NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Understanding Partition [Old Book]

NCERT
SOLUTIONS
CLASS - 12th

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-III Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 14 Social Science History

Class : 12th

Subject : History

Chapter : 14

Chapter Name : Understanding Partition

Q1 What did the Muslim League demand through its resolution of 1940?

Answer. A resolution was passed by the Muslim League on 23rd March, 1940. The resolution
demanded a measure of autonomy for the Muslim-majority areas of the sub-continent. Sikandar
Hayat Khan, Punjab Premier and leader of the Unionist Party drafted the resolution. This
ambiguous resolution never demanded a partition or Pakistan. Sikandar Hayat Khan was
opposed to a Pakistan.

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Q2 Why some people think of Partition as a very sudden development?

Answer. Some people think that Partition was a very sudden development because the Muslim
League itself was vague about its demand in 1940. No one knew what the creation of Pakistan
meant, and how it might shape the lives of people in the future. Many who migrated from their
homelands thought that they would return as soon as peace prevailed.

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Q3 How did ordinary people view Partition?

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Answer. For ordinary people partition was a very big challenge. Carnages occurred in Calcutta
and Noakhali in 1946, the partition was most bloody and destructive in Punjab. Women and girls
were the prime targets of persecution. People had to leave their lands and settle elsewhere.
People lost their lands and cattle, many lost their livelihoods. It was an unexpected alterations in
the life of the people, requiring psychological, emotional and social adjustments.

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Q4 What were Mahatma Gandhi's arguments against Partition?

Answer. Mahatma Gandhi was a strong believer of Unity in diversity. He never wanted partition.
He never wanted two separate dominions based on religions. He was ready to sacrifice his life
for United India. He also said that he was firmly convinced that the demand for Pakistan, put
forward by Muslim League was unislamic and that he was not hesitant in calling it sinful.

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Q5 Why is Partition viewed as an extremely significant marker in South Asian history?

Answer. The partition can be viewed as an extremely significant marker in South Asian history
because it was one of its kind. It was a pervasive violence that characterised partition. In all
probability, some 15 million people had to move across hastily constructed frontiers separating
India and Pakistan. The boundaries between the two new states was not officially known until
two days after formal independence. People were rendered homeless and having suddenly lost
all their immovable property and most of their movable assets. People were separated from their
relatives and friends. They had to live in refugee camps and were forced to pick up their lives
from scratch.

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Q6 Why was British India Partitioned?

Answer. They were several factors that acted as a catalyst in the partition of British India. Some
of which are :

→ Some scholars see partition as a culmination of a communal politics that started developing
in the opening decades of the twentieth century. They suggest that separate electorates for
Muslims, created by the Colonial government in 1909 and expanded in 1919, crucially shaped
the nature of communal politics.

→ They seeds of Divide and Rule was already sown earlier.

→ In the United Provinces, the Muslim League wanted to form a joint government with the
Congress. The Congress rejected the offer. Some scholars believe that this rejection convinced
the League that if India remained United, the Muslims would find it difficult to gain political power
because they would remain a minority.

→ The Congress ministers also contributed to the widening rift. In the United Provinces, the
party had rejected the Muslim League proposal of coalition government because the League
tended to support landlordism, which the Congress wished to abolish.

Q7 How did women experience Partition?

Answer. It must have been one of the most horrible experiences in the history of mankind.
Women were raped, abducted, sold, often many times over, forced to settle down to a new life
with strangers in unknown circumstances. They were deeply traumatized by all that they had
undergone, some began to develop new family bonds in their changed circumstances. But
Indian and Pakistani governments both were insensitive to the complexities of human
relationships. Believing the women to be on the wrong side of the border, they now tore them
away from their new relatives, and sent them back to their earlier families and locations. They
did not consult the concerned women, undermining their right to take decisions regarding their
own lives.

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Q8 How did Congress come to change its views on Partition?

Answer. The Muslim League withdrew its support from the Cabinet Mission Plans. After that
they decided 16th August, 1946 as the 'Direct Action Day'. On this day roots broke out in
Calcutta, leaving several thousand people dead. By March 1947 violence spread to many parts
of northern India.

It was in March 1947 that the Congress high command voted for dividing the Punjab into two
halves, one with Muslim majority and the other with Hindu/Sikh majority and also asked to apply
same principle to Bengal. By this time, many Sikh leaders and congressmen in the Punjab were
convinced that the partition was a necessary evil, otherwise they would be swamped by Muslim
majorities and Muslim leaders would dictate them. They felt that only a division of province
could ensure their political dominance.

Q9 Examine the strengths and limitations of oral history. How have oral-history techniques
furthered our understanding of Partition?

Answer. Oral narratives, memoirs, diaries, family histories, first-hand written accounts - all these
help us to understand the trials and tribulations of ordinary people during the partition of the
country.

The strengths of Oral History is it helps us grasp experiences and memories in detail. It enables
historians to write richly textured, vivid accounts of what happened to people during events such
as partition. It is impossible to extract this kind of information from government documents. It
also allows historians to broaden the boundaries of their discipline by rescuing from oblivion the
lived experiences of the poor and the powerless.

The limitations of oral-history are that many historians are skeptical about it. They dismiss it
because oral data seem to lack concreteness and the chronology they yield may be imprecise.
Historians also argue that personal experiences makes generalisation difficult. A large picture
cannot be built from such micro-evidence and one evidence is no evidence.

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Book : Themes of Indian History Part-III Ncert Solutions | Chapter - 14 Social Science History

The oral data on Partition are not automatically or easily available. One of the major problems is
that interviews needs to be conducted. The other problem is that protagonists may not want to
talk about intensely personal experiences.

Q10 On an outline map of South Asia , mark out Sections A, B and C of the Cabinet Mission
proposals. How is this map different from the political map of present-day South Asia?

Answer.

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