Challenges of Nation-Building Test - 2

Indian Government believed in communal harmony and equality of religion for all. This highly important belief also found its place in the Constitution of India where India was declared a secular nation and the Fundamental Right of 'Right to Religion' was given to all citizens of India.

The acceptance of the principle of linguistic states did not mean, however, that all states immediately became linguistic states. There was an experiment of ‘bilingual’ Bombay state, consisting of Gujarati- and Marathi-speaking people. After a popular agitation, the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were created in 1960.

Sardar Patel faced key challenges of integration from three states, viz., Hyderabad, Junagarh, and Kashmir. It was under his leadership that Indian forces compelled Hyderabad and Junagarh to merge with India.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 at age 78 in the compound of Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti), a large mansion in central New Delhi.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972.

The ‘Two-Nation Theory’ was based upon the partition of India. On 14-15 August 1947, not one but two nation-states came into existence – India and Pakistan.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950): Leader of the freedom movement; Congress leader; follower of Mahatma Gandhi; Deputy prime Minister and first Home Minister of independent India; played an important role in the integration of princely States with India; member of important committees of the Constituent Assembly on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, provincial Constitution, etc.

Cities like Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata became divided into ‘communal zones’. 

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reformed the boundaries of Indian states and territories, systematizing them on language base.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950): Leader of the freedom movement; Congress leader; follower of Mahatma Gandhi; Deputy prime Minister and first Home Minister of independent India; played an important role in the integration of princely States with India; member of important committees of the Constituent Assembly on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, provincial Constitution, etc.