Mahatma Gandhi decided to choose the abolition of the Salt Tax in his demand.
Question 7. The industrial working class did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers. Why?
Answer:
The industrial working class did not participate in the movement in large numbers except in the Nagpur region. As the industrialists came closer to Congress, workers stayed aloof.
Congress was also not willing to include worker’s demands as part of its program of struggle. It felt that this would alienate the industrialists and divide the anti-imperial forces.
Question 8. Why did various classes and groups of Indians participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?
Answer:
The various classes and groups of Indians participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement to fulfill their own interests. They craved their own meaning for Swaraj.
For example:
- For the businessmen, swaraj meant a time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer exist and trade and industry would flourish without constraints.
- Similarly to the rich peasant classes, swaraj was a struggle against high land revenue.
- Women took swaraj as the attainment of elevated status and equality with men in Indian society.
- Poor peasants considered that they would have their own land, and would not have to pay rent or do begar when they have Swaraj.
- The working class dreamed of high wages and excellent working conditions.
Question 9. How did the growth of Indian literature awaken the feeling of nationalism among the people?
Answer:
With the advent of the Press in India, Indian literature started to grow in the country.
Thus Indian literature played a very important role in awakening the feeling of nationalism among the people in the 19th century. Many great writers wrote a lot about nationalism.
Some of these great writers were Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Navin Chandra Sen, D.L. Roy, etc. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Vande Mataram as a hymn to the motherland.
Later on, it was included in his novel Anandamath and widely sung during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal. Rabindranath Tagore himself began collecting ballads, rhymes, and myths and led the movement of the folk revival.
At the same time writings of Western thinkers like Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Mill, etc., also revolutionized the minds of the people.
Question 10. How did the national movement become a mass movement after the First World War?
Answer:
Certain factors contributed to the changing of the national movement into a mass movement after the First World War. These factors are stated below:
- During the First World War Gandhiji came to the scene of Indian politics. His methods of non-violence, Satyagraha, truth, etc., changed national movements into mass movements.
- Britishers had spent a lot of money to win the First World War. They imposed many taxes on Indians to levy that money. General masses turned against this step of the government.
- In 1919, the Britishers introduced many reforms but they were not according to the aspirations of Indians. Indian masses got angry and turned against the government.
- In 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place. People became angry with this and turned against the government.
Question 11. How did economic exploitation of the country arouse national consciousness among Indians in the late 19th century?
Or
“Economic exploitation aroused the feeling of national consciousness among the Indian people in the late 19th Century”? Justify.
Answer:
- Britishers came to India just in the form of traders. But slowly and slowly they gained political control over here and captured the whole of India. They started to exploit India economically.
- They imposed heavy taxes on farmers and peasantry because of which they became starved of everything. Even landlords left them at the mercy of moneylenders.
- Unemployed and exploited peasantry joined the national movement for freedom. Britishers also destroyed indigenous trade and industry.
- They started to take raw materials at low prices and started to sell finished products at higher prices. With this people became poor and then joined a national movement to win freedom from the Britishers.