History Optional Paper II

PAPER-II

1. European Penetration into India:

• The Early European Settlements; The Portuguese and the Dutch; The English and the French East India Companies; Their struggle for supremacy; Carnatic Wars; Bengal-The conflict between the English and the Nawabs of Bengal; Siraj and the English; The Battle of Plassey; Significance of Plassey.

2. British Expansion in India:

• Bengal-Mir Jafar and Mir Kasim; The Battle of Buxar; Mysore; The Marathas; The three Anglo-Maratha Wars; The Punjab.

3. Early Structure of the British Raj:

• The Early administrative structure; From diarchy to direct contol; The Regulating Act (1773); The Pitt's India Act (1784); The Charter Act (1833); The Voice of free trade and the changing character of British colonial rule; The English utilitarian and India.

4. Economic Impact of British Colonial Rule:

• Land revenue settlements in British India; The Permanent Settlement; Ryotwari Settlement; Mahalwari Settlement; Economic impact of the revenue arrangements; Commercialization of agriculture; Rise of landless agrarian labourers; Impoverishment of the rural society.
• Dislocation of traditional trade and commerce; Deindustrialisation; Decline of traditional crafts; Drain of wealth; Economic transformation of India; Railroad and communication network including telegraph and postal services; Famine and poverty in the rural interior; European business enterprise and its limitations.

5. Social and Cultural Developments:

• The state of indigenous education, its dislocation; Orientalist-Anglicist controversy, The introduction of western education in India; The rise of press, literature and public opinion; The rise of modern vernacular literature; Progress of Science; Christian missionary activities in India.

6. Social and Religious Reform Movements in Bengal and Other Areas:

• Ram Mohan Roy, The Brahmo Movement; Devendranath Tagore; Iswarchandra Vidyasagar; The Young Bengal Movement; Dayanada Saraswati; The social reform movements in India including Sati, widow remarriage, child marriage etc.; The contribution of Indian renaissance to the growth of modern India; Islamic revivalism-the Feraizi and Wahabi Movements.

7. Indian Response to British Rule:

•  Peasant movement and tribal uprisings in the 18 th and 19th centuries including the Rangpur Dhing (1783), the Kol Rebellion (1832), the Mopla Rebellion in Malabar (1841-1920), the Santal Hul (1855), Indigo Rebellion (1859-60), Deccan Uprising (1875) and the Munda Ulgulan (1899-1900); The Great Revolt of 1857 —Origin, character, casuses of failure, the consequences; The shift in the character of peasant uprisings in the post- 1857 period; the peasant movements of the 1920s and 1930s.

8. Factors leading to the birth of Indian Nationalism; 

• Politics of Association; The Foundation of the Indian National Congress; The Safety-valve thesis relating to the birth of the Congress; Programme and objectives of Early Congress; the social composition of early Congress leadership; the Moderates and Extremists; The Partition of Bengal (1905); The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal; the economic and political aspects of Swadeshi Movement; The beginning of revolutionary extremism in India.

9. Rise of Gandhi; Character of Gandhian nationalism; 

• Gandhi's popular appeal; Rowlatt Satyagraha; the Khilafat Movement; the Non-cooperation Movement; National politics from the end of the Non-cooperation movement to the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement; the two phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement; Simon Commission; The Nehru Report; the Round Table Conferences; Nationalism and the Peasant Movements; Nationalism and Working class movements; Women and Indian youth and students in Indian politics (1885-1947); the election of 1937 and the formation of ministries; Cripps Mission; the Quit India Movement; the Wavell Plan; The Cabinet Mission.

10. Constitutional Developments in the Colonial India between 1858 and 1935.

11. Other strands in the National Movement.

• The Revolutionaries: Bengal, the Punjab, Maharashtra, U.P. the Madras Presidency, Outside India.
• The Left; The Left within the Congress: Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, the Congress Socialist Party; the Communist Party of India, other left parties.

12. Politics of Separatism; 

• the Muslim League; the Hindu Mahasabha; Communalism and the politics of partition; Transfer of power; Independence.

13. Consolidation as a Nation; Nehru's Foreign Policy;

• India and her neighbours (1947-1964); The linguistic reorganisation of States (1935-1947); Regionalism and regional inequality; Integration of Princely States; Princes in electoral politics; the Question of National Language.

14. Caste and Ethnicity after 1947; 

• Backward Castes and Tribes in post-colonial electoral politics; Dalit movements.

15. Economic development and political change; 

• Land reforms; the politics of planning and rural reconstruction; Ecology and environmental policy in post-colonial India; Progress of Science.

16. Enlightenment and Modern ideas:

• Major Ideas of Enlightenment : Kant, Rousseau.
• Spread of Enlightenment in the colonies.
• Rise of socialist ideas (up to Marx); spread of Marxian Socialism.

17. Origins of Modern Politics :

• European States System
• American Revolution and the Constitution
• French Revolution and Aftermath, 1789-1815
• American Civil War with reference to Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery.
• British Democratic politics, 1815-1850 : Parliamentary Reformers, Free Traders, Chartists.

18. Industrialization :

• English Industrial Revolution : Causes and Impact on Society.
•  Industrialization in other countries : USA, Germany, Russia, Japan.
•  Industrialization and Globalization.

19. Nation-State System :

• Rise of Nationalism in 19th century.
• Nationalism : State-building in Germany and Italy.
• Disintegration of Empires in the face of the emergence of nationalities across the World.

20. Imperialism and Colonialism :

• South and South-East Asia.
• Latin America and South Africa.
• Australia.
• Imperialism and free trade: Rise of neo-imperialism.

21. Revolution and Counter-Revolution :

• 19 th Century European revolutions.
• The Russian Revolution of 1917-1921.
• Fascist Counter-Revolution, Italy and Germany.
• The Chinese Revolution of 1949.

22. World Wars :

• 1st and 2nd World Wars as Total Wars : Societal implications.
• World War I : Causes and Consequences.
• World War II : Causes and Consequences.