India is a land of rich heritage, culture, history, and geography. Indian culture is a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs and belief systems, artifacts, political systems, and technologies that originated in the Indian subcontinent. India is a part of Asia and forms a peninsula which means it is surrounded by 3 water bodies that are ‘The Arabian Sea’, ‘ bay of Bengal’, and ‘Indian Ocean ’. Over the years, numerous styles of art, architecture, painting, music, dance, festivals and customs have developed in India and this wide variety has made the Indian culture unparalleled to which the entire world still looks up to. The cultural heritage of India still flourishes maintaining its original features together along with changes ,a key indicator of its strength.
Salient Aspects of Indian art forms, literature, and architecture from ancient to modern times
There are 3 types of Indian Arts. ‘Performing Arts’ include different types of classical dances that are ‘kathak’, ‘Bharatnatyam’, ‘Manipuri’, etc., music, theatre, and puppets. ‘Visual arts’ include ‘historical architecture’, ‘sculpture’, and ‘paintings’. Literary Arts have a mission to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation with great literature.
In ancient times, art was produced to promote religious activity. From the 2nd century BC, the Ajanta caves in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra are the ancient and magnificent caves where we can find the arts of Buddha and other gods and goddesses. Mughal paintings and Rajputana paintings and arts from the 14-16th century are the most beautiful works done by Indian artists.
Literature engages people with writings in different languages of India like Tamil, Sanskrit, Hindi, etc., expressing shared tradition, cultural experiences, and Indian heritage.
Indian architecture is the greatest artistic glory. Indus valley civilization is the oldest Indian architectural civilization.
Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present
After the death of the most popular Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal authority weakened. They were unable to rule India as other emperors ruled. The last emperor of the Mughal Empire, Bahadur Shah Zafar (Emperor from 1837-57) was known to be the weakest. He was the son of Akbar shah II.
The history of modern India begins in the middle of the eighteenth century with the beginning of the freedom struggle, which finally concluded in the form of an independent India.
[1837-1847]
REVOLT OF 1857
The revolt of 1857 was the conscious beginning of the Independence struggle against the colonial tyranny of the British. There are various names for the revolt of 1857 – India’s First War of Independence, Sepoy Mutiny, etc. The revolt began on May 10, 1857, at Meerut as a sepoy mutiny. It was initiated by sepoys in the Bengal Presidency against the British officers. This war of Independence marked the end of rule by the British East India company. Post this, India was directly ruled by the British government through representatives known as Governor-General. Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, Sepoy Mangal Pandey and many other fighters fought for the India’s first freedom movement.
Formation of Indian National Congress
‘Indian National Congress’, byname ‘Congress Party‘, broadly based political party of India. Formed in 1885, the Indian National Congress dominated the Indian movement for independence from Great Britain.
Formation of Indian National Army
‘Indian National Army’ was formed by Netaji Subhash Bose in 1942.
The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.
PARTITION OF BENGAL [1905]
Indian nationalism was gaining in strength and Bengal was the nerve centre of Indian nationalism in the early 1900s. Lord Curzon, the Viceroy (1899-1905), attempted to ‘dethrone Calcutta’ from its position as the centre from which the Congress Party manipulated throughout Bengal, and indeed, the whole of India. The decision to partition Bengal into two was in the air from December 1903.
Congress party – from 1903 to mid-1905 – tried moderate techniques of petitions, memoranda, speeches, public meetings and press campaigns. The objective was to turn to public opinion in India and England against the partition.
However, Viceroy Curzon 1905 formally announced the British Government’s decision for the partition of Bengal on 19 July 1905. The partition took effect on 16 October 1905.
THE SWADESHI MOVEMENT [1905-1908]
The movement popularised the use and consumption of indigenous products. Indians started ditching British goods for Indian products.
Women, students, and a large section of the urban and rural population of Bengal and other parts of India became actively involved in politics for the first time with Swadeshi Movement.
The message of Swadeshi and the boycott of foreign goods soon spread to the rest of the country.
The militant nationalists led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghosh were in favour of extending the movement to the rest of India and carrying it beyond the programme of just Swadeshi and boycott to a full-fledged political mass struggle. For them, the aim was Swaraj.
In 1906, the Indian National Congress at its Calcutta Session presided over by Dadabhai Naoroji, declared that the goal of the Indian National Congress was ‘self-government or Swaraj like that of the United Kingdom or the Colonies.
There were differences in the ideologies with the congressmen who were popularly known by the names Moderates and the Extremists. They had differences of opinion regarding the pace of the movement and the techniques of struggle to be adopted. This came to a head in the 1907 Surat session of the Congress where the party split (the two factions re-joined later).
