While the earlier movements, were either isolated and remained regionalized, this time the movement gained grounds and reached even the remotest villages and received mass participation and support. In simple the movement became a household affair with each of them contributing in their own way.

1. Britishers' introduction of uniform administrative system throughout the country which unified the country administratively;
2. Changes from rural economy to industrial economy changed the economic status of the people;
3. Introduction and expansion of infrastructure facilities like Railways, Telegraphs, Postal system etc. facilitated and promoted mutual contact of people and leaders alike;
4. Arrival of Gandhiji and other leaders into the freedom movement;
5. Introduction of English as a medium of education helped in improving the academic level of people and to absorb the western ideologies like liberty, equality, democracy, socialism etc., Thus, the educated Indians, with the western thoughts, joined and started leading the movement from various quarters.
6. Introduction of Press (printing) etc. helped the educated to communicate the nationalist feelings to the masses through newspapers, journals etc., through English and vernacular languages, which aroused national consciousness.

Reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy (Brahmo Samaj), Swami Vivekananda, (Ramakrishna Mission) and Swami Dayanand Saraswati (Arya Samaj) are the people who formed the socio religious movements.
Their movements aimed at highlighting the rich cultural heritage of our country, improve the self confidence in them, to respect their own religion and others too, and culture and counter the British propaganda that the Indians are incapable of ruling themselves, and they are prone to Hindu - Muslim fights and Indians are fit enough to be ruled only by foreigners. In this phase of promoting nationalism, self confidence and self respect, the Theosophical Society (Mrs. Annie Beasant) also played a major role.

The British adopted the policy of racial discrimination in the matter of eligibility, payments and concessions according to the races employed which was a direct discrimination against the people performing the same job in equivalent posts. This policy was highlighted in the newspapers. This inflamed the discriminated people against the British, at the same time gave opportunity for other also to understand the discriminatory tactics of the British and brought a unifying consciousness among all.

1. Lord Lytton 1876-1880 - noticing the developments towards nationalism, promulgated the Vernacular Press Act which curbed the liberty of the Indian Press.`

2. Reduced the maximum age limit for ICS examination to prevent Indians entry. These steps increased the discontentment among the masses.

While the Vernacular Press Act was to curb the growing nationalism, the British introduced the Ilbert Bill of 1884, by which the Indian Magistrates were allowed to try the European Criminals. Later, when the protests from the Europeans grew, an amendment was made to the Bill giving an option for such criminals to choose the Indian or European Magistrates to try their cases. Thus, this Bill though appeared to be a soothing effect on the Indians, later became a set back to the Indians. However, this set back also in a way paved the way for a more aggressive spread of nationalism amongst Indians.

A.O. Hume (Allan Octavian Hume), a retired English Civil Servant, proposed the formation of all India level organization, instead of localized organizations functioning at different places. The proposal received widespread support and thus came the formation of Indian National Congress in December 1885.

1. Moderate or Early Nationalists period - 1885 - 1905;

2. Extremist or Militant Nationalists period - 1905 - 1918;

3. Gandhian or Satyagraha/peaceful struggle period - 1918-1947.

Dignified and moderate, expressing loyalty to the Crown and making demands through resolutions annually, and progressed by early 20th century to make a demand for self government within the British empire. This type of agitation was termed as "Constitutional Agitation".

Besides creating wider national awakening on nationalism, democracy, British' scheme of exploitation, unified political and economic programme and others, their main achievement was in getting Indian Councils Act, 1892 passed by the British.

For two basic reasons they failed:
1. They believed in peaceful and bloodless struggle and it was centered around only educated class. Thus it did not reach the grass root level of villages and the masses;
2. They failed to understand the Britishers intentions and their faith in the fair mindedness of the British was misplaced.

DRAIN THEORY: Britishers from the beginning of their supremacy over Indians, at every available opportunity, collected huge amount of cash, jewellery, indemnity for wars, taxes as a pretext of providing security to individual princess etc., Thus huge amount of money and priceless articles and jewelleries have gone out of India.

1. The moderates concentrated their movements and consultations to the educated, unintentionally ignoring the masses;
2. The moderates could not achieve anything significant from the British excepting the Indian Councils Act of 1892 which also later became a major disappointment;
3. Repressive measures of the British like - i) Enacting a law in 1898 against preaching of nationalism; ii) Indian Offcial Secrets Act of 1904 to restrict the Indian Officials from divulging any information as well as ensuring that the Vernacular Press Act is implemented; iii)Imprisonment of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and some other editors for preaching nationalism; iv) Deportation of Nathu Brothers (family name of Chapekar Brothers who assassinated WC Rand and Lt.Ayerst.) without trial.
4. Failure to realize the need to take the movement to the masses;
5. Lack of education of growth of self respect and confidence among the Indians to govern themselves.

First to adopt the extremist path were - Rajnarain Bose and Ashwini Kumar Dutt from Bengal and Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar from Maharashtra. Later on, this movement was taken over by national leaders like Bal Gangadhara Tilak (Maharashtra), Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh (Bengal), Lala Lajpat Rai and Azit Singh (uncle of Bhagat Singh) from Punjab, T.Prakasam and M. Krishna Rao from Andhra and V.O.Chidambaram Pillai and Subramania Bharathi from Tamilnadu etc.,

1. Rise of Japan and its defeat of Russia in 1905;

2. Defeat of an Italian Army by the Ethiopians in 1896; These two incidents proved that the Europeans are no more invincible.

