Topic: Reasons for the decline of the Mughal Empire

Question : Critically explain the reasons for the decline of the Mughal Empire?
Answer: The traditional historiography held the weak successors and incompetent commanders as being responsible
for the decline of the Mughal Empire.
Sir J. N. Sarkar understood the revolts by the Marathas, Jats and Sikhs against the background of the religious
bigotry of Aurangzeb. However, the reasons are not as simple as the one stated above. While some problems were
created under Aurangzebs rule, some were inbuilt in the Mughal system of administration and only heightened under
Aurangzeb who had to face more than enough share of problems.
1. While Aurangzeb expanded the Mughal Empire to its maximum boundaries, the campaigns greatly strained
the financial basis of the Mughal Empire.
2. The Mughal system of governance was dependent on the personality of the Emperor. Strong Emperors like
Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb could exercise a greater degree of check and
balance over the vast aristocracy which was of different ethnic background- Turanis, Iranis, Afghans,
Sheikhjadas or the Indian Muslims and the Hindus (the Rajputs and the Marathas). Lineage or the ethnic
identity was the most important consideration for alliances. It was further expanded by Aurangzebs conquest
of the two Deccani kingdoms of Bijapur in 1685 and Golconda in 1689. Their aristocracy, collectively called
the Deccani group, was also absorbed in the Mughal ranks Each faction sought to influence the Emperor in
order to gain concessions and more importantly mansabs. The later Mughals could not keep a check on the
competition between the divergent groups and matters were made more complicated due to the economic
crisis of the eighteenth century related with jagirs and mansabs.
3. Mansabdari and jagirdari crisis? The institution of mansabdari was developed by Akbar and referred to the
military organization of the aristocracy Due to its nature each aristocrat/mansabdar was personally loyal to
the emperor. Each mansabdar had a dual numerical rank- jat that signified his personal rank and sawar,
which decided the number of horsemen he was required to maintain. The mansabdar was paid in cash but
mostly by grant of landed estate/jagir and out of its revenue, the mansabdar had to maintain his sawar
himself. The jagirs were usually non-transferable (tankha jagir) while other were transferable (vatan jagir).
Since the appointments, transference, dismissal or promotion of the jagirs was the sole prerogative of the
emperor, there existed a patron-client relationship between the emperor and the ruling classes. However,
beginning with the last years of Aurangzebs reign there was a marked shrinkage in the number of jagirs
which could not meet the ever growing ranks of mansabdars. And more than often the jagirs that were
allotted were not economically viable, especially those in the Deccan were not fertile and not sufficient
enough to meet the needs of the mansabdars. This jagirdari crisis is believed to have intensified the court
politics with each faction vying for better jagirs. Under the later Mughals, this crisis kept intensifying and
weakened the position of the Emperor. The crisis meant that the emperor was not assured of support and
loyalty of the ruling class and this in turn destabilized the military base of the Emperor.
4. Militarily, the Mughal army was weak due to lack of technological innovation and organization. There were
contingents of soldiers who owed allegiance to their immediate overlords. It lacked a national character.
5. The Deccan campaign of Aurangzeb proved to be suicidal for the Mughal Empire The war with the Marathas
preoccupied Aurangzeb keeping him away from Delhi, the center for power, for most part of the last twenty
years of his life. His absence from seat of the Mughal Empire meant that the provisional governors/subedars
were beyond his reach and could exercise greater authority in their provinces The Deccan campaign also
proved to be a drain on the military strength of the army and the Empires treasury.
6. The continuous campaigns also affected the livelihood of the peasantry. Peasants were allowed to retain the
bare minimum of the surplus-produce; the rest was collected as the land revenue out of which the governing
class derived its wealth. High land revenue, corruption of the revenue farmers, jagirdars, and petty officials
led to over exploitation of the peasants many of whom left agriculture altogether trade was also disturbed
especially in the Deccan All of this precipitated the gradual collapse of the Mughal Empire. Even in north
India, the heart of Mughal India, many zamindars defied the Mughal authority by often withholding the

revenues from it. These zamindars due to their closeness with the peasants who had their own grievance,
could mobilize them. The Jat peasants in north India, the Sikhs in the Punjab, the Maratha sadars and the
Rajputs of Rajasthan who withdrew their allegiance to the Mughal Emperor all rose up in acts of defiance.
7. Matters were worsened by the series of tribal incursions or raids in India from Central Asia, Eurasia and
Afghanistan in the eighteenth century. In 1730s, the Marathas under Shivaji gained access to vast tracts of
Central India. In 1738, they even plundered the suburbs of Delhi. Nadir Shah from Persia invaded and sacked
Delhi in 1738-39 during the reign of Muhammad Shah. In 1748, the first Afghan invasion was repelled but
under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Abdali, Punjab was conquered and he then sacked Delhi in 1756-57.
Mughals sought help from the Marathas who were led by Sadasiv Rao Bhao but the latter too were defeated
by Abdali at the Battle of Panipat in 1761 (1761 is also the time-frame when the East India Company is
gaining strength in Bengal). But soon due to an army revolt Abdali was forced to retreat to Afghanistan.
However, the damage to Delhi and the Mughal Empire was done.
8. Due to the weakening of the Mughal Empire many Provincial Governors like those of Bengal, Awadh,
Hyderabad and Carnatic established independent kingdoms by 1740s. The period of the later Mughals was
marked by the use of the regional powers and gradual decline of the Mughal suzerainty. Thus, by the end of
the eighteenth century the Mughal Emperor was confined to a narrow stretch around the city of Delhi

Chapter : Rise of The Regional Powers

Topic: Battle of Buxar (1764) and its Impact
In 1763 Mir Kasim fled from Bengal and formed an alliance with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Shuja-uddaula of Awadh. However, in Battle of Buxar in 1764, the combined forces were defeated and Treaty of Allahabad
was signed in 1765 In accordance with the treaty Shah Alam II granted the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the
Company. This grant meant that the Company could collect the revenues from the province.
Importance of this battle- Before the grant of diwani, the English used to bring bullion to trade with India The
balance of trade was in the favour of India But after gaining the diwani rights, the English bought Indian goods from
the revenues collected from the province of Bengal and then exported them Due to this the balance of trade no
longer favoured India but led to greater exploitation of the country by the English. The Battle of Buxar had important
political consequences for India.
The Battle of Buxar in 1764 and the subsequent treaty of Allahabad in 1765 officially marked the end of the nawabi
rule in Bengal and the beginning of the dual government by the Company. The Treaty of Allahabad gave the diwani
rights from the Emperor whereby the Company gained the right to collect revenues from the subedar of Bengal but
sent an annual payment to the Emperor. But before this, the Company had gained the nizamat (police,
administration of justice and military defence) powers from nawab Najm-ud-duala in February 1765. Combination of
these two powers gave the Company virtual run of the government. The Company, on the other hand, was not eager
to govern as their primary aim was to utilize the revenues from Bengal to purchase goods and trade further. The
Company thus exercised the powers through its Indian agents yet retaining the actual powers in their own hands.
This led to a system of dual government or Double Government under Clive. This system of government was
divested off all responsibility to the people which led to the breakdown of administration, disruption of law and order,
general decline in trade and commerce, heightened, exploitation of the populace, all of which led to significant
reduction in the revenues- collected by the Company, which in turn, made the Company exploit the people more. The
outbreak of the Great Famine of 1770 brought to light the sorry state of affairs of Bengal and the need for some
concrete steps was felt.
The Regulating Act of 1773 sought to rectify the problems created under Clive. The Company instead of showing
profits was in fact in debt to the Bank of England and the Government. The servants of the Company were too busy
with making private profits. The Prime Minister Lord North decided to tighten the reins over the Company when its
charter was due for renewal in 1773. The Regulating Act established the office of Governor-General at Fort William
and among other clauses imposed a banned the servants of the Company from receiving gifts and pecuniary
advantages from Indian Princes or Zamindars.Warren Hastings was appointed as the Governor of Bengal in 1773 and
the dual system of administration of Bengal was transferred in the hands of the servants of the Company. From the

time of Warren Hastings began the process of interaction between the British and the Indians whose effects are still
felt. The Act set up a system whereby it supervised (regulated) the work of the East India Company but did not take
power for itself It had, however, proven to be a failure within a few years and the British government decided to take
a more active role in the affairs of the Company.
The capture of Bengal by the Company ushered in the period of British colonial rule that was to last for close to two
centuries. Thus ensued unrepentant exploitation of India.

Topic: Colonial Economy and Its phases

Question : Give a brief description of colonial economy and its phases?
Answer :
The state of Indian economy under the lmperial ru1e has a long history. Its discussion can be traced to 1860s when
the moderates or a group of intellectual now known as the economic nationalists led by Dadbhai Naoroji and R.C.
Dutt spoke about the apparent lack of growth and development of Indian economy in the colonial period: The
nationalist school has been the staunchest critics of role of British Government.
R.C. Dutts (1901, 1903) work The Economic History Of India, Volumes I & II, remain till date the most influent
book on the analysis of the Indian colonial economy. He broadly identified three phases of British exploitation of
India. This periodisation often overlaps and should not be treated as rigid blocks.
Mercantile Phase from 1757 up to 1813- This phase was marked by direct plunder. The East India Company used it
monopoly of trade which functioned through investments of Indian revenues to buy Indian products at low rates.
These goods were then exported to Europe and England. So in essence, the East India Company bought Indian
products from the revenues they collected mainly from Bengal and then exported them. Taking advantage of the
political power the British now could dictate the prices of the goods that they needed to export. The servants of the
Company amassed enormous fortunes by engaging in the illegal trade till the time this was banned by Lord
Cornwallis. The revenues of Bengal were exploited till the introduction of the Permanent Settlement in 1793.
The 2nd phase coincided with the Industrial revolution in England (1813- 1858) It was the age of Free Trade
capitalist exp1oitation. The English manufacturers were given, a boost by the Charter of 1813. Indian markets were
opened up for English imports and India became a source of raw materials. It is popularly said that this was the
period when the home-land of cotton was inundated with cotton (from abroad.). The cotton manufacturers of
Lancashire benefitted the most and in the next thirty years time Indian cotton industry was destroyed. The constant
drain was affecting the purchasing power of the Indians and this would have blocked India as the market for English
products. To resolve this, commercialization of agriculture was introduced (though this alone was not the reason for
commercialization of agriculture) Laying of the railways from 1850s under Lord Dalhousie opened the interior
markets of India for English products and enhanced the capacity of India as a source of raw materials for the English
industries.
The 3rd phase- Finance-Imperialism from the latter half of the nineteenth century onwards- This phase saw export of
capital from India and also chains of British-controlled banks, export-import firms and managing agency houses. The
manner in which Railways were developed is a fine example of finance imperialism.
The true exploitative nature of the colonial economy started in the first phase after gaining the diwani of Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa. In trade till 1750s bullion flowed into India from Europe which meant that India profited from the
trade. The import of Indian infact was so high that the British Parliament in 1700 had to pass an Act which prohibited
the use of Asiatic Silks, printed and dyed calicoes. They could be brought in England but only for the purpose of reexporting. Protective duties were imposed on Indian cloth entering England which over the years was raised to 80%.
This meant that the Indian cloth that was already expensive became more expensive on account of paying custom
duties. This was done in order to protect the English weavers from finer Indian cloth. BuT throughout this period
India gained due to inflow of bullion.

Changes in Balance of Trade In Favour of Britain

In the late eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, England .was undergoing Industrial Revolution. This
meant that the machines were replacing the human labour in production. Machines made possible production of
goods on a large scale which were significantly cheaper than hand-made goods. England now needed an outlet to sell
these goods and raw material to feed its rising industries.
The East India Company by several means was able to change the balance of trade in its own favour. Under the
conditions of the farman granted by the Emperor Farrukhsiyar in 1717, a dastak was given to the East India
Company that had to be signed by the President of the Calcutta Council. Dastak exempted the goods covered by the
English factory from payment of custom duties. The dastaks were not applicable for the private trade of the
individual servants of the Company as these duties formed an important source of revenues. This was one of the
bones of contention between the English and Siraj-ud-daula and reason for the Battle of Plassey in 1757.
Defeat of Siraj gave the British the freedom to exploit Indian sources and acted as a stepping stone in Indian politics
The British installed Mr. Jafar, a weak Nawab, on the throne. In estimation within the seven years after the battle of
Plassey in 1757, the puppet Nawabs had to give East India Company more than 5 million pounds sterling in terms of
payments for support, concessions granted and so on. And this amount flowed out of India in the form of bullion. The
servants of the Company even overlook the trade in commodities which had thus far remained prohibited to all
Europeans, like tobacco, betel nut and salt.
The East India Company benefited further after the winning the Battle of Buxar in 1764 and the subsequent signing
of the Treaty of Allahabad whereby the East India Company gained the diwani rights of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa.
This meant that the Company gained the rights to collect the revenues. The surplus that is one left after giving the
Nawab his dues, was used to buy Indian goods for exporting to England and elsewhere. Thus, revenues were drained
out of India and helped in the accumulation of capital in Britain.

Topic: Drain of wealth

Question : Discuss in brief the theory of Drain of wealth?
Answer:
The main gist of the drain of wealth theory was that a large part of Indias national wealth or total annual product
was exported to England for which the Indians got no adequate economic or material returns. This one way drain of
Indias wealth was the major cause of her poverty. The colonial government was utilizing Indian resources- revenues,
agriculture, and industry not for developing India but for utilization in Britain. And had these resources been utilised
within India then they could have been invested and the income of the people would have increased. Ranade opined
that one-third of Indias national income was being drained away-in one form or the other.

HOW WAS THIS DRAIN TAKING PLACE?

1. The salaries and pensions of British civil and military officials working in India, interests on loans taken by the
Indian Government, profits of British capitalists in India were all being met by the revenues collected in
India. This was one way money was being drained away from India.
2. The drain took the form of an excess of exports over imports for which India got no economic or material
return. This excess of export over imports according to A C Banerjee was possible through three means.
Firstly, it implies private fortunes obtained by the Companys servants in the form of illegal presents and
perquisites from Indian princes and other persons in Bengal. Secondly, Companys servants earned large
incomes through their participation in the inland trade. And lastly, fortune made through private trade by the
British Free Merchants. In fact, 1/3 of Indias total savings, almost the entire land revenue collection and 1/2
of government revenues comprised a portion of the drain.
3. East India Company also provided military help to the Indian Princes in their fight for power against a rival
claimant(s). In this manner in the period of 1761-1771 alone, the Companys Government earned a net
amount of 1,190,000 from the Indian princes. Large part of this money went in to the personal pockets of
the British. Some of it was used to buy Indian products which were sold across Europe. The profit thus

gained went into the pockets of the British. So Indian money was used to buy Indian goods The Companys
officials also received gifts for their help and India again did not gain any fiscal benefits in return.
4. Unequal terms of trade- The economic nationalists argued that the main aim of the British policy in India was
to make her a valuable market of the home country and to transform India into a supplier of cheap and a
secure source of raw material producing agrarian country. They cited the protective tariffs and other
discriminatory policies followed by the government as proofs While Britain and rest of the European powers
imposed protective tariffs on foreign goods coming in, no corresponding import duties were imposed on
products coming in India This exposed whatever industries that existed in India to tough competition from
cheaply mass produced goods coming in
5. In the parliamentary enquiry of 1840 it was reported that while British - cotton and silk goods imported into
India paid a duty of 3 per cent and woollen goods 2 per cent, Indian goods imported into Britain paid 10
per cent on cotton goods, 20 per cent on silk goods and 30 per cent on woolen goods.
6. To this unequal trade was added after 1813, cheap British factory made yarn and cloth which took away
Indias local market from its own producers. India experienced deindustrialization over the half century
following 1810 due to terms-of-trade shocks.
7. The expenditure of armed forces required to maintain the expansive empire across the world. Afghanistan.,
Burma and so on, was met by Indians revenues and personnel. Military expenditure accounted to almost the
1/3rd of the budget.
8. The two most important forms of drain were Home Charges and Council Bills, also called invisible charges.
9. Home Charges represented the single biggest source of the direct drain of wealth, the expenses in Britain
borne by the Indian treasury. These Home Charges were a huge burden on the finances and contributed to a
sustained and continuous deficit in the budget throughout the nineteenth century. Home charges included
pensions to British Indian officials, army officers, military and other stores purchased in England.
10. Council Bills- Council Bills were the actual means through which money was transferred. It does not refer to a
piece of legislation. Council Bills are best explained by quoting from Sir John Stracheys lectures given in
1888. The Secretary of State draws bills on the Government treasury in India, and. it is mainly through:
these bills, which are paid in India out of the public revenues, that the merchant obtains the money that he
requires in India and the Secretary of State the money that he requires in England. Sumit Sarkar further
breaks down the explanation: The would be British purchasers of Indian exports bought. Council Bills from
the Secretary of State in return for sterling (which was used to meet the Home Charges). The Council Bills
were then exchanged for rupees from the Government of Indias revenues. Next the rupees were used to buy
Indian goods for export. Conversely, British officials and businessman in India bought Sterling Bills in return
for their profits in rupees from British owned Exchange Banks; the London branches of these tanks paid in
pounds for such bills with the money coming from Indian exports purchased through-the rupees obtained
through sale of Sterling Bills.
11. European Agency Houses and European Banks- With the use of the East India Company and the gradual flood
of European traders in India, the indigenous banking houses like that of the Jagat Seth declined and were
replaced by European Agency Houses and Banks, which were started by the Companys servants. These
Company servants opened these houses and banks after accumulating huge fortunes through their illegal
private trade.
12. The drain was not limited to just money or goods : but had wider ramifications for India. The drain frustrated
employment opportunities in India and also that of investment.