This period also saw a breakthrough in Indian art, literature, music, science and industry.
It was, perhaps, in the cultural sphere that the impact of the Swadeshi Movement was most marked. The songs composed at that time by Rabindranath Tagore, Rajani Kanta Sen etc became the moving spirit for nationalists of all hues.
In art, this was the period when Abanindranath Tagore broke the domination of Victorian naturalism over Indian art and sought inspiration from the rich indigenous traditions of Mughal, Rajput and Ajanta paintings.
In science, Jagdish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra Ray, and others pioneered original research that was praised the world over.
The Swadeshi period also saw the creative use of traditional popular festivals and melas as a means of reaching out to the masses. The Ganapati and Shivaji festivals, popularized by Tilak, became a medium for Swadeshi propaganda not only in Western India but also in Bengal.
Another important aspect of the Swadeshi Movement was the great emphasis given to self-reliance or ‘Atmasakti’in various fields meant the re-asserting of national dignity, honour and confidence.
Self-reliance also meant an effort to set up Swadeshi or indigenous enterprises. The period saw a mushrooming of Swadeshi textile mills, soap and match factories etc.
One of the major features of the programme of self-reliance was Swadeshi or National Education. In 1906, the National Council of Education was established. The vernacular medium was given stress from primary to university level.
Corps of volunteers (or samitis as they were called) were another major form of mass mobilization widely used by the Swadeshi Movement. The Swadesh Bandhab Samiti set up by Ashwini Kumar Dutt was the most well-known volunteer organization of them all.
SPLIT IN CONGRESS [1907]
The main public leaders of the two wings, Tilak (of the Extremists) and Gokhale (of the Moderates) were aware of the dangers of disunity in the nationalist ranks.
A split was avoided in 1906 by choosing Dadabhai Naoroji as presidentship of INC in the Calcutta session. Also, four compromise resolutions on the Swadeshi, Boycott, National Education, and Self-Government demands were passed. However, the hope of a united Congress was short-lived.
The Extremists wanted to extend the Swadeshi and the Boycott Movement from Bengal to the rest of the country but Moderators opposed.
The Extremists were fumed by the rumours that the Moderates wanted to scuttle the four Calcutta resolutions. This created friction among them which led to the split at the Congress session was held on 26 December 1907 at Surat, on the banks of the river Tapti.
The Indian National Congress split in December 1907. By 1907, the Moderate nationalists had exhausted their historical role. They failed to meet the demands of the new stage of the national movement, even failed to attract the younger generation.
Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
When the British decided to quit India, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Muslim League did not come to any conclusion and was unable to make a united front for independence.
For creating a consensus, Britain sent the Cabinet Mission to India. Muslim League did not agree on the proposals of Cabinet Mission, and Jinnah proclaimed “Direct Action Day” on 16th August 1946.
Violence erupted on both sides of the borders. To stop the violence and to avoid a civil war situation, Congress accepted the partition plan. On 14th August 1947, India got divided into the dominions of India and Pakistan. Later, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was further divided, and a new dominion of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was created in 1975.
The Indian Independence Act 1947 made the necessary provision for the independence of India and Pakistan. India chose to become a secular country, whereas Pakistan decided to become an Islamic County. The actual geographic demarcation of the areas between India and Pakistan was entrusted upon by Sir Cyril Radcliffe.
POST-PARTITION OF INDIA AFTER 1947
After independence, the world saw one of the most abrupt and haphazard transfers of people in human history. There were brutal killings, rapes, atrocities in the name of religion on both sides of the border.
In an estimate, about 80 lakh people were forced to migrate across the border to a new place. Also, around 10 lakh people were killed during Partition in religious violence.
India created a department of rehabilitation for the resettlement of refugee in various refugee camps.
PRINCELY STATES ISSUE
The Sardar Patel assumed additional charge of the newly created states department in Jun 1947 with V.P. Menon as its Secretary.
In its first step, Patel appealed to the princes whose territories fell inside India to join the Indian Union in at least three subjects which can affect the common interests of the country, namely, defence, foreign affairs and communications.
There were 565 princely states at that time. Integration of the princely states of Hyderabad, Junagadh, Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur proved more difficult than the rest.
History of the world
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The Industrial Revolution was a period of major industrialization and innovation during the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and quickly spread throughout the world.
The era saw new changes in chemical manufacturing, iron production, textile production, as well as across many other industries. The rapid development of steam power and water power were two of the core driving factors of the industrial revolution. It was a turning point in human history, changing how products were produced and the overall standard of living for a vast majority of the population.
WORLD WAR I AND II
World war I started in 1914 and ended in 1919. World war II started in 1939 and ended in 1945. Both wars became the major attack for humanity.
