2.

According to the Indian Constitution equality before law and

equality of opportunities were guaranteed and nobody would
15 The National Movement III be discriminated upon on the bases of caste, creed, religion,
sex etc. The right of the poor and marginalized communities
What’s in the picture? was recognized by giving them special privileges. The practice
of untouchability was abolished and the marginalized
Students will identify leaders from the picture. 1.. Pandit Nehru communities were allocated special privileges so that they
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lal Bahadur Shastri, could be brought into the mainstream. A certain per cent
Lala Lajpat Rai of reservations have been made for them in educational
Skill Builder institutions, the legislature and jobs in the government.

Critical thinking skills: An excerpt from Jawaharlal Nehru’s Tryst of 3. Some countries like India did not want to join any of the two
Destiny speech, August 15, 1947. power blocs. It was under these circumstances that the NAM
was founded. The founders of NAM were Jawaharlal Nehru,
Life Skills: The role of Planning Commission was to help design
President Tito of Yugoslavia and President Nassar of Egypt.
and execute suitable policies for economic development. ... The
The NAM urged other countries to be neutral and not join
economic development of India in the early decades after
the two major alliances. NAM had only 20 countries to begin
Independence: In 1950, the government set up a Planning
with, but has now grown in influence to have more than a 100
Commission to help design and execute suitable policies for
countries.
economic development.
Communication Skills: In his final speech to the Constituent 4. The government set up the Planning Commission in
Assembly, Dr. Ambedkar pointed out that political democracy had 1950 in order to formulate and execute these policies.
to be accompanied by economic and social democracy. Giving the The Commission was to promote a rapid rise in the
right to vote would not automatically lead to the removal of other standard of living of the people by using the resources
inequalities such as between rich and poor, or between upper and of the country, increasing production, and offering
lower castes. employment opportunities to everyone. The government
tried to accomplish this task by incorporating Five Year
Exercises
A. 1. c 2. d 3. d 4. d 5. c Plansbeginning in 1951. Through these Plans, India has
been able to advance in different fields such as agriculture,
B. 1. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel irrigation, industry, transport, communication and social
2. Princely services.
5. After World War II, the powerful countries of the world were
3. Portuguese
divided into two blocs, that is, the Western Bloc led by the
4. 22 USA and the Eastern Bloc led by former USSR
5. 1950 E. 1. The efforts of one man, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s
C . 1. T 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. T first Home Minister, were instrumental in absorbing the
independent princely states into the Indian fold. That is why
D. 1. After a brief struggle between India and Pakistan, Junagadh Sardar Patel is also known as the Iron Man of India.
joined India on 9 November 1947. It was a part of Saurashtra
state and later Bombay state. In 1960, in consequence of the 2. By the time of independence, there were more than 500
Maha Gujarat movement, it became part of the newly formed princely states that had to be assimilated into the Indian
Gujarat state. nation, many of which wanted to retain their independence,
for instance, Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir.
3. The five principles of the Panchsheel Agreement are:
 Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty
 Mutual non-aggression
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 Mutual non-interference in each other’s affairs

 Equality and mutual benefit
 Peaceful coexistence

Cascade_Grade_8.indb 160 06/12/21 3:05 PM

 4. The
 founders of the NAM were Jawaharlal Nehru, President
Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and President Gamal Abdel
Nasser of Egypt. The NAM urged other countries to be
neutral and not join the two major power blocs that formed
after the World War II.
Think Big
The three problems that the newly independent nation of India
faced are as follows: Rehabilitation of a large number of refugees.
Assimilation of princely states. Ensuring the unity of a country which
is full of diversity.

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