Into India Extension Activity 2

Extension Activities

CHAPTER 2: SPINNING A NATION

Students learn about the history of the independence movement in India, including the rise of nationalism and the contributions of Gandhi, Jinnah and Nehru. The structure of government in independent India is then examined and students explore current political issues in India. An analysis of the nature of the Indian electorate and political environment concludes the chapter.

To explore additional ideas and resources for using this chapter of Into India, click on one of the following:

Teaching and Learning Activities | SOSE Profile | WWW Links | Annotated Bibliography

Teaching and Learning Activities

Here are some additional teaching and learning activities related to this chapter.

Investigation 1: The Path to Independence

Student Research
Many sections of this Investigation lend themselves to further independent research by students. In particular, research topics could include: ghandi

The rebellion of 1857.
The origins of the Indian National Congress in 1885.
The events surrounding General Dyer's massacre of Indian civilians in 1919 at Amritsar.
The life of Gandhi and the development of his philosophies.
Jinnah and the origin of Pakistan.
The influence of the Nehru/Gandhi 'dynasty' in Indian politics.
Mountbatten and the rush to partition and independence.
Events at the time of partition.

Investigation 2: The World's Largest Democracy
This Investigation is supported by the 'Freedom of Choice' section of the Into India video.

Update of Political Timeline
In relation to Resource 8 (pp. 81-82), note the following:

In 1997, H. D. Deve Gowda was replaced as Prime Minister of India by I. K. Gujral. The withdrawal of Congress (I) support for his United Front coalition government led to general elections in February 1998. Sonia Gandhi (the widow of Rajiv Gandhi) announced that she would campaign for Congress (I).

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP: 'Indian Peoples' Party') won the largest number of seats it did not have an absolute majority and a period of negotiation with other parties followed. By mid-March a coalition had been formed and the President invited Atal Behari Vajpayee, the BJP leader, to become Prime Minister. Prime Minister Vajpayee and the BJP retained power in the October 1999 elections. The next general election is due in October 2004.

Discussion Topic: Civil Rights and Liberties
Resource 1 (p. 75) is a transcript of the response of an Indian student (seen in 'Freedom of Choice') to the question 'Is democracy possible in a country the size of India?'. The following discussion will assist students in their thinking about the remainder of the chapter. It relates especially to Activities 10, 11 and 12 in Investigation 3 (p. 86).

Ensure that students have seen 'Freedom of Choice', and re-play the section where the student speaks. Then organise small groups of students and ask them to discuss the following questions:

Why might India's size make 'democracy' difficult?
What do you think the student understands by 'democracy'?
What do you think she means by 'every individual wants to be free' and 'nobody wants to be suppressed'?
What do you think she means by 'rights'?
To what extent do you agree with the general points the student is making?
What do you understand by the terms 'democracy', 'freedom' and 'rights'?
What freedoms and rights are citizens supposed to have in Australia?
Are there times when Australians do not have these freedoms and rights?
What particular difficulties might there be in guaranteeing the freedoms and rights of citizens in India?

Groups can then be asked to report to the class about their discussions and a blackboard or whiteboard used to summarise the points made. Differences of opinion can be discussed further with the class.

An alternative approach to the above questions would be to discuss them only with the class as a whole. This would be appropriate if more teacher input is needed or desired.

Investigation 3: Sheer Size and Diversity
This Investigation is supported by the 'Freedom of Choice' section of the Into India video.

Note-taking and Role-Play
This activity could be a suitable conclusion to students' work on this chapter. Draw students' attention to the four prominent Indian citizens featured in 'Freedom of Choice'. The citizens are:

T.N. Seshan, Chief Election Commissioner of India.
Maseeh Raman, Senior Associate Editor, India Today.
Swami Agnivesh, of the Bonded Labour Federation.
Madhu Kishwar, founding editor of Manushi.

Ask students to take notes about the views of each citizen during a second viewing of the video. Then discuss with students the likely roles of the organisations to which the citizens belong.

Divide the class into four groups and assign one of the prominent citizens to each group. Then ask each group to discuss and clarify the expressed views of 'its' citizen. Also ask each group to review the comments of the other three citizens and identify points of possible agreement and disagreement.

Choose a student from each group, and ask each student to assume the role of his or her citizen. (Alternatively, request volunteers for the exercise.) Have the students sit at the front of the room and allow other class members to question them about their views. Also allow the four role players to interact. As appropriate, role players can be replaced with other appropriate students.

On the basis of their previous discussions, students are likely to raise questions around some or all of the following issues:

Why has India remained a democracy since independence?
What have been positive and negative developments since independence?
How important is 'dissent' in India?
To what extent do Indian citizens enjoy rights and freedoms?
How optimistic should we be about the future in India?

Ensure that all the above are raised by the end of the role play. Students can then be assigned a writing task such as: 'Summarise the views of the four prominent Indian citizens and give your own opinions about their views.' Alternatively, a more complex writing task would be: 'How well does Indian democracy work? Discuss this question, referring to your previous work about India and the views of the four prominent Indian citizens.'

Discussion Topic: Comparison with Australia
After students have completed the Activities in this chapter, hold a discussion which compares the situation of the Indian democracy with that of Australia. Draw out similarities and differences.

SOSE Profile Strands and Outcomes

This chapter provides opportunities for students to achieve learning outcomes at levels four to seven within the following strands and strand organisers specified in Studies of society and environment - a curriculum profile for Australian schools.

Strand Strand organisers

Time, continuity and change

Understanding the past
Time and change
Interpretations and perspectives

Culture

Cultural cohesion and diversity
Personal, group and cultural identity

Resources

Use of resources
People and work
Management and enterprise

Natural and social systems

Political and legal systems
Economic systems

Investigation, communication and participation

All strand organisers

A full listing of student outcomes can be found on p. 196 of Into India. Teachers are advised to consult their State or Territory curriculum documents for ways in which the activities and intended outcomes may be adapted to locally developed criteria.

