UPSC IAS Mains History Optional Solved Exam Paper - 2008

 


UPSC IAS Mains History Optional Solved Exam Paper - 2008


:: Paper - I ::

Section A

1. Mark any fifteen of the following places on the map supplied to you and write short descriptive notes on places plotted by you: 4 x 15 = 60 

1. Burzahom 
2. Banawali
3. Ahar 
4. Girnar
5. Chandraketugarh 
6. Brahmagiri
7. Bayana
8. Gangaikondacholapuram
9. Tamralipti 
10. Muziris
11. Ambari
12. Modhera
13. Devnimori
14. Bhadreshwar
15. Bundi
16. Gingee(Jinjee)
17. Antichak 
18. Gaur
19. Sasaram 
20. Mahasthangarh

Answer.

1 Burzahom: Burzahom issituated 20 km north-west of Srinagar in Kashmir valley in the state ofJammu and Kashmir.The site takes back the history of Kashmir to beyond 2000 BC and refutes the contention of some Western historians that Aryans migrated through Kashmir valley and that there was nocultural background in Kashmir before themigration ofAryansinto India. Excavationsreveal that it was an important neolithic settlement with certain features differentiating it from othersuch cultures of India. The people here lived in pits, circular or oval. These ‘pit dwellings’ were probably intended to give protection from cold. In association with Gufrakal, Burzahom provides distinct examples of pit-dwelling in Kashmir valley. The people of.Burzahom do not seem to have been acquainted with agriculture; they probably had a hunting and fishing economy as suggested by fishing hoops and stone tools. An important feature of these people was that, besides stone tools, they used a large number of bone tools in the form of harpoons, needles, scrapers and arrowheads. However, themost signifi­cantfeature isthe joint burial of human beings and their domestic animals. The excavations have revealed ‘dog burial’ along with human graves-a cultural similarity to Central Asian neolithic culture. However, the burials also refute any claim ofmigration ofthese peoplesfrom CentralAsia. 

2. Banawali: Banavali is an Indus Valley Civilisation site situated in modern Hissar district (or in the dry bed of the lost Saraswati) in Haryana.Excavations under Dr R.S. Bisht have revealed three  cultural phases-pre-Harappan, Harappan and post-Harappan-similar to that at Kalibangan. In the earliest phase. the settlement wasfortified with mudbricksin the ratio, 3:2:1. In the later phase, the bricks used were in the ratio 4:2:1.Banavali alsohad the Harappan form of town planning with the city divided into two principal divisions-a citadel on a higher level, and a lower town segregated from the former by a massive wall. Both the citadel and the lower town were enclosed by general fortification. The township waslaid in the Harappan type of grid pattern with roads cutting each other at right angles. There is also evidence of well- laid-out drains. However, the arrangement of streets is haphazard as compared to Mohenjodaro. 

3. Ahar: Ahar is located in the Banas valley of south-east Rajasthan on the bank ofRiver Banas near Udaipur. Traces of an ancient culture that have been found here are therefore said to constitute theAhar or Banas culture. It is a chalcolithic culture site and town that came into prominence during 1600 BC-1200BC. One of the special features of this site is complete absence of the stone tools, whether axes or blades. However, copper tools are significantly numerous. The houses at this site were made of stone and mud, and we can distinguish two pottery phases: (a) Black-and-Red Ware (BRW), painted in pink­ish-white pigment with linear and geometric patterns, and (b) Lustrous Red Ware, typical of post-Harappan culture at Rangpur. Later, Ahar was the capital of the Sisodias who created Mewar. 

4.Girnar: TheGirnar Mountain issituated in the neighbourhood ofJunagarh in Surastra in the State of Gujarat. The place is sacred to Jains asthey consider ittobethebirth place oftheir 23idTirthankar.Neminath. The Maurya Governor. Pushyagupta. during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, built a tank called Sudarshana Lake. This lake was renovated by Rudradaman, the Saka ruler, as well as bytheminister of Skandagupta. Chakrapalita and his son Prandatt, which shows that the lake remained important even during the Gupta period and after. 

5. Chandraketugarh: Chandraketigarh is situated in 24 Pargana district of West Bengal. The development of this place is associated with the expansion of iron-based material culture ofGangetic Valley towards the east under the Mauryas. This is evident from the archaeological evidence such as NBPW, ring wells, and houses with tiled roofs of the pre-Mauryan period, terracotta beads and punch­marked coins ofsilver. The motif of a ship on some of the coins suggests trade by sea. 

6. Brahmagiri: Brahmagiri is located in Chitradurg district ofKarnataka. Excavationsrevealed thatBrahmagiri was an important centre in South India well before the Maurya period. The Megalithic period was marked by the use of iron objects and unpainted

black and red ware. Brahmagiri is also the site of one of the two minor rock edicts of Ashoka. It was overtaken bythe Satavahanasin the First CenturyAD.The presence of the roulette pottery indicates trade contacts with the western world during Satavahana period. 

7. Bayana: Bayana is situated in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. In ancient times, it was named Banpur. In AD 1196, it was occupied by Muhammad Ghori. During the later Mughal period it became a Jat principalityunder the rulers ofBharatpur. Bayana was a very famous centre for the cultivation and trade of indigo in medieval India as well as duringBritish rule 

8. Gangaikundacholapuram: Gongaikonda-cholapuram is located in the Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu, north-east ofKumbhakonam. TheChola King, Rajendra (1012-1044) had his capital at Gangaikondacholapuram which actually means, ‘the city of the Chola who conquered the Ganga’. King Rajendra built a temple designed to rival the Brihadeshwara temple built byhisfather, Raja Raja in Thanjavur.The temple and the 5-km-long 11th century reservoir embankment survive. A massive structure with richly carved sculptures, the temple has in front ofit a hugeNandimade ofbrick andmortar.The temple resembles the Thanjavur temple in its mandapa and sanctuary being oriented west to east and in having stepsleading up to them. The pyramidal tower above the sanctuary has eight towers. The representation of Lord Shiva inside the temple, granting favours to his devotees, especially Chandikeswara refers to the victories won by Rajendra I with the grace of Lord Shiva. It is a masterpiece ofChola artshowing Shiva blessing Chandikeswara who cut off his father’s leg when the latter interfered with his Shiva worship. 

9.Tamralipti:Tamraliptiisidentifiedwithmodern Tamluk near the mouth of the Ganga in West Bengal. It was the most important Seaport and emporium of trade in eastern India.Tamralipti alsofiguresin the text of Plinyand Ptolemy, and was also visited byChinese pilgrims like Huien-Tsang and 1-tsing. Fa-Hien and Huien-Tsang mention Tamralipti as a major centre of Buddhism. 

10. Muziris: Muziris in Kerala is at present known as Kodungaloor or Cranganore. It wasreputed to be the ancient world’s greatest trading centre in the East for such highly prized commodities as pepper, cinnamon, and carda­mom. There was a direct trade route fromAden (SouthYemen) toMuzirisin the first centuryAD. After the Perumals, the Cheras occupied Muziris and developed it as a most powerful sea encampment in the Orient. Bythe first centuryAD, the entire world knew about Muziris for its trade and prosperity.Pliny and Ptolemy mention Muziris as a major port on the Malabar Coast. St. Thomasis considered to have come to India in AD 52 and the Chera king welcomed him.The Jews were settled in Muzirisin AD 70 when their temple at Jerusalem was destroyed. In Jewish mythology, there is also mention of King Solomon’sshipstrading on the Malabar Coast. InAD 345,Cana-Thomas, a Syrian trader, brought 400 Syrian families here.According toGreek sources, a temple of Augustus was built by Romans here. By the 10th centuryAD, the importance of Muziris waned due to mud banks choking up themouth of the port Calicut,farther west, replaced Muziris in importance, while Quilon developed as the hub for ships from China. 

