UPSC Exams History Notes – 1

UPSC Exams History Notes – 1


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Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan: He lived during the reign of Akbar. He translated Babur’s Memoirs from Turkish to Persian.
Abdussamad: He was hon¬oured with the award of “zari¬qalam” by Akbar.
Ages, Chronological order of: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic
Agrahara: Tax-free villages granted to the learned Brahmanas in ancient India were known as Agrahara.
Akot: is a town, about 42 km from Akola, from where a stone idol of Lord Adinath, the first Jain Teerthankara, was found in 1993.
Alien Powers in India, chronological sequence of: Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Kushanas, Huns.
Amarasimha: was one of the nine gems in the court of the legendary Vikramaditya. His work Amarkosha occupies a dominant position in Sanskrit lexicography.
Amoghavarsha-I: was the long ruling Rashtrakuta king (A.D. 814-78). He represented the height of development of his dynasty.
Asanga: was a Buddhist philosopher. He was the origi¬nator of Buddhist Yogachara idealism.
Ashvaghosha: was the spiritual adviser of Kanishka (the Kushan emperor) who took a leading part in the Fourth Buddhist Council at Srinagar which was presided by Vasumitra. He was a renowned Mahayana Sanskrit scholar and author of Sariputra-prakarana and Buddha Charitam. He was the greatest literary figure at Kanishka’s court.
Atisa Dipankara: was the most famous teacher of Vikramasila university founded in A.D. 810 by king Dharmapala of Pala dynasty.
Battle of San Thomas: This battle during the Carnatic Wars (1746-61) definitely proved for the first time the superiority of European arms and discipline over the traditional Indian methods of warfare.
Battle of Waihand: was fought between Mahmud Ghaznavi and Anandpala.
Bhaskaravarman: was the king of Kamarupa (Upper Assam). He was a contempo¬rary of king Sasanka of Gauda and was his arch-enemy. Bhaskaravarman was the east¬ern ally of king Harsha.
Bilhana: was a Sanskrit historian and poet born in Kashmir. He left Kashmir about
A.D. 1065 and became the court poet at Kalyana where he wrote an epic, Vikramadeva-charita to celebrate the reign of Vikramaditya-VI, the Chalukya king of Kalyana.
Blue Water Policy: The “Blue Water” policy is attrib¬uted to Don Francisco de Almeida, the first Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in India. His “Blue Water” policy was to be powerful at the sea instead of building fortresses on Indian land.
Boghaz Koi inscriptions: are important in Indian history because inscriptions of the four¬teenth century B.C. discovered here mention the names of Vedic gods and goddesses.
Brahmagupta: (598-660) of Ujjain, was a great mathemati¬cian of his time.
Brahui: is a language of Baluchistan. Linguistically, it is Dravidian.
Busa Munda Revolt: occurred in Bihar.
Catching the butterflies and setting them free: was the prominent feature of the foreign policy of Samudragupta.
Chandernagore: was a French possession before its merger with India.
Charvaka: is known as the greatest of the materialistic philosophers of ancient India.
Chauth: was a tax levied by Marathas—a contribution exacted by a military leader, which was justified by the exi¬gencies of the situation.
Coinage in Ancient India: Coins in ancient India were made of metal—copper, silver, gold, or lead. Nishka and Satamana in the Vedic texts were taken to be names of coins, but they seem to be only prestige objects. Coins made of metal first appeared in the age of Gautama Buddha. The earliest were made largely of silver though a few copper coins also appear. Coins made of burnt clay belong to the Kushan peri¬od i.e., the first three Christian centuries.
Dadu: was the saint from Gujarat who preached non-sec¬tarianism in medieval times. He founded the “Brahma-Sampardaaya” (the sect of Brahma).
Dahar (or Dahir): was the Brahmana king of Sind who was defeated by the Arab inva¬sion in A.D. 712 by Mohammad¬bin-Kasim, nephew and son-in¬law of al-Hajjaj, governor of Irak. The Indian ruler (Dahar) offered a brave resistance in the battle near Raor but was defeat¬ed and killed.
Darius: was the Iranian ruler who penetrated into north-west India in 516 B.C. and annexed Punjab, west of Indus, and Sindh.
Devapala: (A.D. 830-850) was successor to Dharmapala, the famous Pala ruler. He estab¬lished the third important Pala university of Somapura. He shifted his capital to Monghyr from where he maintained diplomatic relations with the Sailendra kings of Sumatra.
Dhammapada: was the first major work to say that sal¬vation by means of devotion is open to humans regardless of birth, gender or station in life.
Dharmachakra: In the Gandhara art, it is the preaching mudra associated with the Buddha’s First Sermon at Sarnath.
First Congress Split: took place in 1907 at Surat.
First metal used by man: Copper.
First Muslim invaders of India: Arabs were the first Muslim invaders of India.
