Social Science 2 Marks Each

India has made extraordinary achievements in the field of science and technology in the last half-century in comparison with other developed countries in unique.
Distinguished various scientists, engineers, technocrats of independent India have contributed remarkably at the international and global level.
Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Space Research Organisation and Physical Research Laboratory are the glorious examples for it.
Women of India too played a noticable role in this field.

• Operation Vijay’ is the military action undertaken by the Government of India in 1961 to liberate Goa, Diu and Daman from the Portuguese rule. Operation Vijay was undertaken by the Government of India because:
• The efforts to convince the Portuguese government to hand over their Indian colonies and leave India did not succeed.
• People in Goa started Satyagraha for the liberation of Goa and received support from the people in different parts of India.
• The Portuguese rulers tried to suppress the Satyagraha ruthlessly and committed atrocities on the imprisoned Satyagrahis. As a result, the situation had become explosive.
• The Government of India in 1961 decided to liberate Goa, Diu and Daman from the Portuguese rule by military action.

• The presence of France was confined to five colonies (an insignificant presence) in India when it became an independent state.
• The people in the French Colonies wanted to be a part of India. They started agitations in support of their demand. The French unsuccessfully tried to suppress this agitations.
• A large public meeting at Pondicherry in 1948 asked the French to ‘Quit India'.
• The Liberation Army of the people had seized control of Yenam in 1954. Similar movements had also started in other French colonies.
• With a view to bring about peaceful solution to this problem, the Government of India started negotiations with the French government in 1954.
• Sensing the mood of the people in the colonies the French government agreed to relinquish its control over five colonies in India.

After gaining independence, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel appealed to the kings and Nawabs of the Princely State that they should voluntarily forsake their respective states in the interest to their subjects and the Union of India. Thus, stimulated nationalism. Sardar Patel assured them to protect their rights and interests.

Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal, Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland were recognised as the Laiid of Seven Sisters.
In the year2000Jharkhand (Capitai-Ranchi) was separated from Bihar, Chhattisgarh (Capital-Raipur) was separated from Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand (Capital- Dehradun) was separated from Uttar Pradesh and were recognised as states.
Movements, strikes, violent events are used with reference to demand of separate state.
These was always a continuous demand for formulation of separate small states from the bigger states.

In the year 1947, the British Parliament passed Indian Independence Act to provide independence to India. As per this Act, India and Pakistan were partitioned. Although many problems cropped up due to partition, two of them were quite major. They were:
Framing the Constitution of India.
To put an end to the British Empire sovereignty on the princely states and merge them with India.

• The Government of India appointed the States Reorganisation Commission in 1953.
• Justice Fazalali of the Supreme Court of India was its Chairman.
• Pandit Hridaynath Kunzru and Sardar K. M. Pannikar were the two members of the Commission.

• After the reorganisation of states in 1956 the following 14 states and 5 Union Territories came into existence 14 states:(1) Andhra Pradesh (2)Assam (3) Bihar (4) Bombay (Mumbai) (5) Jammu and Kashmir (6) Kerala (7)Madhya Pradesh (8) Madras (Tamil Nadu) (9) Mysore (Karnataka) (10) Orissa (Odisha) (11) Punjab (12) Rajasthan (13) Uttar Pradesh and (14) West Bengal
• Union Territories: (1) Delhi (2) Himachal Pradesh (3) Manipur (4) Tripura and (5) Laksha-dweep.

• Initially Maharaja Harisingh had not signed the ‘Instrument of Accession’ with the Government of India.
• With a view to annex and merge Kashmir Pakistan sent its army to invade Kashmir.
• During this critical time, Maharaja Harisingh requested the Government of India to send the army for the defence of Kashmir.
• The Government of India conveyed to him that it could send the Indian army only after he signed the Instrument of Accession.
• Therefore, Maharaja Harisingh signed the Instrument of Accession.

• The efforts of Government of India to convince the Nizam of the need for integration of Hyderabad -with India did not succeed due to adamant stand of Nizam.
• The people of Hyderabad wanted their state to merge with the Indian Union.
• The Razakars and the officials of the Nizam committed many atrocities on the people of Hyderabad.
• The presence of a big hostile state in the centre was a threat to the territorial unity of India. (One of the most important reasons not mentioned in textbook.)
• Therefore, the Government of India decided to take ‘Police Action’ for the merger of Hyderabad state with the Indian Union.

• Sardar Patel made an appeal to the rulers of the princely states that they should willingly forsake their respective states in the interest of their subjects and interest of the Indian Union.

• Immediately after independence, the following two major problems were before India
• Drafting an appropriate constitution for India.
• Integration of the British Provinces with 562 princely states and bring about territorial unity of the Indian state.

• Even before India became independent, Nizam of Hyderabad had declared his intention of retaining his independence and not to join the Indian Union.
• The Government of India tried to make Nizam that his state is surrounded on all four sides by the Indian territory and that his state will not last long as an independent state.
• Nizam stated that for geographical reasons he cannot join Pakistan and for ideological reasons he cannot join India. Kasim Rizvi, the head of the Razakars, paramilitary organisation, was a fanatic Muslim and advised Nizam against joining India.Therefore, Nizam of Hyderabad preferred to retain his independence.

• Maharaja Harisingh of the state of Kashmir did not sign the ‘Instrument of Accession’ prior to Indian Independence.
• Taking advantage of this situation, Pakistan sent its army to annex and merge Kashmir with Pakistan.
• Thereupon the ruler of Kashmir sought military help of the Government of India to defend his kingdom and signed the Instrument of Accession.
• The Indian army was sent to vacate the invading Pakistani army from Pakistan.
• The Indian army had forced Pakistani army to retreat. In the meanwhile India had approached the United Nations about Pakistani invasion of Kashmir.
• The Security Council of the UN ordered cease- fire when Pakistan was still occupying about one-third territory of Kashmir.
• The Kashmir issue remains unresolved and therefore, even today one-third of the territory of Kashmir is occupied by Pakistan.

• The struggle for dominance over world politics and the ideological conflict between the USA and the USSR create an perpetual state of war, without the actual outbreak of war. The resultant tense international situation is described as the ‘cold war.
• The cold war eased and finally came to an end in 1990 when Mikhail Gorbachev, a liberal- ‘ minded Prime Minister of the USSR started the process of normalisation of relations with the western countries.

• North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), South-East Asia Treaty Organisation
• (SEATO) and Central East-North Treaty Organisation (CENTO) were formed after the World War II by the USA and its allies.
• Warsaw Treaty was formed by the USSR and its allies.
• In response to the perceived threat of the spread of communism and the Soviet expansionism. The USA took the initiative to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in April, 1949.