11. Ambari: This historical site of Ambari is  located in the present day state of Assam near Guwahati. The site is considered to be the cultural epitome ofAssam. Over 1000 artifacts with important historical bearings have been found atAmbarisite. The potteryfound at Ambari hassimilarities with the ones found at Hastinapur in Ganga Valley. The artifacts found here reveal that thissite had been inhabited for several centuries. At leas! three constructional phases of an urban settlement ascribed to period between 7th and 12th centuries have been found here. 

12. Modhera: Modhera, famous for its Sun Temple, issituated on the bank of river Pushpavati in Gujarat. This is an ancient town, traceable to the puranic age, when it was known as Dharmaranya. It is believed that Lord Rama,performed a sacrifice here to purifyhimself of the sin of killing a Brahmin. namely Ravana. Rama built Modherek which subsequently came to be called Modhera. The Modhera sun temple isthe creation ofthe Solanki era in Gujarat. 

13. Devnimori:This historicalsite of Devnimori is situated in modern day state of Gujarat. At Devnimori the chronology of a stupa and a monastery consisting of different phases could be determined from the Kshatrapa coins and the coins of Maitrakas of Vallabhi, varying in date from the 3th to the 5th century A.D. It is a famous Buddhist site of western India.

14. Bhadreshwar: This historicalsite islocated in the present day state of Gujarat in the Kachch peninsula. The site nestles on the ruins of the ancient city ofBhadravati. It is here that famousJaina temple dating back to the tenth century has been unearthed. It is a famousJaina pilgrimage site. 

15. Bundi: Bundi, now a modern district in the state of Rajasthan, has a history dating back to 12th century AD, when a chieftan, Rao Deva, conquered the territory and founded Bundi and Hadoti. The founding family belonged to Hara Chauhan clan. In the early 17th century AD, during the reign of the Mughal emperorJahangir, the ruler ofBundi,RaoRatan Singh, gave the smaller principalityofKota to hisson,Madho Singh. From then on, Kota became a hallmark of Rajput gallantry and culture. The famous fort of Taragarh is a testimonytothe valiant nature oftheHara Rajputs. There are several baoris (step-wells) in Bundi town. Of these, Rani-ki-boori is the most beautifully carved. The rulers of Bundi also patronised painting and other forms of art and culture. The Bundi school of painting has some famous characteristic features which include vivid colours and use of gold; influence of Mewar school of painting; round faces, coloured red and pink; and beautifullypainted banana trees. The sky is also painted in different colours, and in many paintings a light ribbon of red colour is visible in the sky.

16. Gingee (Jinjee): Gingee islocated in Tamil Nadu’s Viluppuram district. It is famous for its formidable but partially ruined rock fortress. The Vijayanagar rulers built the fort complex of Gingee. Gingee fell toBijapur after the battle ofTalikota inA.D. 1565. In 1677. Shivaji gained control over Gingee Fort, and Gingee became the first centre of his resistance against the MughalEmpire.TheFrench GeneralBussy, captured it in 1750.

17. Antichak: This historical site is situated in the present day state of Bihar in Bhagalpur district. The site hasremains of a fortification wall of the early historical period. A rectangular structure measuring 41.65 m in length and 18.65 m in breadth has been exposed. A few stone pillar-bases have also been found. Stone images of Buddha, Shiva, Surya and Vishnu have also been discovered. 

18. Gaur: Gaur is located in West Bengal and is also known as Lakhnauti and Nuratabad. It was the capital of Sasanka Gauda, chief adversary of Harshavardhana and then, of the other Bengal dynasties such as the Pala and the Sena. Gaur is famous for its Bengali style of Indo-Islamic architecture. Themajor architecturalmonuments ofthe place are the Chota Sona and the Bara Sena Mosque and Kadam Rasul.

19. Sasaram: Sasaramis now the administrative headquarters of Rohtas district in Bihar. It was the childhood home of Sher Sha Suri, who established the second Afthan Empire in India after defeating Humayun in 1540. Sher Shah constructed his own mausoleumat Sasaram. The red sandstonemausoleum is a beautiful master piece of Indo-Islamic architecture.Arock-edict of Emperor Ashoka has also been found in Sasaram.

20. Mahasthangarh:Mahasthangarh, at present in Bogra district ofBangladesh, occupies a significant place in the archaeology of what was once eastern India, and is now Bangladesh. The region associated with the ancient city of Pundravardhan witnessed significant urban developmentfrom the earlyhistorical period through the earlymedieval period. Located on the bank of River Karatoa, the spectacular site is an imposing landmark in the area with several mounds locally known as Govind-Bhila Temple and Khodai pathar mound.An inscription ofthe period ofChandra Gupta Maurya has been found here, which corroborates an account of famine in the Mauryan Empire, given in the Jain literarytext, Parishisthpauan of Hemchandra Sun. This inscription is of value as Megasthenes does not mention a famine in the Mauryan Empire. The site was probably the headquarters oflocal administration of Pundravardhan Bhukti (province) during the Gupta period.

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:: Paper - II ::

"Section A"

1. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each: 3x20 = 60
(a) Sprung from paternalism, the English Utilitarian philosophy as introduced in India rejected its human warmth between the rulers and the ruled.

Ans: The nineteenth centuryBritain witnessed rise of several new ideas and interests which were to have far-reaching impact on India. The philosophy that came to have its most powerful sway in the administration of India was the Utilitarian philosophy.

  • English Utilitarianism was an offshoot of the western liberal ideas. TheEnglish Utilitarianism owed its genesis to the ideas ofBentham. The Utilitarianism philosophy believed in the maxim of greatest good and extrapolating it in quantifiable terms. However, in the contrast of India, English Utilitarianism had different hue. In India, The British rulers claimed to be the benevolent masters of India. They believed India to be civilized under British footage.Indian civilization was branded by most of the liberal ideas as backward looking. The Englishmen took on themselves the task of taking India on course of modernity. Indians were to be taught the virtues of self-government. The English Utilitarianism in India took roots under such paternalistic attitudinal context. They saw Indian people held in bondage by despotic rulers, archaic economic relations, and by religion steeped in superstition. So. they set about to reform the Indians and the colonial system.
  • The three key areas they were especially interested in were the landed property, the law and the administration. They favoured doing away with permanent settlement and gave their weight to the Ryotwari System. Macaulaywas appointed to organize the innumerable laws into easily intelligible codes. Whatever was the most notable aspect of English Utilitarian was their ideas in administration. Their notion of strong centralized government with almost despotic powers devoid the relations between the ruler and the ruled of its human warmth, whereas humans constituted the centre point of the entire libertarian ideology.

(b) The vernacular press in the nineteenth century was both newspaper as well as eviews paperi that enlightened the dormant masses, 

Ans: In the periodfrom1870 to1918. the national movement had not get resorted to mass agitation, nor did political work consisted of active mobilization of people in mass struggle. The main political task was that of the politicization, political propaganda and education. The press was the chief instrument for carrying out this task.

  • Even the work of the National Congress was accomplished during these years largely through press. Especially Significant in this regard was the role of Vernacular press which not only acted as newspaper, but also as views paper to enlighten the dormant masses. The Congress had no organization of its own for carrying out political work. Nearly one third of the founding fathers of the Congressin 1885 were journalists. Powerful newspapers emerged during these years under distinguished and fearless journalists. These were the Swadesmitram under the editorship of Subramanian Iyer. Kesari under Tilak. Bengalee under Surendranath Banerjee, and Amrit Bazar Patrika under Sisir Ghosh. In fact there hardly existed a major political leader in India who did not possess a newspaper or was not writing for one in some capacity or the other.
  • The influence of the press extended far beyond its literate subscribers. A newspaper would reach remote villages and would then be read by a reader to ten of others. Gradually, library movements sprang up all over the country.Alocal library could be organized around a single newspaper. Every piece of news or editorial comment would be read or heard and thoroughly discussed. The newspaper not only became the political educator, reading or discussing it became a form of political participation.
  • Nearly All the major political controversies of the day were conducted through press. It also played the institutional role of opposition to the government. Almost every act and every policy of the government was subjected to sharp criticism, in many cases with great care and vast learning backing it up. To arouse political consciousness, to inculcate nationalism, to expose colonial rule and to preach disloyalty was no easy task. Indian journalists adopted several clever strategies and evolved a distinctive style of writing to remain outside the reach of the law.