Topic: Economic Nationalism

Question : Discuss in brief the economic Nationalism?
Answer :
The economic criticism of colonialism is one of the most important lines of thought in the history of Indian freedom
movement. The Indian freedom movement did not start as an anti-colonial movement. It was through the

development of the economic critique of colonial policies that the true exploitative nature of British colonialism was
discovered and gradually this criticism evolved into political criticism of the British.
Main Proponents of Economic Nationalism- The leaders who developed this economic criticism were known as the
moderates and are also popularly clubbed as the economic nationalists - Dadabhai Naoroji the Grand Old Man of
India wrote (1867) Poverty and Un-British Rule in India; and he is also known as the high priest of the drain theory;
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade; Romesh Chandra Dutt wrote Economic History of Indias (1901) G.V. Joshi; G.
Subramanya Iyer; G.K. Gokhale; Prithwis Chandra Ray; R.C. Dutt wrote Indian Today.
These early leaders, who were in essence intellectuals of India, were from the sections of the society that had
benefited from western education, and the job opportunities thrown up by the colonial rule, law, Indian Civil
Services, doctors, and so on. They in fact had an implicit faith in the goodness and practicality of the British
Government. They believed that the colonial government would help India on her path to modernisation along the
lines of Britain in all spheres of economy. This does not imply that they were blind to the negative aspects of being
under the rule of a foreign government. They simply believed that India was yet not ready to stand on her own legs
and needed British rule which would guide and develop India.
The place of Dadabhai Naoroji is unique in that he was a businessman and a publicist settled in England. The early
leaders-intellectuals were deeply influenced by Naoroji and they all came to know each other during the 1860s and
1870s while they were either studying for ICS or law. They sought to make the British Indian government aware of
the true economic conditions of India and suggest changes to the government which Would work as the framework
for India s development but under the aegis of the British. The early leaders were primarily concerned with fostering
better understanding of the Indian situation amongst the British so as to help them in governing India better.
However, deeper they studied they observed that the positive steps in the direction of building Indian economy were
too slow and too mild and that Indian economy was in reality under-developing and regressing. The lack of economic
development was evident in the frequency of famines and the widespread poverty.
Naorojis paper The Poverty and Un-British Rule in India printed in 1867 was one of the most important books in the
literature of economic nationalism. The book made a case that the policies of colonial Government were destructive
and despotic to the Indians and UN-British and suicidal to Britain. On the other hand, a truly British course could and
would certainly be vastly beneficial both to Britain and India and that the British were falling short of applying the
nobler British ideals in India. The truly British course was to transform Indias-economy and develop it along the lines
of modernisation. The economic nationalist praised and acknowledged the non-material consequences of the British
rule-liberation from superstition, and education, etc but as far as the material consequences were concerned British
had a lot to fulfill. The debates led to questioning of the moral basis of British rule in India. It was advocated that a
government could enjoy a long political rule only as long as it enjoyed the confidence of the people in the morality of
the state and failure to do so was suicidal to the continuation of British rule. And this confidence exists when people
believe that the state is responsible, in a constructive way, for the welfare of the people. It was accepted that the
British rule had done much good for India but the economic nationalists opined the British were not fulfilling their
moral responsibility. The school of thought that emerged from the writings of these figures is called Economic
Nationalism.
Due to the efforts of the economic nationalists poverty became the central theme of critique. They asserted that
India was poor not because poverty was inherent and natural to India nor was it inherited from the past but that it
was recent; and in fact, the result of the colonial policies. India which was in essence a manufacturing industry was
transformed into a raw-material producing industry by the colonial economic policies.
The economic nationalists made popular the notion that the interest of British imperialism lay in keeping the
economy of India subordinate to that of the British. They discovered that exploitation of India took place not through
the simpler forms of outright plunder but by more disguised forms like- foreign investment, discriminatory protective
tariffs, free trade and so on. For them Indias poverty exemplified the lack of national development. According to RC.
Dutt if the taxes paid by the Indians are spent within the country then the money would circulate within her
boundary and give boost to trade, industries and agriculture. The money would also then reach the people of India in
some form or the other. Bit if, like in the drain, the taxes paid by the Indiana were being unilaterally taken out of
India and spent abroad then Indian economy would suffer. The economic nationalists thus, came to believe that

Indias salvation lay in developing its economy which meant developing modern industries based on modern
technology and capitalist enterprise. Another very important line of thought that they developed was that Indian
industries had to be developed by using Indian capital and not foreign capital as foreign capital replaced and
suppressed Indian capital and became a tool for further exploitation of India.
The drain of wealth theory was the fundamental critique of colonialism developed by the economic nationalists. In
course of debates, researches and printing, other aspects of colonial economic policies in foreign trade, railways,
tariffs, currency and exchange, finance and labour legislation came under scrutiny for their role in exploitation of
India. They studied the decline of the handicraft industries and identified the deliberate policy of the British of
discouraging indigenous industries in order to help the British manufacturers. The criticism that grew out of the
economic policies of the colonial government eroded the moral confidence of the people in the Government. They
exposed the explosive character of the Governments policy Economic criticism was just the first step towards
political critique of the British Government. The economic nationalists created a situation in which the antagonism
between the rulers and the ruled went on developing As it continued and when combined with other issues (early
demands of Indian National Congress) struggle for political power became inevitable.

Topic: British Land Revenue Policy

Question : Briefly Discuss the British land revenue Policy?
Answer:
Revenues are an important source of every economy. The basic questions that go into collection and implementation
of revenues can be summarized in terms of - How much to collect? Who will collect? When to collect? And how to
collect? The land revenue policies followed during colonialism did not materialize overnight but were the results of
two odd decades of debates- philosophical and ideological, and experiments.
In the pre-colonial days land relations and revenue administration in India were marked by several layers of more or
less powerful intermediate local authorities positioned between the Central Government and the actual tillers of land.
From the beginning the reach of the central authority had been rather narrow and based on collaboration with
several allies- local rajas, landowners, zamindars and so on. The land revenue was collected from the peasants and
sent to the centre through these several intermediate channels zamindars, landlords, nawabs and so on, each of
which kept aside their own share, leaving little for the peasants. It is also commonly believed that with the breakup
of the Mughal Empire the number of intermediaries of extraction increased considerably leading to a decline in the
conditions of the peasantry. In 1790, 12 big zamindari houses together paid more than 53% of the revenue
assessed in Bengal.
To this circle of powers was added the British, who had originally come to trade. The question of land revenue and
the means to secure it was central to the interests of the British. The British acquisition of the revenues of Bengal did
not start in one go. But it was a gradual process that started with a single territory and then after gaining diwani
rights in 1765 extended over to the entire Presidency.
The land revenue system emerged as a consequence of experiments. Three main systems of land revenue emerged
in different parts of British territory in India - Permanent Settlement (or Zarnindari), Ryotwari Settlement and
Mahalwari Settlement. But whatever be the legitimising credo, the tax on the land saw a continuous increase. The
revenue was exorbitant and left less than subsistence for the farmers.
Given the importance of the revenues, the task of organizing and administering the revenues was quite formidable
yet imperative to the British But what complicated their task was their lack of knowledge of the agrarian system of
India. They understood little about the land relations. Wherever they went they faced a confusing array, of quasifeudal rights and obligations that were difficult to put in a concrete and identifiable terms. Apart from the lack of
knowledge about the local dialects, the various rules and obligations were recorded only in memory and were
considered as good as written ones. On the Governments behalf there was an absence of communication between
different levels of administration and the ever present corruption of some of the officials in the early years of the
Companys administration. Moreover, the tenure of the local officers was too short to permit them consistency in
policies. The company, by and large, had to depend on the local amils and their contacts. The honesty of these in

turn was itself doubtful. So you have this situation where for the 7 years after the grant of the diwani there was an
absence of lack of unified policy of revenue administrations.
The peasants, to say the least continued to suffer under the extractions. In the years after the grant of the Diwani
there emerged a dual system of revenue administration. The Nawabi administration was retained with Muhammad
Reza Khan as the Naib Diwan. While the native officials were in charge of collecting the revenue, European officers
had supervisory authority over them. But as mentioned earlier, corruption was rampant.
The famine of 1769-70 was disastrous in terms of its extent and Wiped out almost one-third of the Bengal
population. The company came under severe criticism but mainly because it was unable to pay the shareholders.
Reza Khan was conveniently charged with embezzlement and with him out of the picture, Warren Hastings, the newly
appointed Governor, could ensure that the British had the sole charge of manning the revenue administration.
Warren Hastings (1772-85) assumed that all land belonged to the sovereign, and introduced a- system of revenue
farming in 1772 whereby revenue collecting rights were auctioned to the highest bidder. These auctions did not give
ownership rights to the winning bidder. This led to havoc in the Bengal countryside. The revenue demand on the
peasant was often so high that it could not be collected. As a result of this what took place was an institutional
plunder of the farmlands. The system failed and led to misery and depopulation. The land revenues failed, however,
in spite of the utmost coercion. In a minute of September 18, 1789, Lord Cornwallis remarked, I may safely assert
that one- third of the Companys territory in Hindustan is now a jungle inhabited only by wild beasts.

(i) Permanent Settlement - Nature and Demerits

Lord Comwallis was sent to India in 1784 to improve the conditions and rectify the errors made by the revenue
policies of Warren Hastings Cornwallis on his appointment took a completely different view of the issue.
The main idea behind Permanent Settlement Cornwallis believed that it was the zamindar and not the sovereign who
was the proprietor of the land. This concept formed the basis of the Permanent Settlement. The whole concept of
permanent settlement that finally took shape was based on Cornwallis understanding and his image of the improving
English landlords who secured in their land-ownership and had much to gain from introducing reforms and adopting
techniques to enhance agriculture output. The idea was to take away the feudalistic features of the zamindars
collection of transit duties, deciding civil cases, and reforming them by fashioning them along the lines of English
landlords.
How much to collect? The land revenue under Permanent Settlement was to be fixed or assessed for ever. This, it
was believed, would lead to reduction in corruption. Moreover, since it was assessed for ever, the revenue was fixed
at the absolute maximum. Taking the revenues of 1789-90 as a yardstick, the revenues were fixed at 26.8 million
Rupees.
Who was to collect it? The zamindars. By nature of the settlement, the zamindars were invested with ownership
rights of land. In the pre-settlement days, they had only enjoyed right in revenue collection. With a fixed land tax,
zamindars could securely invest in increasing their income without any fear of having the increased taxes taken away
by the Company. Cornwallis made this motivation quite clear in a declaration when the demand of government is
fixed, an opportunity is afforded to .the landholder of increasing his profits, by the improvement of his lands. The
Court of Directors also hoped to guarantee the Companys income which was constantly plagued by defaulting
zamindars that fell into arrears, making it impossible for them to budget their spending accurately.
When to Collect? The zamindars were to pay a fixed amount of revenue by the sun-set of a particular day. Inability
to hand over the revenue meant sale of his zamindari land.

DEMERITS OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT ON THE ZAMINDARS

While the Permanent Settlement was pro-zamindar, yet the way in which it eventually worked out even the
zamindars lost. Default meant loss of his land. The threat of losing land very real more so because the revenue was
fixed at a very high rate and the ryots could not often meet it. There were instances of sale of zamnidari lands.
Given the precarious position of the zamindars, they did not transform into improving landlords as expected of them.
But infact many of them simply sub-let their land to different categories of people leading to a process popularly
called sub-infeudation. In the end, the peasants lost out because the burden of rent kept increasing with every sub-

infeudation. The way in which Permanent Settlement worked out led to fragmentation of land and creation of multiple
intermediaries. Usually, the large estate would be partitioned into chain of multiple intermediaries leading to
fragmentation of land to the extent that by the late nineteenth century 88.5% of the 110,456 permanently settled
estates of Bengal and Bihar were less than 500 acres in size. This also meant that the actual producers were too
oppressed and burdened with the revenue demands that they could not undertake improvements. And on the other
hand, it also created a hierarchy of rentiers who would be dependent on the revenue derived from the primary
produces. This led to a situation where the entrepreneurial spirit was institutionally destroyed.

DEMERITS OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT ON THE RYOTS

The change in the status of the zamindars however, meant that the peasants actually lost out because the peasants
customary occupancy rights were transformed into that of tenancy. The manner of implementation of the Permanent
Settlement actually increased the insecurity of the peasants. The settlement fixed was quite high and it was not
usually met. They became victim of over-assessment; they had nobody (a zamindar) to help them out, when falling
short of dues. It also left no room for respite in times of food shortage due to any calamity. Furthermore, the
Regulating Acts of 1799 and 1812 gave the zamindars the right to evict the ryots and seize the land in case of the
ryots failure in payment of the rent.
The ryots or the peasants who were the actual tillers of the land and who paid their dues to the super-ordinate
zamindars were the one who did not really benefit from the Permanent Settlement.
The fragmentation of land meant that they had to part with a larger portion of their produce. The customary
occupancy rights which the peasants held in relation to the land was taken away and they were transformed into
tenants who could be evicted exploited and thus insecure in their hold of land. Cornwallis to provide the peasants
with some measure of protection did include the issue of pattas or written agreements between the ryot and the
zamindars that would state the amount to be paid but offered little protection to the peasants who were not literate
and feared misuse of the pattas. The Permanent Settlement overall infact increased the coercive power of the
zamindars.
However, instead of being a solution for ensuring a flowing avenue of revenues, Permanent Settlement led to
increasing disappointment. The zamindars did not turn into the improving landlords, and since the revenue was fixed
any increase procured from the land was appropriated by the zamindars. Nonetheless, PS was extended to the
Madras Presidency where in the absence of substantial zamindari class, the local polygars were recognized as
zamindars.

(ii) Ryotwari Settlement : Nature and Demerits

Ryotwari settlement was the land revenue system that took shape under Alexander Reed in 1792 in Bararmahal and
was then extended by Thomas Munro from 1801 in the Ceded Districts. From.1820s it was extended to parts of
Madras and Bombay Presidencies, East Bengal and portions of Assam and Coorg (part of present Karnataka)
Main idea behind it- The Madras government suffered from perpetual acute financial crunch due to continuous
warfare. It came to be believed that the revenues due to the Government could be increased by by passing the
several intermediaries and making direct contract with the ryots.
Who was to collect it? The settlement was made directly with the ryot who was recognized as the owner of his plot of
land subject to the payment of revenue. The Ryotwari Settlement technically created individual proprietary rights in
land which were vested in peasants. This was in direct contrast with the Permanent Settlement which vested the
rights in the zamindar.
How was it to be collected and how much? What was visualized was a field assessment system where the rent was to
be fixed permanently through a survey of lands and required a detailed land survey covering area of the field, quality
of the soil and average produce of every piece of land. However, in reality the assessment was based on guesswork
which led to over-assessment of revenue and like other settlements, increased the tax burden of the ryots.

DEMERITS OF THE RYOTWARI SETTLEMENTS

Ryotwari Settlement being badly administered led to problems for the cultivators. By the Saharanpur Rules of1855
the Government demand was fixed on the discretion of the revenue officers at each recurring settlement. This meant
that the ryot had no fixity of rental, no security against the enhancement of the rent and no adequate motive for
Investing in agricultural improvement.
In Ryotwari areas, since the cultivators were under heavy tax burden, they had to resort to loans from local money
lenders and thus fall into further penury.
Even though the ryotwari settlement was based survey of land and other such measures, the peasants, the revenue
assessment was usually more than what the ryot could extract from his field.