First Sultan of Delhi: was Qutb-ud-din who succeeded Muhammad Ghuri as sovereign of the new Indian conquests, and from 1206 may be reckoned as the first Sultan of Delhi.
First to issue gold coins in India: Mauryas.
First to set up department of agriculture: Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq was the first to set up a department of agriculture in India.
First to start sea trade with India: Portugal.
Gautamiputra Satakarni: was the great king of Satavahana dynasty.
Gayatri mantra: is con¬tained in Rig Veda.
Gopuram: It has been the main feature of the South Indian temple architecture.
Hasan Gangoo: entitled Zafar Khan was founder of the Bahmani kingdom in Deccan.
Ibadat Khana: is a build¬ing at Fatehpur Sikri where Akbar held discussions on reli¬gious matters.
Ibn-Batuta: was a great scholar and traveller from South Africa who came to India in
A.D. 1333 during the reign of Mohammad Tughlak and wrote about him.
Iqta: It was the land-grant system adopted by Ala-ud-din Khilji to grant his officers as reward for services rendered. Qutabuddin Aibak was assigned the first iqta in India by Mohd of Ghor.
Jimutavahana: was a famous jurist of medieval India (fifteenth century). His work Dayabhaga is a commentary on the srutis, specially on Manu.
Kalachuri era: counted from A.D. 248, it was mostly current in Central India. Their capital was Tripuri near Jabalpur. Kalachuris were the feudatories of the Pratiharas but soon acquired independence.
Karshapana: was the most commonly used coin in the Chola kingdom.
Khiraj: was the land tax imposed by Mohd-bin-Qasim after the Arabs’ occupation of Sind.
Magazines started by National leaders: Young India (M.K. Gandhi); Kesari (B.G. Tilak); New India (Annie Besant); Bengali (S.N. Bannerji).
Maski Rock edict: This minor Rock-edict is the only edict in which Ashoka refers to himself as the king of Magadha.
Moplah Rebellion: broke out in Malabar (Kerala) in August 1921.
Nastaliq: was a Persian script used in medieval India.
Nauroj festival in India: Balban introduced the famous Persian festival of Nauroj in India.
Nicolo Conti: was the Italian foreign traveller who vis¬ited Vijayanagar about A.D. 1420 during the reign of Deva Raya-II.
Palas: who controlled most of Bengal and Bihar, was the third power involved in the three-sided conflict between Rashtrakutas and Pratiharas over the control of Kanauj. Pala dynasty was established by Gopala in the eighth century A.D. He attained renown from the fact that he was not hereditary king but was elected.
Paragana: During the rule of the so-called Slave dynasty in India, the empire was divided into provincial units called Paraganas placed under the charge of a military officer.
Prakrit: This language received royal patronage during the reign of Satavahanas.
Rajsekhar: was the Sanskrit poet who lived in the court of Mahendrapala-I.
Ratika: or rati is a weight between 1.5 to 3 Gunjas; between 5 to 8 grains of rice. It was the basic weight (measure) in ancient India.
Ratnakara: denoted the Arabiasn Sea in ancient Indian historical geography.
Rishabha: is supposed to be the mythical founder of Jainism.
Sardeshmukhi: was an additional levy of 10%, which Shivaji demanded on the basis of his claim as the hereditary Sardeshmukh (chief headman) of Maharashtra.
Shahrukh: It was silver coin of the Mughals. Sharada script: The Kashmiri language was origi¬nally written in Sharada script.
Subuktigin: was the first Turkish invader of India.
Tanka: was a silver coin of the Sultanate period of India.
Tehqiq-i-Hind: Alberuni’s work on India. It contains obser¬vations on Indian civilization which are remarkably incisive and acute.
Turushkadanda: was a tax collected by the Gahadavalas during the early medieval India.
Vagbhata: is regarded as unrivalled in his knowledge of the basic principles of Ayurveda.
Vatapi (or Badami): now in the Bijapur district of Karnataka, where Pulakesin I, founder of the Chalukya dynasty in the middle of the sixth century, established him¬self as lord of Vatapi or Badami (capital of Chalukyas). It is well-known for Chalukyan sculpture found in the cave temples here.
Vidushaka: the constant companion and confidant of the hero in Sanskrit dramas, was nearly always a Brahmin.
Vikramasila University: was a great Tantrik University founded by the Pala king Dharmapala in A.D. 810. It was a hotbed of moral corruption, sorcery and idolatry. In A.D. 1198, the soldiers if Ikhtiar Khilji raised the structure to the ground and killed every monk in the University.
Wood's Despatch of 1854: It related to educational reforms. Lord Dalhousie took measures to carry out the scheme embodied in the famous despatch of Sir Charles Wood (July 1854) which embraced ver¬nacular schools throughout the districts, and above all the glori¬ous measures of grants-in-aid to all schools, without reference to caste or creed.
Yakshagana: was the south Indian dance tradition that appeared for the first time in the Vijayanagar period.
Zabti System: was intro¬duced by Akbar for land rev¬enue administration. In Zabti system, land was measured and assessment of land revenue was based upon it.

