Which of the following statements are correct regarding the consequences of Partition of British-India in 1947?
A. Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata were divided into communal zones
B. Minorities on both sides of the border took shelter in refugee camps.
C. The ruthlessness of Partition was described as “division of hearts”.
D. The employees of the government and the railways were not allowed to be ‘divided’.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A, B and C only
A. Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata were divided into communal zones Correct. Muslims avoided areas where mainly Hindus or Sikhs lived, and the other way round.
B. Minorities on both sides of the border took shelter in refugee camps. Correct. They fled their homes and often secured temporary shelter in ‘refugee camps’.
C. The ruthlessness of Partition was described as “division of hearts”. Correct. Writers recounting the ruthlessness of the killings used the survivors’ own phrase for partition, a ‘division of hearts’.
D. The employees of the government and the railways were not allowed to be ‘divided’. Incorrect. The employees of the government and the railways were also ‘divided’, along with the financial assets and even the furniture.
NCERT (2025-26): “Consequences of partition The year 1947 was the year of one of the largest, most abrupt, unplanned and tragic transfer of population that human history has known. There were killings and atrocities on both sides of the border. In the name of religion people of one community ruthlessly killed and maimed people of the other community. Cities like Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata became divided into ‘communal zones’. Muslims would avoid going into an area where mainly Hindus or Sikhs lived; similarly the Hindus and Sikhs stayed away from areas of Muslim predominance. Forced to abandon their homes and move across borders, people went through immense sufferings. Minorities on both sides of the border fled their home and often secured temporary shelter in ‘refugee camps’.… Writers, poets and film-makers in India and Pakistan have expressed the ruthlessness of the killings and the suffering of displacement and violence in their novels, short-stories, poems and films. While recounting the trauma of Partition, they have often used the phrase that the survivors themselves used to describe partition — as a ‘division of hearts’. The partition was not merely a division of properties, liabilities and assets, or a political division of the country and the administrative apparatus. What also got divided were the financial assets, and things like tables, chairs, typewriters, paper-clips, books and also musical instruments of the police band! The employees of the government and the railways were also ‘divided’.…” |