(iii) Mahalwari Settlement: Nature and Demerits

The main idea and where was it introduced? In the North Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (most of this
area is now in Uttar Pradesh) Holt Mackenzie devised a new system that came into effect in 1822. He felt that the
village was an important social institution in north Indian society and needed to be preserved Mahalwari system was
introduced in order to rectify problems which had arisen in the other two land revenue settlements. The first concern
was to ensure a stable income. Thus, in the Mahalwari. Settlement, the settlement was to be made village by village
and estate (mahal) by estate. Secondly, lambardars were created as intermediaries between the state and the ryots
but unlike in the permanent settlement they were not invested with perpetual rights. Thirdly, while the state
reserved to itself the right of direct management of the agricultural economy it did not worry itself with cultivation
and revenue collection as it did in the ryotwari system. And lastly, though the cultivation was done individually, the
revenue was to be paid collectively by the village as a whole. This had the capacity to reduce the individual insecurity
and distress.
Who was to collect it? The settlement was made not with individual landlords, the basis of the assessment of the
revenue was the produce of a mahal or estate for which the villagers as a whole, both collectively and individually,
were responsible for the payment of revenue for the whole village through the medium of the village headman or
lambardar.
How and how much? The revenue was not fixed forever but for a limited period of thirty years at some places and
twenty years at other places. Individual villager was to contribute in accordance with his holding. The revenue was
fixed according to the yielding capacity of the soil, the nature of crop it produced and its prices. Once the
assessment, was done, it continued for the full term of the settlement.
On what basis? The Revenue was fixed on the basis of periodical assessment by the officers in consultation with the
lambardar and the village bodies.

DEMERITS OF MAHALWARI SETTLEMENT

The lambardars and other village headmen enjoyed more privileges which they abused for their profits. Since they
acted as the intermediaries between the villagers and the Government, many of the lambardars brouht large areas of
village land under their control.
The ryots were often reduced to the status of tenants, subtenants, co-sharers, and so on. These ryots like in the
other two land revenue settlements after meeting the revenue demand were left with very little to survive on. They
were overburdened and rack-rented.

Topic: Indian Society in the Early 19th Century

Question : Give a brief description of the Indian Society in the early nineteenth century?
Answer:
Society and, religion in India have passed through numerous phases of change. In the long and chequered history of
India there had been periods of progress regeneration and reform, as well as periods of decay, dissolution and
degeneration. The eighteenth century witnessed the latter tendencies. While in Europe it was the age of
enlightenment, but in India, it was a period of stagnation. Indian society, as a whole remained detached from and
indifferent to the political developments. The innumerable village communities over the length and breadth of the
land led their self-contained and more or less secluded life as before. Social rigidity and irrational social practices

became conspicuous feature of the eighteenth century India. The disease was more aggravated by the outer aspects
of contemporary religions which became even more dogmatic. In the eighteenth century, idolatry and fatalism had
been extended to extremes Islam, too, had become an intolerant religion in the heyday of Islamic glory, the Sufi
preachers preached tolerance, but from the later part of the seventeenth century the Muslim rulers assumed religious
bigotry as a part of their State Policy. With religions attaching more importance to external form than to inner reality,
religious superstitions, began to pervade all aspects of social life. Infanticide, child marriage, polygamy, the burning
of widows and other social evils, were all interpreted as religiously valid, and hence there was no qualm of conscience
even in most horrible performances. Similarly, such social systems as caste, untouchability, seclusion of women and
slavery were all considered as sanctified by the shastras, and therefore, absolutely valid and estimable. Thus the
eighteenth century was an age of intolerant institutions and irrational customs. That was the last great epoch of
social inequality in India. With the impact of westem ideas and the rise of Hindu reform movements in the
subsequent century, caste was assailed and there began a slow slackening of rigid attitudes towards untouchability.
However, in spite of reform movements, throughout the nineteenth century the caste inertia continued without any
spectacular improvement in the position of the untouchables.

Topic: Impact of West on Modern India

Question : Critically Examine the Impact of West on Modern India?
Answer :
In the eighteenth century, Indian society was rigid within itself, but not closed to external influences. By the first half
of the eighteenth century, the Europeans had become a definite factor in Indian politics. By way of a historic accident
the eighteenth century was an age of unusual mental and physical activities that Europe came nearer to India.
During the second half of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the nineteenth century the effects of that
impact became manifest.
European influence operated in three spheres economic, religious and political. The trade and commerce which the
Europeans carried on ruinously influenced the total Indian Economy It was through their religions and political
activities that the Europeans, on necessity, came very close to the Indian ways of life. Or, more precisely, they broke
through the seclusion of the Indian society for the purpose of preaching their own religion as well as introducing their
own political and legal systems. India, too, had to understand the West. The impact was not merely on imposition. It
was also in the nature of an accommodation.
The religious activities of the European missionaries brought Christianity to a direct confrontation with Hinduism. For
India it was a blessing in disguise that the Christian missionaries felt so strongly against some of her socio-religious
customs. Practised through ignorance they were required to be exposed by an external agency. Indirectly, the
Christian crusade against Hinduism inspired higher Hindu minds a sense of inwardness to discover in the inner core
of their own religion, concepts of monotheism, and all other higher philosophies to feel proud of thus the impact of
Christianity led to external and internal change.
Bengali literature, too, began to develop under the patronage of the missionaries. The missionaries established a
printing press at Serampore. The press also caused the birth of journalism. The impact of the west was also felt
politically. The leader of the new administration could not, of necessity, have been composed only of Englishmen; its
lower rungs had to be filled with Indians. The people, long accustomed to dealing with foreigners in trade, felt
attracted to join their administration. There was the necessity for them to learn English. Early in the nineteenth
century, Calcutta led the way in the new desire to acquire knowledge of the English language. In other parts of India,
a similar desire was awakened. In 1817, the famous Hindu College was founded in Calcutta with encouragement
from David Hare, Rammohan Roy and Radhakanta Dev. In 1818, some Christian missionaries, with the help of some
influential Indians established an English School at Banares. In any case, the greater impact of the West was bound
to percolate through education, with far-reaching consequences.
There was yet another platform on which West-East understanding took shape. At first, to the leaders of Indian
thought, Englishmen either as traders rulers or missionaries were enemies of the Indian culture, religion and
traditions. But such an antagonistic attitude began to subside because of the unique role of some notable Englishmen

who dedicated their Indian careers to discovering India. William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784.
With earnest compatriots like Charles Wilkins and H.T. Colobrooke, he initiated the, great movement of discovering
India. The history and literature, and many facets of Indian civilization began to emerge steadily out of the limbo of
oblivion. The more Western scholarship threw light on India, the greater research and learning.
The nineteenth century in the history of India possessed the same characteristics which the eighteenth century
possessed in the history of Europe. It was an age of enlightenment and awakening, of renaissance and reforms, of
rationalism and progress, which all ultimately culminated in a growing consciousness of the need for liberty and
unity.
Throughout the nineteenth century there followed phase after phase of various reform movements in India to
renovate the society and rationalise religious thoughts. The first in the series was the movement initiated by Raja
Rammohan Roy.

Topic: Political-Religious Movements in the Early Phase of Colonial Expansion

Question : Briefly discuss the major political-religious movements in the early phase of colonial
expansion?
Answer:
These movements erupted in the early phase of colonial expansion. In this phase religion provided the framework to
locate and understand the colonial rule and articulate resistance. The main politico-religious movements were the
Faqir Uprising, Sanyasi Rebellion, Pagal Panthis, Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya, Wahabi Movement, Faraizi Movement and
Kuka Revolt.
(A) Faqir Uprising (Bengal, 1776-77): Faqirs were a group of wandering-Muslim religious mendicants. Shortly after
the annexation of Bengal in 1776-77, Majnum Shah, the leader of these Faqirs, began to levy contributions on the
zamindars and peasants and, defied the British authority. After Majnum Shahs death, Chirag Ali Shah, supported by
Pathans, Rajputs and the disbanded Indian soldiers extended the operations to the northern districts of Bengal. Two
famous Hindu leaders who supported him were Bhawani Pathak and Devi Chaudhurani, a woman. The Faqirs led byChirag Ali Shah gained considerable strength and attacked English factories, seized their goods, cash, arms and
ammunitions. There were a number of skirmishes between the Faqirs and Companys troops. The Faqirs were finally
brought under control at the beginning of the nineteenth certury.
Sanyasi Uprising (Bengal, 1770-l820s): The Hindu Naga and Giri armed Sanyasis once formed a part of the armies of
the Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal, and also of the Maratha and Rajput chiefs. The immediate cause of the rebellion
was the restrictions, imposed on the pilgrims visiting the holy places. The Sanyasis raided the English factories and
collected contributions from the towns, leading to a series of conflicts between the large bands of Sanyasis and the
British forces. After nearly half-a-century long strife, the Sanyasi Uprising ended in the second quarter of the
nineteenth century.
The Sanyasi-Faqir resistance had some commons features. Both groups of mendicants lived on alms provided by
their followers. The Company officials, who little understood the religious institutions of the country, took their alms
collection drive for unauthorised impositions on the inhabitants of the village. The Government thus issued decrees
banning collection of alms by the organised groups like the Fakirs and Sanyasis. These groups also enjoyed rent free
tenures. Both the groups lost this privilege under the British In response, they started a resistance movement
against the feringhee rulers. The resistance gained a ready support from the peasantry who were hard pressed under
the new land revenue policy of the Companys Government. The conditions of the peasantry were worsened by the
Great Famine of 1769-70, a by-product of the systemic loot of the countryside by the rapacious landlords and their
agents. Furthermore, a settled society being considered as an ideal type by the Company meant that the wandering
groups, like that of the Faqirs and Sanyasis, were often looked upon with suspicion and efforts law and order.
The Sanyasis presented a formidable force, defeating the British forces several time, especially in 1773, and the
struggle continued till the end of 1800. The cause of Faqir-Sanyasis was formed the background for the work
Anandmath, by the famous Bengali novelist, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Vande Matram, which was to become the
national song during the Swadeshi Movement, was penned in the same novel.

(B) The Moplah Rebellions (Malabar 1835- 1921): The Moplah rebellions of Malabar, South India, were not only
directed against the British but also the Hindu landlords. The relations of the Arab traders with the Malayali society
can be traced back to the ninth century. The traders helped the local Hindu chieftains and were granted concessions.
Many of the Arab traders settled in Malabar marrying mostly Nayar and Tiyar women; and the subsequent
descendants came to be known as Moplahs. Their numbers also increased with the conversion of Hindus from the
lower castes, especially the Cherumars who were slave labourers and hoped to gain better social status upon
conversion. Through the years the Moplahs settled, became agriculturalists and joined the ranks of landless
labourers, cultivating tenants, fishermen and petty traders.
In the traditional Malabar land system, the jenmi held land by birthright and were mostly high-caste Hindus, and let
it out to others for cultivation. The other main sections of the Malabar society were the kanamdar who were mostly
Moplahs, the verumpattamdar (cultivators) and agncultural labourers. The peasants were mostly the Muslim
Moplahs. The land was given by the ruling raja to Namboodiri Brahmins whose obligation was to look after the
temple and related institutions, and to the chieftains (mostly Nayars), who provided martial aid when needed.
Traditionally, the net produce of the land was shared equally between the three. But during the reigns of Haider Ali
and Tipu Sultan, Namboodiri Brahmins and Nayar chiefs fled and the subsequent vacuum was filled by the Moplahs.
The conflict arose when after Malabars cession to the British in 1792 and the return of the exiled Namboodiri
Brahmins and Nayars, the government reestablished and acknowledged their landlord rights. The British by
recognizing the jenmis as the absolute owners of the land gave them the right to evict the tenants at will. This
reduced the other two to the status of tenants and leaseholders. The courts and the1aw officers sided with the
jenmis. Once the jenmi landlords, who had the backing of the revenue officials, the law courts and the police started
tightening their hold and demands on the subordinate classes, the Moplah peasantry rose up in revolt. According to
Dhanagare the first outbreak occurred in 1836 and during the period of 1836-54 there were 22 uprisings, with the
ones in 1841 and 1849 being quite serious. The first phase of the uprisings from 1836 to 1854 witnessed 22 revolts
and had messianic overtones. The faithful sacrificed their lives in the belief that as Ahadis they would go straight to
heaven. The second phase of the revolts was recorded in 1882- 85, and another spate of outbursts in 1896.
The pattern of the rebellion was uniform with usually a group of Moplah youths attacking a Brahmin jenmi or a Nayar
official or a jenmis servant, burning or defiling a temple or attacking the landlords house. The police would then
crack down on them and the rebels would then seek refuge in either a mosque or the temple. During the Khilafat
movement due to the efforts of the Khilafat and Congress leaders, the tenancy movement in Malabar merged with it,
though it is doubtful to evaluate the degree to which the locals understood the cause of the pan-Islamic call.
Nonetheless, due to their participation in the Khilafat movement, the Moplah peasantry learned how to give a
coherent expression to their grievances. However, when the Moplahs became more militant after the Majlis-ul-Ulema
(council of Muslim learned men), an all-India militant Muslim organization caIled upon the Moplah masses to launch a
jihad, the cause of swaraj and Non-Cooperation waned between March and August 1921. There was significant
increase in the number of forced conversions. The support of the well-off Moplahs was more superficial than real
throughout the period. It was only in August 1921, following an incident in Pookhottu village, that a major rebellion
broke out with the Government deploying the army to take control of the civil administration. By the end of
December 1921, the Moplah rebellion was completely suppressed.
To quote Dhanagare, the 1921 uprising was in essence an expression of long-standing agrarian discontent, which
was only intensified by the religious and ethnic identity and by their political alienation. It was essentially prepolitical in nature.

Topic: Causes and Phase of Tribal Movements

Question : Briefly discuss the causes of the tribal movements?
Answer :
Tribal movements are further subdivided into two categories along two main divisions of tribes based on the
geographical region occupied.

(a) Non-frontier tribes constitute 89 per cent of the total tribal population. The non-frontier tribes were mainly
confined to Central India, West-CentraI India and Andhra. Among the tribes that participated in the movements were
Khonds, avara, Santhal, Munda, Oraon, Koya, Kol, Gond and Bhil. The uprisings of these tribes were quite volatile
and constitute some of the major uprisings.
(b) Frontier tribes of the seven North-eastern frontier states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam,
Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Tribals are located on the fringes of the mainstream society and constitute the lower
stratum. Tribals, adivasis or aboriginals were usually the original inhabitants of vast tracts in western, central,
southern eastern and north-eastern parts of the country. With the exception of the North-East, they had been
reduced to a minority with the influx of outsiders and exposed to rapid changes. Barring a few, especially the frontier
tribes, most tribes had some form of contact with the mainstream society. The socio-economic differentiation
amongst them in comparison to the mainstream society was significantly less. The tribes were politically autonomous
and had their own system of justice.
Economic base- Shifting agriculture, hunting, fishing and forest produce formed the mainstay of their economic base.
Use of forests products and shifting agriculture were very important parts of the tribal economy.
1. Imposition of land Revenue Settlement. Expansion of agriculture by the non-tribals to tribal areas or over
forest cover led to erosion of the tribal traditions of joint ownership and increased the socio-economic
differentiation in the egalitarian structure of the tribal society.
2. Work of Christian missionaries brought about further changes in the socio economic and cultural equation of
the tribals and the mainstream society. Plus, in turbulent times, the tendency of the missionaries to refuse to
take up arms or in discouraging people from rising against the Government made the missionaries to be
viewed as extensions of colonialism and were often attacked by the rebels.
3. Increasing demand for wood from early nineteenth century first for the RoyaI- Navy and then Railways, led
to increasing control of government over forests lands. Why would this be a problem? The establishment of a
Forest Department in 1864, Government Forests Act (1865) and Indian Forests Act (1878) together
established complete government monopoly over Indian forest land. Shifting agriculture, a widespread
practice amongst the various tribal communities was banned from 1864 onwards in the reserved forests.
Restrictions were imposed on the previously sanctioned timber and grazing facilities.
4. Extension of settled agriculture led to influx of non-tribals in the tribal areas. These outsiders exploited them
and extension of settled agriculture led to the loss of land by the tribals which reduced them to agriculture
labourers.
5. Some of the tribal uprisings took place in reaction to the efforts of the landlords to impose taxes on the
customary use of timber and grazing facilities, police exactions, new excise regulations, exploitation by low
country traders and money-lenders, and restrictions on shifting cultivation in forests.
6. The rebellions by the non-frontier tribals were usually reactions against outsiders (dikus), local landlords and
rulers, the support provided to the latter by the British administration and intervention by them in the life of
the tribals. The indigenous names for these tribal movements were meli, hool and ulgulan.
7. Introduction of the notion of private property. Land could be bought, sold or mortgaged which led to loss of
land by the tribals.

