50 Years of Independent India Class 10 History Chapter 9 Notes – Bharat and the World HBSE Solution

Class 10 History BSEH Solution for Chapter 9 50 Years of Independent India Notes for Haryana board. CCL Chapter Provide Class 1th to 12th all Subjects Solution With Notes, Question Answer, Summary and Important Questions. Class 10 History mcq, summary, Important Question Answer, Textual Question Answer are available of  Bharat and the World Book for HBSE.

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HBSE Class 10 History Chapter 9 50 Years of Independent India Notes for Haryana Board of Bharat and the World Book Solution.

50 Years of Independent India Class 10 History Chapter 9 Notes


India got its independence from the British on August 15, 1947. Indians had to struggle for hundreds of years for this day. The British ruled India for 190 years. Many patriots had to sacrifice their lives for the attainment of independence.

After the independence of India, there was also a communal division of the country. This was the result of the British policy of ‘divide and rule’. Due to Jinnah’s ‘two-nation theory’, the demand for the partition of the country was gaining momentum. But communalism was under estimated by the great leaders engaged in the struggle for independence. That is why they could not guess the partition of the country. In the end, this communalism became the reason for the partition of India. The country had to face many challenges due to the circumstances arising out of the partition. But despite these challenges and other problems, India has achieved many successes.

The history of five decades after independence is described as follows:


Partition of Country


After the independence of India, there was also an unfortunate partition of the country. As a result of the partition of the country, Pakistan was created by uniting the North-West Frontier Regions, West Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and East Bengal. A large part of the Muslim population from India had to migrate to the newly created Pakistan.

At the same time, most of the Hindus, Sikhs and others had to come in India from the area that had been given to Pakistan. This was the largest migration in the history of the world in such a short period of time. This migration was mainly by trains, military vehicles and groups on foot. Years of peaceful coexistence with Muslims had now devolved into communal hatred. That is why incidents of violence, arson and rape were happening all around. Lakhs of refugees were coming from both countries, while their tears needed to be wiped out and they had to be resettled. Therefore, people coming to India were first lodged in temporary camps and then gradually arrangements were made for their permanent resettlement.

Integration of Princely States

The authority of the British government over the Indian princely states ended on August 15, 1947. About 565 princely states could now join India or Pakistan or remain independent. During this period, the first Home Minister of the Government of India was ‘Iron Man’ Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He acted very wisely in such circumstances. Patel had managed to get most of the princely states to join the Indian Union. Only Hyderabad, Junagadh and the princely states of Kashmir were yet to join India. Sardar Patel included Hyderabad and Junagadh in the Indian Union on the basis of the opinion of the people.

Do You Know? The special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 by the Indian Parliament has been abolished on October 31, 2019.

Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, wanted to keep his princely state independent. But on October 22, 1947, the Pakistani army and the tribals jointly attacked Jammu and Kashmir. Maharaja Hari Singh, struck by the invasion of Pakistan, signed the letter of accession to the Indian Union. Now the Indian Army took the front and forced the invaders to retreat from the Kashmir Valley. A ceasefire was declared on both sides after India took the matter to the UN Security Council. Due to the ceasefire, about one-third of Kashmir remained with Pakistan. Under those circumstances, Article 370 was temporarily added to the Indian Constitution for Kashmir. Under this, special status was given to Jammu and Kashmir.

Making of the Constitution

A Constituent Assembly’ was formed to make the Constitution of India. The Constituent Assembly had a total of 389 members. Its first meeting was held on December 9th, 1946 AD Dr. Rajendra Prasad later took over as the permanent president of this Assembly. A total of 22 committees were constituted by the Constituent Assembly for the making of the Constitution. A seven member drafting committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. This committee was given the task of preparing the draft of the Constitution. Legal experts and intellectuals discussed the Constitutions of many countries for the making of the constitution of India. Finally, on November 26, 1949, our constitution was framed. It took 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days to make this constitution. It was implemented on January 26, 1950 AD. Every year on this day is celebrated as ‘Republic Day of India. Our Constitution is based on the sentiments of the people. That is why the Preamble of the Constitution declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic.

Country’s First Election

India’s first general elections were held in 1951-52 AD. About 17 crore 30 lakh voters participated in this election. There were a total of 489 Lok Sabha seats in this election and 14 national and 63 regional and local parties participated in the election. This was probably the first election in the world in which such a large number of people participated. The Congress, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, got a landslide victory in this election.

