question_answer

Highlight any six consequences of the emergency of 1975.

Or

Analyse any three factors which enhanced the popularity of Indira Gandhi in the early 1970s.

Answer:

1. Emergency brought the agitation to an abrupt stop; strikes were banned many opposition leaders were put in jail; the political situation become very quiet though tense.

2. Government uses its special powers under emergency provisions and suspended the freedom of the press newspapers were asked to get prior approval for all material to be published.

3. Apprehending social and communal disharmony, the government banned Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Jamait-e-Islami. Protests and strikes and public agitations were also disallowed.

4. Most importantly, the various Fundamental Rights of citizens stood suspended, including the right of citizens to move the Court for restoring their Fundamental Rights.

5. The government made extensive use of preventive detention. Under this provision, people are arrested and detained not because they have committed any offence, but on the apprehension that they may commit an offence.

6. The government made large scale arrests during the Emergency. Arrested political workers could not challenge their arrest through habeas corpus petitions. Many cases were filed in the High Courts and the Supreme Court by and on behalf of arrested persons, but the government claimed that it was not even necessary to inform the arrested persons of the reasons and grounds of their arrest.

Or

1. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of popular ex-Prime Minister J. L. Nehru.

2. She had become Congress President in 1958.

3. She had been Union Minister for Information in Shashtri?s Cabinet from 1964 - 66.

4. She had given a positive famous slogan ?Garibi Hatao?.

5. She had focused on the growth of the public sector.

6. She had imposed the ceiling on rural land holdings and urban property to remove disparities in income and opportunity.

7. She had abolished the princely privileges to prevail the principles of equality and social and economic justice.

8. Decisive victory in the 1971?s India-Pakistan war soared Indira Gandhi?s popularity.

9. First nuclear explosion in 1974 also increased her popularity. India termed it a peaceful explosion.