Topic: Causes of the Revolt of 1857

Question : Briefly discuss the causes of the revolt of 1857?
Answer:
The revolt did not happen overnight. From the beginning of the political influence .of the British after the Battle of
Plassey in 1757, the British faced resistance from various sections of the society. The miscellaneous populace had
been harbouring resentment against the British. Due to the nature of the early historiography of the revolt, which
was written by officials turned historians, it was believed to be a mere mutiny of the sepoys in Bengal and Meerut,
which was later joined by the civil populace. However, an analysis shows that such a simplistic view is limited in its
scope. It is difficult to highlight a single cause for the outbreak of the revolt. There were multiple grievances, which

were acutely felt by the different sections of the society. While noting the anti-British sentiments in the revolt it is
equally essential to take into account the fact that the revolt in later stages was directed against the landlords,
banias and money-lenders. The landlords in the British period were principally the creation of the new revenue
policies introduced under them and had become vehicles of peasant exploitation.
Social and Religious Causes: From the early decades of the nineteenth century, the British had abandoned its policy
of non-interference in the socio-religious life of the Indians. Abolition of Sati in 1829 under Lord Bentinck, the Hindu
Widow Remarriage Act of 1856, and western education all led to disruption in the social world of the people After the
Charter of 1813, the Christian missionaries were allowed to enter India and carry on with their mission of
proselytizing. This, combined with the Religious Disabilities Act of 1856, which sought to do away with the previous
ban on Christian converts from Hinduism in inheriting property, created a feeling amongst the people of threat to
their religion and way of life.
Economic Causes: British rule led to breakdown of the village self-sufficiency and also disturbed order of land
settlements in India. The British ordered an enquiry into the title deeds of the landed estates in Bengal and its
adjoining areas, Bombay Provinces and North-Western Provinces Many people who had held lands before the coming
of the British lost their lands under the reorganisation of the land titles. Added to this was the commercialisation of
agriculture which burdened the peasantry, adoption of free trade imperialism from 1800, de-industrilization and drain
of wealth all of which led to overall decline of the economy.
Military Grievances: The sepoys of the Bengal army were recruited mainly from the North-West Provinces, and
Awadh. It had a high proportion of high caste men, Bhumihar, Brahmins and Rajputs of the Ganges Valley. Given the
social status of the sepoys, in the early years of the Company rule, the British tolerated and even encouraged the
caste privileges and customs within the Bengal Army. But by 1820s, these customs -and privileges were threatened
by the modernizing forces that sought to introduce a stricter universalised military culture. In accordance with the
changes, the sepoys were prohibited to observe some customary practices, like wearing a saffron mark on their
forehead, growing beard and wearing turbans. The sepoys who had become accustomed to very high ritual status
were extremely sensitive to suggestions that threatened their caste rules.
Serving abroad was also against the caste-rules of the sepoys and this clashed with the need to defend the growing
British Empire outside India. The mutiny in Afghanistan during 1839-42 was met with reprisals and led the Company
to widen the recruitment base of the Bengal army to include other castes and regional groups. The sepoys had
refused to serve in Burma and it led to the passing of the General Services Enlistment Act by Lord Cannings
Government in 1856. It compelled the sepoys to serve abroad, if the need arose.
In 1856, in accordance with the new rules, the soldiers no longer received extra allowance bhatta for service outside
their own regions because they were no longer considered to be foreign missions. This affected the extra pay of the
sepoys. But the English soldiers in the Indian army continued to receive this allowance. Thus, the denial of this
allowance amounted to gross discrimination against the sepoys.
Also, the Indian sepoys were discriminated against in terms of promotion and salary. While the sepoys outnumbered
the European soldiers, the former were not promoted to higher posts in the army.
Political Causes: -Annexation of Awadh in 1856 was a blow to the prestige of the ruling classes, the local population
and the sepoys. Apart from Delhi, Awadh was the second most important centre of the revolt. Multiple causes were
present here in their true form. About three-fourth of the Companys sepoys were recruited from Awadh and most of
them were simply peasants in uniform. Thus, any change in the agrarian set-up and in the cultural fabric would also
be acutely felt by them; Annexation of Awadh in 1856 on the pretext maladministration became an important cause
for many of those who participated. The annexation led to disbanding of the Nawabs army and also affected the
entire aristocracy, which in turn severely affected the economy of the region. In Awadh, many taulkdars who lost
their property as a result of the Summary Settlement in 1856 supported the rebels. The revolt was perhaps of the
highest intensity in Awadh.
Initially, when the British were expanding their hold over India and consolidating their rule, they were careful in
showing due deference to Indian Princes and their privileges. But as their confidence grew, there was an attempt by
the British to take away the nominal authority of the native. Princes and their pensions were greatly reduced. This
created unease among the various regional kingdoms. The earlier treaties made with the Indian Princes came to be

increasingly disregarded. Policies of Aggressive Annexation, and the Doctrine of Lapse were aggressively followed
under Lord Dalhousie and came to be widely resented. By following the Doctrine of Lapse, the adopted sons of the
deceased kings were derecognisied as heirs to the throne, which subsequently led to the annexation a large number
of kingdoms. Satara (1848), Nagpur, Sambalpur and Baghat (1850), Udaipur (1852), and Jhansi (1853) to name a
few, were annexed by the British.
However, each of these states was brought under the British rule for their strategic value, administrative and
military. Annexation of Jhansi was important in order to further improve the Companys internal administration in
Bundelkhand. Satara was geographically placed between two principal military stations in the Bombay Presidency,
and lay along the main lines of communication between Bombay and Madras. Nagpur was placed right across the
main lines of communication between Bombay and Calcutta. Aside from administrative expediency, Lord Dalhousie
had a firm belief that if placed under the direct administration of the Companys Government, people would enjoy
greater prosperity and happiness. In retrospect due to this policy, the disgruntled and deposed Princes or guardians
of some, of these annexed states became leaders of the revolt in their regions.
Annexation of the Princely or Native States, which were previously left largely undisturbed, added to the growing
apprehension amongst the Princes regarding the future of their sovereignty The forfeiture or reduction of the princely
pensions also affected them and their dependants.
Agrarian Causes: The Summary Settlement of 1856, which was first introduced in the North Western Provinces, was
extended to Awadh Since its main aim was to bypass the middlemen in the collection of revenues and to win the
confidence of the agricultural populace, the settlement was made-with the actual occupiers of the land and it
disregarded all other proprietary rights. Due to this, the talukdars, who functioned almost independently under the
Nawab and extracted exorbitant revenues, lost about half of their estates and the connected regalia. In most of the
regions there was an increase in the power and hold of the money-lenders and in the number of absentee landlords.
The condition, of the peasants, however, only got worse. Heavy over assessment of land revenue impoverished
them. While talukdars used to appropriate the surplus produced by the peasant, the extractive powers were limited
and constrained by the relations of mutual interdependence between the Nawab, talukdars, the peasants, and the
traditional worldview of social norms at, ob1igations, The British conquest assaulted this traditional world view, and
removal of the king had an emotional impact on the people of Awadh after its annexation in 1856.
One of the most important changes that took place in the early years of the British rule was the introduction of the
institution of private property rights in land. With this change, land became a commodity, which could be bought,
sold, rented or leased. If the landholder defaulted on his due, he faced a real possibility of forfeiting his land. In point
of fact, many of the new landed elites emerged after buying the lands of the older landed classes who had either
defaulted on their dues or could not produce the title deeds.
Administrative Causes: The annexation of the Indian states did not only lead to dislocation of the ruling elites and the
local populace, but the British also actively followed the policy of discrimination against the Indians. All high posts in
the Companys government were reserved for the Europeans.
The administrative machinery of the East India Company was inefficient and inadequate. Their revenue policies were
widely resented. Many districts in the newly annexed states were in the state of perpetual revolt. Significant numbers
of talukdars / hereditary landlords were deprived of their position and resources. There was a large scale confiscation
and auctioning of the estates. The new revenue policies created a vicious circle of problems for all concerned. The old
aristocracy and landlords lost their power and lands; the new landlords thus created, extracted mercilessly from the
peasants but the demand being unreasonably high, often led to the landlords, losing their land; and the peasants had
to face perpetual hardship at the hands of the Companys policies along with the demands of the landlords and
ultimately fell under the debt-trap of the money-lenders in an effort to meet the various fiscal demands.
Main Events of the Revolt of 1857tc "Main Events of the Revolt of 1857"
On March 29, 1857 at Barrackpore (now Barrackpur) near Calcutta, Mangal Pandey, a Bhumihar Brahman sepoy of
Ballia district of modern UP, attacked and injured his British sergeant on the parade ground and wounded an
Adjutant with a sword after failing to shoot at him. The officer in charge, General Hearsay, ordered a Jamadaar of the
troops, Ishwaria Pandey, to arrest Mangal Pandey, which he refused to do as did the whole regiment. Pandey was

executed. As a collective punishment for his act and in an attempt to circumvent a possible revolt, the entire
regiment was subsequently disbanded.
On May 11, 1857 a band of discontented sepoys from Meerut marched to Red Fort, Delhi and appealed to an aging
Mughal Emperor Bhahdur Shah II, who had been reduced to the status of a pensioner of the British, to become the
leader of their Revolt and hailed him as the Emperor of Hindustan. This marked the beginning of the widespread
uprising by the sepoys. On June 4, the sepoys of 2nd Calvary and the 1st Native Infantry rose up in mutiny in
Kanpur, killing many British men, women and children.
The Cawnpore (now Kanpur in U.P.) Massacre is the most infamous event in the revolts history. The rebels under
Nana Sahib attacked the British in Kanpur on June 6, 1857. The British suffered heavy losses. The British, who were
besieged in Kanpur, were promised a safe passage by Nana Sahib to Allahbad on June 27, 1857. However, under
some circumstances, the details of which are still debated, the captives were attacked in their boats while on the
river. The remaining were held at Bibigarh. The rebels on hearing the news of the British rescue troops approaching
from Allahabad, hacked all the captives, which included 120 women and some children, to death and threw them in a
well in the compound. As the details of the massacre spread, the counter-atrocities by the British increased and the
rebels lost many pro-Indian rebel supporters amongst the non-Indian populace.
Prominent Leaders of the Revolttc "Prominent Leaders of the Revolt"
Bahadur Shah II, Nana Sahib, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, Khan Bahadur Khan of Rohilkhand,
Kunwar Singh of Arrah, Maulvi Ahmad-ullah of Faizabad, Tantia Tope and Prince Firoz Shah of the Mughal royal
family and raised the banner of the revolt in Mandasor (M.P.)

Topic: Reasons of the Failure of the Revolt of 1857.

Question : Briefly discuss the reasons of the failure of the revolt of 1857?
Answer:
1. The revolt of 1857 failed because it suffered from weak leadership and was hardly organized. This proved a
major handicap when dealing with the well trained and equipped British troops.
2. The revolt failed to extend to all parts of the country, and large sections of the population did not support it.
And some sections infact threw their support behind the British. Some of the loyalists were the Nizam of
Hyderabad, Sikander Begum of Bhopal, Sir Jang Bahadur (Minister of Nepal) and Maharaja Sindhia of
Gwalior. There was absence of support from the intelligentsia.
3. The different groups of rebels fought for different reasons and served their respective leaders. Each sought
restoration of the order of their leaders. By hailing Bahadur Shah as the Emperor of Hindustan, the rebels
sought to revert back to the medieval political order rather than replace it with an alternate political
authority. Nana Sahib and Tantia Tope sought to revive the Maratha power while Rani Lakshmibai, her own
control over the lost territories.

Topic: Causes Responsible for the Rise of Indian Freedom Struggle.

Ques. 1 : Briefly discuss the causes responsible for the rise of Indian freedom struggle?
Ans. At the beginning of the 19th century India was regarded as one of the few countries with least possibilities for
the rise of nationalism or the growth of national movement. The main reason for such assumptions was that the vast
population of India was not only politically and backward but also disunited by barriers of language, religion, culture
etc. The dearth of unifying sense of nationalism and patriotic feelings was one of the cogent contributing factors to
the foundation and consolidation of the British rule in India. Certain colonial scholars did not even regard India as a
nation. But India, throughout the course of her history had enjoyed inherent unity in diversity. This unity in diversity
greatly helped in the rise and growth of Indian National Movement. The 19th and early 20th centuries were an age of
democratic, liberal and nationalist ideas. The American War of Independence, the French Revolution, the Russian
Revolution of 1917 etc., greatly inspired the rise and growth of the National Movement in India. No doubt all these
external events, internal turmoils and self-realisation together inspired the rise and growth of the Indian National
Movement.

Indias National Movement was truly Indian in the respect that it was worlds first struggle for freedom based on
truth and non-violence and its foundations was laid by the socio-religious reform movement of the 19th century.

CAUSES
Among the many causes responsible for the rise of the national movement the following deserve special mention:
1. The Macaulavian system of education though conceived in the interests of efficient administration opened to
the newly educated Indians the foodgates of liberal European thought The liberal and radical thoughts of
European writers inspired the Indian intelligentsia with the ideals of liberty, nationality and self-government.
The spread and expansion of the English language gave to the Indians living in different linguistic regions a
common language-lingua franca.
2. In the nineteenth century the development of vernacular languages was also phenomenal. The neo-educated
class conveyed their ideas of liberty and equality to the masses through the media of these vernaculars. The
vernacular literature greatly helped in arousing Indian nationalism.
3. Socially, British Imperialism destroyed the old, order of society in India. After the Rebellion of 1857 and the
British administrators realised that the reactionary and feudal elements of society could serve as strong props
of Imperialism. This change in policy exposed the hollowness of British professions and drove the English
Administrators and the progressive elements in opposite camps.
4. The development of the various socio-religious movements prepared the ground for the growth of national
movements and watered the plant of patriotism. The reform movements sought an all-round improvement of
the Indian society. They gave the people a sense of pride in Indian culture and heritage and taught them the
gospel of patriotism.
5. The economic policy pursued by the British in India had resulted in a lopsided development of Indian
economy and impoverishment of the people. The economy of India was geared to the production of raw
materials needed for the developing machine industry of England. Such a policy also made India as a growing
market for English manufactured goods. The cumulative effect of British economic policies had resulted in
chrominisery and found expression in mass unrest. Periodical famines became a regular feature of Indian
economy.
6. The natural process of conquest and consolidation brought the whole of India under a sing1e political set-up.
A network of roads and railways linked the bigger towns and the country with the world market. The setting
up of an efficient posts and telegraphs system and the accompanying developments gave India the
appearance of unity and fostered the spirit of one-mindedness.
7. The growth of the modern press and with it the public opinion was an offshoot of the English rule in India.
Despite the numerous restrictions imposed on the press from time to time, Indian journalism made rapid
strides. The Indian press created a strong public opinion opposed to imperialist policies, and played no
insignificant role in fostering patriotism and developing nationalism.
8. The short-sighted acts and policies of Lord Lytton acted like catalytic agents. The maximum age limit for the
I.C.S. examination was reduced from 21 years to 19 years, thus making it impossible for Indians to compete
for it. Lytton put o the statute book two obnoxious measures the Vernacular Press Act and Indian Arms Act
(1878). Lyttons unpopular acts provoked a great storm of opposition in the country and led to the
organisation of various political associations for carrying on anti- Government propaganda in the country.
9. One unfortunate legacy of the Rebellion of 1857 was the feeling of racial bitterness between the rulers and
the ruled. The Anglo-Indian bureaucracy developed an attitude of arrogance and contempt towards the
Indians. The Indians were dubbed as belonging to an inferior race and no longer worthy of any trust. This
narrow approach evoked a reaction in the Indian mind and put the educated Indians on the defensive.
10. ILLBERT BILL (1883 CONTROVERSY)
In 1880, there was a change of Government in England, and the Liberal Party under Gladstone came into power. He
was known for his liberal ideas and was a believer in moral principles. Good Government he pronounced, was no
substitute for self-government, It is our weakness and calamity, he said that we have not been able to give India
the blessing of free institutions. He sent Lord Ripen, a close friend and follower, to reform the structure of the

Indian Government. The new Governor-GeneraI repealed the Vernacular Press Act of 1878, commenced industrial
legislation by passing the first Factories Act, and took steps to promote local self-government in big cities and towns.
Ripon also sought to remove the individual distinction existing at that time between the European and Indian
members of the judiciary. Indian sessions judges and magistrates were not re-empowered to try European offenders,
and this was a cause of great annoyance to the educated community of the country. In 1883, the Law Member of the
Viceroys Executive Council, Sir Courtenay Illbert, introduced in the Imperial Legislature a Bill, known after his name
as Illbert Bill, designed to remove The disability of Indian judges. The Anglo-Indian community opposed the
enactment of the Bill vehemently, and asserted that the Indian judges were not fit to administer justice to a White
offender. The European Defence Association, with branches in important cities of India, was formed to organize a
campaign against the Bill. There were protest meetings and agitation, and it was proposed to kidnap Ripon and hold
him to ransom. Even in England, the Government was under fire, Ripon had to bow to the storm and a compromise
was made which provided that European and British subjects were to have a right to claim trial by Jury of twelve,
atleast seven of whom, must be Europeans or Americans.
This manifestation of the British sense of racial superiority acted as a spark to the power magazine; it acted as an
eye-opener to Indians. They learnt the lesson that they would have to undergo a long period of sacrifice and
discipline if they wanted justice and equality in their own country. The educated class of people noted the extraordinary force of a minority when organized and directed by a single aim, and they applied the inference to their own
situation. Demands began to arise for a national organization by means of which the grievances of the people against
the British rule could be ventilated. A few thoughtful men, both Indians and English were not slow to measure the
trends in the country and they took steps to organize the mass discontentment into a peaceful channel.
11. Certain external factors like home-rule movement in Ireland, Unification of Germany, Italy; Victory of Japan over
an European power Russia in 1905 also produced nationalist and revolutionary feelings among the Indians.
12. Repressive and Reactionary Policies of Lord Curzon virtually made the Indian National Movement Militant. Some
of his most denounced utterances and actions were:

a) Curzon went back on Queen Victorias proclamation.

b) Calcutta Town Hall speech of Curzon Indians are cheats greatly injured the Indian conscience.
c) Bitter speeches at Dacca and to divide Hindus and Muslims.
d) Partition of Bengal in 1905, became the basis of militant nationalism in India. The nationalist came to the
conclusion that the constitutional agitation will not help in undoing the wrongs.