UPSC Exams History Notes – 1

UPSC Exams History Notes – 1


http://careerprakashan.com/
Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan: He lived during the reign of Akbar. He translated Babur’s Memoirs from Turkish to Persian.
Abdussamad: He was hon¬oured with the award of “zari¬qalam” by Akbar.
Ages, Chronological order of: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic
Agrahara: Tax-free villages granted to the learned Brahmanas in ancient India were known as Agrahara.
Akot: is a town, about 42 km from Akola, from where a stone idol of Lord Adinath, the first Jain Teerthankara, was found in 1993.
Alien Powers in India, chronological sequence of: Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Kushanas, Huns.
Amarasimha: was one of the nine gems in the court of the legendary Vikramaditya. His work Amarkosha occupies a dominant position in Sanskrit lexicography.
Amoghavarsha-I: was the long ruling Rashtrakuta king (A.D. 814-78). He represented the height of development of his dynasty.
Asanga: was a Buddhist philosopher. He was the origi¬nator of Buddhist Yogachara idealism.
Ashvaghosha: was the spiritual adviser of Kanishka (the Kushan emperor) who took a leading part in the Fourth Buddhist Council at Srinagar which was presided by Vasumitra. He was a renowned Mahayana Sanskrit scholar and author of Sariputra-prakarana and Buddha Charitam. He was the greatest literary figure at Kanishka’s court.
Atisa Dipankara: was the most famous teacher of Vikramasila university founded in A.D. 810 by king Dharmapala of Pala dynasty.
Battle of San Thomas: This battle during the Carnatic Wars (1746-61) definitely proved for the first time the superiority of European arms and discipline over the traditional Indian methods of warfare.
Battle of Waihand: was fought between Mahmud Ghaznavi and Anandpala.
Bhaskaravarman: was the king of Kamarupa (Upper Assam). He was a contempo¬rary of king Sasanka of Gauda and was his arch-enemy. Bhaskaravarman was the east¬ern ally of king Harsha.
Bilhana: was a Sanskrit historian and poet born in Kashmir. He left Kashmir about
A.D. 1065 and became the court poet at Kalyana where he wrote an epic, Vikramadeva-charita to celebrate the reign of Vikramaditya-VI, the Chalukya king of Kalyana.
Blue Water Policy: The “Blue Water” policy is attrib¬uted to Don Francisco de Almeida, the first Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in India. His “Blue Water” policy was to be powerful at the sea instead of building fortresses on Indian land.
Boghaz Koi inscriptions: are important in Indian history because inscriptions of the four¬teenth century B.C. discovered here mention the names of Vedic gods and goddesses.
Brahmagupta: (598-660) of Ujjain, was a great mathemati¬cian of his time.
Brahui: is a language of Baluchistan. Linguistically, it is Dravidian.
Busa Munda Revolt: occurred in Bihar.
Catching the butterflies and setting them free: was the prominent feature of the foreign policy of Samudragupta.
Chandernagore: was a French possession before its merger with India.
Charvaka: is known as the greatest of the materialistic philosophers of ancient India.
Chauth: was a tax levied by Marathas—a contribution exacted by a military leader, which was justified by the exi¬gencies of the situation.
Coinage in Ancient India: Coins in ancient India were made of metal—copper, silver, gold, or lead. Nishka and Satamana in the Vedic texts were taken to be names of coins, but they seem to be only prestige objects. Coins made of metal first appeared in the age of Gautama Buddha. The earliest were made largely of silver though a few copper coins also appear. Coins made of burnt clay belong to the Kushan peri¬od i.e., the first three Christian centuries.
