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www.GOALias.blogspot.comChallenges of Nation Building 5A democratic constitution is necessary but not sufficient forestablishing a democracy. The challenge was to develop democraticpractices in accordance with the Constitution.The third challenge was to ensure the development and well-beingof the entire society and not only of some sections. Here again theConstitution clearly laid down the principle of equality and specialprotection to socially disadvantaged groups and religious andcultural communities. The Constitution also set out in the DirectivePrinciples of State Policy the welfare goals that democratic politicsmust achieve. The real challenge now was to evolve effective policiesfor economic development and eradication of poverty.How did independent India respond to these challenges? To whatextent did India succeed in achieving the various objectives set outby the Constitution? This entire book is an attempt to respond tothese questions. The book tells the story of politics in India sinceIndependence so as to equip you to develop your own answers tobig questions like these. In the first three chapters we look at howthe three challenges mentioned above were faced in the early yearsafter Independence.In this chapter, we focus on the first challenge of nationbuildingthat occupied centre-stage in the years immediately afterIndependence. We begin by looking at the events that formed thecontext of Independence. This can help us understand why theissue of national unity and security became a primary challengeat the time of Independence. We shall then see how India chose toshape itself into a nation, united by a shared history and commondestiny. This unity had to reflect the aspirations of people acrossthe different regions and deal with the disparities that existedamong regions and different sections of people. In the next twochapters we shall turn to the challenge of establishing a democracyand achieving economic development with equality and justice.I always wanted a timemachine, so that I cango back and participatein the celebrations of15 August 1947. Butthis looks differentfrom what I thought.These three stamps were issued in 1950 to mark the first Republic Day on 26 January 1950. Whatdo the images on these stamps tell you about the challenges to the new republic? If you were askedto design these stamps in 1950, which images would you have chosen?