It is from here that Swadeshi and Boycott became political weapons. It is here that the Bengali youth learnt the cult
of Gita and Grenade to live in bondage is negation of life. We want end of British Rule.
The beginning of the Indian National Movement is rightly regarded with the foundation of the Indian National
Congress in 1885, which united the Indian nationalists of all shades and opinions into a common front of the
nationalists and soon the roots of national struggle for freedom spread to all parts of the country.

National Movement from 1885 to 1947, may broadly be divided into four parts:

1885-1905 - The moderate Phase of the Congress.

1905-1915 - Extremist and Home Rule Movements.
1916-1942 - The Gandhian Era and Militant Phase of the National Movement
1942-1947 - Indias march towards the attainment of freedom.

Topic: Moderates - Their Ideology, Methods, Demands and Limitations.

Question : Briefly discuss the moderates phase (1885-1905) of Indian National Congress?
Answer :
W.C. Bannerjees presidential speech at the first Congress session put forward its aims as
(a) promotion of friendship and personal intimacy amongst the countrymen,
(b) eradication of all possible prejudices relating to race, creed or province,
(c) Consolidation of the sentiments of national unity, and

(d) recording the opinion of educated classes on pressing problems of the day.
These mild and constitutional demands reflect the nature and the composition of the Moderates. The moderates were
the early intellectual of India who had benefited from western styled education and were feeling the strain of
Government red-tape. To be radical was not in their nature. The Indian National Congress in its earlier years, maybe
till the very end, expressed the aspirations of educated middle classes.
Main leaders - W.C. Bannerjee, Ananda Mohan Bose, Lal Mohan Ghose, A.C. Mazumdar, Ras Bihari Ghose, S N
Banerjee, R C Dutt from Bengal; Dadabhai Naoroji, M.G. Ranade, Gokhale, Ferozshah Mehta, Telang, Tyabji from
Bombay, R R Naidu, Subramaniya lyer, Anand Charu from Madras and Flume, Wedderburn and Henery Cotton from
England.

Ideology and Methods

Believed in the justness of the British rule hence professed complete loyalty to the British. They believed that India
was yet not ready to stand on her own legs and needed the British for empowering them.

Believed in-the efficacy of peaceful and bloodless means and constitutional methods.
Press was used as the platform to discuss various British policies and disseminating them thereby creating
awareness.

Sessions were also used as platforms to pass resolutions or to discuss/protest against the discriminatory
laws.

Demands

Aimed at educating the masses and create an organized public opinion which would make people aware of
their rights, the true conditions of India.

To create a reservoir of national political leadership and people trained in the art of representative
governance.

Wanted self-rule under the British along the lines of a Dominion Status like Canada or Australia.
Full control over finances and legislation. After 1892, INC raised the cry of No taxation without
representation.

Appointment of a Royal Commission for enquiring into the Indian affairs with adequate Indian representation.
Indian representation in Indian Council in London and in the Executive Council at the Center.
Reduction in the expenditure on army
Development of modern capitalist industries in India parallel to those in Britain through tariff protection and
direct government aid.

Opposed to large scale import of capital in railways plantations and industries and to allow it only in areas
where Indian capital was unavailable

End of Indian economic drain developed the economic criticism of the British rule- three areas coveredtrade, finance and industry.

Abolition of the salt tax.

Indianisation of the Indian Civil Services and simultaneously conducting the examinations in India and
London.

Separation of judiciary and executive

Extension of trial by jury
Repeal of the Arms Act of 1878.
Higher ranking jobs for Indians in the army.
Increase in the money spent on education.
Opposed to any restriction imposed on the freedom of press and speech.
Cut in the Home charges.

Limitations

From the time of its inception, INC had some limitations. The foremost limitation, which also led to the split and
uneven curve of its popularity, was the exclusion of the non-elites from its membership. Professional groupsjournalists, educationists, reformers doctors, lawyers, religious men, merchants and bankers, were included in its
membership. INC was not yet anti-British government or rule. In its initial phase, INC sought to widen the governing
base by increasing the number of Indians in it. It was geared towards rectifying the un-Britishness of the British rule
in India. The moderates expected the British to guide India, help her conquer the cultural and social backwardness
and then transform into progressive country which would lead to establishment of representative government. For
them the interests of the British and Indians were similar rather than opposites.
An important limitation was that majority of the moderates were Hindus. Between the period of 1892-1909, Hindus
comprised 90% of the delegates attending the Congress. In spite of its claim as representing all communities,
ironically, it has been accused of being a Hindu party by some from its very inception. This was primarily because of
the fluidity of the members. e.g. many members of the Congress were also involved in cow protection Movement or
Nagri movement. Some held simultaneous membership of the Hindu Mahasabha and Congress.
Lacked confidence in the ability of the uneducated masses to participate in the political affairs.lt had limited social
appeal.
Was dominated by the English educated so drew most of their ideas from Western political tradition hence alienated
from the masses.
Did not envisage an end of the British rule.

Topic: Policy of Divide and Rule Muslim Communalism.

Question : Critically examine the British Policy of Divide and Rule?
Answer:
The Congress movement began to appear to the British authorities, in the opening years of the twentieth century, a
challenge to their rule, and they began to think of weakening it before it sent out of control They thought of putting
up a strong counterpoise to check the progress of the national organisation. Weaning away the Muslims from the
mainstream of nationalism was considered a convenient device. Mountstuart Elphinstone advised the British
Government thus: Divide et Impera (divide and rule) was the old Roman motto and it should be ours. The
authorities took up the cue and utilized it to their full advantage. They had already divided the country into princely
India and British India. The Uprising of 1857 made the British realize that they had gone too far in the policy of direct
rule and annexations.
After 1858, the princes had begun increasingly to pose into the fold of the Government, and they identified their
existence with the continuance of the British rule. After the formation of the Congress and its increasing strength and
popularity, the foreign masters decided to weaken the nationlist movement. Here, the division was sought to be
brought about between the Muslims and the Hindus. The authorities in London decided to utilize the racial, religious,
.and economic differences of the two communities to their own advantage.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Muslims, under the leadership of Sir Sayed, were stirring with
thoughts of national unification and emancipation. This added to the anxiety of the British bureaucracy. An alliance of
the Hindus and Muslims, it was felt, would be too formidable for their dominance and this alliance was due, the
British realized, to their own policy of rendering the Muslims too weak for independent rebellion. The days of Hindu
Anglo alliance, it was thought, were gone and the days of Anglo-Muslim alliance should begin. The necessity of such
a reversal of policy was brought home to the British, particularly, by the publication of Sir William Hunters book,
Indian Musulmans, as early as 1871. He pointed out how the Musulmans, especially in Bengal, had been suppressed
under the British Government; how they had been deprived of power and position, how they had been impoverished;
and how they were denied facilities of education and economic betterment. Hunter urged that the chronic sense of
wrong which had grown in the hearts of the Muslims under the British rule must be removed. The Muslims if
contented and satisfied, he noted, would become the greatest bulwark of British power in India.
Hungers urgings became the precursor of change of attitude towards the Muslim community. The Mohammedan
Anglo-oriental College at Aligarh was patronized, and it became the agency for fermenting communal passion and

schism. An Englishman, Beck, who became its Principal in 1883, carried forward the policy of befriending the Muslims
almost with a missionary zeal. He impressed upon Sir Sayed that the educational uplift of the Muslims had not
reached a stage when they could be trusted to confine themselves to constitutional agitation, and that if they were
roused they might once again express their discontent in the way they did in 1857. Sir Sayed was convinced that the
participation of the Muslims in the political agitation would be to their detriment. He was made to believe that the
Anglo-Muslim alliance was more to the advantage of the Muslim community than cooperation with the Hindus in the
national movement.
The love of the community prevailed over the love of motherland, and Sir Sayed adopted an openly hostile attitude
towards the Congress movement. Aligarh College became, the centre of Muslim Powers and the English principals
there, allegedly, poisoned the minds of young Muslims, creating a schism between them and the national
organisation. One year after the establishment of Congress, the Muslims were led to organize themselves into a
separate organizational, called the Mohammedan Educational Congress (MEC) that latter came to be known as the
Muslim Educational Conference. The Muslims began to secede from the Congress. Although a few enlightened and
open-minded Muslims, such as Abdul Rasul in Bengal Comurduddin Tyabji and Badruddin Tyabji in Bombay never
served from their allegiance to the national cause, the bulk of the Muslim community were led astray. The MEC held
its session at almost the same place and time as the Congress and diverted the attention of the Muslim masses. Of
the seventy-two delegates who came to the first session of the Congress, only to were Muslims; at the second
session, there were only 33 Muslims out of 440. When in 1890, the Muslim fraction increased to 156 out of 702, Sir
Sayed began to feel that their betterment lay in separation from, and not in unison with, the Congress.

Topic: Background to the rise of Neo-Nationalism.

Question : Briefly discuss the background to the rise of Neo-Nationalism?
Answer:
The rise and the popularity of the Neo-nationalists have also, to be located against the rise of religious revivalism.
One of the most peculiar trajectory taken by any movement was perhaps that taken by the social reform movements
of the early nineteenth Century. These reform movements e.g. Arya Samaj of Swami Dayanad and those that
perpetuated to the Village level, though started with the aim of countering colonial influences also fostered religious
orthodoxy and increasingly demarcated the communties. One such movement was that of Cow Protection with the
first Gaorakshini Sabha founded by Swami Dayanand in 1882. Initially, protection of cow was primarily aimed at the
beef eating English and also to a degree at the muslims Part of their aim was to petition government to stop cow
slaughter. Cow protection societies soon spranged up across UP, Bihar, etc. These efforts were furthered by the
decree of High Court of NWP in 1888 according to which, cow was not a religious object and thus its slaughter could
not be held as violation of the law.
The neo-nationalists had strong ties with India and they did not consider everything western as the best. They were
more critical of the English. Their ideas and notions were more in connection with the problems of the masses. They
were more reactionary than the moderates. They also encouraged the use of Swadeshi products for developing
Indian industries. The Swadeshi enterprise can be traced back to Gopalrao Deshmukh of Poona who advocated use of
indigenous products as early as 1849 and in Bengal it was encouraged through Hindu Mela or National Mela founded
by Nabagopal Mitra in 1867. Rabindranath Tagare called for self-reliance / atmasakti through Swadeshi and national
education. Lala Lajpat Rai, an Arya Samajist advocated Swadeshi cult in the Punjab.
But since the neo-nationalists glorified the ancient past, they bypassed the medieval period which had Muslim power
structure at the main seat of power. So India came to be identified as being Hindu. For this reason the neonationalists found very little support from the Muslims.
The main contribution of the neo-nationalists was in mobilizing the masses, educating them to participate in the
political struggle.
The categories of Moderate and Extremists emerged on the basis of methods used. The purpose of both groups was
same- not overthrow of the British Rule but obtaining a larger share of power for the people in the administration of
the country. The extremists made the demand for Swaraj OR Home-Rule OR Self-Government their main demand

and not just administrative reforms. The extremists wanted Indians to get a larger share in the administration of the
country and end of British exploitation.
BUT the methods used by the neo-nationalists were different.

Moderates pleaded to through petitions and writings to the British government; the extremists believed that

Indians should be mobilized and take an active part in putting their demands.

The technique of agitation was to be based on the pride in Indias glorious past and religious traditions.

Their techniques instead of petitions were boycott and Swadeshi, non-cooperation with the British government

and passive resistance. The extremists wanted Swadeshi and boycott to extend to the whole of the country rather
than just Bengal. They were seen as methods of political warfare. The moderates stressed the economic aspect of
Swadeshi and boycott only as a temporary method.
Miserable Plight of Indians Abroad
The anti-British feelings were further roused by the treatment meted out to Indians in the British colonies in Africa
particularly in South Africa where they were treated as sub-castes. They could not own and build houses in certain
localities exclusively reserved for Europeans. They were disenfranchised, and in 1896 the indentured emigrants in
Natal (South Africa) were asked either to renew their indenture for labourer pay a poll-tax amounting to half their
annual earnings. By 1898, three more disabling laws were made, and the life of the Indians was made very hard.
While the then Viceroy, Lord Elgin, consented to these laws being passed, the Secretary of State, Lord George
Hamilton, characterized India a nation of savages. The important official organs, like the Civil and Military Gazette
of Lahore, openly abused the Indians.
External Events
There was, during the nineteenth century, an all pervading belief in the military invincibility and technological
superiority of the European countries. The success of the British in India in suppressing the national Uprising of 1857
was largely attributed to the superiority. But some events took place on the international scene and these exploded
that myth. These were the defeat of Italy by Abysainia in 1896 and of Russia by Japan in 1905. These debacles
exercised an enlightening effect upon the Indian mind. The victory of the non-European nations was attributed to
their high sense of patriotism and spirit of sacrifice. The political leaders in India realized that if the Japanese and the
Abyssinians could defeat the Russians and the Italians respectively, the Indians could also liberate their land from the
scourge of British Imperialism.
The defeat of the forces of Imperial Russia by Japan served as a signal and the nationalist movement in India sprang
to life.
Reactionary Policies of Viceroy Curzon
Despite the, accumulating causes of despondency and irritation the main Congress body remained hopefully
cooperative It needed a Curzon, as super has put it to complete breach between a slow-moving Government and
politically conscious Indians. Lord Curzon was sent to India as Viceroy in 1898 with the firm object of strengthening
the foundations of the British rule. Two years after his stay in the country Curzon wrote: In my belief Congress is
tottering to its fall, and one of my great ambitions while in India is to assist it to a peaceful demise.
When he assumed charge of his office he began his policy of efficiency with the Calcutta Corporation Act (1899)
whereby the number of the elected members was reduced to half their original strength and the administration of the
Corporation was vested in General Committee. This measure was opposed by the Indian communities of Calcutta,
and twenty-eight members of the corporation resigned as a protest.
In order to solve the frontier problem Curzon formed a new Province known as the North West Frontier Province
consisting of the trans-Indus districts of Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu and Dera lsmail Khan, together with a few political
agencies. The new Province was inaugurated on King Edwards birthday in 1901, the old North-West Province being
re-christened The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The Punjab Government, thereafter, exercised no jurisdiction
west of the Indus except in Dera Ghazi Khan. It aroused a tempest of opposition among the older civil servants in the
Punjab. The open competitive tests for the provincial civil services were abolished, and his Police Commission
resulted in excluding the Indians from the Special Police Service. Secret circulars encouraging the employment, on a
more extensive scale, of Eurasians and Christians at the expense of the other Indian communities were sent. By a

resolution of 24 May 1904, Curzon made race, instead of merit, the test of qualification. This policy led even Lord
Morlay to observe that what India resented was racial domination, not so much political domination.
The administration of Curzon was also marked by a costly Durbar at Delhi, which bore striking resemblance to the
Imperial Assemblage of 1877, in that it followed upon other terrible famines of 1892, 1896-97 and 1899 and the
prevalence of plague in 1896. The increasing poverty and ever-growing suffering of the masses were attributed by
the educated Indians to the lack of British interests in minimizing the causes of distress.
In the teeth of universal opposition, the Official Secrets Act was passed in 1904 whereby the poser vested in the
Government by the earlier Official Secrets Acts of 1889 and 1890 were considerably widened., The earlier Acts
covered only military secrets, but the new Act covered secrets relating to civil matters also.
Even the newspaper criticism, likely to bring suspicion or contempt to Government, was not spared. This step was
condemned by the entire Press, Indian as well as Anglo-Indian protests from many quarters poured in; but the
Viceroy was implacable and the Gagging Act was passed.
Most of the animosity of Indian politicians against Curzon dated from the appearance of the Universities Bill that was
introduced in the Legislative Council towards the end of 1903. This Bill was designed apparently to reform the
educational system but actually to bring the university education under official control. Despite much public criticism
and consternation, the Bill was passed on 21 March 1904. The autonomy of the universities was almost destroyed,
and they were brought under rigid bureaucratic control by increasing the number of nominated members of the
Senates and the Syndicates. Curzon made no serious attempt to pacify the critics of Governments educational
policy.. He rather embittered the educated Indians further by his Convocation Address, in February 1905 to the
graduates of the Calcutta University. He spoke of the untruthfulness and wile of the East and denied that there
was such a thing as Indian nation. This statement raised the national temper to fever heat; the whole country was
shocked; and the Indian people, in the words of Annie Besant, smarting under the afflictions of plague and famine,
of broken pledges and repressive measures, rose as one man against the monstrous and studied insult flung with a
high magisterial air at everything that they loved and revered, at their religion, their literature, their social
institutions.
Nothing was resented by the Indians more than the Government resolution of 3 December 1903 announcing, that the
entire Chittagong division and the two districts of Dacca and Mymensing would be separated from Bengal and
incorporated with Assam. This partition, that took place on 20 July 1905, divided the homogeneous Bengali-speaking
people into two Provinces. Nationalism was very strong in Bengal, and it was probably to destroy the solidarity of the
Bengalis that Curzon decided to divide them. The motive behind the plan of partition was quite clear. It was
undoubtedly a master-plan to destroy the nascent nationalism in Bengal. The partition served as a signal for a most
extensive and intensive agitation.