Reorganization of States

The administration of India was divided into different princely states by the British as per their convenience. After independence, these princely states were included in the Indian Union. Therefore, there was a need to reorganise the states on the basis of language and geography. The State Reorganization Commission was appointed by the Govern ment of India in 1953 AD for the work of reorganising the states. The commission’s function was to recommend any arrangement for the reorganisation of the states on a linguistic basis. On the basis of the report of the commission, ‘The States Reorganization Act was passed in 1956 AD. Through this Act, fourteen states and six union territories were arranged on the basis of language in the country. Hindi was recognised as the official language of India. Along with this, English continued to be used on a large scale in government offices.

Independence of the Regions under French and Portuguese

Even after the independence of India, some areas remained under the authority of France and Portugal. The French were in possession of territories like Pondicherry, Mahi, Calicut, Yanam, and Chandranagar. The French government returned all these territories to India in 1954 AD. While places like Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli were occupied by the Portuguese. The Portuguese did not want to return these areas. But finally, the Indian Army expelled the Portuguese from India in 1961 AD.

Non-Aligned Movement

After the Second World War, many countries of the world were divided into two opposing factions based on ideology. One of these factions was the US and the other was the Soviet Union. The group led by the US was called the Western Block’ and the faction led by the Soviet Union was called the Eastern Block. In order to get economic and technical cooperation, India tried to have equal friendship with both the factions. As India wanted to make an independent foreign policy, it adopted the policy of non-alignment. India was keen to maintain the independence of the third world countries. Therefore, from the very beginning, India adopted the policy of staying separate from these two factions. Our foreign policy has been based on saying ‘right is right and wrong is wrong without joining any group. For India, the movement of non-alignment has been a symbol of global peace and social, economic and political development of poor countries.

Green Revolution

With the partition of the country, a lot of fertile land was given to Pakistan. In the 1960s, the India-China war, the India-Pakistan war and the drought weakened our economy. As a result food crisis arose in India. A new agricultural policy was announced for the farmers. Under this policy, the use of cheap and advanced seeds, fertilizers and technology was encouraged in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh of North India. Through this agriculture policy. arrangements were made to provide electricity, irrigation and cheap loans to the farmers. As a result, by the beginning of the 1970s, the cultivation of wheat, rice and maize in the country increased by two and a half times. The rapid increase in agricultural production during this period is called ‘Green Revolution’.

➤ Green Revolution – It is related to agricultural production.

➤ Yellow Revolution – It is related to oilseeds production.

➤ Blue Revolution – It is related to fisheries.

➤ White Revolution – It is related to milk production.


Period of Emergency


After independence, India experienced the biggest political crisis in 1975 AD. Indira Gandhi’s government was elected in 1971 AD which came to power with the slogan ‘Garibi Hatao (eradicate poverty). Within a year of the formation of the government, in December 1971, the Indo-Pak war took place and Bangladesh was created. This definitely increased the popularity of Indira Gandhi. But other issues like recession, unemployment, poverty, food shortages, the problem of Bangladeshi refugees, drought and the failure of the monsoon have started increasing public discontent. The law and order situation in the country has been deteriorating continuously due to nationwide strikes and student movements. The law and order situation was made even worse by student-movements, mainly in Gujarat and Bihar. As a result, a large part of the public had become angry with the government of Indira Gandhi by 1974 AD. In the judgement given by the Allahabad High Court on June 12, 1975 AD, Indira Gandhi was convicted for the violation of the code of conduct in elections. According to this decision. she could no longer hold any post. During this time, Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), popularly known as Lok Nayak, was openly opposing these wrong policies of Indira Gandhi. He was organising satyagraha and non-violence movements against the government regarding corruption, inflation and poverty. He also pressurised Indira Gandhi to resign from her post due to the internal and external crisis in the country as a result of the political crisis arising in the country and the decision of the court Jai Prakash Narayan uttered the line of national poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, ‘Singhasan khali karo ki janata aati hai’ (leave the throne that the people are coming) as a slogan. Finding herself cornered, Indira Gandhi declared an emergency on June 25, 1975 AD to save her power. The press was banned soon after the Emergency was imposed. Jaiprakash Narayan and other opposition leaders involved in the movement against the government like Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar and numerous student leaders were arrested. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was also banned and its key workers were arrested. More than one lakh people were arrested during the Emergency. During this time, Parliament was made ineffective by several constitutional amendments. Most of the states where opposition parties had governments were dismissed. The family planning (sterilization) programme was also strictly implemented. However, the public continued to oppose the atrocities during the emergency, due to which the then government was forced to end the emergency on March 21, 1977 AD. In the same year, general elections were held in the country in which the first coalition government of non-Congress parties was formed.

