What aspects of the Nizam rule would you consider to be ‘undemocratic’?
The term ‘undemocratic’ refers to the rule that is not related to the democratic aspect of government, in other words, the decisions that has taken by only one person or a small group rather than taking into consideration the population who will be following those rules. The various aspects of the Nizam’s rule which considered to be ‘undemocratic’ are as follows: -
● Under his rule, Jagirdars were given full control of the villages, and they also collected taxes from the people.
● He wanted to bring old system where king and his nobles had the full authority to rule whenever they want to.
● He didn’t allow functioning of any democratic systems like legislatures or local bodies.
● He was reluctant to allow opening of the schools which led to low literacy rate in the state.
Why do you think the literacy rate in Hyderabad state was lower than other princely states?
During the Nizam’s rule, he didn’t allow to open many schools, even though the majority of the population were Hindus; Urdu was made the medium of instruction and books were also translated and available in Urdu language. Jagirdars in their areas didn’t allow opening schools. Nizam didn’t support the opening of the private schools as he was doubtful that these might later became the center of anti-Nizam ideas. Thus, private Telugu schools were not allowed to start, and they also didn’t allow students to join Osmania University. Thus, by 1941, literacy rate in Hyderabad was only 9.3% of the total population (4.3% of women were literate) which was low as compared to the other princely states.
Describe the activities of the Andhra Maha Sabha for the promotion of education.
In 1930, Madapati Hanumanta Rao, Ravi Narayana Reddy, etc founded Andhra Maha Sabha. The main activities of the Andhra Maha Sabha were to provide the population with educational facilities. So, they submitted their requests and grievances of the people to the government who were involved in the establishment of schools. Thus in 1935, they had certain demands related to the promotion of education which are:
● Telugu which is the mother tongue of the population should be made the medium of instruction.
● Compulsory primary education should be taken into consideration.
In remote villages, libraries and cultural centres was started where local people like peasants and labours came and learn how to read, discusses various topics and also share their grievances related to the Nizam’s government and to the doras. Also, night classes were held in these centres. Thus, these are some of the activities for the promotion of education by Andhra Maha Sabha along with this they combined objectives of social reform to improve the lives of the people.
What were the demands of the Hyderabad state Congress and how many of them were fulfilled after 1948?
In 1938, Hyderabad state congress was formed. Swami Ramananda Theertha, B. Ramakishan Rao, Jamalapuram Kesavarao, K. V. Ranga Reddy, J. V. Narasinga Rao were some of the important leaders. The demands of the Hyderabad state congress were as follows: -
● Fundamental rights should be granted to the people.
● Restrictions made on the freedom of speech, association, religious processions, press, etc should be removed immediately.
● They also put forward this demand that laws should prepared by the elected representative rather than by the Nizam.
All the demands of the Hyderabad state congress were fulfilled after India became independent. People are provided with their basic fundamental rights. Restriction made on the freedom of speech, press and other were removed and most importantly Indian government focussed that laws should be made by the elected representatives who will take into consideration the problems of the common people. Even though till 1956 Nizam ruled but after that governor was appointed by the president of India.
Do you think the Telangana Armed struggle helped to end the rule of the Nizam?
Give your reasons.
Yes, to some extent Telangana Armed struggle helped to end the rule of the Nizam. They undertook such activities which attracted the attention of the Indian independent government to take action and control the situation.
● Due to killing of the Doddi Komaraiah by the zamindar in July 1946, Telangana armed struggle became active.
● They set up sanghams in every village and sang the songs of the Doddi Komaraiah. They established their rule through village panchayat. They also established parallel government and ‘people’s court’ where vetti was abolished, rents were reduced, worker’s wages were increased, eviction of tenants was stopped and excess lands of the landlords were redistributed to the landless population.
● Later, they became violent and burnt the records and took the grains which were kept away by the merchants and landlords.
Due to the active participation of the Telangana armed struggle, Ittehadul Muslimee (organisation started to protect the Nizam’s rule and Muslim population) and Razakars (volunteers set up by the Ittehadul Muslimee) resort to the violent means to not allow the integration of the Hyderabad state with the independent India. The situation became so uncontrollable that Indian government intervened and also later Hyderabad was integrated into Indian state.
Read the paragraphs under the heading ‘Feudal System of the State’ and answer the following: Do you support the Feudal system of the Nizams? Why?
No, I didn’t support the feudal system of the Nizam because it is the undemocratic form of government and the decisions taken is not according to the demands and issues of the population.
Nizam’s feudal system of the state believed in ruling as a king and nobles who rule whenever they want to. Also, hundreds of villages were under the control of the Jagirdars who collected taxes from the people irrespective of their condition. He didn’t allow setting up of the democratic institution like legislature or local bodies.
It is important that the individual who is ruling should take decision according the population rather than keeping in mind his gain. The ruler should focus on every aspect of the society such as social aspect, political aspect, economic aspect, etc. Rather than collecting taxes for doing nothing. This way the population someday become uncontrollable and demand for his rights. Thus, it is important that one should establish democratic form of government which focussed on the condition of the people and can make decisions accordingly.
Many movements were led against the rulers in the past. Do you find any movements taken up nowadays? If yes, what are they?
Yes, it is true that many movements were led against the rulers in the past but it is because of the various reasons which are:
● Earlier rulers tried to think of their own benefit by forcefully collecting high taxes from the poor people.
● Whatever decisions were made was not made according to the local population, but they mainly focused on their own gains.
● They ruled whenever they desired.
● They were insensitive to the grievances of the local people.
There are many other reasons which made common people resort to undertake movements against the selfish rulers in the past.
No, nowadays there are no such movements which take place. It is because we now have democratic form of government, elected representatives, government organisations, fundamental rights, etc which always considers that one should rule for the people.