Bihar Board Class 11 English Book Notes: Chapter 9 National Unity, Nation and Nationality

Chapter 9 National Unity, Nation and Nationality

Bihar Board Class 11 English National Unity, Nation and Nationality Questions and Answers

Bihar Board Class 11 English National Unity, Nation and Nationality Textual Questions and Answers

Work in small groups and discuss the following questions :

Question 1.
What type of country is India ?
Answer:
India is a vast country with diversity of climate, religions, faiths languages, lifestyle, etc. Still there is unity.

Question 2.
What is democracy ?
Answer:
Democracy means equal rights for all, and people have a right to choose their own government.

Question 3.
Name some famous personalities Bihar has produced.
Answer:
Bihar produced great man like Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Jayaprakash Narayan and many others.

Question 4.
Who was J.P. ? What do you know about him ?
Answer:
Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan is popularly known as J.P. He was a great freedom fighter. He worked for Sarvodaya.

Question 5.
How did he come to be known as ‘Lok Nayak’ ?
Answer:
He started a movement against suppression of civil liberties. It is called J.P. movement. He directed, the nation to true freedom. So he is known as Lok Nayak.

1. Answer the following questions briefly :

Question 1.
What were the two important events and when did they take place ?
Answer:
The two important events took place in 1857 and 1885. In 1857. In 1857 it was an open and armed struggle for sovereign power, in 1885 it was a humble petitioning for a royal commission.

Question 2.
How did they bring incredible change in national outlook ?
Answer:
Both of these events were national movements. They created a sense of nationalism in India.

Question 3.
‘Nationalism does not mean the same thing to all the classes. Why does J.P. say so ?
Answer:
J.P says so because according to him nationalism does not comprise the interests of all the classes and groups in a nation.

Question 4.
What according to the author, is the first ‘breach’ in ‘national unity’ ?
Answer:
The first breach was, between the princes and the ‘national movement’. The national movement opposed the British Imperialism, but the princes supported it.

Question 5.
“No one with the least political understanding or experience can talk of unity with the landlords.” Why ? Explain.
Answer:
The landlords were the creation of British imperialism. They supported the British imperialism. They did not support national movement. But in case power was transferred into Indian hands, they wanted to ensure that their interests did not suffer on account of this.

Question 6.
What, according to J.P., is the second ‘breach’ in national unity ?
Answer:
The clash between die interests of big landlords and the ‘national movement’ is the second breach in national unity.

2.1. Write T for True and F for False statement :

1. The Indian industrial class can effectively oppose imperialism.
2. The Indian industrial class support nationalism whole- heartedly.
3. The natives would love if the peasants became conscious of their economic and political destiny.
4. A class-conscious working class means the break-up of national unity.

Answer:

1. (F)
2. (F)
3. (F)
4. (T)

2.2. Answer the following questions briefly :

Question 1.
What is the third ‘breach’ in national unity.
Answer:
The vested interests of the industrial class are different form the objectives of national movement. It is the third breach

Question 2.
What do you understand by ‘ peasant raj’ ? Explain.
Answer:
Peasant raj means complete freedom from exploitation either by the natives or the foreigners. Rather, economic and political policies must safeguard the interests of the peasants.

Question 3.
‘National unity breaks-up as soon as the peasantry becomes conscious., What does J.P. mean by this statement ?
Answer:
If peasantry becomes conscious of their economic and political destiny, they will resolve to direct action. It will be dangerous for both the foreigner as well as native oppressors. Then the national unity will break up.

1. Long Answer Questions :

Question 1.
Attempt a definition of nationalism in the light of what J.P. says in the lesson.
Answer:
In common usage, nationalism means loyalty to one’s nation. It is equivalent to patriotism. It is a sentiment that binds all the people of nation by a common bond of common national interest. But J.P does not think that such a nationalism exists especially in context with India. In India there are many classes and groups. Their interests are devise. Even their interests clash with one another’s interests. The interests of the peasants are not the same as those of the landlords. The interests of workers are not the same as those of the industrialists.