(c) Is moral law, the law of conscience, higher than the law of the state, which is oppressive? (Mahatma Gandhi, 1922).

Ans: A True devotee of truth, Gandhiji maintained that God is truth and truth is God and further that God is love (of humanity) and love is God. Gandhiji made truth and non-Violence the basis of the new social order that he envisaged. He advocated the freedom of the whole world-freedom from violence, freedom from cupidity and aggressiveness, freedom from passions and ambitions that have destroyed nations. Freedom of India was to be won through non-violence and non­cooperation with the evil-doer. Non-violence, Gandhiji maintained, is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute.

  • As essential prerequisite of the policy of Satyagraha (literally persistence in truth), is fearlessness. Gandhiji wanted to uproot from the minds of the people all-pervasive, all-oppressing, all strangling fear-fear of the C.I.D., of the police, of the jail and of the officials. In the place of fear people were asked to cultivate the spirit of self-sacrifice and conscious suffering. This Law of conscience was held by him to he higher than the law of the state. The law of the state could be oppressive, but the conscience could not be oppressive, as it happens to be the moral law. Elaborating further. he stated that the law of conscience, the conscious suffering should be for right cause. It istest of our sincerity. It does not mean meek suffering to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the pitting of one’s whole soul against the will of the tyrant. The basic object of this moral law was to convert the evil doer. At the root of it was the conviction that human nature being essentially good, it will assert itself, the tyrannical heart will melt at the sight of the suffering and the scales of ignorance and selfishness, will fall and virtue and justice will prevail.
  • Gandhiji elaborately made this point following the withdrawal of the non-cooperation movement. He said that hewellfollowthe lawofhis conscience, which is the moral law than succumbing to the oppressive law of the Government.

(d) In exercising its exclusive power the Parliament additionally enacted the Untouchability (Offences) Act in 1955.

Ans: After the 15th ofAugust, 1947,India awoke to a new freedom. She then embarked upon the task of building a newIndia havinga republican and libertarian polity, a polity having equal respect for all religions, a polity believing in distributing fruits of economic development to all, a politywith commitment to build a justsociety in which discrimination has no place. In pursuance of this, our constitution provided for several enabling provisions.

  • One such enabling provision, aimed at doing with highly inhuman form of injustice was enshrined in Article 17 of the Constitution. The Article 17 provides for abolition of untouchability. It states that untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form  is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of untouchability shall be an offence, punishable in accordance with the Law. The term untouchability here was meant to refer to the practice that had developed historically in India and included exclusion of certain castes and groups from mainstream society to the extent of avoiding any social intercourse with them whether by touch or by sight.
  • But the Constitution does not prescribe any punishment under thisArticle.The Parliament enacted the Untouchability (offences) Act, 1955, which prescribes punishment for the practice of untouchability. This Act was amended by the Untouchability (Offences) Amendment Act, 1976 in stringent. Further, the name of the original Act was changed to Civil Rights (Protection) Act, 1976. However, the Act does not define what is untouchability. According to the Supreme Court, untouchability should not be understood in its literal grammatical sense. It is to be understood as the practice as it had developed historically.Article 17 also imposes a duty on the public servants to investigate such offences.
  • The Article 17 and the enabling legislation in form of Untouchability Offences Act have gone a long way in obliterating the Indian society of this black stigma. The practice has since been on its course of natural death. This Is a really remarkable step towards building a just society.

2. Critically examine the impact of famine policy on rural India. Describe the official remedial measures undertaken. 60

Ans: During the rule of East India Company India suffered in one part or another twelve famines and four severe scarcities. The first of these was the dreadful Bengal Famine of 1769-70which claimed a third of the population of the province. When the British crown assumed the governance, a series of famines rocked all parts of India. The first of these famines occurred in western Uttar Pradesh in 1860-61, followed by the famine of 1865-66 in Orissa, and the famine of 1868-70 affecting UP, Bombay, Punjab and Rajputana.

  • The occurrence of such devastating famines at regular intervals ultimately forced the British to formulate a famine policy.The first committee report on famine was formed under the chairmanship of Sir George Campbell. Based on the committee’s recommendation, the old doctrine that the public was responsible for the relief of the helpless was abandoned. The Government was expected to borrow money in order to afford finance for building of railways and canals. Further, the district officers were made responsible for saving all preventable deaths.
  • The great famine of 1876-78 was the most calamitous. Following this famine the Government appointed a commission under the presidency of Sir Richard Stratchey to formulate general principles and suggest measures of preventive or protective character.The commission recommended the adoption of certain basic principles. Firstly, it recommended employment to be offered before the physical efficiency of applicants was impaired by privation. Further, it was suggested that it should be the duty of the state to provide gratuitous relief to the impotent poor and listed the categories of persons entitled to receive it. There lief provided could in form of raw grain, money or cooked food provided on condition of residence in poor house or relief camp. For the distribution of relief the distressed tracts should be divided into circles.
  • The commission also recommended for careful supervision of supplies of food in the distressed areas. However, the Government was to trust private trade in supply of food and prohibit export of food only in extraordinary circumstances. The commission also suggested in regard to suspensions and remissions of land revenue and rents. The cost of famine relief was to be home by the provincial governments. Further, in times of excessive drought facilities were to be provided for migration of cattle to grassy forest areas.
  • The government accepted in general the commission’s recommendations. In 1883, the provisional famine code was formulated which formed the basis for provincial famine codes which were formulated subsequently. The code prescribed precautions to be taken in ordinary times and instructions to be followed during organization of a relief campaign. Besides, the code also detailed the  duties of all those concerned when the famine actually began.
  • The next great famine occurred in 1896-97 and affected almost every, province in varying degrees of intensity. Following this famine, a commission was appointed under the presidency of SirJames Lyall, the ex-Lieutenant Governor of Punjab. The commission adhered largely to the views expressed by their predecessors in 1880 suggesting some alterations which were designed to impart greater flexibility to the maxims then adopted.
  • Closely following the calamity of 1896 came the famine of 1899-1900. It affected an area of 2lakh square miles and about twenty eight million people. Lord Curzon appointed a commission under the presidency of Sir Anthony MacDonnell to suggest the relief measures to be adopted. The commission submitted its report in 1901. In the report, the commission summarized accepted principles of relief, suggesting variations where necessary. The commission emphasized the benefits of a policy of “moral strategy”, early distribution of advances for purchase of seed and cattle and sinking of temporary wells. It also advocated the appointment of a famine commissioner in a province where relief operations were expected to be extensive. It also emphasized enlistment of non-official assistance on a larger scale and preference in particular circumstances of village works to the large public works which had hitherto been the backbone of relief schemes. The commission also stressed the desirability of better transport facilities, opening of agricultural banks, improvement of irrigation facilities and vigorous measures to foster improved methods of agriculture.
  • Most of.the recommendations of the commission were accepted and before Curzon left India he had taken various measures to prevent and combat famine. The next great famine to have ravaged India was the Bengal famine of 1943 which took a heavy toll of life. The root cause of famine lay in a series of crop failures that Bengal experienced from 1938 and in conditions created by the Second World War. The import of rice from Burma stopped and trade and movement of food grains was dislocated owing to controls and conditions of Second World War. This famine was more man-made than an act of God. The British government appointed a oneman commission to take stock of the situation and to make necessary recommendations.
  • The famines that ravaged India too and often were products of pursuance of colonial policies by the British which were inimical to India’s interests. The famines took a heavy toll of life. Even though the government provided relief, India’s economic backwardness and poverty which got manifested in famines were not due to niggardliness of nature. They were man-made. The natural resources of India were abundant and capable of yielding, if properly utilized a high degree of prosperity to the people. But, as a result of foreign rule and exploitation, and of a backward agrarian and industrial economic structure - as a result of the outcome of total historical and social development, India presented the paradox of a poor people living in a rich country.
  • The poverty of India which got reflected in famines was not a product of its geography or lack of natural resources or of some inherent defects in character and capabilities of the people. It was mainly a product of the history of the last two centuries. Precisely during the period the countries of the west developed and prospered, India was subjected to modern colonialism, and was prevented from developing. The basic fact is that the same social, political and economic process that produced industrial development and social and cultural progress in Britain, also produced and then maintained economic under development and social and cultural backwardness in India. The reason for this that Britain subordinated Indian economy to its own economy and determined the basic social trends in India according to her own needs.
  • This manifested above all in series of famines. The Government initially did not take up the relief to be its responsibility. Later in the second half of the nineteenth century, it appointed commissions to look into the matter. However, relief though it came was insufficient and also did not reach people in time. Moreover, the relief could not save the lives of so many people who died as result of famines. In a word, in tine of famine. Indian people were left at mercy of God.

