UPSC Mains Answer Writing Practice Test 3 – Modern India

2. Do you think the methods and policies adopted by the moderates are an act of appeasing the British?

Answer: ​Moderates were a group of political leaders in India active between 1885 and 1905. Their emergence marked the beginning of the organised national movement in India. The major leaders during this period are Dadabhai Naoroji, W.C. Bannerjee etc.

The methods adopted by the moderates involve constitutional agitation, prayers, petitions and protests within the confines of law. The major methods involved by the moderates include create strong public opinion to arouse consciousness and national spirit and then educate and unite people on common political questions.

The acts of moderates are an act of appeasing British because:

●  They worked to persuade British government and British public opinion to introduce reforms in India.

●  They believed in the providential mission of Britishers in India. They wanted to reform the British rule and not remove the British rule from India.

●  They preferred the idea of the rule under Britishers and did not advocate for the Swaraj propounded by the Extremists. Yet, their contribution did not completely appease the British because:

●  They advocated for legislative expansions and constitutional reforms which were partially granted by the Council of India Act,1892.

●  They criticised the aggressive foreign policy of Britishers, argued for better treatment of indentured labourers abroad.

●  Leaders like Naoroji, R.C. Dutt etc. propounded the idea of economic drain of wealth and sent petitions to the Britishers wanting reforms in it.

●  Similarly, they worked for the granting of basic rights like right to speech, association, free press etc.

The Moderates laid down a strong foundation in the nationalist freedom struggle. The extremists were able to function effectively due to the strong base laid down by the moderates.

3. Evaluate the various factors led to the growth of Indian Nationalism.

Answer: ​Indian nationalism is a byproduct of the British colonial policies and the growth of indigenous factors associated with it. The various factors that helped develop nationalism are:
Negative drivers:
● Understanding contradictions between the aims of British rule and Indian nationals. Eg: Britishers in economic drain of wealth.
● Racist policies adopted by the Britishers post 1857 revolt.
● Imperialist policies adopted by the Britishers through the Permanent Land settlement system, deindustrialisation of Indian industries etc. caused a spur in nationalist movements.
● Aggressive foreign policies such as in Burma, Afghanistan etc. caused resentment among the
people.

Positive drivers:
● Impact of social reform movements such as Brahma Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission etc. developed ideals of humanity, rationality etc.
● Emergence of modern education, western middle class intelligentsia etc. triggered the growth of nationalism.
● Socio economic unity through development of railways, posts etc. helped spread the messages of nationalism.
● Impact of world wide movements such as the defeat of Italy in the hands of Abyssinia, defeat of Russia by Japan broke the myth of whiteman supremacy.
● Press and literature helped in the spread of nationalist messages as well.
● Formation of nationalist organisations such as the Indian National Congress in 1885 also caused the consolidation of nationalism.
While the lack of a nationalist feeling was the cause of failure during 1857 revolt, the later revolts were successful due to the emergence of unifying nationalist ideologies.

4. Evaluate the Ghadar movement and explain its impact on the revolutionary section of freedom fighters
Answer: ​Ghadar movement was a revolutionary group at San Francisco during early 1910’s.They carried out the activities through the newspaper like Ghadr. They established Swadesh Sevak Home at Vancouver and United India House at USA to spread their revolutionary messages. Their movement got accelerated during the Komagatamaru incident.
They tried to organise assassination of officials, publish revolutionary and anti imperialist literature. Their aim was to bring in an organised revolt in all British colonies. They adopted a secular approach along with militant nationalism.
However due to the lack of organised leadership due to the incapacity of Lala Hardayal, severe repressions by the Britishers by the Defence of India Act, 1915 the Ghadar movement was nullified. The large scale detentions without trial, special courts etc. hindered the movement as well.
The movement has a great impact in the case of revolutionaries abroad. The Berlin committee for Indian Independence was established immediately after the movement. The revolutionaries living abroad sent missions to various places in India to invite anti British feeling among the people of these countries.
The second phase of revolutionary movements during the 1920’s was inspired majorly from the impacts of Ghadar movement. The revolutionary phase expanded to the parts of North West such as Punjab after this phase.

5. Do you agree with the view that the growth of vernacular literature in the 19th and the 20th centuries paved the way for social reform and cultural revival in India?
Answer: ​Vernacular literature development was largely helped by the growth of socio religious reform movements during the 19th and 20th century.

Vernacular literature and social reforms:
● Rajaram Mohan Roy preached against the social evils such as sati through Sambad Kaumudi.
● Bal Shastri Jambedkar started weekly Darpan and attacked brahmanical orthodoxy and tried to  reform Hinduism.
● Jyotiba Phule through Gulamgiri advocated eradication of caste as the primary need of the society
● Aligarh movement emphasised on the reconciliation of Muslim society with western education. It
aimed to impart scientific temper and rationality among the Muslims.

