(a) Explain the role of urban middle class in the 'Non-Cooperation Movement'.

(i) Thousands of students left govt. – controlled school and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned.

(ii) Lawyers gave-up their legal practice

(iii) Council elections were boycotted.

(iv) Foreign goods were boycotted.

(v) Liquor shops picketed.

(vi) Foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires, the import of foreign cloth halved between $\displaystyle 1921$ and 1922.

(vii) In many places merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade.

(viii) People began discarding imported clothes and wearing only Indian ones like Khadi.

(ix) Production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.

(b) How did reinterpretation of history play an important role in the development of nationalism in India? Explain.

(i) To create the feeling of nationalism, it was important to reinterpret history to arouse the feeling of collective identity among the citizens.

(ii) By the end of the nineteenth century many Indians felt Indian history had to be thought about differently to instill a sense of pride in the nation among citizens.

(iii) Indians began looking into past to discover India’s great achievements, leading to the development of nationalism.

(iv) They wrote about glorious achievements in field of art and architecture.

(v) They highlighted accomplishments in science and mathematics, promoting nationalism.

(vi) They underlined the glorious achievements of religion and culture.

(vii) They also highlighted that law and philosophy; craft and trade flourished in ancient times.

(viii) In their view, India’s history of decline started when it was colonised.

(ix) These nationalist histories urged the readers to take pride in India’s great achievements in the past.