3. Write a critique on the impact of the Drain Theory of Dadabhai Naoroji in the growth of economic nationalism. 60

Ans: Of all the national movements in colonial countries. the Indian national movement was most deeply and firmly rooted in an understanding of the nature and character of colonial economic domination and exploitation. Its early leaders, known as the moderates were the first in the 19th century to develop an economic critique of colonialism. The focal point of the nationalist critique of colonialism was the drain theory. The nationalist leaders pointed out that a large part ofIndia’s capital and wealth was being transferred or drained to Britain in the form of salaries and pensions of British civil and military officials working in India, interests on loans taken by the Indian government, profits of theBritish capitalists in India and the home charges or expenses of the Indian Government in Britain. This drain took the form of an excess of exports over the importsfor which India got no economic or national return. According to the nationalist calculations, this chain amounted to one- half of the government revenues more than the entire land revenue collection and over one-third of India’s total savings.

  • The acknowledged high priest of the drain theory was Dadabhai Naroji. It was in May 1867 that Dadabhai Naroji put forward the idea that Britain was draining and bleeding India. From then on for nearly half a century he launched a raging campaign against the drain, hammering at the theme through every possible form of public communication. R.C. Dutt made the drain the major theme of hisEconomicHistory ofIndia. He protested that taxation raised by a king is like the moisture sucked up by the sun, to be returned to earth as fertilizer rain, but the moisture raised from the Indian soil now descends as fertilizing rain largely on other lands, not on India. The drain theory incorporated all the threads of the nationalist critique of colonialism, for the drain denuded India of the productive capital its agriculture and industries so desperately needed. Indeed the drain theory was comprehensive, interrelated and integrated economic analysis of the colonial situation.
  • The drain theory had far reaching impact on the growth of the economic nationalism in India.Banking on this theory the early nationalists attributed the all encompassing poverty not as a visitation from God or nature. It was seen as man-made, and therefore capable of being explained and removed. In course of their search for the causes of India’s poverty, the nationalists underlined factors and forces which had been brought into play by colonial rulers and the colonial structure. The problem of poverty was seen as the problem of increasing the productive capacity and energy of the people. This approach made poverty a broad national issue and helped to unite, instead of divide different regions and sections of Indian society.
  • Based on the drain theory of Dadabhai Naroji, the nationalists came to see the foreign capital in perilous terms. They came to regard foreign capital as an unmitigated evil, which did not develop a country but exploited and impoverished it. Dadabhai Naoroji Saw foreign capital to be representing despoliation and exploitation of Indian resources. It was described as the system of international depredation. It was further argued that instead of encouraging and augmenting Indian capital, foreign capital replaced and suppressed it, led to the drain of capital from India and further strengthened the British hold over Indian economy, To try to develop a country through foreign capital was to barter the entire future for the petty gains of today. According to them, the political consequences offoreign capital investment were no less harmful for the penetration of foreign capital led to its political subjugation. Foreign capital investment created vested interests which demanded security for investors and therefore perpetuated foreign rule. 
  • The drain by taking form of excess of exports over imports, led to progressive decline and ruin of India’s traditional handicrafts. The British administrators pointed with pride to the rapid growth of India’s foreignn trade and rapid construction of railways as instruments of India’s development as well as proof of its growing prosperity. However, because of their negative impact on indigenous industries, foreign trade and railways represented not economic development but colonization and under development of economy. What mattered in case of foreign trade was not its volume but its pattern or nature of goods internationally exchanged and their impact on national industry and agriculture. And this pattern had undergone drastic changes during the 19th century, the bias being overwhelmingly towards the export of raw materials and the import of manufactured goods.
  • According to early nationalists, drain constituted a major obstacle to rapid industrialization especially when it was in terms of policy of free trade. The policy of free trade was on the one hand ruining India’s handicraft industries and on the other forcing the infant and underdeveloped modern industries into a pre­mature and unequal and hence unfair and disastrous competitive with the highly organized and developed industries of the west. The tariff policies of the Government convinced the nationalists that the British economic policies in India were guided by the interest of British capitalist class. For the early nationalists the drain also took the form of colonial pattern of finance. Taxes Were so raised as they averred, so as to overburden the poor while letting the rich especially the foreign capitalists and bureaucrats to go scott-free. Even on expenditure side, the emphasis was on serving Britain’s imperial needs while the developmental and welfare departments were starred.
  • By Attacking the drain the nationalists were able to call into question, in an uncompromising manner the economic essence of imperialism, the drain theory and the agitation by nationalists on economical hegemony of alien rulers over Indian winds. The secret of the British power in India lay not only in physical force but also in moral force that is in the belief that the British were the patrons of the common people of India. The nationalist drain theory gradually undermined these moral foundations.
  • The economic welfare ofIndia was offered as the chief justification for theBritish rule by the imperialist rulers and spokesmen. The Indian nationalists by their forceful argument asserted thatIndia was economically backward precisely because the British were ruling it in the interest of British trade, industry and finance were the inevitable consequences of the British rule. The corrosion of faith in the British rule inevitably spread to the political field. In course of time, the nationalist leaders linked nearly every important question with the politically subordinated status of the country. Step by step, issue by issue, they began to draw the conclusion that since the British administration was only the handmade to the task of exploitation, pro-Indian and developmental policies would be followed only by a regime in which Indians had control over political power. The result was that even though the early nationalists remained moderates and professed loyalty to British rule, they cut at the political roots of the empire and sowed in the land, the seeds of disaffection and disloyalty and even sedition. Gradually, the nationalists veered from demanding reforms to begin demanding self government or swaraj like that of the United Kingdom or the colonies.
  • The nationalists of the twentieth century were relying heavily on the main themes of their economic critique of colonialism. These themes were then to reverberate in Indian villages, towns and cities. Based on (hisfirm foundation, the later nationalists went on to stage powerful mass agitations and mass movements. The drain theory thus laid the seeds for subsequent nationalism to flower and mature.

4. Describe the changing nature of revolutionary activities in India between 1905-1946? 60

Ans: The beginning of the twentieth century brought another political trend to the fore. The trend was that ofrevolutionaryterrorism. They Were called revolutionaries because they could find no other way of expressing their patriotism. Their nature. of activities kept changing between 1905-1946.

