India and The World

CIVICS CHAPTER 12 - INDIA AND THE WORLD

1) What were the effects of the Second World War?

The world that came out after the Second World War was completely different. Two countries emerged as most powerful and two types of governments were most prominently formed one was capitalist type of government and another was socialist type of government. The old imperialist states like Europe and France found it difficult to maintain the colonies and the colonies too seeing the imperialist states weakening after the world war started their demand for independence in right earnest. Some of the colonies gained their independence through non violent means and some gained through violent means.

The two countries that emerged most powerful were USA and Soviet Union. The emergence of these powers ultimately led to the cold war and formation of blocs. The most important effect of the Second World War was the emergence of United Nations and Non alignment movement where the newly independent countries decided not to be aligned with any of the two blocs and decided to move forward without either support. Though there have been wars in the world after the Second World War, but thanks to United Nations these wars have not been destructive to the world as the Second World War had been.

2) What were the factors that led to the destruction of colonialism?

As a result of Second World War, the allies consisting of Russia, USA and Britain emerged as victors but the economy of the European countries like Britain and France were in shambles. The imperialist nations of Europe did not have the power to cling to their colonies. Almost all the nationalist movements sensed the weakness of the imperialist rulers and thus intensified their movements but though they did not get their independence immediately but the colonies through intense nationalist movements gained their independence and some of them gained their independence as in the case of Portugal. The changing political equation of the world too led to the destruction of colonialism. The general public of the imperialist nations too fought for the independence of the colonies and sometimes other nations too supported the cause of independence of these colonies. When India demanded her independence and her nationalist struggle intensified, the people of Britain too supported the cause of Indian independence and thus it ultimately led to India being the first to break the chain in 1947 followed by China in 1949.

3) What is the meaning of non-alignment?

India’s policy in foreign relations is called non-alignment. It arose after independence when the newly independent state of India was trying to develop independent foreign relations. After the II world war, the world was divided between two sets of the countries – the two blocs as they were called. One was the western bloc; the other was of communist countries. India decided to stay out of the military blocs. Since it did not sign itself militarily with the blocs, its policy was called one of non alignment. Today a majority of the states that have become independent from the foreign rule have joined the non-alignment movement. Their influence counts much in the United Nations too.

4) What is the third world?

After the II world war there arose two blocs one was the western bloc and another was the socialist bloc and the emergence of these two blocs gave rise to hostility in the world that is known as cold war. India after independence decided not to join any of the blocs and thus started the non alignment movement and those countries which joined the nonalignment movement were called third world countries. They had the same set of developmental problems like social, economic and political and the problems were broadly similar and that is the reason they are referred to as third world countries. India is one of the largest states in the third world.

5) Which are India’s neighbour states? How are India’s relations with other states?

Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are India’s neighbours. India has tried to maintain friendly relations with her neighbours even in some of the most tiring of the circumstances. For instance with Pakistan, after the independence, there have been at least three wars with Pakistan and still India has tried to build amicable relations with the neighbour. Signing of peace treaties, trade relation building etc. are some of the sops which India has used to build better relations with this neighbour. Though China is much larger than India in area and population and is a communist country and there have been border differences, still India is trying to maintain relations which build up friendship which this neighbour of ours and many business houses have been encouraged to open shop in china and many Indian students study in china. Bhutan is a small country and India has a big brother attitude not only with Bhutan but also with Nepal and has had a hand in their developmental activities. India has with the help of Bangladesh tried to work on stopping the rise of terrorism and has helped Sri Lanka in trying to bring about peace and tranquility in the island nation. With different nations India is trying to build up better relations so that she and her neighbours live better and build up better relations with each other.

6) Describe the functions of United Nations Organization and also describe the main organs and agencies of the United Nations Organization.

After the end of II world war, a need was felt to prevent further war to protect human kind. There was felt a need to keep peace and prevent further aggression. Thus United Nations came into being. Its main function is to keep peace throughout the world. For this it takes the collective help of all the member nations and this arrangement is called collective security. Other than this main function, the UN has functions like developing friendly relations in-between nations, to work together to help people live better lives, to eliminate poverty, disease, illiteracy in the world, to stop environmental destruction, to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedom and to be a centre for helping nations achieve these aims. To achieve these aims in the world, UN has a numbers organs and agencies to help to achieve these aims. The main organs of UN are:

· The General Assembly: It consists of all the members of United Nations and every member state can sent a maximum of 5 representatives but at the time of voting the vote is counted as one. Some of the functions of general assembly are:

ü To recommend peaceful settlement of disputes.

ü To consider and approve the UN Budget.

ü To elect non-permanent members of the Security Council, members of the economic and social council and members of the trusteeship council.

· The Security Council: It is the most important organ of the United Nations. It looks after the peace and security of the world. It examines the disputes between countries and tries to settle them peacefully. Under the charter the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

· The Economic and Social Council: It is concerned with the welfare of the children and women’s rights. It also promotes higher standard of living and economic and social change. It aims at solving international economic and social health problems and also aims promoting universal respect for and observance of human; rights for all without any distinction of race, caste, language or religion.

· The Trusteeship council: The objective of the trusteeship council is to help in the attainment of independence to those territories which are under the foreign rule. It has helped most of those territories to attain independence.

· The International Court of Justice: It is headquartered at Hague. It decides disputes between its member nations and also gives advice to the different bodies of the United Nations.

· The Secretariat: It carries out the days to day work of the United Nations. Its administrative head is known as the secretary general and is appointed by the general assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The duties carried out by the secretariat are as varied as the problems dealt with by the united nations such as:

ü Administering peacekeeping operations.

ü Mediating international disputes.

ü Surveying economic and social trends and problems.

ü Preparing studies on subjects such as human rights and sustainable development.

ü Organizing international conferences on issues of worldwide concern.

ü Monitoring the extent to which the decisions of the United Nations bodies are being carried out, interpreting speeches and translating documents into the official languages of UN.

· Other specialized agencies of the UN are: UNESCO, WHO, UNICEF, ILO, FAO, IMF, IAEA and the world bank. These agencies help provide higher standard of living, full employment and proper conditions for socio-economic development etc., all round the world especially in the third world countries which need help to become developed nations.