Topic: Partition of Bengal (October 16, 1905) the plans, real motives and course
Question : Briefly discuss the partition of Bengal?
Answer:
The idea of partition of Bengal was quite an old one. Bengal as truly too big to be governed by a Lieutenant Governor
without the aid of an Executive Council. As early as 1868 territorial realignments were being discussed and such
considerations finally led to separation of Assam from Bengal in 1874, which was placed under a Chief Commissioner.
The province of Bengal now comprised of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Chhotanagpur. Then again in 1892-96 plans were
being made to transfer to Assam either whole of the Chittagong Division or Chittagong district. By making Assam
bigger in size its administration would have improved. Its small size meant that Assam did not have a separate cadre
of Indian Civil Service officers. And Bengal was too big and too populated to be governed effectively. In 1903 Sir
Andrew Fraser became the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal and suggested that along with the Chittagong Division two
districts of Dacca Division-Dacca and Mymensingh should also be transferred to Assam. Lord Curzon forwarded this
idea.
On December 3, 1903, Lord Curzon announced the scheme of territorial redistribution which came into effect on
October 16, 1905. The following were the territorial realignments:

The Plan: - The new province of Assam would consist of the state of Tripura, the Division of Chittagong, Dacca,
Mymensingh (Both were the districts of the Dacca Division). Later more of its districts- Bakharganj, Faridpur,
Rajshahi (excluding Darjeeling), Malda, Dinajpur, Bogra, and Jalpaiguri (along with the state of Cooch Bihar) were
added to Assam.
Bengal was to surrender not only these large eastern territories but also to cede to the Central Provinces the five
Hindi-speaking states.
On the western side, Bengal was offered Sambalpur and five minor Oriya speaking states from the Central Provinces.
Bengal with its capital Calcutta would be left with an area of 141,580 sq. miles and population of 54 million, of which
42 million would be Hindus and 9 million Muslims. After the realignment the Bengali Hindus would be in minority as
they would be outnumbered by the Hindi and Oriya speaking populace. This was one of the reasons that led to
opposition to the scheme of partition. Also, such a scheme would affect the socio-cultural solidarity of the Bengalispeaking people.
The new province was named Eastern Bengal and Assam with Dacca as its capital. Its population was of 31 million,
where 18 million would be Muslims and 12 million Hindus. Here the Bengali Hindus would be in minority. The
Partition clearly divided the regions on the basis of religious identities Hindu and Muslims.
The plans for the partition became public in December 1903 and were met by agitations almost overnight. Since
most of the initial agitations were by Bengali Hindus, Lord Curzon started courting the Muslims for garnering the
support for the partition. The increasing frustration of the Extremists with the Moderates who could not put up an
effective protest against the partition was responsible for bringing the neo-nationalists. They were more successful in
generating responses from the masses because of their composition and methodology.
But under Lord Curzon, the Partition of Bengal had political motives which were not related with the efficiency of the
administration.
Real Motives: In Lord Curzons own words- to split up and thereby weaken a solid body of opponents to the British
rule. Calcutta is the center from which Congress party is manipulated throughout the-whole of Bengal and indeed
whole of India. In short, the partition would have led to a rupture in the development of national and political
consciousness which till now was focused around Bengal and radiated outwards from there.
Why was the partition attractive for so many Muslims? The East of Bengal, famous for its hierarchy of tenure was
dominated by majority of Muslim poor peasants and rich upper class Hindu landholders. As the protests rose, the
colonial state in order to garner support started claiming that the partition would result in Muslim majority in East
Bengal and thus the partition was favourable for the Muslims. Also, Curzon gained the support of Nawab Salimulla of
Dacca (a leading zamindar) by promising him a large government loan on good-terms.
Course- The Announcement of- the partition - created mass unrest and agitation across Bengal. The neo-nationalists
were at the forefront of the agitation. Petitions, memoranda, speeches and public meetings were the main methods
of protesting. The moderates peaceful methods were no longer sufficient.
Zamindars, lawyers, merchants, students, common people, and even women came forward to protest the partition.
Bamkin Chandras song Vande Matram became the national song of Bengal most overnight. Some Muslims too
opposed the partition but majority of them, were later influenced by the idea of Muslim majority. In 1906 the Muslim
League was formed in Dacca where the Nawab Salimulla played an important role. The League worked for the
partition.
Parallel to this was the rise in the influence of the neo-nationalists Bipan Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh openly
promoted anti-partition movement.
When it became evident that peaceful methods of petition (first phase), and speeches, etc were be unable to prevent
the Partition, the need for more effective methods of protests was felt. The British interests had to be hurt in order to
bring to their notice the seriousness of the protest against the partition. This need led to BOYCOTT-CUM-SWADESHI
Movement which was started after a meeting in Calcutta on August 7, 1905 in reaction to the partition of Bengal. The
partition was carried out on 16 October 1905.

Topic: Rise of Extremism and its causes

Question : Briefly discuss the causes for the rise of Extremism ?

Answer :
The closing decade of the 19th century and early years of the 20th century witnessed the emergence of a new and
younger group within the Indian National Congress which was sharply critical of the ideology and methods of old
leadership The agitation following the partition of Bengal brought into prominence the rise of a new political ideology
which differed in some essential points-from that which had hitherto dominated the Indian National Congress The
proponents of these two distinct schools of thoughts came to be identified as the Moderates and the Extremists The
fundamental difference between the two parties related to both the political goals and the methods to be adopted to
achieve it As regards the political goal, the idea of the Congress as defined in 1905 was colonial form of selfgovernment, whereas that of the Extremists was absolute autonomy free from foreign control It was because of
ideological differences with Tilak and his group that the Moderate leaders were determined to keep Tilak and
Congressmen of his line of thinking out of all positions of power and responsibility in the Congress.
Among the causes and circumstances that helped in the growth of Extremism the following deserve special mention:
1. The efforts of the early nationalist leaders paved the way for the development of the next stage of the
nationalist movement. By their paintstaking studies and writings the early nationalist leaders had exposed
the true nature of British rule in India. They conclusively proved by elaborate statistical data that British rule
and its policies were responsible for the economic rule of India and her deepening poverty. Scholarly writings
of nationalist leaders like Ranades Essay in Indian Economics (1898), Dadabhai Naorojis Indian Poverty
and un-British Rule in India (1901), R.C. Dutts Economic History of India (1901) were the arsenals from
which the new leaders shot their arrows at the British rule in India.
2. The intellectual and emotional inspiration of the new leadership (Extremists) was Indian. They drew
inspiration from Indian spiritual heritage, they appealed to heroes of Indian History and hoped to revive the
glories of ancient India The writings of Bankim, Vivekananda and Swami Dayanand appealed to their
imagination.
3. The younger elements within the Congress were dis-satisfied with the achievements of the Congress during
the first 15-20 years and were disgusted with the cold and reactionary attitude of the Government. They
were strongly critical of the methods of peaceful and constitutional agitation, popularly nicknamed as 3 Ps Petition, Prayer and Protest.
4. The economic miseries of the closing years of the 19 century provided a congenial atmosphere for the growth
of extremism in Indian national activity. The terrible families of 1896-97 and 1899-1900 coupled with the
bubonic plague which broke out in Maharashtra took a heavy toll of life. These events revealed to the Indians
their plight of utter helplessness. Even recurring famines were attributed to the anti-national policy followed
by the Government.
5. Events outside India exercised a powerful influence on the younger generation The humiliating treatment
meted out to Indians in British colonies, especially in South Africa, created anti-British feelings. Further,
nationalist movements in Egypt, Turkey and Russia gave Indians new hopes and new aspirations. Indian
nationalists gained more confidence and drew inspiration from Abyssinias repulsion of the Italian army
(1896) and Japans thumping victory over Russia (1905).
6. Curzons seven-year rule in India which was full of missions, omissions and commissions created a sharp
reaction in the Indian mind.
7. The worst and most-hated aspect of Curzons administration was the partition of Bengal into two provinces of
Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905. The partition brought in Bengali opposition and protests from
the Indian National Congress (in 1904) showed the contemptuous disregard Curzon and the Home authorities
had for Indian public opinion.

Topic: Revolutionary Activities in Maharashtra

Question : Give an account of the revolution-ary movement in Maharashtra?
Answer :

Vasudeo Balwant Phadke was another great revolutionary. He was born on November 4, 1845, in Maharashtra.
He was profoundly influenced by the two speeches of Ranade on the subject of Swadeshi Trade. He began to
reflect on how to save his country from economic exploitation by Britain. He was hot with rage and hatred
against the white masters who drew fat salaries at the expense of starving Indians. The grave famine that broke
out in Poona in 1876 resulted in thousands of casualties. Instead of organising relief work, the Government
imposed upon the people a heavier burden of taxes. In protest against the callous in-difference of the
Government, Phadke resigned his job in the Finance Commissariat at Poona and undertook a tour of
Maharashtra. He decided to organise the youth of Maharashtra to strike at the root of alien power in India. He
began to awaken the nation by his speeches and writings. He also used to take out copies of his addresses and
distribute them amongst the educated young men. He also raised a powerful organisation of Ramoshis and set
about collecting arms and ammunition. He needed money and he soon realised that begging could not bring the
required amount. He decided to extort it by loot and plunder. He plundered the rich, homes of moneylenders to
get a part of their wealth for purchasing arms. In the seven districts of Maharashtra he created a terror for some
time. Like Shivaji he made his home in the hills of Sahyadri ranges. The English officers were in mortal fear of
him.
The Government became panicky. It announced a handsome reward for his arrest. In 1878, Phadke was arrested
and his trial commence before the Sessions Court. So great was the terror of the police in those days that no
pleader dared defend a revolutionary. Fortunately Sri Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi offered his services as Phadkes
defence counsel. Vasudeo was sentenced to lifes imprisonment.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkars Freedom-struggle in India and London

Vinayak Savarkar, the first champion of Hindu Nationhood in modern times, was born in 1823. His elder brother
Ganesh was four years senior to him, while Narayan was five years younger then him. Vinayak was a .young boy
when Chapekar was hanged. The thrilling episode of Chapekars samartyrdom impressed him so proudly that he
swore before his family deity: I will raise the banner of an armed revolution to achieve the freedom of my
Motherland till I did - fighting the enemy. I will spare no breath in performing this sacred pledge. In 1900 he
started an association which was called Mitra-Mela. In 1904 he changed the name of his Friends Club intoAbhinava Bharat.
The partition of Bengal in 1905 gave birth to the double movement of Swadeshi and boycott. The movement had
the blessings of Sri Tilak. Savarkar, being an ardent admirer of Tilak, also staged a bonfire of English clothes in
Poona. Bonfire of foreign goods in public places created a commotion in the country. The attention of the
authorities was drawn to the activities of Savarkar who had played a leading role in conducting Swadeshi
movement in Maharashtra. The Bombay University debarred him from taking university examination for one
year. With the recommendation of Tilak, Savarkar secured, the Shivaji scholarship sponsored by Shyamji Verma
and he proceeded to England for the study of law.
Savarkar and Lala Hardayal, the twin angels of revolution, created a spirited atmosphere in the Indian circles in
England, and soon India House became a busy cell of revolutionary activity. The tunes of Vande Mataram began
to resound in the city of London and annoy the British Government. By the end of 1906, Savarkar completed his
book Joseph Mazzini - Biography and Politics It was published in India and had a quick response.
In 1907, the British Government decided to celebrate the 50-th year of the suppression of uprising in 1857. As a
protest against it Vir Savarkar planned to arrange a grand festival in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of
the First War of Independence on May 8, 1908, at India House, On this occasion he revealed the true nature of
the great uprising of 1857 which hitherto was abused as a Sepoy Mutiny. He also wrote a book in this connection
entitled Indian war of Independence. This book was originally written in Marathi and translated into English
later on. When the British Government got the scent of this book, it made no delay in prescribing it. AbhinaavaBharat, the organisation started by Savarkar in India, did admirable work in Europe. Lala Hardayal, Shyamji
Verma, Savarkar and others went to France, Germany and Russia as the emissaries of Indias freedom. This
organisation also published a paper Vande Mataram from Paris to air Indias demand for freedom.

While Vir Savarkar was enthusing Indian hearts in Europe, his elder brother Ganesh was doing the same in India.
He wrote several poems exhalting the fire of patriotism. At the instigation of Sir Curzon Willie, Mr. Jackson, the
Collector of Nasik, arrested Ganesh on the mere excuse of possessing, seditious poems, and spreading hatred
against the British rule. For this petty and ungrounded suspicion Ganesh was sentenced to life imprisonment and
transportation on June 8, 1908. When Savarkar received this news in London, he resolve to take revenge. The
members of Abinava-Bhart took a unanimous decision-to murder Mr. Jackson and Curzon Willie. The young man
who took up himself the dangerous task of killing Curzon Willie was Mdan Lal Dhingra.
Curzon Willie was the person who dictated the British policies concerning India. He had also laid a ring of spies
round, the India House to watch the activities of Indian students. He had a hand in the deportation of Ganesh
Savarkar. So at the instance of Savarkar, Sir Curzon Willie was shot dead on July 1, 1909, by Madan Lal Dhingra.
Dhingra was presented before the court on July 2, 1909 and was sentenced to death and hanged on August 16,
1909.

Neo-Nationalism in Punjab
The neo-nationalist mobilization in the Punjab grew out of problems created by the frequent famines, increase in
the burden caused by land revenues and taxes imposed on irrigation. Bharat Mata Society was found in 1904 by
J.M. Chaterji in Saharanpur. Other leaders- Lala Hardayal, Ajit Singh, Amba Prasad, Lala Lajpat Rai. Further
impetus was given when Ghadar Party was established in USA with Punjab becoming its hub February 21, 1915
was infact fixed as the date for an armed revolt by the Ghadarites in the Punjab. But the Government came to
know about the plot and many of the Ghadarites were detained while traveling back to India.

Topic: Montague-Chelmsford Reforms and Its Provisions and Limitations

Question : Briefly discuss the Montague - Chelmsford reforms?
Answer:
Edwin Montague became the Secretary of the State in 1917. Lord Chelmsford became the Viceroy in 1916. He
realized the urgency in granting some political concessions to Indians if only to act as speed breaker to the rising
political discontent amongst the Indians.
Background- Rising nationalism; Growing influence of the Home Rule Leagues, The First World War and the growth of
revolutionary activities all these force the British Government to take some conciliatory measures towards meeting
the demands of the Indian nationalists.
On July 12, 1917, Montague announced before the House of Common that the nature of the system by which India
was governed was too anti-diluvian to be effective and that the Indians should be giving avenues for participating in
the governance of their country in both, Councils and Executive.
Montague on August 20, 1917 announced-before the British Cabinet that the British should take measures for
increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development, of selfgoverning institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral
part of the British Empire. This was hailed as the historic pronouncement and August Declaration. Indians mainly
the moderates hailed it as the Magna Carta of India.
Montague visited India in November 1917 to ascertain views of different politicalised groups and a report was
prepared in 1918 on the basis of which the Government India Act of -1919 was announced.

Main Provisions

Set up dyarchy or Double-Government in Provinces. The reserved departments which had areas related with
law enforcements justice, police and revenue were under the control of the Executive Council which was
responsible to the Government of India and the Parliament. The transferred department included relatively
inconsequential areas like education, public health, public works, etc were given to Indian ministers who were
responsible to provincial Legislative Councils.

The Governor was to preside over both the wings-.of the Executive and he could veto on the suggestions and
steps taken by the Indian Ministers.

A second Indian was to be added to the Governor-Generals Executive Council which was responsible to the
Parliament.

Set up a bicameral System at Centre. The Legislature at the Centre was to have two houses. The Lower
House or Legislative Assembly with 100 elected and 44 nominated members for a period of 5 years. The
Upper House or the Legislative Council with 33 elected and 27 nominated members.