  • The Revolutionary terrorist movement was largely the outcome of the same set of causes which gave rise to theExtremist in nation above politics. Only the Revolutionaries wanted quicker results and discounted the value of persuasion. They believed that alien rule was destructive of all that is worth while, the first indications of the revolutionary movement in India can be seen in Maharashtra and among the Chitpavan Brahmins of Poona district. The first political murder ofEuropeans was committed at Poona on 22i’June 1897 bytheChapekar brothers. The target of attack was Rand but Ayerst got killed.The Chapekar  brothers were caught, convicted and hanged. V.D. Savarkar at Nasik set up an association called Mitra Mela which got merged into a secret society called Abhinav Bharat. In May, 1908 the India House set up at London by Shyamji Krishna Verma celebrated the golden jubilee of the Indian Revolt of1857.In 1909, Madan Lal Dhingm shot dead Colonel William Curzon Wyillee, political A.D.C. to the India office. On December 21, 1909, Mr.Jackson, the unpopular District Magistrate at Nasik was shot dead. The Ahmedahad Bomb case (1909) and the Satara Conspiracy case (1910)were other cases of terrorist activitiesin western India.
  • The beginning of terrorist activities in Bengal is traced”to the work of the Bhadralok Class. P. Mitra organized the secret revolutionary society under the name ofAnushilan Samiti. In 1905, Barindra Kumar Ghosh published the Bhavani Mandor (indicating a detailed plan for organizing a centre of revolutionary activities) followed by the publication ofVartaman, the Yuganter (newera) and Sandhya preached anti­British ideas.Another pamphlet Mukti Kon Pathe (which way lies salvation?) exhorted the Indian soldiers to supply arms to revolutionaries. Revolutionary activities resulting in acts of violence began in 1906 when some robberies were planned to finance the plan of revolutionaries. In 1907, unsuccessful attempts were made to kill the Lt. Governors of Eastern Bengal. On 30 April, 1908, an attempt was made to murder Mr. Kingsford, the judge ofMuzaffarpur. PrafullaChandra Chaki and Khudi Rain Bose were entrusted the task. The bomb was by mistake thrown on the carriage of Mr. Kennedy, killing two ladies. Chaki shot himself dead, while Bose was tried and hanged. The Government searches for illicit arms at Maniktala Gardens and elsewhere led to arrest of 34 persons includingAurobindo Ghosh who were tried inAlipore Conspiracy case.
  • Revolutionary activities were also organized in other provinces when revolutionaries in Punjab started regrouping to protest against the Chenab canal colony and the Bair Doab, the Government acted promptly by arresting and deporting Lala Lajpat Rai andAjit Singh. In December, 1912 a bomb thrown on Lord Harding on his state entry in Delhi, killing his attendants. Bihar, Orissa and the UP were scenes of the Muzaffarpur and Nimez murders and theBenaras ConspiracyCase. Meanwhile the Ghadar movement was growing apace outside India in the United States. The Movement was centered around the Ghadar Party formed at San Francisco in 1913. The most important leader was Lala Hardayal. He ryas assisted by Ramchandra andBarkatullah. The party also published a weekly paper; the Ghadar in commemoration of mutit.y of 1857. With the outbreak of war, the Ghadar party raised the banner of revolt against the British Empire and sent its cadres to instigate mutinies among Indian soldiers. The attempt however tailed owing to poor organization and poor coordination.
  • With the outbreak ofWorld War I Hardayal and other Indians abroad moved to Germany and set up Indian Independence Committee at Berlin. ‘The Committee planned to mobilize Indian settlers abroad to make all efforts to incite rebellion against theBritish to liberate the country. The Komagata Maru incident created an explosive situation in Punjab. One Baba Gurdit Singh chartered a Japanese ship Komagata Maru for Vancouver. TheCanadian authorities refused permission to the ship to land and the ship returned toBudgeBudge. The Government ofIndia ordered all the passengers to be carried directly by train to Punjab. The already explosive situation in the Punjab worsened with a band of fresh malcontents. Large scale political dacoities were committed in Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana etc. The Government of India unleashed repressive legislation to meet revolutionary activities. It rushed the Explosive Substances Act (1908). the Indian Criminal LawAmendment Act. the Newspaper (Incitement toOffences)Act. the PressAct and above all, the multi-fanged Defence ‘of India Rules, 1915. A temporary respite in revolutionary activities came with the close ofWorldWar I when the Government released all political prisoners arrested under the Defence of India Act.
  • The virtual failure of the Non-cooperation Movement and the gloom that descended on the nationalist scene again created conditions calling for bold and revolutionary activities. The old Anushilan and Yugantar samities reappeared in Bengal and revolutionary organizations erupted in almost all important towns of Northern India. A new development was, however, the feeling that better results could be achieved only through an all-India organization and better coordination. Hence a meeting of revolutionaries from all parts of India was called at Kanpur in October, 1924. The deliberations resulted in the setting up of Hindustan RepublicanAssociation subsequently reorganized as the Hindustan Socialist RepublicanAssociation (H.S.R.A) with provincial units in Bengal, Bihar. UP, Delhi, Punjab and Madras.
  • The H.S.R.A. had a three fold objective; (a) to rouse the consciousness of people of India to the futility of the Gandhian methods of non­violence; (b) to demonstrate the need and desirability of Direct Action and Revolution to achieve complete independence; and (c) to substituteBritish imperialism in India bya federated republic of the United States of India ideologically inspired by the Russian Revolution and the Socialist thought. The revolutionaries also introduced a novelty in their methods to finance their activities. Henceforth, they decided not to plunder private individuals but to make government treasuries above as the target of their dacoities. In August 1925, the UP revolutionaries successfully carried on the dacoity the Kakori bound train. The subsequent trial proceedings in the Kakori Conspiracy Case evoked wide sympathetic echoes in the press. The leader Ram Prasad Bismil embraced the gallows with the slogan “I wish the downfall of the British Empire. A band of Panjab Revolutionaries Led byBhagat Singh shot (lead Saunders, the Assistant Superintendent of Police. Lahore to avenge the fatal assault on Lala Lajpat Rai during the anti-Simon Commission demonstrations. The police unleashed a reign of terror on the Lahore civilians and the general public reaction wasthat while the revolutionaries escaped after daring acts, the public had to suffer consequences of their doings. To efface this impression, the Punjab government of the HSRA decided to send two volunteers to commit a crime and court arrest.
  • They had no intention to kill but to demonstrate that “It takes a loud noise tomake the deaf hear”. Since capital punishment could not be awarded in the Assembly Bomb case, the Government combined it with the Lahore Conspiracy case and sentenced Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev to capital punishment. They were executed in Lahore jail on the 231 March. 1931. In Bengal Surya Sen master minded the Chittagong Armoury Raid in April 1930 and declared himself the President of the Provisional Independent Government of India. The revolutionaries demonstrated their valour but without much tangible success. Surya Sen could not for long escape the arm of the police and was arrested and hanged in early1933.
  • Another kill in both the revolutionary activities came thereafter during the negotiations to the Government of India Act 1935 and the halting imperialist maneuvers during 1935-1939. The stage of another crisis was reached when the Government of India unilaterally involved India in World War II without consulting Indian opinion. The failure of the CrippsMission (April 1942), the Quit India Movement (14 July. 1942), and the arrest of Gandhiji (9August) was a signal to the revolutionary minds to settle old scores. The popular revolt of 1942 was a struggle in which both the Gandhites and the Revolutionaries made a joint, though unsuccessful, effort to shake off foreign yoke. Thus, the nature of the activities of revolutionaries kept on acquiring different hues in the period between 1905 and 1946.

"Section-B"

5. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each: 3 x 20 =60

(a) France was more fertile than Britain in producing new Socialist theories and movements though they bore less concrete results in France than in Britain.

Ans: One of the important developments of the modern times the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution led to the birth of two new social classes  and the wretchedness of condition of workers led to advancement ofsocialist movement.Asthe industrial revolution first occurred in Western Europe, the socialist ideas and practices also gained currency there especially in Britain and France.

