NCERT solutions for सोशल साइंस एक्सपलोरींग सोसाइटी इंडिया एण्ड बिऑन्ड पार्ट २ [अंग्रेजी] कक्षा ८ chapter 2 - India’s Long Road to Independence [Latest edition]

How did a land of diverse geographies, languages and religions come together to challenge and finally end nearly two centuries of British rule?

What were the main developments and who were some important figures in India’s struggle for freedom?

What issues did the leading freedom fighters agree or disagree upon?

Talk to your grandparents or elderly family members and find out what they remember or heard about India’s freedom struggle. Note which leaders or methods people supported. Discuss in class how, despite sharing the same goal of freedom, people followed different paths.

Below are the first two stanzas of the song. Can you make out some of their meaning?

Vande mātaram! sujalām suphalām malayajaśhītalām śhasyaśhyāmalām, mātaram! Vande mātaram!

Śubhrajyotsnām pulakitayāminīm phullakusumita drumadalaśhobhinīm suhāsinīm sumadhura bhāṣhiṇīm sukhadām varadām, mātaram! Vande mātaram!

How are the values expressed by Swami Vivekananda above relevant in the 21st century? Can some of them help you achieve your goals? Share your thoughts with your classmates.

Why do you think the Bande Mataram daily avoided using the word ‘independence’? 

Comment on the phrase ‘absolute national autonomy’ in the above quotation from a Bande Mataram article.

Looking at the two boxes on either side of the daily’s title in Fig., what do you observe?

In what ways are these two representations of Mother India similar?

In what ways are these two representations of Mother India different?

What details can you discern in the front cover of Subramania Bharati’s Vijaya?

You may explore further and find out more about the freedom struggle in the North-East and known and lesser-known freedom fighters from this area.

When the judge asked Tilak if he had anything to say after being sentenced, Tilak replied, “There are higher powers that rule the destinies of men and nations; and I think, it may be the will of Providence that the cause I represent may be benefited more by my suffering than by my pen and tongue.”

What message do you think he was trying to convey?

On another occasion, Tilak famously declared, “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it.” What does this reveal about Tilak’s character?

Captures Mahatma Gandhi spinning khadi, that is, hand-spun, hand-woven yarn. (Cloth made of such yarn is called khadi cloth.) This was not just about making clothes; it was also a powerful symbol of Swadeshi, or self-reliance, a way to provide work for millions of impoverished villagers, and a direct challenge to British textile imports. It aimed to unite people economically and symbolically against foreign rule.

Rabindranath Tagore sent a strong letter of protest to the then Viceroy. “The accounts of the insults and sufferings by our brothers in Punjab,” wrote Tagore, “have trickled through the gagged silence, reaching every corner of India, and the universal agony of indignation roused in the hearts of our people has been ignored by our rulers possibly congratulating themselves for what they imagine as salutary lessons.” In the same letter, Tagore returned the knighthood he had received from the British. 

What does Tagore mean when he assumes that the colonial rulers ‘congratulated themselves’ after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre?

Form groups to analyse, compare and discuss the various elements or demands contained in the above resolution.

During the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920–22, some 40,000  were jailed for various terms. The Salt Satyagraha of 1930 saw over 60,000 people jailed and a large number brutalised by the police. The Civil Disobedience Movement during 1931–34 saw another 40,000 freedom fighters jailed. During the Quit India Movement of 1942–45, over 100,000 freedom fighters were imprisoned and nearly 10,000 killed during the brutal repression of the movement.

You need not remember these figures. However, conduct a class discussion about their significance in terms of the huge collective sacrifice suffered by the Indian people.

As we said at the beginning, this chapter can only mention very few of those who fought for India’s liberation from colonial rule. Many more names would have deserved a mention. For instance, Acchamma Cherian, Achyutrao Patwardhan, Agarkar, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Anjana Devi Chaudhury, B.S. Moonje, Bhai Parmanand, Bhikaiji Cama, Bhogesvari Phukanani, C.F. Andrews, Dhondo Karve, Ganesh Srikrishna Khaparde, Ganjan Singh Korku, Gopinath Bordoloi, Gopalrao Deshmukh, Govind Giri, Harohalli Srinivasaiah Doreswamy, Jatindra Nath Das, Jayaprakash Narayan, Kanneganti Hanumanthu, Kasturba Gandhi, Kushal Konwar, Kuttimalu Amma, Lakshman Nayak, Lakshmi Sahgal, M.N. Roy (Manabendra Nath), Madan Lal Dhingra, Matangini Hazra, Mirabehn (Madeleine Slade), Pandit Kanshi Ram, Pingali Venkayya, Pritilata Waddedar, Rajendra Prasad, Govind Ballabh Pant, Sridev Suman, Baji Rout, Mahaveer Tyagi, H.N. Bahuguna, Rani Gaidinliu, Sardar Ajit Singh, Seth Govind Das, Shivram Rajguru, Sister Nivedita, Surya Sen, Tara Rani Srivastava, Thiruppur Kumaran, Usha Mehta, Umaji Naik, Umakant Prasad Sinha, Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, V. Ramaswamy Aiyangar, V.V.S. Aiyar.

You need not memorise this list. However, see if you can add any other name to the list. Besides, the support and sacrifice made by the women belonging to the families of the freedom fighters also needs to be acknowledged with gratitude.