Era of one-party dominance

 Era of one-party dominance

Q. Indian Constitution was adopted on

i)    26 November 1949

ii)   24 Novmber 1949

iii)  28 November 1950

iv)  29 November 1950

Ans: i)   26 November 1949.

Q. Indian Constitution was signed in 

i) 24 January 1950

ii) 26 January 1950

iii) 24 February 1950

iv) 26 February 1950.

Ans: i) 24 January 1950

Q. Indian Constitution was come into effect on

i) 26 January 1950

ii) 28 January 1950

iii) 24 February 1949

iv) 26 January 1949

Ans: i) 26 January 1950

Q. The election commission of India was set up in 

a) 1950 

b) 1966

c) 1955

d) 1952

Ans: a) 1950 

Q. Who became the first Chief Election Commissioner?

a) Sukumar Sen 

b) Rajendra Prasad

c) B R Ambedkar

d) Vallabhbhai Patel

Ans:a) Sukumar Sen 

***A sketch on Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad :

Original name of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad was Abul Kalam Mohiyuddin Ahmed. He was a scholar of Islam, freedom fighter and Congress leader. He was a propagator of Hindu Muslim unity. He opposed to partition and was a member of Constituent Assembly. He was the Education Minister in the first Cabinet of free India.

Q. The first election was held in

a) 1950

b) 1952

c) 1953 

d) 1954 

Ans: 1952.

Q.  In the first general Lok sabha election, the Indian National Congress party won 

a) 364 seats 

b) 366 seats 

c) 355 seats 

d) 367 seats 

Ans:a) 364 seats 

Q. In the first general Lok sabha election, the Communist party of India won 

a) 16 seats 

b) 18 seats 

c) 20 seats 

d) 15 seats 

Ans: a) 16 seats 

Q. Who became the first Prime Minister after the first general election?

Ans: Jawaharlal Nehru.

Q. The second general election was held in

a) 1950

b) 1952

c) 1953 

d) 1957

Ans: d) 1957

Q.The third general election was held in

a) 1950

b) 1962

c) 1953 

d) 1957

Ans: 1962 .

*** A sketch on Rajkumari Amrit Kaur( 1889 - 1964):

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur belonged to the royal family of Kapurthala. She was a Gandhian and freedom fighter. She inherited Christian religion from her mother . She was a member of Constituent Assembly. She was the minister for  Health in independent India's first ministry. She continued as Health Minister till 1957.

Q. Write about Socialist party.

Ans: The origins of the Socialist party can be traced back to the mass movement stage of the Indian National Congress in pre - independence era. The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was formed within the Congress in 1934 by some radical and egalitarian Congress leaders. In 1948, the Congress amended its constitution to prevent its members from having a dual party membership. This forced the Socialists to form a separate Socialist Party in 1948. 

The Socialists believed in the ideology of democratic socialism. Their ideas were different both from the Congress as well as from the Communists.They criticised the Congress for favouring capitalists and landlords and for ignoring the workers and the peasants. But the Socialists faced a dilemma when in 1955 the Congress declared its goal to be the socialist pattern of society. So , it became difficult for the Socialists to present themselves as an effective alternative to the Congress. Some of them , led by Rammanohar Lohia , increased their distance from and criticism of the Congress party. Some others like Ashoka Mehta advocated a limited cooperation with the Congress.

The Socialist Party went through many splits and reunions leading to the formation of many socialist parties .These included the Kishan Mazdoor Praja Party, the Praja Socialist Party and Samyukta Socialist Party. Jayaprakash Narayan, Achyut Patwardhan , Ashoka Mehta, Acharya Narendra Dev, Rammanohar Lohia and S.M. Joshi were among the leaders of the Socialist parties. Many parties in contemporary India , like the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal , Janata Dal ( United) and the Janata Dal ( secular) trace their origin to the Socialist Party.

Q. Who was Acharya Narendra Dev?

Ans: Acharya Narendra Dev ( 1889 - 1956) was a freedom fighter. He was the founding president of the Congress Socialist party. He was jailed several times during the freedom movement. He was an active leader in peasants ' movement. He was a scholar of Buddhism. After independence he led the Socialist Party and later the Praja Socialist Party.

Q. Name the countries having one party dominance.

Ans: 

a) China , Cuba and Syria  , due to the constitution permits only a single party to rule the country.

b) Myanmar, Belarus, Egypt and Eritrea , due to legal and military measures.

c) Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan were also effectively one party dominant states.

