“Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” - the famous slogan coined by Lal Bahadur Shastri symbolised which of the following?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Resolve to face the challenges of food crisis and war with Pakistan.
Shastri faced a serious food crisis and a war with Pakistan in 1965, and his slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ symbolised the country’s resolve to face both these challenges.
Option (1) Increasing investment in agricultural sector, including dams and irrigation. — Incorrect. Investment in dams and irrigation was a focus of the First Five Year Plan (1951), which addressed mainly the agrarian sector. Shastri’s slogan came in 1965 and stood for the resolve to face the war with Pakistan and the food crisis, not for a plan priority.
Option (3) Land reforms as the key to the country’s development. — Incorrect. The First Five Year Plan saw the pattern of land distribution as the main obstacle to agricultural growth and focused on land reforms as the key to the country’s development. That was the Plan’s idea, not what Shastri’s slogan expressed; the slogan stood for facing the war and the food crisis.
Option (4) Modernizing the equipments and weapons of the Indian Armed Forces. — Incorrect. ‘Jai Jawan’ saluted the soldier fighting the 1965 war; the slogan was not about modernising weapons.
NCERT (2025-26): “From Nehru to Shastri … Shastri was the country’s Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966. During Shastri’s brief Prime Ministership, the country faced two major challenges. While India was still recovering from the economic implications of the war with China, failed monsoons, drought and serious food crisis presented a grave challenge. As discussed in the previous chapter, the country also faced a war with Pakistan in 1965. Shastri’s famous slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, symbolised the country’s resolve to face both these challenges.…” |