J.P refers to two events of event of our national history, 1857 and 1885. The two event are looked upon as national movements, and the people who participated in them were nationalists. But the objectives of the two movements were entirely different and their objectives too were different. J.P. comes to the conclusion that nationalism means different things to different people, and the role is played at different times by different groups depending on the circumstances of history.

Question 2.
Which element does J.P. find sadly missing in the popular notion of nationalism ? How can it be incorporated ?
Answer:
J.P finds that there is no mass consciousness in the popular notion of nationalism. The workers and peasants, that constitute the masses, are ignored. They are exploited by industrialists and by landlords. Their direct Acton is looked upon as dangerous. In J.P.’s opinion simply freedom from imperialism will bring no freedom for the masses.

The upper or powerful classes will enjoy the fruit of workers’ and peasants’ fight against British imperialism, he wants freedom from exploitation. He wants peasant raj. By this he means that the peasants should have freedom to shape the nation’s economic and political policies in accordance with their own interests. The workers should be free from wage-slavery. He wants social ownership of means of production. But unfortunately, the workers and peasants are not conscious of their political and economic destiny. No one even desires it, to keep on exploiting peasants and workers.

Question 3.
Did India really achieve what J.P. wanted it to achieve ?
Answer:
J.P. wanted freedom from exploitation for the peasants and workers. He was a socialist and wanted the workers to be free from wage-slavery. He wanted social ownership of means of production. No doubt his aims were idealistic. Perhaps that high level of freedom is not possible to achieve. In many countries this type of experiments have failed.

In India Nehru too wanted a socialistic pattern of society, but there are so many pulls and pushes. J.P has rightly remarked that India is made up of many groups and classes. The powerful classes, like industrialists, baboos and politicians are able to have their way. Still things have changed for workers and peasants. Big landlords have been abolished. Workers have rights. There are labor tribunals and courts. The workers and peasants are no longer cowed down. They are vote bank. Recently the government of India waived off their loans. But unless the fanners and peasants are free from hunger, unless they are educated; unless they are free from fear, their condition cannot change. J.P.’s dream is yet too distant to achieve.

2. Group Discussion :

Discuss the following in groups or Pairs.

Question a.
True nationalism resides in mass-consciousness.
Answer:
Nationalism is not determined by geographical boundaries, religion or political affiliations alone. It resides in mass-consciousness. The Jews were spread over many countries. They spoke different languages. But they had a consciousness of their oneness. So they all settled in Israel. The East Germany and West Germany were divided by a wall, they had different political systems.

But people in both the parts had a mass-consciousness of nationalism. They broke down the wall. East Pakistan and West Pakistan had no mass consciousness of the same nationalism. So East Pakistan broke away from West Pakistan. In India there was a mass-consciousness of nationalism. That was why people from all over India fought for only one aim-freedom from the British rule.

Question b.
Unity in Diversity
Answer:
India is a vast country . There is a variety of climates. People in different parts of the country speak many different languages. Their life styles, food, clothes are very different. But there is a sense of unity. This is the unity of an ancient culture and history. A sense of belonging to one nation. There is a unity in diversity. This sense of unity holds India together as one nation.

 3. Composition :

Question a.
You are the secretary of the cultural association of your school/ college, you have decided to hold a debate on ‘ have the objectives of Sampoorna Kranti’ really been achieved. Write a notice in about 50 words inviting students’ participation. Include time, venue and topic of the debate. Also, mention the person to be contacted for the purpose.
Answer:
J.P Narayan Memorial School, Samastipur

NOTICE

5 th September 20…

Debate on Sampoorna Kranti

The Cultural Association of our school is holding a debate on
‘Have the ‘objective of Sampoorna Kranti been Achieved ? in the school auditorium on 15th September 20…
Students who desire to participate may contact the undersigned for details by 8th September.

Kaushal Kumar
Secretary

Word study:

1. Dictionary Use :

Ex. 1. Correct the spelling of the following words:
Sovreign, cricumestances ,economicaly ,transffered ,strenth ,propgandi ,accordence ,bourgeosie ,ownership ,conscious
Answer:
Sovereign, circumstances, economically, propaganda, transferred strength, accordance, bourgeoisie, ownership, conscious

Ex. 2. Look up a dictionary and write two meanings of each of the following words-the one in which it is used in the lesson and the other which is more common: strange, movement, play, interest, fight
Answer:
strange: (i) unusual (ii) peculiar
Movement: (i) agitation (ii) motion
play : (i) freedom of movement (ii) take part in games
Interest: (i) a subject about which one is concerned (ii) a person’s advantage
Fight : (i) take part in a violent struggle (ii) struggle to overcome or prevent.