The world war II was the most deadliest war of all time. In 1945, US dropped Atom bombs on the two trading centers i.e. Hiroshima and Nagasaki of Japan. This led to the loss of lakhs of civilians and soldiers.
COLONIZATION AND DECOLONIZATION
Colonialism is a political-economic fact whereby different nations discovered, conquered, settled, and exploited large zones of the world. Decolonization is about “cultural, psychological, and economic freedom” for Indigenous people with the goal of achieving Indigenous sovereignty — the right and ability of Indigenous people to practice self-determination over their land, cultures, and political and economic systems.
Capitalism, Socialism and Communism
‘Capitalism’ is defined as a system of governance where the government has to play various roles including administrative functionalities, and the facilitator of capitalism and the private players own and control the assets for private gain based on the laws of the country. It treats labors as human capital that is free to work for income and may further invest his money to generate more capital.
Effects of capitalism on society:
1. Capitalism ensures economic growth as it empowers both manufacturers and consumers and keeps money in rotation.
2. It ensures the accessibility of goods and services on a competitive price and helps to improve the standard of living in the country.
3. Capitalism paved the wave for LPG reforms in the world and provided opportunities for the labour force to opt for global employment opportunities, which have further shrunk the global boundaries.
‘Socialism’ is a politico-economic ideology which beliefs in the public ownership of means of production and distribution based on a plan formulated by a central authority.
Effects of socialism in society
1. Helps in creating a welfare society where all the basic needs of people (food, clothes and shelter) are fulfilled by the State on very affordable prices.
2. Providing employment is the State’s responsibility. Thus, everyone gets a job based on his/her capabilities, education and skills.
3. Establishes the supremacy of the State, thus, making them arbitrary.
4. Lack of check and balance on the bureaucracy leads to increased corruption in society.
‘Communism’ can be defined as the ideology which leads to a classless society based on the equal rights for everyone, irrespective of the class they belong to (the labour or the bourgeoisie), on the means of production.
Effects of communism in society
1. The ideology of communism supports a society without rulers, but until it is achieved all the power will lie with the dictator government so formed, which will further lead to their oppression. For example, the Rule of Hitler and the event of the holocaust.
2. In communist nations, the difference between the official claims and societal realities is vast. The dictator government controls the flow of information and every sort of communication channel which cut-offs the society with the outer world.
Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India
Indian society is a pluralistic society with a complex social order characterized by a multitude of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and caste divisions. National unity and integrity have been maintained even through sharp economic and social inequalities have obstructed the emergence of egalitarian social relations. It is this synthesis which has made India a unique mosque of cultures. Thus, India present seemingly multicultural situation within in the framework of a single integrated cultural whole.
The following are the features:
1. The multi-ethnic Indian society
A society with the co-existence of a wide variety of racial groups is a Multi-ethnic society. India is home to almost multiple racial profiles like Nordic, Dinaric, Proto-Australoid, Mongolian, etc.
2. Multilingualism- salient feature of Indian society
India is home to many native languages, and it is also common that people to speak and understand more than one language or dialect, which can entail the use of different scripts as well.
India’s 2011 census documents that 121 languages are spoken as mother tongues, which is defined as the first language a person learns and uses.
3. Multi-religious society
India is a cradle of world religions whose ancestors have preached and practiced almost all major religions of the world giving rise to worldly beliefs, practices, rites, rituals, ceremonies, and institutions. In India, hindus, muslims, sikhs and christians live.
4. Caste system in Indian society
The social division of society in India is peculiar. Unlike many other civilizations in the world where the society was divided into race, ethnicity, or clans, Indian society is broadly divided into a hierarchy of caste.
Salient features of Diversity in India
India as a nation is a classic example of it as despite having multiple geographical, religious, linguistic, cultural, and racial diversities, India has always stood up as an integrated nation.
Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Women in India have played a major role in various spheres of life over the past many centuries, but their acceptance in these spheres has been a crucial issue. Thus, the involvement of women in social, political and economic scenarios has brought in a major change in the terms of equality.
Gender Equality:
With equal opportunities for all genders, multiple women have been an inspiration for young girls to dream and aspire to become big.
Women in political spheres:
Several women leaders have actively participated in the Indian freedom struggle, occupied important positions in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, state legislatures; women also have acquired the position of the Prime Minister and President of the country. Indira Gandhi was the first women prime minister of India.
Economic roles:
The neglect of women’s economic roles results in the exploitation of women workers, unequal wages, higher employment, etc., though are a cause of concern.
Social Issues:
A National Commission for women (NCW) has been set up with an intention to establish an equal and just livelihood for women by making legal and constitutional amendments for women in India
Population
The current population of India is 1,342,528,871 (1.34 billion) people and it is the second most populous country in the world, while China is on the top with over 1,415,489,506 (1.41 billion) people. Out of the world’s 7 billion people, India represents almost 17.85% of the world’s population.
