Q17 of 46 Page 1

Read the passage given below carefully and answer the following questions :

The ease with which the succession after Nehru took place proved all the critics wrong. When Nehru passed away, K. Kamraj, the President of the Congress Party consulted party leaders and Congress Members of Parliament and found that there was a consensus in favour of Lal Bahadur Shastri. He was unanimously chosen as the leader of the Congress parliamentary party and thus became the country’s next Prime Minister. Shastri was a non-controversial leader from Uttar Pradesh who had been a Minister in Nehru’s cabinet for many years. Nehru had come to depend a lot on him in his last years. He was known for his simplicity and his commitment to principles.


(i) Which two fears of the critics were proved wrong by the easy succession after Nehru’s demise ?


(ii) Give any one example to prove that Lal Bahadur Shastri was known for his commitment to principles.


(iii) Highlight any two major challenges which India faced during Shastri’s Prime Ministership.


OR


Read the passage given below carefully and answer the following questions :


While Indira Gandhi had been politically active for very long, she had served as a minister under Lal Bahadur Shastri only for a short period. The senior Congress leaders may have supported Indira Gandhi in the belief that her administrative and political inexperience would compel her to be dependent on them for support and guidance. Within a year of becoming Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had to lead the


party in the Lok Sabha election. Around this time, the economic situation in the country had further deteriorated, adding to her problems. Faced with these difficulties, she set out to gain control over the party and to demonstrate her leadership skills.


(i) Which senior leader of the Congress Party contested for the post of Prime Ministerial candidate along with Indira Gandhi after Shastri’s death in 1966 ?


(ii) Explain any two policy initiatives taken by Indira Gandhi to control the economic condition of the country at this time.


(iii) How did Indira Gandhi assert her leadership skills and consolidate her position within the party after 1967 elections ? Give any two examples.


(i) The initial fear of the critics was regarding who would succeed Nehru as the Prime Minister of India. The critics also questioned the viability of the Indian democratic system as they considered it to be an experiment. It was thought that this experiment would fail without Nehru. But following Nehru’s demise, the easy succession of Shastri as the Prime Minister and his able leadership proved the critics wrong.


(ii) One example to prove that Lal Bahadur Shastri was known for his commitment to principles is with respect to the incident where he resigned as the Railway Minister. He did so as he accepted the moral responsibility following a major railway accident.


(iii) Two major challenges faced by India during Shastri’s tenure as a Prime Minister are as follows –


• India was still recovering from the economic implications that arose from the war with China in 1962.


• The unstable economic condition was further intensified due to failed monsoons which resulted in droughts across the country and a serious food crisis.


OR


(i) Morarji Desai was the senior leader of the Congress Party, who contested for the post of


Prime Ministerial candidate along with Indira Gandhi after Shastri’s death in 1966.


(ii) Two policy initiatives that were taken by Indira Gandhi to control the economic condition of the country during the given time period are as follows –


• The Indira Gandhi government devalued the Indian Rupee to check the economic crisis of 1967. This caused the price of one Dollar to rise to more than Rupees 7, when earlier it could be bought for Rupees 5.


• Another policy initiative that was undertaken by her was the fast forwarding of the Green Revolution initiative to combat shortage of food supply in the country.


(iii) Indira Gandhi asserted her leadership skills and consolidated her position within the party after the 1967 elections in the following manner –


• She side-lined the ‘Syndicate’ within the Congress Party and choose her own trusted group of advisers from outside the party.


• She launched several initiatives giving the Congress Party a Left orientation and forced the Congress Working Committee to accept a Ten Point Programme which aimed towards economic and social welfare.


More from this chapter

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15

Examine any four arguments against globalisation that have emerged from all over the globe.

 16

Assess any four consequences of the national emergency imposed in the year 1975 in India.

OR


Evaluate the emergence of Janata Party as people’s alternative to the Congress Party in the elections of 1977.


 18

Read the passage given below carefully and answer the following questions :

If the various governments take steps to check environmental degradation ...., these issues will have political consequences in that sense. Most of them are such that no single government can address them fully, hence they have become a part of ‘world politics’. Issues of environment and natural resources are political in another deeper sense.


(i) Identify any two of the present day environmental concerns.


(ii) In your opinion, which two principles can be adopted to check environmental degradation ?


(iii) Analyse any two ‘political’ consequences of environmental issues.


OR


Read the passage given below carefully and answer the following questions :


A review of the implementation of the agreements at the Earth Summit in Rio was undertaken by India in 1997. One of the key conclusions was that there had been no meaningful progress with respect to transfer of new and additional financial resources and environmentally-sound technology on concessional terms to developing nations. India finds it necessary that developed countries take immediate measures to provide developing countries with financial resources and clean technologies to enable them to meet their existing commitments under UNFCCC.


(i) What is the full form of UNFCCC ?


(ii) Highlight the existing commitments of the developing countries under UNFCCC.


(iii) Why do the developing countries want transfer of financial


resources and eco-friendly technology on concessional terms ?


 19

Read the passage given below carefully and answer the following questions :

An ambitious developmental project was launched in the Narmada valley of central India in early eighties. The project consisted of 30 big dams, 135 medium sized and around 3,000 small dams to be constructed on the Narmada and its tributaries that flow across three states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat and the Narmada Sagar Project in Madhya Pradesh were two of the most important and biggest, multi-purpose dams planned under the project. Narmada Bachao Anadolan, a movement to save Narmada, opposed the construction of these dams and questioned the nature of ongoing developmental projects in the country.


(i) Name the ambitious project launched in the Narmada valley.


(ii) Explain any two concerns raised by the activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan against this project.


(iii) Since its inception, why did the Narmada Bachao Andolan link its oppositions to this project with other larger issues ?