  • France Was more fertile than Britain in producing newsocialist theories and movements. Charles Power urged reconstitution of society including abolition of the wage system and the complete equality of sexes. The French journalist Louis Blanc stood like many of his contemporaries against the competitiveness of the new industrial society and particularly opposed the exploitation of the working class. Dissolution was to campaign for universalmale suffrage which could give working class men control of the state. Following their triumph, these workers would make the state the ‘banker of the poor’ and institutes Associations of Production” - actually a system of workshops governed by workers which would guarantee jobs and security for all. These workshops were briefly instituted in Paris during the Revolution of 1848. Proudhon, another Frenchman, condemned the profits accruing to employers at the expense of their employees.
  • In England, the most persuasive thinker was Robert Owen. Owen argued against the middle-class belief that the profit motive should be allowed to shape the social and economic organization. He advocated a general reorganization of society on the basis of cooperation, with communities rewarding workers solely as a result of their actual labour.It wasin Britain that the workers agitated for their rights and beginning from the second half of the nineteenth century, there were passed a series of legislations conferring them not only trade union rights but also empowering them to exercise their right of franchise. The initial socialists laid firm foundation for further development ofsocialist movement under Marx. Engels etc.

(b) Most of the European Revolutions of 1848 were nationalist as well as popular insurrections against foreign rule and repressive policy of Metternich.

Ans: The first half of the nineteenth century was an epoch of revolutions. Several revolutionary outbreaks occurred during the first half of the century, most notably in 1820, 1830 and 1848. The revolution of 1848 began in France and soon engulfed several parts of Europe. Most of the revolutions of Europe of 1848 were nationalist as well as popular insurrection against foreign rule and repressive policy of Metternich.

  • In Germany, the revolution of 1848 found powerful reverberation. The people rose everywhere and frightened their autocratic rulers into granting constitutional reforms. Apopular movement broke out in Baden and spread all over Germany. The liberals demanded civil rights, freedom of press and constitutional government. These demands were conceded by all states except Saxony and Hanover. Fredrick William of Prussia, yielding to the liberal impulses, promised to attain leadership for united Germany. ANational Parliament elected by universal suffrage met at Frankfurt in 1848 to draw up a constitution for united Germany.
  • The shock of the political earthquake of 1848 was most intensely felt in Austrian Empire ruled by the reactionary Chancellor Metternich. The Austrian Empire was assemblage of number of states inhabited by number of races- Germans,Czechs, Magyars, Poles and the Italians. These subject nationalities were held in check by playing off one nation against another and by segregating them from all contacts. When the news of the revolution of 1848 reached, the different races underAustrian rule such as Slavs. Magyar and Italians caught the contagious and separately rose in revolt. The popular insurrection first broke out in Vienna.At the first shock. Metternich was compelled to flee to England. The second movement broke out in Italy where the people of Venice and Milan drove out the Austrian garrisons. The centre of the third movement was Prague in Bohemia. There theCzechs, a Slavonic people demanded self-government. TheEmperor had to agree to this demand. The fourth movements had its centre at Budapest in Hungary. The Hungarian led by Kossufls demanded separate ministry, liberty of press, trial by jury and abolition of all the privileges of the nobility. The Hungarian movement was however highly exclusive. While these events were taking place, Vienna was shaken by repeated revolts which  at last compelled Emperor Ferdinand to abdicate in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph I.
  • Thus, European Revolution of 1848 was nationalistic and popular insurrection against foreign rule and repressive policy of Metternich.

(c) In the long run, the Locarno Treaty (December, 1925) was destructive both of the Treaty of Versailles and of Covenant.

Ans: The Locarno Treaty forms an event of utmost significance in the world history. The treaty was concluded in 1925 when there was a general improvement in the international atmosphere caused partly by changes in political leadership and partly by easing out of plan ofGerman reparation. However, the treaty destroyed the spirit of both the Treaty of Versailles and the covenant of 1919.

  • The Locarno Treaties were outcome of the French quest for security of her frontiers because after the Treaty of Versailles both Britain and the United States of America declined to guarantee the French security. France then embarked upon efforts to guard her frontiers. The outcome was a number of agreements involving Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The most important one wasthat Germany, France andBelgium promised to respect their joint frontier, if one of the three broke the agreement, Britain and Italy would assist the state which was being attacked. Germany signed agreements with Poland and Czechoslovakia providing for arbitration over possible disputes, but Germany Would not guarantee her frontiers with Poland and Czechoslovakia. It was also agreed that France would help Poland and Czechoslovakia if Germany attacked them.
  • The agreements were greeted with enthusiasm all over Europe, and the reconciliation between France and Germany was referred to as the Locarno honeymoon. However, there was one glaring omission from the agreements. No guarantees were given by Germanyor Britain about Germany’s eastern frontiers with Poland andCzechoslovakia, the very areas were trouble was most likely to arise. By ignoring this problem. Britain gave the impression that she might not act ifGermanyattacked Poland orCzechoslovakia.
  • Though the treaty by its provisions violated the terms oftreaty ofVersailles and the covenant, theworld enjoyed a period of peace following the holocaust of First World War. Germany’s Stoersmann and Briand (French foreign minister) met regularly for discussions withChamberlain joining them. TheLocarno spirit later led to a series of path-breaking measures like the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) and theYoung Plan (1929) and ultimately the World Disarmament Conference (1932-1933). Though guaranteeing short peace the treaty violated the spirit of Paris Peace Treaty and the covenant.

(d) After World War II, the strategy of the West towards the Soviet Bloc crystallized as a policy of containment.

Ans: After the end of the SecondWorldWar, the harmony which had existed between the Soviet Union and the United States of America and the British Empire began to wear thin and all the old suspicion came to the fore again. Relations between the Soviet Russia and the West soon became so difficult that although no actual fighting took place, a period of armed and suspicious peace prevailed. The western strategy towards the Soviet Bloc crystallized as a policy of containment.

  • Both the super powers, the Unites States of America and the Soviet Russia gathered allies around them. The Soviet Russia drew into its orbit most of the states ofEastern Europe. On the other hand the Unites States stated to tackle the growing strength of the Soviet Bloc. First of all the United States’ President Truman intervened in Greece where Communistswere trying, to overthrow the monarchy. Truman announced that the USA would import free peoples who are resisting suppression by armed minorities or by outside pressures. Truman Doctrine made it clear that the USA had committed to a policy of containing Communism not just in Europe, but throughout the world. Further, the USAin June 1947 announced the Marshall Plan which was an economic extension of the Truman Doctrine. One of its aims was to promote the economic recovery of Europe thus ensuring markets forAmerican exports, but its main aim was political - to contain Communism.
  • Further, the United Statesin alliance with Britain and France united West Germany into a single economic zone. When the Russians tried to counter their aims by resorting to blockade of Germany, the Western powers decided to fly supplies and two million tons of supplies were airlifted to the blockaded city in what has since then come to be known as the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin blockade showed theWest’s military unpreparedness and frightened them into making defence preparations. The result was the formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in April 1949, to help guard theWest and its allies form the rising tide ofCommunism. Further, the western powers united their roads to form the German Federal Republic in August 1949. When it became known in September 1949 that the USSR had successfully exploded an atomic bomb, an arms race began to develop.’17untan responded by giving the go ahead for hydrogen booth, many times more powerful than the atomic bomb. Also, theWest came to the militarily involved first against North Korea and then against Viclient.Thus did the western strategy to block Communist advance crystallized into the policy of containment of Communism.

6. The Enlightenment represented alternative approaches to modernity, alternative habits of mind and heart, of conscience and sensibility. Discuss. 60

Ans: The scientific and intellectual developments of the 17th century - the discoveries of Newton, rationalism of Descartes, the skepticism of Bayle, and the empiricism of Francis Bacon and John Lock fastened the belief in natural law and universal order and the confidence in human reason that spread to influence all of the eighteenth century. This powerful stream of thought is known as the Enlightenment. Currents of thought were many and varied, but certain ideas may be characterized as pervading and dominant. A rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political and economic issues prompted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility.

