Nation Building and Integration
NCERT Class 12 - Politics in India Since Independence, Chapter 1
Nation Building and Integration
India faced three challenges at independence - holding together a diverse territory, establishing democracy, and ensuring development and equity. The first was the most urgent, and it was settled between 1947 and 1956.
Partition and its consequences
- Partition followed from the two-nation theory, the claim that Hindus and Muslims constituted two separate nations.
- The Radcliffe Line divided Punjab and Bengal, the two provinces with no clear majority, and the award was published after independence.
- It produced the largest recorded migration in human history, with enormous loss of life and property, and left millions as refugees to be resettled.
- The problem of minorities on both sides remained after the boundary was drawn, which is why India chose a secular constitution rather than a religious definition of citizenship.
Integration of the princely states
- There were about 565 princely states, which became technically independent when British paramountcy lapsed.
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, with V. P. Menon as secretary of the States Ministry, negotiated their accession using a combination of persuasion, appeal to patriotism and firmness.
- Most rulers signed an Instrument of Accession, transferring defence, foreign affairs and communications to the Indian Union.
| Difficult case | How it was settled |
|---|---|
| Junagadh | The ruler acceded to Pakistan; a plebiscite in 1948 confirmed accession to India |
| Hyderabad | The Nizam resisted; the state joined India after police action in September 1948 |
| Kashmir | The Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession in October 1947 after a tribal invasion |
| Manipur | Acceded first, and merged with India in 1949 after negotiations |
- Accession was followed by integration - states were merged into existing provinces, grouped into new unions, or made centrally administered, and the rulers received privy purses, later abolished by the 26th Amendment.
Linguistic reorganisation
- The Congress had long accepted linguistic provinces, but after partition the leadership feared that redrawing boundaries on language would encourage further division.
- The Dhar Commission of 1948 and the JVP Committee of 1949, consisting of Nehru, Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya, both rejected language as the basis of reorganisation.
- The movement in the Telugu-speaking areas, and the death of Potti Sriramulu after a prolonged fast, forced the creation of Andhra Pradesh in 1953, the first state formed on a linguistic basis.
- The States Reorganisation Commission, headed by Fazl Ali, accepted language as a basis, and the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised the country into fourteen states and six union territories.
- Bombay was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1960, and Punjab was reorganised in 1966 with the creation of Haryana.
- Reorganisation did not weaken the country - accepting linguistic diversity removed a grievance rather than creating one, which is the standard conclusion in answers.
हिंदी संकेत: भाषा के आधार पर बना पहला राज्य आंध्र प्रदेश (1953) था, और उसके बाद राज्य पुनर्गठन अधिनियम 1956 आया। ये दो तिथियां अलग हैं।
Exam me kaise aata hai
Factual questions ask who integrated the princely states, which was the first linguistic state, and who headed the States Reorganisation Commission. Match-the-following links a difficult princely state with how it was settled. Statement-based questions test the JVP Committee's position on language.
UPSC / State PSC ke liye
The analytical conclusion examiners expect is that accommodating diversity strengthened unity - India accepted linguistic states and survived, while attempts elsewhere to impose a single language produced secession. Also note the contrast between accession, a legal transfer of three subjects, and integration, the administrative and constitutional absorption that followed.
Yahan confuse hote hain
✗ The States Reorganisation Act created the first linguistic state | ✓ Andhra Pradesh was created in 1953, before the Act of 1956
✗ The JVP Committee recommended linguistic states | ✓ It rejected language as the basis of reorganisation
✗ Accession and integration mean the same thing | ✓ Accession transferred three subjects; integration was the fuller absorption that followed
Ek nazar me
- Three challenges - territorial unity, democracy, and development with equity.
- Partition followed the two-nation theory; the Radcliffe Line divided Punjab and Bengal.
- About 565 princely states were integrated by Sardar Patel with V. P. Menon.
- Junagadh settled by plebiscite, Hyderabad by police action, Kashmir by the Instrument of Accession.
- Dhar Commission and the JVP Committee rejected language as the basis of reorganisation.
- Potti Sriramulu's fast led to Andhra Pradesh in 1953, the first linguistic state.
- Fazl Ali Commission led to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 and fourteen states.