Vernacular literature and cultural revival:
● Dayanand Saraswati through Satyarth Prakash advocated to go back to the Vedas. The vedic rituals and events were given extreme importance through his books.
● Tilak in his book Kesari and Maharatta tried to revive the old identity of the Maratha kingdoms Similarly, the orthidox organisations released vernacular books which sought to emphasise and conserve the traditional and orthodox elements.
The impact of vernacular literature and press was such that the Britishers introduced Vernacular Press Act to nullify its impacts.

7 . What caused the de-industrialisation of Indian industries during the 18th and 19th century? Comment.

Answer: ​During the 17th and 18th century even before the arrival of Europeans, India, not being an industrial country, was the “industrial workshop” of the world. But within a span of 60 years, once British started ruling the subcontinent, India witnessed the process of De-Industrialisation. This term came into prominence in India to describe the process of destruction of Indian handicraft industries by competition from the products of British manufacture during the nineteenth century.

De-industrialisation in India

India had a internal balance between agriculture and handicraft. But this internal balance of the village economy had been systematically slaughtered by the British Government. This process came to be known as de-industrialisation.

In the process, traditional handicraft industries slipped away, from its pre-eminence and its decline started at the turn of the 18th century and proceeded rapidly almost to the beginning of the 19th century.
India’s share of manufacturing output in the world was as high as 19.7 % in 1800. But in a span of 60 years, it plummeted to 8.6 % in 1860 and to 1.4% in 1913.

Causes of de-industrialisation in India

Disappearance of the court culture of late Mughal days and old aristocracy:

●  The main source of demand for the products of these handicrafts came from the royal courts, and the urban aristocrats. With the abolition of the royal court, one source of demand for the products of these crafts dried up.

●  However, this had been to some extent counterbalanced by the class of nobles and urban aristocrats who patronized the arts and the handicrafts in satellite states like Awadh, Bengal, Hyderabad, Punjab etc.

The end of Battle of Buxar gave the Britishers the Diwani right. As a result, the Britishers imposed heavy tax on goods made in India. The British government introduced one way free trade in the Charter Act and as a result the artisans were subjected to huge losses.

●  The small towns like Machilipatanam were the hub of industries before the British rule. However, once the British rule emerged the industries shifted to large towns and thus the artisans could not sustain their small industries in the small towns and they were forced to work as wage labourers under the industries developed by artisans.

●  But, with the gradual extension of the British rule and the decline in royal power all over India, craftsmen gradually pulled down the shutters of their karkhanas.

The establishment of an alien rule:
● The industry wished a new source of demand from the European officials and tourists. But the European officials favoured imported manufactures.
● A certain amount of European demand for these handicrafts existed which slackened the rapidity of decline to a smaller degree.
● However, this small European demand sabotaged the artistic quality of Indian handicrafts since they introduced new forms and pattern to suit their tastes which were beyond the craftsmen’s comprehension.
● British rule establishment also resulted in the loss of powers of the craftsmen organization and other bodies that used to supervise and regulate the trade.
● This led to the adulteration of materials, shoddy and slovenly workmanship, resulting in a decline of the artistic and commercial value of the products.
● Naturally, they assiduously copied these forms and the consequence of this blind imitation was disastrous to indigenous arts. The classic example was the Kashmir Shawl industry.

The competition from machine-made goods:
● Machine- made textile goods of Britain did the great damage to this Indian industry since 1750. The invention of power-loom in Europe completed the decline of this important industry.
● Industry that had experienced the onslaught of de-industrialisation most was the cotton textile industry.
● Consequent upon industrial revolution in cotton textile industry, there had been massive growth of British imports in India and the domination of British cloth in the Indian market did the havoc.
● It created large scale unemployment as well as unbelievable drop in wages among the spinners and weavers.
● Other affected industries were jute handloom weaving of Bengal, woolen manufacturers of Kashmir, silk manufacture of Bengal, hand-paper industry, glass industry, lac, bangles, etc. Tariff policy:
● The tariff policy opted by the British Government led to the decay of industries.
● This tariff policy came to be known as ‘one-way free trade’ policy which preached that what was good for England was considered to be good for India.
● To put her manufacturing industries on a sound footing at home, England pursued the policy of protection through the imposition of import duties. But for India, she preached the gospel of free trade.

