What does National

Integration mean?
National integration is the awareness of a common
identity amongst the citizens of a country. It means
that though we belong to different castes, religions
and regions and speak different languages we
recognize the fact that we are all one. This kind of
integration is very important in the building of a
strong and prosperous nation.

Importance of national
integration
There is a need to preserve the national integrity
of our country. The feeling of oneness among all
the citizens is important for the overall stability and
growth of our country. All right thinking people,
politicians, religious leaders should be gathered in
a common-place of discussion and solve their
problem.
Role of national movement
in national integration
India is a diverse nation in terms of culture,
language, religion, caste, people, cuisine and
everything. So, after independence, national
integration was one of the main tasks for political
leaders. The concept became further important, as
various states in India were formed in 1956 on the
basis of languages. Moreover, some of the states
like Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir even started
asking to become a separate country though these
were an integral part of India.
If we peep into the history of ancient India, then
religion played an important role in uniting the
people and the nation. Common devotion
created the feeling of affinity that helped in the
integration of the nation. Two main languages,
Sanskrit and Pali, had also played the same role.
But with the invasion of foreign rulers, more
religions and languages got added in the country
leading to much greater diversification than ever.
Feelings of jealousy, and religion-based separation
started raising its head and disturbed the countrys
unity. With the British rule came their divide and
rule policy. They created a difference between
Hindu and Muslims on the basis of religion and
that was the greatest setback to Indias national
integration. Along with this, just for the sake of
rule, differences between rich and poor, rural and
urban, upper and lower had also been created.
But, in spite of all this, people were one and we
got Independence because of our national unity.
Non-Cooperation
Movement
Non-cooperation movement, unsuccessful attempt in 192022, organized
by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, to induce the British government
of India to grant self-government, or swaraj, to India. It was one of Gandhis
first organized acts of large-scale civil disobedience (Satyagraha).

The movement arose from the widespread outcry in India over

the massacre at Amritsar in April 1919, when the British-led troops killed
several hundred Indians. That anger was later compounded by indignation
at the governments alleged failure to take adequate action against those
responsible, notably Gen. Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, who had
commanded the troops involved in the massacre. Gandhi strengthened the
movement by supporting (on nonviolent terms) the contemporaneous
Muslim campaign against the dismemberment of the Ottoman
Empire after World War I.

The movement was to be nonviolent and to consist of Indians resigning

their titles; boycotting government educational institutions, the courts,
government service, foreign goods, and elections; and, eventually, refusing
to pay taxes. Noncooperation was agreed to by the Indian National
Congress at Calcutta (now Kolkata) in September 1920 and launched that
December. In 1921 the government, confronted with a united Indian front
for the first time, was visibly shaken, but a revolt by the Muslim Moplahs
of Kerala (southwestern India) in August 1921 and a number of violent
outbreaks alarmed moderate opinion. After an angry mob murdered police
officers in the village of Chauri Chaura (now in Uttar Pradesh state) in
February 1922, Gandhi himself called off the movement; the next month he
was arrested without incident. The movement marked the transition of
Indian nationalism from a middle-class to a mass basis.
Results
Since swaraj was not achieved within a year as
Gandhi had assured, the movement was
apparently a failure.
However, the significance and importance of Non-
Cooperation movement cannot be denied. The
non-cooperation movement led by Gandhi was
such a mass movement which had never been
seen before and after the Great Rebellion of 1857.
India for the first time saw a leader who had ability
to fight face to face. According to Marjorie Sykes,
Gandhi had the gift of fight.

Civil disobedience
movement
In March 1930, Gandhi wrote in the newspaper,
Young India, that he might suspend his civil
disobedience or law-breaking movement if the
government accepted his eleven-point demands.
But Lord Irwins government did not respond. So,
Gandhi started the Civil Disobedience Movement.
It was started with Dandi March (also Salt march,
Salt Satyagraha) by Mahatma Gandhi on 12th
March, 1930. On 12 March, 1930 he along with his
78 followers began a march from the Sabarmati
Ashram to Dandi on the Gujarat coast. It was a
distance of 200 miles. At Dandi a few day s later
they violated the salt laws by making salt from
sea-water. Thus, began the civil disobedience
Movement.

Results
The Civil Disobedience Movement was not
successful. But it prepared the people of India for
great sacrifice. It was a good training for the
people. Unlike the Non-cooperation Movement,
the Civil Disobedience Movement increased the
popularity of the Congress.
Quit India movement
On 8 August 1942 at the All-India Congress
Committee session in Bombay, Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi launched the 'Quit
India' movement. The next day,
Gandhi, Nehru and many other leaders of
the Indian National Congress were arrested
by the British Government. Disorderly and
non-violent demonstrations took place
throughout the country in the following
days.
The Resolution, generally referred to as the
'Quit India' resolution, was to be approved
by the All India Congress Committee
meeting in Bombay in August.

On 7 to 8 August 1942, the All India

Congress Committee met in Bombay and
ratified the 'Quit India'
resolution. Gandhi called for 'Do or Die'. The
next day, on 9 August 1942, Gandhi,
members of the Congress Working
Committee and other Congress leaders were
arrested by the British Government under
the Defence of India Rules. The Working
Committee, the All India Congress
Committee and the four Provincial Congress
Committees were declared unlawful
associations under the Criminal Law
Amendment Act of 1908.The arrest of
Gandhi and the Congress leaders led to
mass demonstrations throughout India.
Thousands were killed and injured in the
wake of the 'Quit India' movement. Strikes
were called in many places. The British
swiftly suppressed many of these
demonstrations by mass detentions; more
than 100,000 people were imprisoned.

