During a school visit to a museum in New Delhi, Class 12 student Aarti stood before a large display of the signed Constitution of India. The guide explained that the document took about three years to prepare and that its drafts were discussed clause by clause by a body of Indian representatives. Aarti asked when the document began to govern the country, what its makers wanted it to change in Indian society, how the drafting work was organised, and what the mood in the country was in the years just before the drafting began. The guide asked her to answer each point from what she had studied in class.
How would Aarti best describe the mood of the years just before the drafting began?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A time of great hope, but also of abject disappointment
Option (1) A time of quiet reform, but also of rising unrest — Incorrect. These years were exceptionally tumultuous. Mass movements, a naval rising and riots marked them.
Option (2) A time of great hope, but also of abject disappointment — Correct. The years before the Constitution were exceptionally tumultuous: a time of great hope, but also of abject disappointment. Freedom brought hope; Partition and violence brought despair.
Option (3) A time of rapid growth, but also of severe famine — Incorrect. The mood of these years came from freedom, Partition and riots. Economic growth and famine are a different story.
Option (4) A time of united struggle, but also of foreign war — Incorrect. Popular upsurges did show unity, but the parties failed to settle their differences. The mood came from freedom and division.
NCERT (2026-27): “1. A Tumultuous Time “On 15 August 1947, India had been made free, but it had also been divided. Fresh in popular memory were the Quit India struggle of 1942 – perhaps the most widespread popular movement against the British Raj – as well as the bid by Subhas Chandra Bose to win freedom through armed struggle with foreign aid.” |