Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
“In the history of nation-building only the Soviet experiment bears comparison with the Indian. There too, a sense of unity had to be forged between many diverse ethnic groups, religious, linguistic communities and social classes. The scale – geographic as well as demographic – was comparably massive. The raw material the state had to work with was equally unpropitious : a people divided by faith and driven by debt and disease. ”

—Ramachandra Guha

(a) List the commonalities that the author mentions between India and Soviet Union and give one example for each of these from India.

(b) The author does not talk about dissimilarities between the two experiments. Can you mention two dissimilarities ?

(c) In retrospect which of these two experiments worked better and why ?

Solution

(a)Commonalities are:

(i) Diverse religions – Hindu, Islam, Buddhism.

(ii) Many social classes – Upper classes Lower classes i.e., Scheduled castes, Backward classes.

(b) The dissimilarities are:

(i) The Soviet republics were given the right to secede from the Union.

(ii)Adoption of Communism as main principle

(c) The experiment in India worked better because it has led to unity among different groups of people. We have been able to solve our problems amicably and in a democratic way. On the other hand, Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991.

Some More Questions From Challenges of Nation Building Chapter

What was the task of the States Reorganisation Commission ? What was its most salient recommendation ?

It is said that the nation is to a large extent an “imagined community” held together by common beliefs, history, political aspirations and imaginations. Identify the features that make India a nation.