Dadu: was the saint from Gujarat who preached non-sec¬tarianism in medieval times. He founded the “Brahma-Sampardaaya” (the sect of Brahma).
Dahar (or Dahir): was the Brahmana king of Sind who was defeated by the Arab inva¬sion in A.D. 712 by Mohammad¬bin-Kasim, nephew and son-in¬law of al-Hajjaj, governor of Irak. The Indian ruler (Dahar) offered a brave resistance in the battle near Raor but was defeat¬ed and killed.
Darius: was the Iranian ruler who penetrated into north-west India in 516 B.C. and annexed Punjab, west of Indus, and Sindh.
Devapala: (A.D. 830-850) was successor to Dharmapala, the famous Pala ruler. He estab¬lished the third important Pala university of Somapura. He shifted his capital to Monghyr from where he maintained diplomatic relations with the Sailendra kings of Sumatra.
Dhammapada: was the first major work to say that sal¬vation by means of devotion is open to humans regardless of birth, gender or station in life.
Dharmachakra: In the Gandhara art, it is the preaching mudra associated with the Buddha’s First Sermon at Sarnath.
First Congress Split: took place in 1907 at Surat.
First metal used by man: Copper.
First Muslim invaders of India: Arabs were the first Muslim invaders of India.

Causes of poverty during British Rule

Causes of poverty during British Rule

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What were the causes of poverty and famines in Indian society during the British rule? Also assess the role of British government in mitigating the misery of the suffering millions.

The British had primarily come to India to pursue their trade and economic interests. Right from the days of East India Company, the British followed such economic policies as led to rapid transformation of Indian economy into a colonial economy, whose nature and structures were determined by the needs of British economy. In other words, Indian economy was driven into a situation of producing cheaper raw materials to meet the requirements of industry in Britain. While the Indian agriculture was forced to serve the interests of the British industry, there was almost complete dependence of Indian economy on the finished goods produced in England. Hence, there was a double drain of India’s wealth to Britain —firstly in the form of cheaper raw material being exported out of India and secondly in the form of import of finished goods from England into the country.

The British policy not only kept the Indian economy poor, but also blocked the way for systematic development of modern industry in India. With liberal and duty-free access to the British imports, the traditional artisans and craftsmen in India were also ruined. Once Railways were built, British manufactured goods made inroads into the hinterland of the country and ruined such workmen even in the interior rural areas.

The condition of the peasantry was no better. While the rates of agricultural produce were low and a large majority was engaged in contract farming at low remunerations, the demands of land revenue were huge. Even in the years of low yields, the land revenue demands were not toned down. As a result, the poor farmers were left with very little to feed their families. Many of them plunged into debt with the traditional moneylenders who gradually grabbed their lands and the poor peasants ended up working as hapless agricultural labourers on their own lands.