Internal causes:
● The weaknesses in the industrial structure itself must also be blamed for this decline of handicraft industries​
● No efforts were made to explore markets for products. India’s foreign trade was in the hands of foreigners.
● This meant that the Indian artisans and producers were at the mercy of foreign merchants so far as sales or demand propagation in overseas markets were concerned. Secondly, guild organisation in India was definitely very weak.
● Finally, she did not possess a class of industrial entrepreneurs unlike its western counterparts.
India mainly became an exporter of raw materials and importer of finished goods which led to De-Industrialization and overcrowding of agriculture. This also led to economic drain of India. Imperialism and colonialism became the reason for the backwardness of the Indian economy as various policies like zamindari system, forest laws were used to extract more and more revenues, hurting the interest of common people and leading to their impoverishment.

8. The British investment in technology in the second half of the 19th century benefited the British economy but gave impetus to the Indian freedom struggle. Comment.
Answer: ​British investment and political alignments in the 19th century led to the creation of modern India. Modern industry was also seen as a major force which could help to unite the diverse people of India into a single national entity having common interests.

British investment in transportation:
● Indian railways: British introduced the railway system in India because they felt the need for a fast and quick transportation to carry the raw materials across the country easily which was needed by them. It was one of the major means of transportation during those times
● The Indian national congress used the railways as the umbrella to connect members from the “Indian intelligentsia and ascendant professional classes across the sub continent”.
● For anti British sabotage the trains became the most symbolic as well s practical resource.
● The general railway strike was a beginning to the various national movements witnessed by India in the later part of the century.
● Shipping: with the introduction of steamships in the mid 19th century not only travel time declined in respect of the movement of goods and passengers but it also enjoyed enormous cost advantage over country boats. it favored the British and gave them enormous powers. To compete against this British monopoly various initiatives were carried over in different parts of the country.

Example: Tamil political leader V.O. Chidambaram Pillai set up the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company ply ships between Tuticorin and Colombo during the Indian freedom struggle.
● Road transport: The means of road transportation in India were not up to the mark until the British explored it. Advanced technologies used by British to build Indian roads definitely helped them but on the other hand it strengthened the Indian freedom movement. The leaders all over India used this transportation facility to move from corner to corner of India to spread the Nationalist ideology among the Natives.
British investment in communication:
● Postal services and Telegraph: Indian postal system was in deplorable condition. Posts were sent
by horses and post men. This system took a long time to carry letters and news. Dalhousie introduced electric telegraph in India as a quick and better communication media. It in turn helped the national movement leaders to have better and timely communication.
● Underground radio was used by Usha Mehta during the Quit India struggle as a means to communicate among the revolutionaries. This is an excellent adaptation of the communication technology.
● Indian press: Though the idea of press in India is a contribution of British, it was well utilized by the Indian national movement leaders in the later periods. It was used as a tool for spreading the propaganda of nationalist movement.
● Economy of Britain flourished at the cost of Indian economy. The Government of India succeeded in suppressing all internal resistances and in defending the empire against all external aggressions. It added efficiency and greater mobility to the army and military operations, hereafter, became easier and successful. It brought safety and stability for the

British Empire in India.
● The advent of new modern weapons from the western world were initially limited to the Europeans only. This helped to maintain a supremacy for the colonial powers over the Indian freedom fighters. However, with the advent of militant nationalism and the revolutionaries, the modern weapons were used effectively by the freedom fighters to overthrow the colonial government.
However, these reforms proved a boon for the Indians. Railways and roads established greater contact among the people of various parts of India. It also opened greater opportunity for interaction among the people.
It changed the attitude of the people and broadened the outlook of Indians. Gradually it developed the feeling of oneness and commitment towards the motherland. Historians hold the view that it was the beginning of patriotism and so to say nationalism. 

9. “To characterize the Quit India Movement as ‘Spontaneous Revolution’ would be a partial interpretation, so also would be to look up at it as the culmination of Gandhian Satyagraha movements.” Elucidate.
Answer: ​The All India Congress Committee met at Bombay on 8 August 1942. It passed the famous resolution, ‘Quit India’, and proposed the starting of a non-violent mass struggle under Gandhi’s leadership to achieve this aim.