  • The Enlightenment represented alternative approaches to modernity, alternative habits of mind and heart. of conscience and sensibility. The major champions of these concepts were the philosophers. who popularized and promulgated the new ideas for the general reading public. These proponents of the Enlightenment shared certain basic attitudes. With supreme faith in rationality, they sought to discover and to act upon universally valid principles governing humanity, nature and society. They variously attacked spiritual and scientific authority, dogmatism, intolerance, censorship, and economic and social restraints. They considered the state the proper and rational instrument of progress. The extreme rationalism and skepticism of the age led to deism.
  • Centered in Paris, the movement gained international character at cosmopolitan salons. Masonic lodges played an important role in disseminating the new ideas throughout Europe. Foremost in France among proponents of the Enlightenment wereMontesquieu, Voltaire,Turgot and Physiocrats and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
  • That Enlightenment represented alternative approaches to modernity, and alternative habits of mind and heart can be analysed by discussing the ideas of proponents oftheEnlightenment.Voltairemoved easily in aristocratic circles. He opposed tyranny and dogma, but he had no notion of reinventing democracy. He had too little of an ordinary person for that. What he did think was that educated and sophisticated persons could be brought to see through the exercise of their reason that the world could and should be greatly improved. His slogan was crushing the infamous.
  • Rousseau was another leading figure of Enlightenment. He believed that the people are naturally good but are corrupted by society’s false values. He was against the limitations of a civilized society, and he advised a return to nature. He also . developed the idea of general will, and argued that conformity with it had to be guiding principle of the government. Essentially, concerned with notion of freedom. Rousseau began his masterpiece the Social Contract (1762) with the words man is born free. and everywhere he is in chains.’ He argued that people sacrifice their rights in return for protection bya head of state. Rousseau challenged the idea of absolute monarchy, and the tradition that the nobility and clergy were entitled to special privileges. He also had the opinion that education should be available to everyone. Rousseau’s ideas were an important influence on Romanticism and on the French Revolution. His writings began to influence political events and inspired revolutions in France and North America. Slaveryhad no place in these nations formed to protect human rights.
  • Rousseau also inspired people to fight for freedom on behalf of others who were unable to help themselves. Politicians, churches, and ordinarypeople began to think how they might help slaves. Rousseau’s ideas on education are outlined in “Encile”. His Ideal here was rejection of the traditional ideal. Education was not seen to be imparting of all things known to the uncouth child, rather it was seen as the drawing out of what is already there, and the fostering of what is native. Rousseau’s educational proposal is highly artificial, the process is carefully timed and controlled, but with the end of allowing the free development of human potential.
  • Complicated in thought but simple in lifestyle, Kant wrote on a broad range of subjects from metaphysics to physics- from theology to philosophy. In his critique of PureReason (1781), Kant agreed with Hutne’s empiricism- namely that sense experience is essential to human knowledge. But he also agreed with continental rationalists that knowledge is also a matter of exercise of human reason -in particular that the use of innate human ideas which help us to recognize this empirical information. Thus, Kant saw himself as closing the intellectual gap between the British empiricists and the continental rationalists. Kant also saw himself as answering Hume's Skepticism about ever knowing with any degree of certainty the truth of transcendent ideas such as moral laws or ethical principles. In Kant’s “Metaphysics of Morals andCritique of Practical Reason”, he proposed a new moral/ethical “categorical imperative”, one that did not require the existence of God for its validity. And yet Kant’s concept was of a definite transcendent nature, one with absolute universal validity. It involved an ingenious piece of moral logic, we ought to act in such a way that our act would become accepted as a universal principle of behaviour. If it were not able to attain such a universal validity then that action by practical reason was obviously not to be pursued.
  • Taking his logic of practical reason a step further, he turned to the issue of the existence of God. He agreed with Hume that no rational argument could be given for God’s existence but practical reason could. Kant claimed that human reason cannot establish the fact of God. But in observing the moral instincts of people, we can see through the eyes of faith that there is some kind of source beyond the mere human will itself that directs life that higher moral grounding is by definition God. Thus, God exists; this king of theological reasoning did not impress the Prussian government. Finally, so impressed was Kant that we humans could live in accordance with such higher moral imperatives that in his “Perpetual Peace”, he laid out a vision for a new world order. The impact of Kantian’s work has been incalculable. Besides giving impetus to the development of Herman idealism, Kant’s philosophy has influenced almost every area of thought.
  • Today the Enlightenment is often viewed as a historical anomaly, a brief moment when a number of thinkers infatuated with reason vainly supposed that the perfect society could be built on common sense and tolerance, a fantasy which collapsed with the triumphal sweep of Romanticism. However, the Enlightenment by promoting alternative ways of modernity, sense and sensibility laid firm ideological foundations on which much of our present world order rests and works.

7. Account for the factors that brought about the end of the Cold War? 60

Ans. The world now has entered the post Cold War era. Many efforts have been made since the 1950s to promote relaxation of tensions and on many occasions in the past it appeared that the two power blocks had entered the period of detente. Gradually, however, the Cold War came to an end. This was due to the operation of several factors acting in tandem.

  • One of the most important factors that played an increasingly important role in changing the policy of confrontation was the realization that unlike at anytime before in human history, the predictability of all out war simply could not be the basis of conducting international relations. The reports prepared by the scientists on the effects of a nuclear war and the voices raised by them against the armaments race and the doctrines of Mutually Assured Destruction and Nuclear Deterrence, and the popular anti-war movements in every part of the world played an important role in creating an atmosphere of detente.
  • Further, since the early 1960s, the rigid military alliances showed tendencies of breaking down. From 1954, the Soviet leaders began laying stress on peaceful existence. After the split, in the communist movement which began in the late 1950s, the theory of the danger of the expansion of Communism lost much of its relevance. The hostility between the Soviet Union and China destroyed the fear of Communism which had been earlier viewed as a monolithic bloc. Albania went but ofWarsawPact in 1961 andRomania began to play a role independent of the Soviet Union. The US relations with China improved in the early 1970s and China was admitted to the United Nations in 1971. There were changes in the US sponsored military contingents from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces in 1966 and NATO forces and bases were removed from French territory. In the early 1970s, South East Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) also began to be phased out as a military alliance. Pakistan withdrew from the SEATO in 1973 and France in 1974.
  • However, the process of the end of theColdWar was not an easy one. There were a number of instances when the world was faced with the prospect of a ‘hot war’ breaking out. In 1956, there was uprising in Hungary and in 1968 a change of government in Czechoslovakia. In both cases, it meant the countries going out of Soviet control and following political and economic policies which deviated from the Soviet socialism. In 1961 East Germanybuilt a wall between East and West Berlin to make it impossible for East Germany to escape to West Berlin. This created widespread resentment in thewest. In 1979, the Soviet Union sent her troops to Afghanistan to help the Afghan government crush the rebels who had been armed by the United States and were operating in Afghanistan from and with the support of Pakistan. There were also many instances of the US overt or covert intervention in many countries, particularly in Latin America.
  • Another factor in the end of Cold War was the efforts towards disarmament. The elimination of the means of destruction alone can ensure peace. The existence of the weapons whose destruction power is beyond ordinary human imagination is itself a source of tension. The end of confrontation, therefore, may lead to disarmament, to begin with, nuclear disarmament. Though disarmament remains a far cry, some positive steps were taken in this direction. In 1963, a Test Ban Treaty was signed by the Unites States, the Soviet Union andBritain which prohibited the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in outer space and underwater. France and China, however, had refused to sign the treaty and continued to carry out nuclear tests in the atmosphere. In 1969, negotiations aimed at reduction of arms began between the United States and the Soviet Union and in 1972 an agreement was reached on limiting certain categories of missiles. These negotiations were known as the StrategicArms Limitation Talks(SALT). 
  • The negotiations for disarmament were hampers in the 1980s when the Unites States started working on a new system of weaponry called the Strategy Defence Initiative (SDI), popularly known as the State WarsProgramme.Thiswouldmean taking the arm race to a new terrible height by extending it to outer space. However,some progress was made it eliminating some categories of nuclear missiles and it cutting others. A treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear weapons, popularly known as the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty(NPT) was also signed by many countries with the aim to prevent the countries not possessing nuclear weapons from acquiring them. But it does not require countries already in possession of nuclear weapons should eliminate them.
  • The policies pursued by Mikhail Gorbachev Who came to power in 1989alsowere a seminal development that finally brought the Cold War to end. He wanted to transform the revitalize the country, which he intended to achieve by modernizing and streamlining the Communist Party with new policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika. The new thinking soon made an impact on foreign affairs. His policy of peace found expression when he held summit meetings with Reagan and proposed a fifteen year time table for a step by step process for riding the earth of nuclear weapons. The result was the INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) Treaty, formally signed by Reagan and Gorbachevin December, 1987. The treaty provided for scrapping up of all land-based intermediate range nuclear weapons over the next three years. The treaty also provided for strict verification regime for both rides to check that weapons were actually being destroyed. The Soviet control over the governments of East European countries was loosened and new governments were formed after free elections were held in these countries.
  • In October, 1990, Germanywas united. In 1991, the Warsaw Pact, the military bloc, headed by the Soviet Union was formally dissolved. In 1991, the Communist Party’s exclusive control over the Soviet Union, which it had exercised since the October Revolution of 1917 came to an end. By the end of the 1991, the Soviet Union broke up into fifteen independent republics. The ColdWar came to an end with the collapse ofCommunist party rule in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
  • The Non-Aligned Movement also had a note in the process that brought the Cold War finally to end. The non-aligned countries were deeply interested in preserving their own independence and playing an independent role in shaping the world and in speeding up the process of destruction of imperialism. The non- aligned countries refused to align with any of the military blocs and believed in taking independent stance on foreign issues. Moreover, they stood for peaceful resolution of international disputes. The non- aligned nations by their advocacy of peace had a sobering effect on international relations. They Helped create a climate of peace and harmony in international arena.
  • The United Nations Organization founded in 1945with the explicit aim of saving the world from the scourge of war also played a role in ending the Cold War. The UN played a seminal role in averting many international crises. Moreover, in the world divided into military blocs, it was the only organization that lent some sort of mentality. By helping diffuse crises and by working for building peace in the world, the UN helped promote an opinion and climate which favoured disarmament and peace. TheColdWar came to an end by the interplay of variety of factors acting in association. However. the end of Cold War has not ushered in a world free of conflicts and tensions. It has led to emergence of many non-static actors with pretensions to disturb the world peace.