Poverty and development issues
Development deals with the alleviation (or the eradication) of poverty. Poverty is inter-related to other problems of underdevelopment.
Types of poverty
1. Absolute poverty
2. Relative poverty
3. Situational Poverty
4. Generational poverty
5. Rural Poverty
6. Urban Poverty
Remedies of poverty in India
1. Population control
2. Increase in employment
3. Equal distribution of income
4. Regional poverty
5. Problem of distribution
6. Fulfillment of minimum needs of poor
7. Development of Agriculture
Urbanization
The population residing in urban areas in India, according to the 1901 census, was 11.4%, increasing to 28.53% by the 2001 census, and is now currently 34% in 2017 according to The World Bank. According to a survey by UN, in 2030 40.76% of country’s population is expected to reside in urban areas.
Remedies of urbanization
- Rapid Mass Transport (RMT) for better transportation system.
- Reform of the urban water sector.
- Efficient use of urban land – Scientific town planning & Sustainable development of urban planning needed.
- Long term strategic urban planning with the overall regional planning perspective.
- The environmental sustainability of urban development.
- Investment in new urban infrastructure assets and maintenance of assets.
- Need to strengthen urban governance
- To strengthen the ‘soft infrastructure’
- Improvements of urban utilities such as water and sewerage NUHM (National Urban Health Mission) for better urban public health.
- Need to fulfill the basic needs of the urban poor.
- Migration needs to be regulated
- Smart city concept if implemented effectively
- Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA)
- Population control
- Innovation needed to control pollution and waste handling
- Rurbanization: Provide like urban facilities in rural areas or make rural areas smart is called rurbanization.
Effects of globalization on Indian society.
Globalization is a process of increasing interdependence, interconnectedness and integration of economies and societies to such an extent that an event in one part of the globe affects people in other parts of the world.
- Impact of Globalization on Indian Culture
a. Homogenization versus Glocalization of culture
b. Revival of culture - Impact of Globalization on Women in India
a. Positive impact of Globalization on women
b. Negative impact of Globalization on women
Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
Social empowerment is understood as the process of developing a sense of autonomy and self-confidence. It also involves acting individually and collectively to change social relationships and the institutions and discourses that exclude poor people and leads to an increase in poverty.
Communalism is a philosophical notion and causes competition, ferocity, and tension among different communities. It manifests as an expression of the superiority of one’s community combined with intolerance of different communities.
Regionalism is a psychic phenomenon. It is built around an expression of group identity, as well as loyalty to the region. It presupposes the concept of development of one’s region without taking into consideration the interest of other regions. It prohibits people from other regions to be benefitted from a particular region.
Salient features of world’s physical geography.
- Geomorphology (the study of the earth’s surface features)
- Glaciology (the study of glaciers)
- Coastal Geography (the study of the coastal regions)
- Climatology (the study of climates and climate change)
- Biogeography (the study of the geographic patterns of species distribution)
Distribution of key natural resources across the world; factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
Natural resources are material and constituent formed within environment or any matter or energy that are resulting from environment, used by living things that humans use for food, fuel, clothing, and shelter.
Factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries
- Raw material: Availability of natural resource that can be used as raw material.
- Technology: To turn the resource into an asset with value.
- Power: To utilize the technology.
- Labour: Human resource in the area who can function as labor to run the processes.
- Transport : Road/rail connectivity.
- Storage and warehousing.
- Marketing feasibility.
- Characteristics of land and soil.
- Climate.
- Precipitation and water resources.
- Vulnerability to natural resources.
Important Geophysical phenomena
In our natural environment, various forms of disasters occur in severe intensity. All disasters threaten the humans or societies and had their impact from one decade to another.
Disasters can be categorized as
1.Natural Disasters such as Volcano, Tsunami, Earthquake; landslides
2.Human Made Disasters
3.Human Induced Disaster
4.Natural Disasters
Earthquake
Earthquake is a vicious tremor, rolling or hasty shock on surface of earth’s crust, sending out a sequence of shock waves in all directions from its place of source which is known as epicenter.
Tsunami
Tsunami is devastating natural disaster and immensely affects the economic and living conditions of region where it hits.
Volcano
A volcano is type of vent or smokestack which transmits molten rocks called as Magma from depth to earth surface.
Cyclones
A Cyclone is described as geophysical phenomenon on the surface of planet and atmospheric system of low barometric pressure accompanied by strong winds that revolve counter-clockwise in northern hemisphere and clockwise direction in southern hemisphere.
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