2. Word-Formation :

Look at the following examples:

“The result is the inability of this class to oppose imperialism. At least it can put pressure on it. But even this pressure is unable to exert as a class”. In the above example by adding ‘in’ to ‘ability’ and ‘an-‘ to ‘able’, we have formed the opposites ‘inability’ and ‘unable’ respectively. In the same way we can make opposite by adding ‘dis-‘ and ‘anti’ Given below is a list of selected words from the lesson. Make opposite by adding ‘in-‘, ‘un-‘ ‘dis-‘ and ‘anti-‘ whether suitable:

real educated national economic complete:
do interested controlled secure satisfied
Answer:
real – unreal
do – undo
educated – uneducated
interested – disinterested
national – anti national
controlled – uncontrolled
economic – uneconomic
secure – insecure
complete – incomplete
satisfied – unsatisfied

Ex. 2. Fill in the blanks with suitable words given below:
mysterious, motherland, moment, majority, imperialism, industrialist, withdraw, objective, freedom, development

(a) India is our
(b) Every ………. of our life is important. .
(c) Rural ………. is a must for any country
(d) J.P. had the support of ……….
(e) In Modern times ………. has changed its old form
(f) We should honor and guard our ……….
(g) What is main ………. of learning English ?
(h) There is something ……….. about Netaji’s death.
(i) Jamshedji Tata was a great ……….
(j) The troops began to ………. from Kargil.
Answer:
a motherland
b. moment
c. development
d. majority
e. imperialism
f. freedom
g. objective
h. mysterious
i. industrialist
j. with draw, imperialism

Grammar :

Ex. 1. Fill in the blanks with correct prepositions :

1. Nationalism means different things ………. different times.
   2. These facts throw a good light ………. the problem of nationalism.
   3. The baboons did not stand ………. all the classes.
   4.The difference lies ………. its objective.
   5. The purpose was to stampede the people ………. voting for the perpetuation ………. British capitalism.
   Answer:
   1. at
   2. on
   3. for
   4. in
   5. into, of.

Ex. 2. Read the following examples:

“Thus, we see first that the Indian industrialists are unable themselves ‘to oppose’ imperialism”

In the above line an infinitiv to oppose’ has been used. Find as many instances of infinitives as you can from the lesson and use them in sentences of your own.
Answer:
(i) Nationalism to them mean complete freedom ‘to exploit’ the country’s resources (of men and materials) and ‘to build’ up their fortunes.
(ii) To do’ this they require a great deal of control over the state.
(iii) The result is the inability of this class ‘to oppose’ imperialism.
(iv) But even this pressure it is unable ‘to exert’ as a class.
(v) The purpose in reality was ‘to stampede’ the people into voting for the perpetuation of British capitalism.

Sentences: to do-I was not willing ‘to do’ so.
to oppose – There was none ‘to oppose’ him.
to exert – Now I have no capacity ‘to exert’.
to stampede – They were forced by the contestant ‘to stampede’ in the election.
to exploit – It is not fair ‘to exploit others.
to build – The purpose of the education is ‘to build’ up our character.

Activity :

Ex. 1. Make a note of the important points in paragraph 1-6
Ex. 2. Write summary based on your notes in about 150 words. Give a suitable title to your write-up.
Answer:
Ex. 1. Notes
1.1. National unity nation nationalism
1.2. Struggle for sovereignty
1.3. India’s demands
2.1. National movement
2.2. Two events-difference
2.3. Baboo’s-peasants
3.1. Unity-personal interests
3.2. Comic of unity
3.3. Undefined Swaraj
4.1. Circumstances
4.2. to stampede into voting
4.3. Perpetuation of British capitalism.

Next Chapter:- Chapter 10 Dolly at the Dentist