Mention any four Prime Ministers of India and name their respective coalitions that led the Union Government from 1989 to 1999.

Why did India distance herself from the two superpower camps?

Describe any four activities of the Dalit Panthers to promote their interests.

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

The ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ was a high point of what came to be known as the Cold War. The Cold War referred to the competitions, the tensions and a series of confrontations between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, backed by their respective allies. Fortunately, however, it never escalated into a ‘hot war’.

(a) Explain the meaning of ‘hot war’.

(b) Why was the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ considered as the high point of the Cold War?

(c) ‘‘Ideological conflict was also a cause of the Cold War.’’ How far do you agree with the statement?

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

The Congress evolved from its origins in 1885 as a pressure group for the newly educated, professionals and commercial classes to a mass movement in the twentieth century. This laid the basis for its eventual transformation into a mass political party and its subsequent domination of the political system. Thus the Congress began as a party dominated by the English speaking, upper caste, upper middle class, and urban elite. But with every Civil Disobedience Movement, it launched, its social base widened.

(a) What is meant by a pressure group?

(b) Explain the reason for the Congress to be transformed into a rainbow-like social coalition by the time of Independence.

(c) What made the Congress into a mass political party in the twentieth century?