Q. Write about National Revolutionary Party.

Ans: The National Revolutionary Party was founded in 1929 and later it renamed as the Institutional Revolutionary Party in Spanish. It exercised power in Mexico for almost six decades. It represented the legacy of the Mexican revolution.

         Originally PRI was a mixture of various interests including political and military leaders, labour and peasant organizations and numerous political parties.The founder of PRI was Plutarco Elias Calles , who was able to capture the organisation and thereby the government. Elections were held at regular intervals and it was the PRI which won every time. Its rule was described as "the perfect dictatorship ". Finally the party lost in the Presidential elections held in 2000. With this , Mexico is no longer a one - party dominated country.

Q. Write about Dadasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.

Ans: Dadasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891- 1956) was a leader of the anti- caste movement. He struggled for justice to the Dalits. He was a scholar and intellectual. He was the founder of Independent Labour Party. Later he founded the Scheduled Castes Federation. He planned the formation of the Republican party of India. He was a member of Viceroy's Executive Council during the Second World War. He was the Chairman of Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly. He was the minister in Nehru's first cabinet after independence. He resigned from his post in 1951 due to differences over the Hindu Code Bill. He adopted Buddhism in 1956 , with thousands of followers.

Q. Who was Rafi Ahmad Kidwai?

Ans: Rafi Ahmad Kidwai (1894 - 1954) was a Congress leader from U.P. . He was elected as a minister in U.P. in 1937 and again in 1946. He was the Minister for communication in the first ministry of free India. He was also became Food and Agriculture minister.

Q. The Indian National Congress was formed in

a) 1889

b) 1885

c) 1883 

d) 1882

Ans:b) 1885 

Q. Write about A.K. Gopalan.

Ans: A.K. Gopalan (1904 - 1977) was a communist leader from Kerala. He worked as a Congress worker initially and joined the Communist Party in 1939. After the split in Communist Party in 1964, he joined the CPI ( M) and worked for strengthening the party. He was a member of parliament from 1952.

Q. Write about the Bharatiya Jana Sangh .

Ans: The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was formed in 1951 . Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was its founder - President. Its lineage can be traced back to the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha before independence. 

The Jana Sangh emphasised the idea of one country, one culture and one nation and believed that the country could become modern , progressive and strong on the basis of Indian culture and traditions. The party called for a reunion of India and Pakistan in Akhand Bharat. The party was in forefront of the agitation to replace English with Hindi as the official language of India and was also opposed to the granting of concessions to religious and cultural minorities.

In the 1950s Jana Sangh remained on the margins of the electoral politics and was able to secure only 3 Lok Sabha seats in 1952 elections and 4 seats in 1957 general elections to Lok Sabha.The party's leaders included Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Balraj Madhok . The Bharatiya Janata party traces its roots to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. 

 

Q. Write about Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.

Ans: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (1916- 1968) was a full time RSS worker since 1942. He was the founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He was also General Secretary and later President of Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He initiated the concept of integral humanism.

Q.  Write about Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

Ans: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (1901 - 1953) was a leader of Hindu Mahasabha. He was the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He was a minister in Nehru's first cabinet after independence. He resigned in 1950 due to differences over relations with Pakistan. He was a member of Constituent Assembly.He opposed to India's policy of autonomy to Jammu & Kashmir. He was arrested during Jana Sangh 's agitation against Kashmir policy. 

Q. Who was C. Rajagopalachari?

Ans: C. Rajagopalachari was a senior leader of Congress and literary writer. He was close associate of Mahatma Gandhi.He was a member of Constituent Assembly. He was the first Indian to be the Governor General of India ( 1948 - 1950). He became Chief Minister of Madras state. He was the first recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award. He was the founder of the Swatantra Party ( 1959).

Q.  Write about Swatantra Party?

Ans: Swatantra Party was formed in August, 1959. The party was led by old congress man like C. Rajagopalachari, K. M. Munshi , N. G. Ranga and Minoo Masani. 

The Swatantra Party wanted the government to be less and less involved in controlling the economy. It believed that prosperity could come only through individual freedom. It was critical of the development strategy of state intervention in the economy, centralised planning, nationalisation and the public sector.

The party favoured expansion of a free private sector. It was against land ceillings in agriculture . It opposed co - operative farming and state trading. It was also opposed to the progressive tax regime and demanded dismantling of the licencing regime. It was critical to the policy of non - alignment and maintaining friendly relations with Soviet union and United States.