Quit India movement as a spontaneous revolution:
● The Cripps Mission of the 1942 undermined through their proposals. Infact they gave only dominion status to India when the freedom fighters were fighting for complete independence.
● Nationalist leaders including Gandhiji opposed it and he called it as a post dated cheque. The Congress Working Committee, although unorganised at that time and undergoing a period of Truce due to it, immediately was directed to be ready for a mass movement.
● Thus Quit India Movement began in Bombay on August 8,1942 with the slogan Do or Die.
● But on the very next day, Gandhi and other eminent leaders of the Congress were arrested. The Congress was once again declared illegal. The news of these arrests left the country aghast, and a spontaneous movement of protest arose everywhere, giving expression to the pent up anger of the people.
● The masses were left without any guidance. Gandhi’s ‘do or die’ call for the people created an upheaval in the country. This ruined the atmosphere of non- violence in the country. Unlike the other two movements, the Non-Co-Operation and the Civil Disobedience Movement that unleashed under the aegis of Mahatma Gandhi, the Quit India Movement captures the quintessence of a ‘spontaneous’ rising by the people. However, it cannot be called completely ‘spontaneous’ because the stage for a mass movement was being set for almost two decades before the Quit India movement actually happened. Quit India Movement as a culmination of Gandhian Satyagraha movement
● The start of the work was begun by the region specific satyagrahas such as the Champaran Satyagraha Kheda satyagraha, Ahmedabad mill strike etc. Although these were regional in nature, it helped to mobilise people on the lines of nationalism.
● Then came the All India satyagraha organised under the Rowlatt Satyagraha which was the first All India strike organised under the Gandhian satyagraha principles.
● Similarly, by the 1920’s Non Cooperation Movement emerged. Gandhi was successful in uniting Hindus and Muslims over the causes of national movements. He also began to intensify the protests over pan India level which was later intensified by the Civil Disobedience Movement during 1930’s over the question of salt taxes.
● People from all over India united in this cause and this was the final straw before the Quit India movement.
● There was no popular movements after the Civil Disobedience Movement and even this movement had to be called off half way not most of the sections of India and within
However, there are non-Gandhian or non Satyagraha elements as well. The Indians were becoming more and more unsatisfied with the British rule since the partial success of Civil Disobedience Movement and repeated turn down of demands by the British.

10. “The communalist tendencies of the societies were sown by the British but began to flower long after.” In this light evaluate the trend of the communalism in India?
Answer: ​Communalism is the belief that because a group of people follow a particular religion they have, as a result, common secular, that is, social, political and economic interests. Along with the rise of nationalism, communalism too made its appearance around the end of the nineteenth century and posed the biggest threat to the unity of the Indian people during the national movement and even after independence.
Hindus and Muslims had fought shoulder to shoulder during the Revolt of 1857. In fact, after the suppression of the Revolt, British officials had taken a particularly vindictive attitude towards the Muslims. 

From now on the Muslims were in general looked upon with suspicion.But this attitude changed in the 1870s. With the rise of the nationalist movement the British statesmen grew apprehensive about the safety and stability of their empire in India. To check the growth of a united national feeling in the country, the British decided to follow more actively the policy of ​‘divide and rule’ and to divide the people along religious lines, in other words, to encourage communal and separatist tendencies in Indian politics.

For this purpose they decided to come out as ‘champions’ of the Muslims and to win over to their side Muslim zamindars, landlords and the newly educated. Later in time, the British implemented more of the diving tactics like the Communal awards during Council of India Act,1909 and Council of India Act,1919 etc. and separate electorates which all proved to accelerate the Hindu-Muslim faction.

The emergence of militant nationalism during the early 1900’s became a catalyst to polarise the communities. The emergence of communal organisations like Hindu Mahasabha etc. became its negative consequence. As a result, even the progressive social reform movements had succumbed to the communalism elements. The Deoband movement, Wahabi movement, Arya Samaj through its Shuddhi movement etc. became instances of this communal polarisation of the religion.
In the Indian National Congress itself, several communal elements emerge due to the presence of Responsivist leaders. They sought to preserve the Hindu interests and were blinded by the interests of religion over the nationalism.

By 1937, Muslim Leage became a non existent power in India. Congress was able to form government in all but 3 provinces all over India. This apprehended the leaders like Jinnah who sought for a separate nation to conserve the Muslim interests. This led to the emergence of Pakistan resolution in 1940 and the march for separate nation through Direct Action Day immediately before the independence of India in 1947.
These seeds sown by the British proved to be the very base of Hindu-Muslim divide and communalism in India which ultimately resulted in the partition of India is 1947. However, there are other factors also which fuelled communalism in India like the disappointment and disaffection among young and aspiring middle class youth, caused by stagnant agriculture, absence of modern industrial development and inadequate employment opportunities, which is being exploited by political opportunists and the role played by Hindu and Muslim revivalist movements.

Communalism in post independent India

Post independence, communalisation was used as a political tool to garner votes for the parties. Communalisation of politics through the vote bank politics became an instance for the rampant communal riots, mob lynching, religious disputes, emergence of ghettoisation, hate speeches etc. in our country.
Government has to take active measures to control the events of communalism to maintain peace and harmony among people transcending religion