8. Asses the significance of the political developments that took place in Eastern Europe during 1989-2001. 60

Ans. Since the end of the 1980s, some of the changes that have taken place in the world are so far reaching that they may be said to mark the beginning of a new phase in world history. The Soviet Union as a State - as a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed. The fifteen republics which constituted became independent states. The rule of the Communist parties in these states as well as in the countries ofEastern Europe ended.With ending of the Communist rule, the kind of socialist political and economic system which was built in these countries collapsed.

  • The Eastern European countries had been liberated during the Second World War by the Soviet troops, and hence in these countries Communist parties and their supporters had established their exclusive control allied to the Soviet Union. However, beginningfrom1989 till 2001,many important changes occurred in these countries. The events in the Soviet Union after 1985 had a direct impact on the political developments in these countries. In almost all these countries, Communist parties’ rule came to an end during 1989 to 1991­
  • Two of these countries-Romania andAlbania had freed themselves of the Soviet control in the 1960s following the split between Soviet Union and China. However, there was no change in the exclusive control of the Communist parties in these countries. In December 1989 there was a popular uprising in Romania against the government headed by Nikolai Ceausescu. Many army units also came out against the government. A coalition government came to power after elections. In Albania, the Communist Party’srule came to an end in 1912.
  • In Poland the movement against theCommunist Party’s rule was led by an organization called solidarity. In 1989, an agreement was reached between solidarity and the government and following free elections, a Non-Communist became the prime minister of Poland. In 1990, free elections were held in Hungary and a Non-Communist government was formed there. In Czechoslovakia, after the armed intervention by WarsawPact countries in 1968, the Communist Party had removed Alexander Qubeck who had started introducing political and economic reforms. In December 1989, following mass demonstrations and strikes the dominant role oftheCommunist Party Came to an end. An eminent Czech writer Vaclav Havel became the President ofCzechoslovakia. The country had emerged as an independent state in 1918. Since 1968, it had been a FederalRepublic comprisingCzech Republic and Slovak republic. Following the end of the Communist Party’s rule, the two republics decided to separate and two independent states - the Czech Republic and the SlovakRepublic - came into being in 1993.
  • The end of division in Germany Was The result of a series of developments which began in 1989. There was a change in the leadership of the Socialist Unity Party, the ruling party of the German Democratic Republic and of the government in 1989. In November of that year, the new leaders of East Germany announced the opening oftheBerlin Wall. Soon after, the political parties and organizations which were not controlled by the ruling party of the East Germany began to function freely. Early in 1990, the East Germany government made it known that it was in favour of unification of Germany. Talks were held between the governments of East Germany and West Germany and on 3 October 1990, Germany became a unified state. A new coalition government came to power in unified Germany After countrywide elections in December 1990.
  • A major development in recent years has been the break-up ofYugoslavia and the tragic violence that has accompanied it. Yugoslavia emerged as an independent state at the end of the First World War. During the Second World War, the people of Yugoslavia had waged a heroic war of resistance against the Nazi occupation. It became a federation of the six republics after the SecondWorld War. Though ruled by the Communist Party, it had rejected Soviet control. Joseph Tito who had led the Yugoslav resistance against Nazi occupation subsequently headed the government ofYugoslavia and was one of the pioneers of the Non-Aligned Movement. At the end of the 1980s, asin other communist ruled states in Europe, there were a demand for ending the Communist. Party’s exclusive control over the government. By early 1990, Non-Communist governments had come to power in most of the republics of Yugoslavia.
  • In the meantime, many republics had started demanding independence. By early 1992, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina had declared their independence, and Serbia and Montenegro together formed the new state of Yugoslavia.
  • The declaration of independence by Bosnia­Herzegovina has been followed by most tragic violence in which thousands of people have been killed. This republic is inhabited by Serbians, Croats, and Muslims. TheBosnian Serbs,supported bySerbia control a large part of Bosnia territory. They Are hostile to the idea of a multicultural independent state of Bosnia-Herzegovina.A bloody war had been going on since 1992 between the Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims in spite of the presence of the UN peace Force.
  • The war against Bosnian Muslims by Serbian leaders was an example of ethnic cleansing. Later, the UN tried to protect the Muslims by declaring Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde, three mainlyMuslim towns as ‘safe areas’. During 1995 crucial changes took place which enabled a peace agreement to be signed, at Dayton and a treaty was formally signed in December 1995, by which Bosnia was to remain one state with two sections Bosnian Muslims federation and theBosnian Serb republic. TheNATO troops were deployed to police that Muslim settlement. There was a general relief at the peace, though there were no real winners, and the settlement was full of problems.
  • The political development which has assumed significance in the years preceding 2002 has been the increasing number of the East European countries subscribing to the membership of the North Atlantic TreatyOrganisation. Moreover, the European Union having incorporated most of West European Union having incorporated most ofWest European countries in its fold is expanding towards east and manyEastern European countries have registered their intentions to be part of this economic and political bloc. All these developments signify the end of the Communism and the transition of the Eastern European countries on the roads of Capitalism. However, the process has not been very smooth. In some countries, the collapse of the highly centralized economic development was based on free enterprise. In some countries, there has been some aggravation of immediate economic problems. The commanist parties in most of these countries have been recognized as democratic socialist parties.
  • These developments in Eastern Europe are pregnant with momentous consequences in future all of which needs to he watched with hated breath.

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