Shah Bano Case

In India, there has been a practise of triple talaq’ in one form or the other in the Muslim religion for a long time. A 62-year-old Muslim woman named Shah Bano, mother of five children, was given triple talaq by her husband. Shah Bano approached the court after the husband’ “refused the maintenance. This decision came in favour of Shah Bano but Shah Bano filed a petition in the High Court to increase the alimony. The High Court ordered an increase in the alimony. But even after winning the decision, her ex-husband appealed in the Supreme Court. In 1985 AD, the Supreme Court upheld the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and ruled in favour of Shah Bano. This decision given by the court could have been a big progressive step for Muslim society, especially for women, but this decision was opposed by the orthodox Muslim leaders and organisations and pressure was put on the government. As a result, the Rajiv Gandhi government reversed the decision of the Supreme Court by enacting a law in Parliament in 1986 AD.

However, this ‘appeasement policy of the government was strongly opposed by many women’s organisations, Muslim women’s groups and many intellectuals. But due to the intervention of the government, Shah Bano lost even after winning in the Supreme Court.

Economic Planning and Development

Economic Planning – It is a process in which the available resources are optimally utilised to accomplish the set objectives within a specified limit.

In 1944 AD, eight big industrialists in India proposed land reform, a cooperative system, and planned development in the form of the Bombay Plan. But, after the attainment of independence in the country, the government emphasised the establishment of large government institutions and the expansion of socialism. In this regard, Prime Minister Nehru established the advisory body named ‘Planning Commission’ on 15 March 1950 AD for the reconstruction of the economy. After this, ‘National Development Council’ was also established on August 6, 1952 AD.

Its main function was to give revised guidelines on the advice and schemes given by the Planning Commission. Influenced by the five-year plans of the then Soviet Union, five year plans were implemented in India as well. Due to a mixed economy and strict government regulation, an environment of free competition could not develop. The economic-industrial policies implemented from time to time also did not bring well about substantial improvement. On the other hand, due to the economic policies adopted by various governments in the 1980s, the Indian economy had weakened by the time of 1991 AD. India had to approach the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for the payment of its foreign debts. To face this economic crisis, India had to pledge 47 tonnes of gold. Therefore, in 1991, India had to make economic reforms in the economy by accepting the conditions of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Even after this. India is trying to move forward on the path of development by adopting the policy of economic liberalization.

India’s Scientific Advancement

Our scientists have played an important role in taking India on the new path of development. In 1951, India established a ministry related to scientific research and natural resources. Due to the research work done under institutions, like ISRO, BARC, and IITs, India moved towards scientific progress. With the tireless efforts of scientists like Homi Jehangir Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Kasturirangan, etc., India could manufacture missiles like Prithvi, Nag, Agni, Akash, BrahMos, etc. In 1974 AD and 1998 AD, India made itself a nuclear-powered nation by conducting nuclear tests. Our scientists have played a remarkable role in making India a major military power in the world. India’s famous scientist, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is known in the world as the ‘Missile Man’. India earned a name in space technology by sending satellites like Aryabhata, Bhaskar, Rohini, etc. Today, India is capable of sending satellites of other countries into space as well.


India’s Foreign Policy


The foreign policy of any country is based on domestic and international factors. Domestically. history, culture, geography and economy have determined the objectives and principles of India’s foreign policy. As an international factor, the regional environment, border disputes and the Cold War have played an important role in shaping the foreign policy. The main pillars of Indian foreign policy are Panchsheel, non-alignment, independent foreign policy operation, solidarity with developing countries, goals of achieving national and global interests, etc. It is necessary to study the foreign policy of India during the last fifty years on three grounds:

a) Relations of India with neighbouring countries
b) Relations with superpowers
c) India and the United Nations.

a) Relations of India with Neighbouring Countries: India’s seven neighbouring countries are: Pakistan in the North-West; China and Nepal in the North; Bhutan and Bangladesh in the North-East, Myanmar in the East, and Sri Lanka in the South. India’s relations with other countries, except China and Pakistan, have been mostly friendly.

