Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:
Over time, a middle class adivasi intellectual leadership emerged that formulated the demand for a separate state and lobbied for it in India and abroad. Adivasi experiences of marginalisation and their sense of injustice were mobilised to create a shared Jharkhandi identity and inspire collective action that eventually led to the formation of a separate state. The issues against which the leaders of the movement in Jharkhand agitated were:
- acquisition of land for large irrigation projects and firing ranges;
- survey and settlement operations, which were held up, camps closed down, etc.
- collection of loans, rent and cooperative dues, which were resisted;
- nationalisation of forest produce which they boycotted
What kind of a social movement is the Jharkhand movement?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → ethnic movement
Option (1) ethnic movement — Correct. An ethnic movement brings people together on the basis of a shared identity of descent, culture and history. Literate adivasis wrote about their history, myths and customs, which helped create a unified ethnic consciousness and a shared identity as Jharkhandis; their experiences of marginalisation were then mobilised into collective action for a separate state.
Option (2) secessionist movement — Incorrect. A secessionist movement wants to break away from the country. The Jharkhand movement asked for a separate state within India, and Jharkhand was carved out of south Bihar in 2000 as one of India’s states.
Option (3) ecological movement — Incorrect. An ecological movement puts the environment and the use of natural resources at its centre, as the Chipko movement did. The Jharkhand leaders did resist the nationalisation of forest produce, but the movement was built on a shared adivasi identity and the demand for statehood.
Option (4) revolutionary movement — Incorrect. Revolutionary movements attempt to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power, like the Bolshevik revolution or the Naxalite movement. The Jharkhand leadership lobbied for a separate state in India and abroad and achieved it within the constitutional order.
Note: The passage of Q6-Q10 is taken from the account of Jharkhand in section 8.7, ‘The Tribal Movements’, of the NCERT chapter ‘Social Movements’. The lines just before and after the passage answer three of these five questions, so read the whole section and not only the lines NTA printed.
NCERT (2025-26): “Jharkhand … The memory of Birsa’s struggle was also kept alive by writing. Christian missionaries working in south Bihar were responsible for spreading literacy in the area. Literate adivasis began to research and write about their history and myths. They documented and disseminated information about tribal customs and cultural practices. This helped create a unified ethnic consciousness and a shared identity as Jharkhandis. Literate adivasis were also in a position to get government jobs so that, over time, a middle-class adivasi intellectual leadership emerged that formulated the demand for a separate state and lobbied for it in India and abroad. Within south Bihar, adivasis shared a common hatred of dikus – migrant traders and moneylenders who had settled in the area and grabbed its wealth, impoverishing the original residents. Most of the benefits from the mining and industrial projects in this mineral-rich region had gone to dikus even as adivasi lands had been alienated. Adivasi experiences of marginalisation and their sense of injustice were mobilised to create a shared Jharkhandi identity and inspire collective action that eventually led to the formation of a separate state.…” |