The Central Executive continued to have more powers and was responsible only to the British Parliament. The
Central Legislature though had powers but it had no control over the Central Executive.

Separate electorates were extended Sikhs in the Punjab and non-Brahmins in the South.

Limitations

The control of the Governor-General over the finances was intact.

In spite of the extension of the powers of the Legislature no bill could be passed without the consent of the
Governor-General and he could enact a Bill without the consent of the Legislature.

While the broadening of the electorate to five and a half million was-a positive .step majority of the new
electorate were illiterate to know the political workings of the Imperial Legislature.

The Montgue-Chelmsford Report belied the expectations of the Indian nationalists and it fell far short of their
demands and expectations. Two of its most serious defects were, that first the legislature had virtually no control
over the Governor-General and his Executive Council and secondly the system of dyarchy in the provinces was very
defective. This Act virtually threw the Moderates in the Congress into the background, because they not only
welcomed the Act, but were also keen on co-operating with the Government in implementing the Act. But the
Extremists were thoroughly disappointed with the Act and favoured its total rejection.
This difference of opinion ultimately led to the final decline of the Moderate. In a special session of the INC held in
Bombay (August 1918) the Congress reiterated the demand for self government and condemned the Montague
Chelmsford Reforms as inadequate disappointing and unsatisfactory. The Moderate leaders, in view of the known
views of the Extremists, boycotted the Congress session. Most of the Moderates leaving the Congress later founded
the Indian Liberal Federation and came to be known as Liberals. Under the rising tide of nationalism, the gradual
decline of the Moderates was in any case inevitable.

Topic: Methods of Gandhi and Reasons for His Popularity

Question : Give a brief description of Methods of Gandhi and reasons for his popularity ?
Answer:
It is not overtly difficult to imagine the British- officials and non-officials along with many Indians- cringe with
apprehension and foreboding every time Gandhi took up a cause and set out to deal with it. Curiously enough, he
managed to do this, and guided and urged Indians towards freedom through peaceful means Satyagraha. The most
potent legacy of Gandhi to India and also to the world is the technique of Satyagraha of which truth, ahimsa, and
self-suffering are integral tools. However, these tools are not meant to be confined to political fight but to be lived by
Gandhi did not refute the external influences in the formation of his ideas and thoughts, yet the manner in which
they were executed and expanded, bears his particular hallmark.
Satyagraha developed as passive resistance during his protest against the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance in
1906, South Africa. But soon he adopted the term Satyagraha. Satya is derived from the Sanskrit roots sat that
means truth, and agraha, which means grasp. In 1921, Gandhi announced that it literally meant holding on to
truth and therefore truth-force or soul-force. It intended to replace methods of violence with a movement based
entirely upon truth. According to Joan Bondurant, it is basically an ethic-principle, the essence of which is a social
technique of action. It involved peaceful violation of specific laws mass courting of arrests, nartals, and marches. It
also gave scope for negotiations and compromises which were more than often not clearly understood by the people
themselves.

There is an essential difference between Satyagraha and passive resistance. Passive resistance either suggests lack
of capacity to employ violence or tends to be a preliminary step to violence. It can also be employed side by side
with violence. The extent of sacrifice in passive resistance is also limited. Satyagraha on the other hand, comprising
of three main elements - truth, ahimsa, and self-sacrifice, constitutes a larger conception. Countering claims that this
was cowardice, Gandhi claimed Satyagraha as the weapon of the strong. This claim is based on his belief that it is
easier to injure other than ones own body. However, an essential difference was made between cowardice and nonviolent conduct. Given a choice between violence and cowardice, Gandhi admitted that he would prefer violence, as
cowardice is always demoralizing and non-violence is not. In fact, he opined that ...the votary of non-violence has to
cultivate the capacity for the, sacrifice of the highest order to be free from fear... He who has not overcome all fear
cannot practice ahimsa to perfection (Harijan 1940). Essential to understanding the technique of Satyagraha is the
role and place of its three elements - Truth, ahimsa, and self-sacrifice, and their inter connectedness.
In short, the connection between the three elements of satyagraha ran as follows. Every form of protest or search is
to be done by means of truth, nonviolence and self-suffering. The protester is not to fight for what he believed in
with hate, dislike or violence. It was the responsibility of the fighter to win over the opponent by showing him the
latters wrong doings and mode of operation was through love and out of a sense of responsibility (on behalf of the
satyagrahi) The test of love is tapasya and tapasya means self-suffering (YI 1922). Gandhi was against submission
to humiliation and opined that in every case a satyagrahi must refuse to do that which his conscience forbids him to
do and must do all to preserve his dignity even at the cost of his life. According to Gandhi, problems and issues can
be resolved through reason and suffering, which can only be strengthened by the eyes of understanding.
Reasons for Gandhis popularity- According to Ravinder Kumar Gandhis charisma and his us of religion account for a
part of the wide response he generated. He opines that an essential reason for Gandhi success lay in the fact that he
was astute enough to know and gauge where the social loyalties of the people lay and in the manner in which these
loyalties could be evoked. These loyalties lay in religion, caste and communities rather than class. Religion was the
main arena of the loyalty and this belief is evident from Gandhis appeal to the Muslims to join him by bringing into
the Indian sphere the issue of distant Turkey during the Khilafat movement.
Sumit Sarkar opines that the non-violent methods and a carefully controlled mass participation found acceptance
amongst the business groups and locally well-off sections of the peasantry as they all would have suffered loss on
account of a uncontrolled and violent mass participation. Gandhis criticism of everything related with modern
industrial civilization as outlined in Hind Swaraj while unrealistic found resonance in the people who had suffered on
account of the modernizing forces under the colonial rule. Thus, his programmes of Khadi, village reconstruction and
Harijan welfare promised improvement however limited they might be.
The role of rumours also cannot be denied in spreading the popularity of Gandhi in a predominantly illiterate society
which was also undergoing a period of suffering and tensions. Gandhi was ascribed with powers, often superhuman,
and a Messianic personality was bestowed upon him by the oppressed. Gandhis strong religious tendencies .and the
manner in which he wove it in his message related with upliftment, village reconstruction, and condition of the
country among others was understood by the people. His use of plain language made him more approachable and
identifiable to the people. Moreover, Gandhi picked on issues and examples which million of Indians either felt
acutely about or could easily identify. For example, cow while was an important religious symbol was also
economically central to the peasants. Hence the various remonstrations on abuse and off hand care of the cows were
heard by the people. During the Khilafat Movement, Gandhi realized the importance of the Caliphate as an Islamic
symbol for the Indian Muslims and he sought to utilize it for forging Hindu-Muslim unity. Similarly, Gandhi with his
knowledge understood the grievances of the peasants with the Salt Laws one chose to start the Civil Disobedience
Movement by breaking the Salt Laws and gained mass participation in the process. In addition, Gandhis style of
dressing, travelling by third class, eating simple meals, spinning, etc all added to his appeal. Yet on the other hand,
his constant use of religion especially Hinduism, served to cause discomfort amongst the Muslims The need to the
peasants to be saved by God-like figure might sound elitist but remains an undeniable fact during the national
movement this Godhead was the Mahatma Gandhi. And this deep seeded belief also accounts for the continued
popularity of Gandhi in spite of repeated failures of various movements started by him.

Topic: The Left Movement

Question : Give a brief description of the Left Movement in India?

Answer :
The emergence and growth of the leftist movement was the result of a combination of factors development of Indian
industries the economic crunch caused by the two World Wars and the success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
The emergence of Indian Communism out of the shortcoming of the mainstream national movement is quite
undeniable. It was borne Out of mostly of peasant and labour activists, Non-Cooperators, Khilafatists and
revolutionaries whose aspirations and participation in the national movement remained either unfulfilled or
insufficient. They sought alternate roads for their demands and some joined the Left Movement.
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The founder of the Indian communism was Naren Bhattacharki (alias Manabendra Mikhail Nath Roy), a Yugantar
revolutionary. After meeting the Bolshevik Mikhail Borodin in Mexico in 1919 and helping in the establishment of a
Communist Party, Roy attended the second Congress of Communist International in Russia in 1920. Hereafter
ensued a much celebrated dialogue between Naren Bhattacharki and Lenin on the strategy of Communists in the
colonial world. He then founded the Communist Party of India in Tashkend in October 1920. Various formal
Communist bodies were formed in the period 1921-25 in different parts of the country. Satyabhakta organised an AllIndia Conference of the communists at Kanpur in December 1925. The convening of this Conference under the
President-ship of Singaravelu Chettiar of Madras is considered as the formal beginnings of Indian Communism.
Between 1992 and 1927 a number of organisations cropped up, essentially to provide legal cover to workers and
peasants. These included Labour Swaraj Party of Bengal, Congress Labour Party in Bombay, Kirti Kishan Party in the
Punjab and Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan in Madras. Ganbani, Mehnatkash, Kranti and Krantikari were some of the
popular journals and newpapers.
With the agreement of supporting the national movement as encouraged by Lenin, the Communist Party of India
(CPI) asked its members to join the ranks of the Congress and to form a strong Left wing within it.
The labour movement was not far behind in its development. In the first half of 1920 there were approximately 200
labour strikes. Under the Presidentship of Lala Lajpat Rai All-India Trade Union Congress held its first session in
October in Bombay. Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, and Subhas Chandra Bose were also Left inclined and brought
Left-wing tint in Congress. The left influences was very, strongly visible in the second, phase of revolutionary
terrorism between 1922 and 1928. In December 1928, a Conference of different labour-kisan parties was called forth
and they merged into All-India Workers and Peasants Party (WPP). Its aim was to work within the Congress and
infuse in it a more radical orientation. Their programme comprised abolition of zamindari and redistribution of land,
development of the peasants and workers movement and raising the general standard of the masses. Their presence
in the Congress gave the Communists a strong entre point. However, the Government, ever paranoid of socialism,
grew alarmed at the increase in Left activities and subsequently arrested 32 political and trade union leaders in
March 1929 under Meerut Conspiracy Case which dragged on for three odd years. These were defended by
Jawaharlal Nehru, M. A. Ansari and M. C. Chagla. 27 of the accused were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment while
Muzzafar Ahmed was given life imprisonment.
In 1928 with the adoption, in CPI meet at Calcutta in 1929, of the Comintern change of policy, the Congress was
declared as the class party of the, bourgeoisie and all connections with it were broken. There was another shift when
in 1934, the Communists were asked to join back the national movements against imperialism. Many Communists
joined the leadership of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP). CSP was formed in 1934 in Pune under the chairmanship
of Narendra Dev with the aim of consolidating Leftist proposals after gaining independence. It was geared towards
moulding Congress along socialist lines. Nehru and Bose supported CSP from outside. However, CSP could not really
gain much headway. Neither could it leave Congress that this point in time as it would have weakened the CSP.
Gradually, within Congress there emerged two camps on account of the rowing socialist influence in INC. Congress
got divided along Leftist and Rightist predilections. The radical leaders like G. B. Pant, P. D. Tandon and Sri
Prakash joined CSP and harped on the local Congress executives to implement radical measures like removal of

middlemen; cancellation of debts of peasants owed to the landlords and regulation of land tax. This was criticized by
the right wing leaders like Patel.
The Cabinet Mission Plan was rejected by the CSP and it boycotted the Constituent Assembly. CSP dropped Congress
from its nomenclature in February-March 1947 and threw its door open to non-Congress members. Its connections
with the Congress were formally severed in 1948 after Patels declaration that all political parties formed within
Congress were outlawed. Given the option to join or opt out, the Socialist Party chose the latter. However, socialist
influence was carried on by Nehru who did not agree with forming a separate organisation or breaking away from
Congress and severing the ties with Gandhi and right wing nationalists.

Topic: The Partition politics

Question : Give an account of india's Partition politics?
The Quit India Movement temporality removed the Congress from the field of constitutional politics. The leaders,
kept in confinement, lost touch with the workers who were demoralised. This was an important factor in
strengthening the Muslim League in Bengal, Sind and Assam. In Bengal and Sind, Muslim League Ministries were
formed. In Assam a pro-Muslim League Ministry came into office. In the provinces under Governors rule, the
administration was anti- Congress and pro-Muslim League.
Jinnah described the Quit India Movement as a most dangerous mass movement intended to force Congress
demands at the point of the bayonet, which, if conceded would mean the sacrifice of all other interests, particularly
those of Muslims in India. Jinnah and provincial Muslim Leagues concentrated on using their influence to keep
Muslims away from the Movement. During this period, when all Congress leaders were behind the bars in connection
with the Quit India Movement, the rapid advance of Muslim League was the most striking political development of the
closing years of the Second World War. Simultaneously, Jinnah centralised the authority of the League in his own
person.

Topic: Towards Partition and Independence

Question : Briefly discuss the Wavells plan and Shimla Conference.
Answer:
Lord Wavells succeeded Lord Linlithgow as Governor General in October 1943, when the people were in the grip of a
grave economic crisis : scarcity of essential commodities, increasing cost of living and Great Famine in Bengal.
Politically the country was much more divided than it was when Linlithgow had taken charge (April 1936). The history
of his long Viceroyalty was a cumbersome record of frustration and futility. Linlithgow bequeathed to his successor
an unenviable legacy.
By the middle of 1945, the War was approaching its end, but was still continuing in the East against Japan. To break
the political deadlock in India, since the resignation of the Congress ministries in 1939, Wavell announced a new
plan, through a Radio Broadcast. Main features of the Wavell Plan were:
1. to ease the political situation and to advance India towards her goal of self-government,
2. to set up a new Executive Council which would be entirely Indian except for the Viceroy and the Commanderin-chief,
3. caste Hindus and Muslims would have equal representation in the executive council,
4. the executive council would work like a provisional national government,
5.

(v) the new government would work under the Government of India Act, 1935

6. (vi) the formation of interim government would in no way be prejudiced to the framing of a new constitution
at some later stage by the Indians themselves,
7. (vii) settlement of the communal issue which is the main stumbling block in the way of advance,
8. (viii) the functions of the new executive council could be:
9. (a to prosecute the war,
10. (b) to carry on the government of India, and

11. (c) to consider the mean by which a new permanent constitution could be agreed upon and a long term
solution could be facilitated,
12. (ix) the portfolio of the member of external affairs which the Viceroy was holding would be transferred to an
Indian member.

Simla Conference
To discuss the above Plan Viceroy Lord Wavell convened a conference of various political and party leaders in Simla.
The Conference assembled at Simla on 25 June 1945. There were 21 invitees including Abul Kalam Azad (Congress
President), Jinnah, leaders of the Sikhs, Europeans and the Scheduled Castes, as also some Premiers or ex-Premiers
of provinces. The Hindu Mahasabha was not invited. Gandhi did not attend the Conference, but he remained at Simla
during the discussion and was available for consultation by the Congress leaders.
The deliberations of the Conference were held under the presidentship of the Viceroy. There was general agreement
on. three points : (1) prosecution of war against Japan (Germany had already surrendered); (2) interim
administration of British India by an Executive Council consisting of men of influence and ability recommend by the
conference of all portfolio in the Executive Council, except the War portfolio which would be held by the Commanderin-Chief.. But differences on two points remained unresolved; (1) composition of the Executive Council; (2) the
Viceroys veto which the Congress wanted to be abolished, but the Muslim League wanted to be retained. The
Congress submitted a list which included two Caste Hindus, one Muslim, one Parsi and one Indian Christian. This
proved, if proof were needed, that the Congress was a truly national oranization. The Premier of the Punjab, Khizr
Hyat Khan, claimed a seat for a Punjabi Muslim representing the Unionist Party which was in power in that province.
Jinnah did not submit any list, but he objected to the inclusion of any non-League Muslim in the Executive Council.
Wavell himself prepared a list which gave the Muslims, who constituted only about 25 per cent of the total population
of India, 6 representatives in an Executive Council of 14. This arrangement was rejected by the Congress as also by
Jinnah. Moreover, Jinnah demanded, in addition to the retention of the Viceroys veto, some other safeguards for the
Muslim Members of the Executive. Council, e.g.; a provision requiring a clear two-thirds majority in case of proposals
objected to by the Muslim Members all of whom would be his nominees.
Wavell dropped the Plan; the deadlock continued. The Congress complained that he capitulated to Jinnah, for the
Viceroy should have taken a forward step as the Congress had agreed to join the Executive Council even though the
Muslim League had decided to keep out. The Congress, which claimed to represent all the communities and the
entire nation, could not have accepted these intrasigent demands of the League. The failure of the Simla Conference
gave a veto power to the League that whatever is not acceptable to the League could not be implemented. It was
now clear that the Muslims League could make or mar the fortunes of the Muslims, as the British Government gave it
the power to veto any constitutional proposal which was not to its liking. No Muslim outside had, therefore, any
chance of a political career in future.