Relations with Pakistan: There are opportunities for historical similarity, cultural homogeneity, geographical proximity and economic similarity between India and Pakistan. But even today India-Pakistan relations have not been able to come out of the realm of competition, tension, conflict and war. Pakistan attacked India in 1947 AD, 1965 AD, 1971 AD and 1999 AD but was defeated by the brave forces of India. Desperate Pakistan continues to encourage indirect terrorism in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir in India.

Relations with China: China is an important neighbour of India, which is keen to play an important role in world politics. India was the first non-communist country to recognise Communist China on January 1, 1950. Prime Minister Nehru made several attempts to get communist China a permanent place in the Security Council. Expansionist China launched a terrible attack on India on October 20, 1962 AD India had to suffer a heavy loss of life and property in this war. Communist China declared a unilateral ceasefire. India’s International reputation and self-respect were deeply hurt by this war. Since then, India-China relations have been based on tension and mistrust.

The Indian Army, which suffered heavy losses in the war with China in 1962 AD. had shown amazing valour and indomitable courage in the battles of Saragarhi and Haifa during the British period.

Relations with Nepal and Bhutan : India and Nepal have had deep social, religious and cultural ties for a long time. The open border between the two has been a symbol of trust. Similarly, India has close relations with Bhutan, another country located in the Himalayas. The treaty of 1949 AD established an everlasting friendship between the two countries. India’s emotional connection with these two countries is also due to Hindu and Buddhist connections. The geographical location of Bhutan and Nepal is also important from the point of view of Indian security.

Relations with Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka is the nearest neighbouring country located in the Indian Ocean. There are historical, political, social and religious contacts between India and Sri Lanka. After the independence, there were differences between the two countries regarding Tamils based in Sri Lanka. Tension has definitely increased due to the sending of peace forces by India in 1987, but it cannot be kept in the category of animosity. Relations between the two countries have been cordial despite some differences.

Relations with Bangladesh: Bangladesh was called East Pakistan from 1947 AD to 1971 AD. On December 6, 1971, India was the first country to recognise Bangladesh as a country. India had a special role in the origin of Bangladesh, a victim of the oppression of West Pakistan. Due to language and cultural affiliation, there was an atmosphere of close friendship and mutual cooperation between the two countries from the very beginning. However, due to the military rule and increasing religious fanaticism, there has been a situation of tension in the relations. India has always supported Bangladesh in the fields of technology, science and industry etc.

Relations with Myanmar or Burma: Myanmar or Burma, is officially known as the Republic of Myanmar. Due to its geographical location, it is also called the gateway to Southeast Asia. India and Myanmar share a 1600 kilometre border. Most of the people of Myanmar are followers of Buddhism, and in this sense, there is a cultural closeness between India and Myanmar. Being a neighbouring country, Myanmar also has economic, political, cultural and strategic importance for India. With a few exceptions, India-Myanmar relations have been friendly.

b) Relations with superpowers: Two countries in the world, America and the former Soviet Union, have been accepted as superpowers. After independence, India adopted a policy of equal distance or equal friendship with both the superpowers. After independence, while on the one hand, Nehru’s inclination towards socialist ideology increased; on the other hand, the proximity of Pakistan to America started increasing. Due to this, India started leaning towards the Soviet Union. India-US relations were affected due to the improvement of US relations with Pakistan and China. In 1971 AD, the Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty further strengthened the friendship between the two countries. At the same time, due to this proximity, the distance between India and America kept increasing. In 1991 AD, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and Russia emerged as its successor. This made the world unipolar and America remained the only superpower. Now, instead of ideology, economic issues have become important. From 1991 onwards, India’s relations with both Russia and America started to get better.

c) India and the United Nations: With the end of the Second World War, there was a need to maintain peace in the world. Therefore, on October 24, 1945 AD, the United Nations Organization was established. India was one of the founding members of the United Nations. India has always played an active role in the peacekeeping forces organised by the United Nations by sending its troops. In 1953 AD, Vijayalakshmi Pandit of India became the first woman President of the United Nations General Assembly. Today, India is striving to get permanent membership in the Security Council due to its active role in the United Nations and being a fast growing economy.

After independence in 1947 AD, many predictions were made by many Indian and foreign critics regarding India’s independence, constitution and democracy. These critics were speculating that the democratic system in India would not last long. Some of them said that the Indian Union would be disintegrated on the basis of language, caste, religion and region. But even after 74 years of independence, India has not only emerged on sound footing but is on the path of progress as well.


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