During the centuries of economic exploitation, the drain of Indian wealth was so high that the agrarian society of India was pushed to the verge of starvation. The poverty of the people culminated in various famines in the country. Earlier famine occurred in U.P. in 1860-61, that took a toll of over two lakh lives. It was followed by a severe famine in 1865-66 in the areas of Orissa, Bengal, Bihar and Madras in which almost 20 lakh people perished. Again, more than 14 lakh people died in the famine of 1868-70 in western U.P., Bombay, Rajputana and Punjab. Even more severe famines followed in the years 1876-78, 1896-97 and 1899-1900 in which more than one crore people died—a phenomenon that is unthinkable today. The series of famines continued in the twentieth century also and the last in the series was the great famine of Bengal in 1943 in which almost 30 lakh people died of starvation.

Though extreme poverty in India caused by the policies of economic exploitation of the British was mainly responsible for such a large number of deaths, the British government hardly took any serious action to make available the food grains in the affected areas. Zamindars were rather busy in recovering their share of land revenue from the famine-affected population. Though it was in the knowledge of the British that a large majority of Indian peasant families lived mostly on one meal a day, yet no effective steps were taken by them to overcome the plight of poor people in a resource rich country.

Provisions of Panchayati Raj Institutions

Provisions of Panchayati Raj Institutions

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What are the provisions relating to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in Indian Constitution?

The original Constitution of India did not contain elaborate provisions with respect to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India, though village Panchayats as units of local administration had been functional since the early British days. As per Article 40 of the Constitution, a Directive exists in the Directive Principles of State Policy under which the State is required to take steps to organise village Panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

Acting on the strength of this Directive, many State governments had enacted their Panchayati Raj Acts and had adopted two or three tier system of PRIs. In the meanwhile, several Committees appointed by the government of India, including Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, submitted their reports, which were also considered and selectively adopted by various State governments. But, by mid-eighties it was realised that many States were not very keen to promote the PRI and elections to these institutions were not held for many years on one pretext or the other. It was, thus, decided to add some specific provisions to the Constitution itself, on the basis of which the legislatures of various States would enact detailed laws to ensure uniformity in provisions, regularity in holding elections and empowerment of the people, particularly the downtrodden at the grass root level.

Hence, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 was passed which sought to insert a new Part IX to the Constitution in the form of Articles 243A to 243-O. The provisions of this Constitutional Amendment required the State legislatures to enact own laws to enforce the new Constitutional provisions. These constitutional provisions provide for a uniform three tier system of the PRIs, with Gram Panchayats at village level, Panchayat Samitis at the intermediate (Block) level and Zila Parishads at the District level. The States with less that 20-lakh population need not have the intermediate tier. While the elections to all the seats at Gram Panchayat level are to be direct, elections to other two tiers take place as per the laws of the State concerned.

73rd Constitutional Amendment also provides for reservation of seats for various categories. As a landmark provision that may have far reaching implications for socio-economic and political empowerment of the rural women, it is provided that not less than one-third of the total seats are to be reserved for women in all three tiers. While the reservations for SC and ST candidates are subject to the provisions under Article 334, the same for women do not have any limiting factor.
It has been made mandatory to hold elections to all the PRIs within six months of the expiry of their previous term. Every such institution is required to function for five years after the date of its first meeting. In case any such institution is dissolved as per law, fresh elections are required to be held within six-month period.

Minimum age prescribed for a candidate seeking election to any office of the PRIs is 21 years. These provisions relating to timely elections as well as free and fair elections to the PRIs are to be implemented by the State Election Commissioner, who is to be appointed by the Governor in every State. The State Election Commissioner can be removed only on the same grounds and in the same manner as in case of the Judge of a High Court.

The Constitution enlists 29 items, including land improvement, rural development schemes, minor irrigation, primary education, fisheries, animal husbandry, development of women and children, etc., which can be assigned by the States to the PRIs. The States can assign various taxes, duties and levies to the Panchayats for effectively carrying out and supervising the works assigned to them. With a view to distribute economic resources to the PRIs, assign certain taxes, duties and tolls to them and give them grants in aid. The Constitution provides that every five years, the State governments would appoint a State Finance Commission who would make recommendation to the State government in this regard.