1945-46 Elections and the Communal Divide

There was a remarkable change in the political situation in the second half of 1945. At the international level, Nazi
Germany had been defeated and destroyed. Japan had surrendered after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in August 1945. In general elections held in England July 1945, Churchils Conservative Party was defeated
and the Labour Party came into power in England with Attlee as the new Prime Minister and Sir Pethick Lawrence as
the new Secretary of State. Both were anxious to get Britain out of India, as rapidly as possible. The Labour Party
professed radical and socialist principles and had supported Indias aspirations for self-government. After the War,
Britains internal condition and world position had vastly deteriorated. Its industry was chaotic, foreign trade
dwindled; Britain was on the brink of bankruptcy. The world situation was now becoming serious.
It was in this background that Viceroy Lord Wavell announced general elections in the winter of 1945-46. It were
these elections which sealed the fate of the communities. It was here that religion was brought to the forefront.
Muslims were asked to vote for the League because a vote for League and Pakistan was a vote for Islam. In 1937
the League won only 25 per cent of Muslim seats, in 1946 it captured almost 90 percent. The most significant feature
of these elections was Muslim communal voting in sharp contrast to the anti-British unity of the earlier days. The

league held a convention of Muslims legislators in April 1946 where Jinnah declared that there could be no
compromise on the issue of Pakistan as a fully sovereign state and warned the British government that if they were
going to sell 100 million Muslims for some illusionary hope, it would be the greatest tragedy in the history of Great
Britain.

Topic: The States Reorganisation Commission (1953)

Question : Write a short notes on the States Reorganisation Commission 1953.
Answer:
The States Reorganisation Commission was headed by Mr. Fazl Ali and its two other members were Pandit
Hridayanath Kunzuru and Sardar K.M. Panikar. The Commission submitted its report to the government of India on
September 30, 1955. Some of the important recommendations of the Commission were;
1. The Indian Union was to consist of 16 States as against the existing 27 and three centrally and ministered
territories.
2. Special safeguards were recommended for linguistic minorities.
3. In the interests of national unity and good administration, the Commissionrecommended the reconstitution
of certain All India Services. It further recommended that at least 50 per cent of the new entrants to the All
India Services and at least one third of the number of Judges in a High Court should consist of persons
recruited from outside that State so that, administration might inspire confidence and help in arresting
parochial trends.
4. The Commission put emphasis on the need for encouraging the study of Indian languages other than Hindi
but, for some time to come, English continue to occupy an important place in the universities and institutions
of higher learning.
The Commission rejected the demand for the creation of a Punjabi Speaking State (Punjabi Suba) because the
creation of such a state will solve neither the language nor the communal problem.
The State Reorganisation Act was passed by Parliament in 1956 to give, effect to these recommendations. It
provided for fourteen States and six Union Territory. But two of the most sensitive area, Bombay and Punjab, were
not reorganised on linguistic basis. The demands for separate tribal states, including Jharkhand and Nagaland, were
also by passed.
To express resentment against the Commissions report with regard to Maharashtra there was fierce rioting and
violence under the auspices of two linguistically based organisations, namely, the Samyukta Maharashtra Ekikaran
Samiti and the Maha Gujarat Parishad. After three years of trouble, ultimately in 1960, the demands for
reorganisation were accepted and Maharashtra and Gujarat were constituted as separate linguistic states with
Bombay as part of Maharashtra.
The creation of Nagaland as a separate state had its own peculiarities. The Naga tribes along the Assam-Burma
border had never been fully controlled by the British and the problem was further complicated on account of the
large scale conversion of the Naga tribes to Christianity by American Baptist missionaries. There was a-long
entrenched rebellion led by the Naga leader A.Z. Phizo, but the traditional leadership of the Naga tribes under the
Naga Peoples Convention wanted a settlement within the Indian Union. Ultimately in 1963, Nagaland was created
as a separate State. In Punjab, at the time of partition, the Akali Dal had long demanded a Sikh State, if not an
independent Khalistan. The demand for the Punjabi Suba was voiced not in communal but linguistic terms. However,
strictly speaking, there was no language problem in Punjab. But the Akali Dal, encouraged by the bifurcation of
Bombay in 1960 began agitation for the Punjabi Suba. The agitation continued without any response from the
Government. Then in 1966, the State was divided into two parts, Punjab and Haryana the hilly areas of Punjab were
added to Himachal Pradesh, which itself was constituted as an independent state on January 25, 1971.
The map of India has undergone further changes since 1966. In 1975, there was an addition to the territorial
boundaries of India in the form of the State of Sikkim, which was till then a protectorate of India. Radical changes
have been made in the map of North-Eastern region of India which now has 7 States. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh

and Goa, Daman & Diu have been elevated to statehood and at present the Union of India consists of 28 States and
7 Union Territories.

Topic: Why Congress Accepted the Partition of India

Question : Why congress accepted the partition of India?
Answer : Change in Congress Stand- By the time Attlee made the declaration On February 20, 1946, which clearly
hinted at the partition, the Congress barely uttered any protest. Infact, the Working Committee of the Congress at its
meeting on March 8, 1946, it announced that the Constitution thus framed by the Constituent Assembly would apply
only to those areas which accept it. This signified acceptance of the partition plan.

SO WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT THIS CHANGE?

Congress had been fighting for a longtime. Most of the movements that were launched had failed and produced very
little changes. The tussles with the British did lead to concessions which time and again proved to be of no real value.
After the failure of the Quit India Movement, the Congress had ceased to be a revolutionary organisation. After the
release of Congress leaders from prison in 1945 prospects of peaceful transfer of power looked attractive. As Pyarelal
who was Gandhis Secretary and biographer opines by 1947 the Congress front- men were old and past the prime of
their lives and when the broad ideal they had fought for so long was within the reach they capitulated lest it was
taken away again. None had the energy left to drag the struggle for another couple of years and court another round
of imprisonment. In addition, during the course of the interim Government the Congress first hand experienced the
tactics of sabotage used the Muslim League members of the Interim Government. The Muslim League at every turn
blocked the functioning of the Government in spite of the Congress attempts at reconciliation. Against this
background the June 3rd Plan proved to be a blessing in disguise as it provided a way whereby the Congress need
not any longer to construct ways for cooperating with the Muslim League. In addition, a strong Central Government
was possible after the separation of the Muslim-majority areas and such a strong Government could then set out to
forge development of the Country. Vallabhbhai Patel consented to the separation on such ground. Nehru too
consented gradually but only after having rounds of serious talks with Lord Mountbatten.
Gandhis position on partition was far from uniform. It changed several times. From the beginning Gandhi was
against the two-nation theory and hence anti-partition. Over the years however, Gandhi often wavered in his
opinion on the partition. In 1942 an article by Gandhi in Harijan stated if the majority of the Muslims want partition
then it must be done. In point of fact Gandhi during Gandhi-Jinnah talks of 1944 conducted negotiations with Jinnah
on such an acceptance. However, once Attlee declared the possibility of partition and before meeting with Lord
Mountbatten, Gandhi on March 3, 1947 told Azad if the Congress wishes to accept partition it will be over my dead
body. So long as I am alive, I will never agree to the partition of India. Nor will I, if I can help it, allow Congress to
accept it. Azad is of the opinion that Gandhi reversed his position after meeting with Lord Mountbatten. Vallabhbhai
Patel too probably influenced Gandhi Thus when on June 14, 1947 very few members in All India Congress
Committee were in the favour of the partition Gandhi actually spoke about the necessity of accepting the partition in
spite of its implications.
Jinnah, on the other hand, was not in the favour of partition of Bengal and Punjab and adding the seceding territories
to Pakistan. Such a division would have ruptured the political, social and economic set-up that had been built in over
the century. He was in the favour of wholesale transfer of the two provinces to Pakistan. The problem of minorities
living in the thus created Pakistan and India. Jinnah suggested could be done over time through exchange of
population. The Congress was against, this wholesale transfer though it agreed on the creation of Pakistan. Congress
wanted the option to decide which Dominion to join be given to the non-Muslims in the Punjab and Bengal, living in
contiguous to Hindustan and forming a majority of population in these areas. However, Mountbatten did not give
Jinnah any chance for further negotiations and left Jinnah with no option but to accept Pakistan on such a division. In
1913-1937 Jinnah in point of fact wanted a common Congress-League programme.
What was this idea of Pakistan? It is important to trace the beginning of the nationof Pakistan as it would help in
understanding the realization of the partition of India. It is equally important to trace the beginnings of the rupture of
Hindu-Muslim community that made possible such a division. Did Hindu-Muslim form two separate nations whose

interests and differences could not be reconciled? The, answers to such questions can shed light to the partition.
Hindus and Muslims had lived side-by-side for many centuries. Though some contestation between the two erupted
time-to-time but solidification of religious identities, was peculiar to the colonial rule. The colonial rule always
distinguished between the two communities and this distinction was observed in Government statistics- census,
cataloging and so on, and also in terms of job and patronage. The two communities gradually felt and realized these
distinctions. The census taxonomy fostered the concept of religion as a community.
However, the two communities were in themselves not yet cohesive and had divergent interests. In the United
Provinces, the Muslims constituted a minority while in the Punjab they were in a majority of 51%. The census of
1872 gave a big surprise when it was assessed that Muslims formed 49.2% of the population in Bengal. There was
also an absence of common interests between Muslims of different provinces and other barriers such as sectarian,
linguistic and economic. Even within a region Muslims were divided along several matters. Within Bengal few Muslims
were large landed magnets while majority of them were poor peasants. But the colonial Government overlooked such
differentiations, clubbing all Muslims together, seeing them as unified, cohesive and segregated from the Hindus.
Gradually, this homogenization came to be accepted by the population. And this had the potential of organizing the
Muslim community later. The colonial Government utilized religious category in all spheres- education, jobs, and
representation in local self-governing bodies and so on.
It was how ever undeniable that Muslims across the country lacked a sizeable educated class. They had resisted
western education. And this meant that fewer Muslims were employed in Government services. In Bengal in 1871
Muslim employed in Government jobs were 5.9% while Hindus 41%.
Throughout the nineteenth century due to the series of social reforms both the Hindus and the Muslims community
identities were being built up. There was growth of national consciousness and increasing political activism. In 1885
Indian National Congress was founded. The main stream nationalism led by Congress had some inherent
contradictions which could not effectively fight communalization of religious communities. The presence of Hindu
Mahasabha political leaders has already been mentioned. Gradually as Indian National Congress grew in its function
in the course of the national movement, its claims as representing common interests were challenged by various
section of the Indian society. Muslims were the first section to challenge such claims of the Congress. Sir Sayed
Ahmed Khan challenged the claims of Congress as representing common interests and claimed that it representative
of Hindu majority.
Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan was not a separatist but he had a different vision of nation. The nation of his view was a
federation of communities having entitlement to different kinds of political rights subject to their ancestry and
political importance. To this end given the nature of previous political power enjoyed by the Muslims, they had a
special place in the new cosmopolitan British Empire.
In 1906 All India Muslim League was formed with the blessings of the colonial Government to counter the voice of
the Congress during the partition of Bengal. This marked the beginning of a search for a political identity of the
Muslims. This was still very far from the separatist predilections. There was a demand for protection of Muslim
interests who formed a minority at an all-India level. This was fulfilled when separate electorates were granted to
Muslims by the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909. This concession changed the status of the Muslims as it recognized
them as an all-India political category which was in perpetual minority in India. This change in status was to affect
the Congress League balance and claims. The Congress was not in the favour of grant of any such concessions. A
brief truce was made at the Lucknow Pact of 1916. Community identity reached new levels during the Fist World War
period. The call of the Khilafat Movement did much to forge a Muslim identity wherein the various differences could
be papered over. This period saw merging of Khilafat-Non-Cooperation Movements but also a gradual
disenchantment with each other. The Moplah Rebellion unfortunately targeted the Hindus in the Malabar in 1921.
The leaders of the fringe-group Hindu Mahasabha were given a boost during the period of the First World War. The
pan-Islamic call created a sense of unease and insecurity amongst the Hindus who now reorganized themselves. The
Hindu Mahasabha started Hindu sangathan in 1942 .and the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh was founded in the
same year. The Arya Samaj started a shuddi campaign in the Punjab and United Province. The post-Khilafat period
witnessed several bouts of community violence.

Gyanendra Pandey views the breakdown of Hindu-Muslim relations in the 1920s in the light of gradual de-recognition
of religious nationalism in politics by the Congress. Leaders like Nehru emphasized a secularist approach to politics.
But this was a slightly contradictory claim as Congress could, at no point in time, quite shake off the shackles of the
members of the Hindu Mahasabha which functioned within the Congress and worked as a separate pressure group.
In 1926 in Calcutta and Punjab there was not a single Muslim candidate. At the Guwahati Congress session a
resolution condemning Muslim electorate was almost passed. By 1929 as Shaukat Ali observed Congress had
become an adjunct of Hindu Mahasabha. From here onwards the support for the Congress radically reduced. Also,
this secularist claim meant that any group that spoke along the lines of a community was seen as anti-nationalists.
This meant that there was little scope for Congress-League merger or accommodation of community identity within
the boundaries of a composite nation, at a time when Muslim community identity was just building up. Jinnah on his
part was yet not so prominent and till late 1930s Muslims were yet not a political and homogenized community.
In the 1937 elections, the Muslim League performance was rather dismissal. In Sind, Bengal and the Punjab, the
non-Congress Muslims members of different parties and groups came to power. The Muslim League headed by Jinnah
was unable to secure a majority in any of the four. Muslim-majority provinces (Bengal, the Punjab, Sind and the
NWFP). The Congress won absolute majority in the Legislative Assemblies in five provinces: Madras, Central
Provinces, United Provinces, Bihar and Orissa. This success of Congress led Nehru to announce that there were only
two political parties in Indian scene, the Raj and the Congress. Furthermore, he refused to form a Coalition
Government with the League in any of the Muslim-minority provinces. Nehru then launched a Muslim Mass Contact
Programme in order to encourage Muslims of join Congress. However, the Hindu Mahasabha leaders sabotaged it.
Muslims were also discriminated in Congress Ministries. Jinnah came back to India in 1934 and took over the
leadership of the League.
Jinnah how ever, was still not antagonistic and his aim was to make League a third party in any future Constitutional
discussions. He was open to cooperating with the Congress at the Centre with a provision for revision of the federal
structure provided for in the Act of 1935. But the Congress, made confident by its 1937 victories, chose to ignore
Jinnah. Hereupon, Jinnah deployed the services of the Ulama in the Mass Contact Campaign of his own. Upon the
resignation of the Congress Ministries in November 1939, Jinnah celebrated it as the Deliverance Day. By December
1939 the mass contact campaign was so successful that Leagues membership crossed 3 millions and Jinnah
emerged as a leader of the Muslims.
There was a simultaneous development of the notion Muslim nationahood. In 1930 Sir Muhammad Iqbal presiding
over the Leagues session voiced the constitution of a centralized territory for Islam within India, formed by uniting
the four provinces of Punjab, NWFP, Sind and Baluchistan. This notion was further developed in 1933 by a
Cambridge student, Rahmat Ali who spoke about an undefined Pakistan comprising of the above mentioned four
Muslim provinces and Kashmir. The two-nation theory was formalized by Jinnah himself at the Karachi session of
the League when he referred to the need of political self- determination of two nations, known as the Hindus and
Muslims. There was still no talk of partition but two federations with a common centre. This was not favourable to
the Congress as it wanted a strong centre even within a federal setup. The Lahore session of the League in 1940
proclaimed Muslims as a nation and talked about Independent States to be constituted of the Muslim-majority
provinces in an unspecified future. The demand for Pakistan was yet not articulated.
Till the passing of the June 3rd Plan and the actual partition of India into two dominions, Jinnah was ready for a
compromise. What he wanted was a federation with a weak centre and Provincial Autonomy as it would imply Muslim
domination in four provinces- the Punjab, NWFP, Sind and Bengal. His rather cruel call for the Direct Action Day was
another twisted attempt at a bargaining tool. Partition was made possible by a mix of complicated factors. Not only
did the Hindu Mahasabha, Muslim masses, Congress with its inability to come to a compromise with the League and
the British policies, in the partition of the country. Lord Mountbatten infact firmly believed that partition was the only
solution left to resolve Congress-League, and Hindu-Muslim standoff. Even Gandhi who staunchly denied the twonation theory by 1947 accepted the inevitability of the partition. By 1946, the British Government was rather quite
eager to exit out of India and was unwilling to have the negotiations delayed for even a couple of years. Jinnah who
was against the partition of Bengal and Punjab was pressed upon by Lord Mountbatten to accept it or else lose
Pakistan altogether. In the end the Pakistan that Jinnah got was far from the vision of his dreams but a moth-eaten

Pakistan. The non-Muslim majority areas in the Punjab and in Bengal long with Assam (except Sylhet) decided to
join India.
While both India and Pakistan gained their independence they paid an. unimaginable price for it. The extent of loss of
life and violence surpassed the fears of the people. About 1 million people were killed and more than 75,000 women
were raped and more than 10 million people were displaced.