WWW Links

Discover India on eWorld
http://www.indonet.com/DiscoverIndiaoneWorld.html
Has the 'India File' of facts and figures, charts, graphs and tables, together with a variety of articles and essays about Indian art, culture, history, geography and society. Also the Discussion Board of questions and answers.

Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
http://meaindia.nic.in/
Includes many links and is strong in politics, current affairs and the economy. Features 'Gandhi, a retrospective' at http://www.meadev.nic.in/Gandhi/intro.htm.

AskAsia
http://www.askasia.org/
Developed to support studies of Asia in American schools and published by the Asia Society. Offers access to lesson plans, such as 'Gandhi speaks through clothing', which traces Gandhi's life through a set of photographs. Also has cultural information, games, activities and a variety of links. 'Adult-Free Zone' provided for students. About 10 schools in India listed. Also facility for 'Keypals Club International', for students 8-16 years old.

The World Factbook - India
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html
Includes maps of India, political data and statistics about the Indian economy. Maintained by the CIA, the World Factbook site provides up-to-date facts about every country in the world.

India News Online
http://www.indianewsonline.com/
Provides links to many Indian publications, from daily newspapers to film, fashion and health magazines.

The India Today Group
http://www.india-today.com/
Publishers of India Today, one of India's leading magazines of news and current affairs. Includes current articles from India Today and a variety of other magazines published by the Group.

All India Radio
http://air.kode.net/
Text and audio versions of All India Radio news bulletins. Available in Hindi and English.

CNN.com Asia
http://asia.cnn.com/
CNN's site focusing on news from Asia. Includes links to special in-depth reports on important issues.

Bibliography

Student Materials
Asia scope: Towards understanding Asia: the people, their cultures and environments 1994, (set of two videos), Film Australia & Curriculum Corporation.
Concerned with Asia as a whole. Specific countries provide examples and case studies. Volume One looks at the birth of the great Indian civilisations and religions. Available from Film Australia, PO Box 46, Lindfield NSW 2070.

Minkoff, D. & Sijmons, A. 1992 Understanding Asia, Science Press, Marrickville.
Covers Indian history in some detail and includes documents such as letters from Gandhi and extracts from the Hunter Committee Report about the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. Also has shorter sections about Indian geography and religions.

Reference Materials
Ali, Tariq 1985, The Nehrus and the Gandhis: an Indian dynasty, Pan Books, London.
A critical history of the family that provided three Indian prime ministers.

Basham, A. L. (ed.) 1975, A cultural history of India, Oxford University Press.

Brass, P. R. 1990, "The politics of India since independence", The new Cambridge history of India, vol. IV, no. 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Gandhi, M. K. 1927 (many later editions), Autobiography, or the story of my experiments with truth, Navajivan, Ahmadabad.

Hibbert, H. 1978, The great mutiny India 1857, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth.
A readable account of the 'mutiny' of 1857.

Jeffrey, R. (ed.) 1981, Asia - the winning of independence, Macmillan, London. See pp. 71106.

Jeffrey, R. 1986, What's happening to India?-Punjab, ethnic conflict, Mrs Gandhi's death and the test for federalism, Macmillan, London.

Jeffrey, R. 1994, What's happening to India?, 2nd edition, Macmillan, London.

Kishwar, Madhu (ed.) Manushi: a journal about women and society, New Delhi.
Manushi sees itself as 'playing a catalytic role towards making our society more just and humane'. Editor, Madhu Kishwar, is seen in the Into India video.

Kumar, Radha 1993, The history of doing: an illustrated account of movements for women's rights and feminism in India, 1800-1990, Verso, London.
A detailed history, with many photographs.

Laxman, R. K. 1990, The best of R K Laxman, vols 1 & 2, Penguin, Delhi.
A collection of the work of the prominent Indian cartoonist, featured in Into India.

Masselos, J. (ed.) 1990, India: creating a modern nation, Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi.

Mehta, G. 1997, Snakes and ladders: A view of modern India, Random House, London.
A series of essays by the well-known Indian writer and social commentator. Wide-ranging and includes pieces about culture, politics, economic change and the film industry. Would be suitable for some middle-secondary students.

Naipaul, V. S. 1991, India: a million mutinies now, Minerva, London.

Nehru, Jawaharlal 1936, An autobiography, The Bodley Head, London (several other editions).
Nehru's detailed autobiography up to 1935, written primarily while he was in prison.

Spear, P. 1968, Penguin history of India, vol. 2, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

Spear, P. 1981, The Oxford history of India, book V, 1947-75, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Stern, R. 1993, Changing India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Tully, M. & Jacob, S. 1985, Amritsar, Jonathan Cape, London.
The story of events leading to 'Operation Blue Star', the assault on the Golden Temple of the Sikhs in Amritsar, ordered by Indira Gandhi in 1984.

Tully, M. & Masani, Z. 1988, From Raj to Rajiv: 40 years of Indian independence, BBC Books, London.
A short, readable account of Indian history after independence. Based on a BBC radio series.

Tully, M. 1992, No fullstops in India, Penguin Books, New Delhi.
The experiences and perceptive observations of the former BBC India correspondent.

Wolpert, S. 1984, Jinnah of Pakistan, Oxford University Press.

Wolpert, S. 1988, Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, Penguin Books, New Delhi.
A fictional account of the 1919 tragedy in Amritsar.

Wolpert, S. 1991, India, University of California Press, Berkeley.

Curriculum Corporation and the University of Melbourne