PROJECT TO LINK RIVERS

PROJECT TO LINK RIVERS


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What will be the advantages of the plan to link major rivers in the country? Discuss limiting factors to this plan.

Mooted in the name of Dastur Plan, by an engineer called Dastur, as a permanent solution to the problems of floods, droughts and floods security, the proposal was further improved by Dr K.L. Rao, an eminent irrigation expert, in early sixties. But the successive governments thereafter continued to ignore this long-term solution to this recurring problem of Indian economy. Since independence, crores of rupees have been spent in India in favour of short-term measures. Hundreds of crores have been spent on irrigation, drought relief, flood relief, flood control and rural poverty alleviation but the results have not been commensurate to the resources put in. Had this option been exercised instead, most of the above noted problems would have been solved long ago.

While Dastur Plan aimed at linking all major rivers into one massive canal, Rao’s plan has three major links—one in the South and two in the North. Southern Water Grid proposes to interlink Southern rivers like the Mahanadi, the Godawari, the Krishna, the Cauvery, the Pennar and the Vaigai, which would provide surplus waters of the Mahanadi and Godawari flowing into the Bay of Bengal to the deficit areas of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. First Northern link is proposed in the east, which aims at linking the Brahamputra, the Ganga, the Mahanadi and the Subarnarekha to benefit the water deficit areas of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam. Second Northern link proposes to interlink the Gandak, the Ghaghara, the Sarda, the Yamuna to Rajasthan and Sabarmati with a view to benefit the States like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The envisaged advantages are manifold. While the devastation caused by floods every year would come to an end, the nation would also be able to use valuable resources of water to its optimum. The water could be used for irrigation, and even for drinking in deficit areas. Interlinking would also improve the level of depleting ground water. Indian agriculture would be revolutionised by improved access to irrigation, as over 30 per cent of the cultivable lands presently fed by rain would get adequate water for irrigation. Not only agricultural output would increase substantially, the incidence of rural poverty would also come down drastically.
Countries like Australia and China have benefited immensely by such interlinking and there is no reason why India cannot gain in the same way.

The plan, however, is not devoid of problems. Lack of financial resources is a major hurdle. As per one estimate, the project is likely to cost over Rs 2,00,000 crore over a period of ten years, that translates into Rs 20,000 crore per annum. Further, no provision exists in the Constitution on the role of the Centre on interlinking of river waters. To obviate any future legal hitch, the Constitution may have to be amended, evolving an agreeable institutional mechanism on the issue of the interlinking of the rivers, sharing of their waters and pooling in resources for such interlinking. This would also take care of water sharing disputes that we have witnessed in the recent past. Finally, an independent authority, having representation of all the States, is also required to be framed to take up such a gigantic task. Such an authority may also borrow financial resources and expertise from international funding and developmental agencies, if so required. In a project of this magnitude, time planning is of utmost importance and time gained is progress made.

FINANCE COMMISSION

FINANCE COMMISSION


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What is a Finance Commission? What functions can be assigned to a Finance Commission?

Most of the federal States have elaborate provisions of distribution of financial resources between the federal and provincial governments, as well as among the provinces. To this extent, Indian Constitution is no exception. Indian Constitution makes the distinction between the legislative power to levy a tax and the power to appropriate the proceeds of a tax so levied. There are taxes like sales tax and State excise duties, which are levied and collected by the States, while the sales tax on inter-State sale, called the central sales tax, is levied by the Central government but is assigned to the State concerned. Properties of the Union and States are exempted from mutual taxation under Article 285(1) and 289(1) of the Constitution. But there are taxes levied and collected by the Union, which are distributed between the Union and the States. These include income tax and union excise duties.

It is in relation to such taxes that Articles 270, 273, 275 and 280 of the Constitution provide for the constitution of a Finance Commission every five years, to recommend to the President of India certain measures regarding distribution of financial resources between the Union and the States. Article 280 provides that the Finance Commission shall recommend to the President the percentage of net proceeds of income tax, which should be assigned by the Union to the States, and the manner in which such a share of the States is to be distributed among them. The recommendations of the Finance Commission, when accepted, remain valid for a period of five years before which next Finance Commission is appointed.

