Which of the following is NOT true about oral testimonies on the Partition of India?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → They throw light on the negotiations between the British and the major political parties.
Option (1) They help to understand the trials and tribulations of ordinary people. — Correct statement. Oral narratives, memoirs, diaries and family histories help us understand the trials and tribulations of ordinary people during the partition of the country.
Option (2) They throw light on the negotiations between the British and the major political parties. — Incorrect statement. It is government reports and files and the personal writings of high-level functionaries that throw ample light on these negotiations. Oral testimonies tell us about the day-to-day experiences of those affected by the decision to divide the country.
Option (3) They explore the experiences of men and women whose existence has been ignored. — Correct statement. Moving beyond the well off and the well known, the oral history of Partition has explored the experiences of those men and women whose existence has hitherto been ignored.
Option (4) They can be used to check other sources, and other sources can be used to check them. — Correct statement. The experiences that oral history relates are central to the story of Partition, so much so that oral sources should be used to check other sources and vice versa.
Note: This question is taken from the chapter ‘Understanding Partition’ which was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT and has been deleted from subsequent editions of NCERT, including the NCERT book (2026-27).
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “…Have you taken note of the materials from which the history of Partition has been constructed in this chapter? Oral narratives, memoirs, diaries, family histories, first-hand written accounts – all these help us understand the trials and tribulations of ordinary people during the partition of the country.… …In the case of Partition, government reports and files as well as the personal writings of its high-level functionaries throw ample light on negotiations between the British and the major political parties about the future of India or on the rehabilitation of refugees. They tell us little, however, about the day-to-day experiences of those affected by the government’s decision to divide the country.… …Thus, moving beyond the actions of the well off and the well known, the oral history of Partition has succeeded in exploring the experiences of those men and women whose existence has hitherto been ignored, taken for granted, or mentioned only in passing in mainstream history.… …Furthermore, if history has to accord presence to the ordinary and powerless, then the oral history of Partition is not concerned with tangential matters. The experiences it relates are central to the story, so much so that oral sources should be used to check other sources and vice versa.…” |