UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 1 Q13: model answer

On 26 January 1930, Congress committees across India read a pledge declaring that British rule had ruined India 'economically, politically, culturally and spiritually'. From the 1920s, independence came to mean a change in Indian society, not just a change of rulers.

Complete independence

• The Lahore Congress (1929) declared purna swaraj as the goal; 26 January 1930 was observed as Independence Day.

Rights and democracy

• The Nehru Report (1928) proposed fundamental rights and adult franchise.
• The Karachi Resolution (1931) on fundamental rights and economic policy: free speech, equality, universal adult franchise, free primary education.

Economic and social justice

• Karachi also promised protection for workers, reduction of rent and revenue, and state control of key industries.
• Socialist ideas spread through Nehru, Bose and the Congress Socialist Party (1934); the National Planning Committee (1938).
• Abolition of untouchability, equality for women and the depressed classes; peasant and worker movements.

Secularism and pluralism

• Equality of religions and protection of minorities' culture and language.

Industrialisation and planning

• The National Planning Committee (1938) under Nehru prepared plans for industrialisation, later reflected in the Five-Year Plans.

Foreign policy

• The Congress set up a Foreign Department (1928) and opposed fascism and imperialism, laying the roots of India's later policy of non-alignment.

Importance

• The new objectives widened the movement's appeal to workers, peasants, women and minorities.
• The Karachi Resolution's rights became the basis of Part III, and its economic programme influenced the Directive Principles.

These objectives turned the freedom struggle into a programme for a democratic, secular and socially just India, and many of them were written into the Constitution.