The Chairman of the Commission, in view of the President, must be a person having experience in public affairs. In addition, four other members of the Commission with following qualifications/prerequisites are appointed:
(a) A High Court judge or anyone having qualification to be appointed as such. (b) A person having specific knowledge of finances and accounts of the government. (c) A person having vast experience of financial and administrative matters. (d)??A person having special knowledge of economics.

As per the Constitution, it is the duty of the Finance Commission to make recommendations to the President on the following:
(I) Distribution between the Union and the States, of net proceeds of taxes, which are to be distributed among them.
(II) Distribution of their share among the States.
(III) The principles governing grants-in-aid of the Union revenues to the States.
(IV) The measures to augment the resources of the States to supplement the resources of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
(V) The measures to augment the resources of the States to supplement the resources of municipalities in the States.
(VI) Any other matter referred to the Commission by the President of India.

National Movement during World War-II

National Movement during World War-II


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Describe major events under the National Movement during the Second World War.

The period of Second World War was a testing time for India’s National Movement. Before the outbreak of the War in 1939, there was a lull in the National Movement. After German invasion of Poland, the British government of India joined the war effort along with allied forces without consulting the elected members of the Central Legislature or the Indian National Congress. The nationalist forces were completely opposed to fascist aggression and were willing to extend help to the democratic forces of the world. But the nationalist leaders wanted to know as to how an enslaved nation like India could help other countries of the world to secure emancipation.

All the nationalist forces joined hands on this issue and demanded that the British must set India free before India could actively participate in war against the Nazi forces. The British refused to accept this demand, which prompted the Congress to give a call to all its ministries to resign. As a token of resentment in October 1940, Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for limited Satyagraha by a few individuals. It was aimed at conveying that in an enslaved state, the Indians were not with the British in their war effort. It was also conveyed through limited Satyagraha that there was hardly any difference between Nazism and the British colonialism. But at the same time, the Congress did not want to embarrass the British by initiating a major upheaval in the country during the War.

Vinoba Bhave was one of the prominent persons who offered limited Satyagraha during the war. By 1941, more than 25,000 Satyagrahis were already in British jails. War scenario witnessed two major events in this year. Firstly, Germany, after capturing most of the East Europe, attacked the Soviet Union and, secondly, Japan launched a surprise attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbour by joining hands with Italy and Germany. This, on the one hand, ensured direct involvement of Japan along with Axis forces, and, on the other, forced the US and the Soviet Union to actively support the Allied forces. Japan captured many parts of South East Asia in a blitzkrieg operation and subjugated Philippines, Indo-China, Indonesia, Malaya and Burma, bringing the War to the doorstep of India.

Rash Behari Bose and Capt Mohan Singh, along with many Indian soldiers captured by the Japanese army, formed Indian National Army (INA) to assist the Japanese forces to drive the British out of India. The leadership of INA was later handed over to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. At this stage the British wanted active Indian support in their war effort. The British government sent a Mission under Sir Stafford Cripps in the year 1942 for this purpose. But since the Cripps Mission did not concede to the Indian demand of immediate transfer of power, it failed and went back. This fuelled discontentment among the Indians and pressure increased to force the British to accept the demand for independence. The Congress passed the famous “Quit India” resolution in Bombay on August 8, 1942. A non-violent mass struggle under the leadership of Gandhi began. The British government came down heavily and immediately arrested most of the nationalist leaders. The Movement spread to many parts of the country, in the forms of Satyagraha, demonstrations and hartals. Over 10,000 people were killed in police and military firing and lakhs were arrested. Finally, the government succeeded in crushing the leaderless movement, as most of the leaders were in jail.

The post-war movement witnessed a new type of struggle, triggered by the trial of three INA officers viz. Shah Nawaz Khan, Gurdial Singh Dhillon and Prem Sehgal. Despite the British government’s resolve to punish these officers for sedition, the whole country regarded them as national heroes and was fully behind them. Even though the military court at the Red Fort held them guilty, sensing the belligerent mood of Indian masses, the British government decided to set them free. It was then evident that the days of British Empire in India were numbered.