The 'Quit India' movement, more than

anything, united the Indian people against
British rule. Although most demonstrations
had been suppressed by 1944, upon his
release in 1944 Gandhi continued his
resistance and went on a 21-day fast.
Gandhi & mass mobilization
The issue of mass mobilization is discussed
under two heads. In this chapter we discuss
the mobilization of peasants and labourers.
As the Leftists had their own programme for
organizing the peasants and labourers, we
have included a discussion their activities to
see in what way they differed from Gandhi.
The Revolutionaries also had their own
programme of mass mobilization. But they
failed in gaining a significant social base.
They were also an important group who
were not influenced by Gandhi nor was
Gandhi influenced by them. As a discussion
on Revolutionaries hampers the structure of
the chapter and affect its readability we
have appended the discussion of Gandhi's
relation with the revolutionaries at the end
of the chapter. Mass mobilization on a wide
scale was undertaken during the Gandhian
phase of the movement. It was under the
leadership of Gandhi that Indian National
Movement became a mass movement. The
main contribution of Gandhi to India and
Indian masses had been through the
powerful movements which he launched
through the National Congress. Through
nation-wide action he sought to mould the
millions and he largely succeeded in doing
so. He changed them from a demoralized,
timid and hopeless, mass, who were bullied
and crushed by every dominant interest into
a people with self-respect and self-reliance.
He transformed the people who were
considered as incapable of, resistance to a
people who were capable of united action
and sacrifice for a larger cause.' In this
chapter we discuss in detail the movements
through which these different groups were
organized and Gandhi's programmes to
involve them in political activities. It is not
assumed that mass could be mobilized only
by Gandhi or that mass mobilization was
Gandhi's sole contribution to the Indian
National Movement.

Challenges to national
integration
Casteism
The discrimination on the basis of Caste and class
is a major hurdle for National Integration of India.
The people engaged in weakening the unity of the
country tried desperately to create divisions and
rifts in the name of castes, creed and culture. They
succeeded in creating mistrust among the Indians
and in tearing the faade of unity.

Linguism
India has multiple languages. Linguism is yet
another major problem for National Integration.
The Indian states have been divided on the basis
of linguistic basis. The bad people took advantage
of this. Even the people living in one province
began feeling alienated from those in other
provinces.

Communalism
In independent India, the forces of disintegration
were found engaged in disturbing communal
harmony, encouraging caste wars, nurturing
separatism and creating rifts between provinces.
Hindus and the Muslims, the Sikhs, the aborigines,
the Harijans, the Christians and all those
professing different religions, having different
creeds and status in the social hierarchy, were
made to drift away from one another by the people
who want to disturb communal harmony.

Regionalism
Regionalism is a major challenge to the National
Integration of our country. Disintegration is a
malady and it is the result of a great hiatus
between needs and resources, claims and
realities, profession and practice. And it is because
of this hiatus that when national unity is vital, the
regional separatism flourished all over India.

Social Inequality
The disparity in the socio-economic system, the
poverty and ignorance of the majority of Indians
and the social injustice meted out to different
social groups only help these forces flourish.
Poverty and Ignorance
The victims of poverty and ignorance are unable to
see what is good for them. They must first of all be
helped to see the design and the sordid game of
the people engaged in weakening the country. The
strength of the nation lies in the unity and the
integration.

Conclusion
When the people are educated enough to get over
the influences of impostors, when the economic
disparities between classes of people are
eliminated, the gulf separating the people would
be bridged automatically. The forces of discord
and disintegration thrive in economic deprivations
and social injustice, and in their absence they die
a natural death.

Secularism
Secularism in India means equal treatment of all
religions by the state.

With the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of

India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the
Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation.
However, neither India's constitution nor its laws
define the relationship between religion and state.
The laws implicitly require the state and its
institutions to recognize and accept all religions,
enforce parliamentary laws instead of religious
laws, and respect pluralism. India does not have
an official state religion. In matters of law in
modern India, however, the applicable code of law
is unequal, and India's personal laws - on matters
such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, alimony -
varies with an individual's religion. Muslim Indians
have Sharia-based Muslim Personal Law, while
Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and other non-Muslim
Indians live under common law. The attempt to
respect unequal, religious law has created a
number of issues in India such as acceptability
of child marriage, polygamy, unequal inheritance
rights, and extrajudicial unilateral divorce rights
favorable to some males, and conflicting
interpretations of religious books.
Secularism as practiced in India, with its marked
differences with Western practice of secularism, is
a controversial topic in India. Supporters of the
Indian concept of secularism claim it respects
Muslim mens religious rights and recognizes that
they are culturally different from Indians of other
religions. Supporters of this form of secularism
claim that any attempt to introduce a uniform civil
code, that is equal laws for every citizen
irrespective of his or her religion, would impose
majoritarian Hindu sensibilities and ideals,
something that is unacceptable to Muslim
Indians. Opponents argue that India's acceptance
of Sharia and religious laws violates the principle
of equal human rights, discriminates against
Muslim women, allows unelected religious
personalities to interpret religious laws, and
creates plurality of unequal citizenship; they
suggest India should move towards separating
religion and state.