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NCERT Solutions · Class 8 SST · Exploring Society: India and Beyond Part 2 · Chapter 2

Chapter 2: India's Long Road to Independence (History)

Answers to all "Questions and activities" of Part 2, Chapter 2, India's Long Road to Independence (NCERT Class 8 Social Science, Exploring Society: India and Beyond Part 2, 2026-27): true or false on the Congress, Tilak, the Ghadar movement, Sardar Patel, Kakori, Quit India, the Poona Pact, the Cripps Mission, Subhas Chandra Bose and the Radcliffe Line; "Who am I?" on ten freedom fighters; and the sacrifices that freedom demanded. All 21 questions are answered, with the key answer highlighted.

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True or false

Right from its start, the Indian National Congress called for India's independence.

Solution

False. In its early years (from 1885), the Congress was led by moderates, who asked for reforms: more Indians in the councils and services, lower taxes, and fair treatment, all within British rule. Leaders like Tilak criticised them as too moderate. Complete independence (Purna Swaraj) became the Congress goal only in 1929–30.

False

Bal Gangadhar Tilak turned a Shivaji festival into a popular event.

Solution

True. Tilak turned Ganesh Chaturthi and the Shivaji festival into popular public events. He used religious and patriotic symbols to awaken people and urge them to resist oppression.

True

The Ghadar Movement of 1914–15 aimed to start a mutiny within the British Indian Army while British troops were busy with World War I.

Solution

True. The Ghadar revolutionaries, many of them Indians who had settled in North America, returned to India to stir up a revolt among Indian soldiers while Britain was fighting World War I. The plan was discovered, and many were hanged or imprisoned.

True

Vallabhbhai Patel earned the title "Sardar" for his leadership of the Satyagraha agitation in Gujarat.

Solution

True. He led the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) of peasants against a steep rise in land revenue. Its success led Mahatma Gandhi to give him the title "Sardar" (leader).

True

The Kakori train robbery of 1925 was carried out to fund the activities of the Hindustan Republican Association.

Solution

True. Revolutionaries of the Hindustan Republican Association, including Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan, stopped a train near Kakori, near Lucknow, and took the government money it carried, to pay for their activities. Several were later hanged.

True

Mahatma Gandhi gave the "Do or Die" call during the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920.

Solution

False. Gandhi gave the call "Do or Die" during the Quit India Movement, in August 1942.

False

B.R. Ambedkar and Gandhi fully agreed on "separate electorates" for Dalits.

Solution

False. They disagreed. Ambedkar wanted separate electorates for the Depressed Classes. Gandhi opposed this, fearing it would divide Hindu society, and went on a fast. They settled their differences in the Poona Pact (1932): Dalits got reserved seats within joint electorates instead.

False

Sir Stafford Cripps was sent to India in 1942 because Winston Churchill supported immediate independence for India.

Solution

False. Churchill opposed Indian independence. He sent Cripps only under pressure to win India's support in World War II. The Cripps Mission offered dominion status after the war, with provinces allowed to opt out. Indian leaders rejected it.

False

Subhas Chandra Bose raised an army during his stay in Germany.

Solution

False (as the chapter tells it). In Germany (1941–43), Bose sought support from Britain's enemies. (He did set up a small "Indian Legion" there.) He formed the Indian National Army in Singapore in 1943, from Indian prisoners of war and volunteers, with Japanese help, and declared the Azad Hind government.

False: the INA was formed in Singapore (Southeast Asia) in 1943, not in Germany.

The Radcliffe Line, which divided India and Pakistan, was announced a few weeks before Independence Day.

Solution

False. Cyril Radcliffe was given just five weeks (from July 1947) to draw the line. It was announced on 17 August 1947, two days after Independence Day, so millions found out only afterwards that they were on the "wrong" side.

False: it was announced two days after Independence (17 August 1947).

Who am I?

Known as the "Lion of Punjab", I was badly injured in a brutal lathi charge while protesting against the Simon Commission.

Solution

Lala Lajpat Rai (Punjab Kesari)

I declared, "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!" I used the newspaper Kesari and festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi to unite people.

Solution

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Lokmanya Tilak)

A leader of the Nationalist faction of the Congress, I wrote in the daily Bande Mataram about India's need for absolute autonomy.

Solution

Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghose)

I got the nickname "Bagha" after wrestling a tiger with my bare hands. I died in a gunfight while waiting for a shipment of German arms to start an uprising.

Solution

Bagha Jatin (Jatindranath Mukherjee), killed near Balasore in 1915

I organised the bomb attack on the Viceroy in 1912, and later escaped to Japan, where I worked for years to organise a movement.

Solution

Rash Behari Bose

I was martyred at a young age after an attempt on the life of a British judge.

Solution

Khudiram Bose (who targeted the magistrate Kingsford in 1908 and was hanged at 18)

I was martyred at a young age after throwing harmless bombs in Delhi's Central Legislative Assembly.

Solution

Bhagat Singh (who threw them with Batukeshwar Dutt in 1929)

I turned the freedom struggle into a mass movement through ahimsa and satyagraha, leading campaigns like the Dandi March.

Solution

Mahatma Gandhi

I sought help from the Axis powers in World War II to organise the Indian National Army.

Solution

Subhas Chandra Bose (Netaji)

A British lawyer, I was given just five weeks to draw the boundary that partitioned the subcontinent into two nations.

Solution

Sir Cyril Radcliffe

Reflection

What sacrifices did freedom need? Think of soldiers, famine-hit families, leaders and ordinary people who were arrested or lost their homes. Would you have taken part in the freedom struggle? What would you have been willing to give up?

Solution

The sacrifices freedom demanded:

Lives: revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Khudiram Bose and Bagha Jatin died young. Peaceful protesters were shot at Jallianwala Bagh. Thousands died in jails and in the Cellular Jail.
Liberty and careers: leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Tilak spent years in prison. Lawyers gave up their practices, and students left schools and colleges.
Families: many families lost their earners, property or land to fines and seizures. Millions suffered in famines while the government exported grain.
Soldiers: Indian soldiers fought and died far from home in two world wars. Some joined the INA.
Homes: during Partition, millions lost their homes, and many lost their lives.

A sample personal answer:

"Yes, I believe I would have joined. Perhaps not with weapons, but by spinning khadi, boycotting foreign goods, joining peaceful marches, teaching others to read, or writing for a nationalist paper. I might have had to give up a comfortable job, my studies, the safety of my family, or even risk going to jail. It would have been frightening. But knowing what colonial rule did to India, its famines, poverty and humiliation, I think the cause of freedom and dignity would have been worth it."

(There is no single right answer. Be honest about what you would and would not have been ready to give up, and why.)

Freedom cost lives, years in jail, careers, property, family security and homes (including in Partition). Answer honestly, giving the cause you would have joined and what comforts or goals you would have sacrificed (a sample answer is given).

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