3. Revolutionary movements in Ireland, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and China.

4. Boer War in South Africa - native tribals vs. English.

Lord Curzon was the viceroy between 1899-1905. His rule and actions made the extremists to give more strength and force to their struggle:
1. PARTITION OF BENGAL - 1905 - Although it may have been done in the excuse of administrative convenience, in reality, it proved to be a curb on the growth of nationalism by dividing the Hindus and Muslims.
2. CALCUTTA MUNICIPAL ACT of 1899 - It proved to be extremely controversial, and was ultimately undone in 1923.

The extremists' aim was only to attain complete independence and not for any compromised formula of self rule/government (as in Australia or New Zealand) and that too in one single stage. In their efforts to achieve it, they kept the following agenda of measures for adoption:
1. Passive Resistance: Non cooperation with the British Government by boycotting government service, courts, schools and colleges;
2. Promotion of "Swadesh" goods and boycott of foreign goods;
3. Building up a new nation through the introduction and promotion of national level education of our own.

1. Bal Gangadhara Tilak - Maharashtra;

2. Lala Lajpat Rai - Punjab;

3. Bipin Chandra Pal - Bengal;

4. Aurobindo Ghosh - Bengal.

1. He was the one to start the "Ganapathi Festival" in 1893, which is followed even today and it united the people religiously;
2. He organized the "Shivaji Festival" in 1895 which developed patriotic and historical cult among the masses;
3. He organized " no revenue payment" movement supporting the famine stricken peasants of Maharashtra in 1896-1897;
4. To Indianise the education in India, he started the Deccan Education Society which started the New English School which later became the famous Ferguson college;
5. To educate the masses on his ideologies (of all the extremist nationalists), he started the English daily "Maharatta" and "Kesari" in Marathi which certainly made the required impact;
6. To emphasize and involve the masses towards the "Swaraj" or independence he started the Home Rule League in 1916 and declared "Swaraj is my birth right and I will have it".

For his vigorous nationalist activities he was imprisoned twise:
1. 1897 for 18 months;
2. 1908 for 6 years in Mandalay Jail, Burma (Myanmar) for his active participation in the anti-partition movement (Bengal) and making it an All India movement.

After some active participation in the 'Arya Samaj" activities during his college days, he entered the nationalist stream in the beginning of the 20th century:
1. He took an active part and played an important role in the anti-partition (Bengal) movement, for which he was deported to Burma in 1907;
2. After returning from deportation, from Burma, he visited USA and founded the Home Rule League there in 1914.
3. He started a newspaper called the "Punjabee" and wrote a book titled "Unhappy India".

He was leading a protest procession against the "Simon Commission" at Lahore on 30th October 1928, when the British Police lathi charged the gathering and specifically Lalaji grievously. Lalaji later succumbed to the injuries on November 17, 1928.

1. He was popularly known as " Father of Revolutionary thought in India".
2. He began his journalistic career with a weekly name "Paridarsak", then became the editor of "Bengal Public Opinion" and the "Tribune". He started "New India" in 1901. Through this he propagated his ideals on nationalism.
3. With Aurobindo Ghosh from Bengal also around him, both were considered as the chief exponents of a new national movement revolving around "Swaraj" "Swadesh" and boycott and most importantly national education.
4. With Aurobindo Ghose, he started a journal "Bande Mataram" which became a powerful organ for propagating extremist ideologies.

He was imprisoned for six months for refusing to give evidence against Aurobindo Ghose's trial in the "Bande Mataram Sedition case". After his imprisonment (March-August 1908) he changed his attitude, self imposed exile to England for three years (1908-1911) and afterwards he was completely withdrawn from any activity for the rest of his life.

Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950). He was a lecturer at Baroda and later became the Principal of the Bengal National college started in Calcutta in 1906 as part of the national scheme of education. His contributions were:
1. He launched a systematic criticism of moderate politics through a series of articles entitled "New lamps for old" between 1893-1894 while he was a lecturer.
2. He also advocated the doctrine of "Passive Resistance" in a series of articles in 1907 in "Bande Mataram" of which he was the editor.
3. He played an important role in the anti-partition (Bengal) movement.
4. He was arrested by the British in 1908 for his involvement in the Kennedy murders (Alipore Bomb Case) and he managed to escape to Pondicherry in 1910 and spent the rest of his life in spirituality.
5. At Pondicherry, he concentrated on philosophical, spiritual and literary activities and established the most famous 'Aurobindo Ashram".
6. "Savitri" a longest epic poem in English and "The Divine Life" were his famous literary contributions.

V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, Subramania Bharathi, Vanchinathan, Tiruppur Kumaran.

He was a lawyer by profession from Ottapidaram, Tuticorin district of Tamilnadu. He was a strong propagandist of "Swadeshi" movement and was associated with the national leaders of his time. At a time when the British were holding the monopoly of sea trade between India and Ceylon, he started the "Swadeshi Steam Navigation Co" on 12th November 1906 and started sea trade and service between Tuticorin and Colombo. The British did everything possible to commercially destroy this company and they did succeed. Finally he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition. Upon release, having lost all his wealth, he died of poverty in 1936.

A revolutionary poet who wrote patriotic songs and articles in the newspapers and magazines of his times. He was a social reformist and actively participated in the freedom struggle. He worked as the assistant editor of "Swadeshmithran" a leading daily then and regularly contributed articles on nationalism and evoked patriotic feelings amongst youngsters. He died in 1921.

He was a close associate of V.O. Chidambaram Pillai and was actively involved in spreading nationalistic spirits in Tamilnadu. He died of leprosy in 1925.

He was from Shencottah in Tamilnadu. He was an active and revolutionary freedom fighter. He killed Mr. Ashe the collector of Tirunelvely Dt at Maniyachi Junction and later committed suicide to evade arrest by the British.

An active freedom fighter, during one of the protest rally, when the British police lathicharged him brutally, he never allowed the Congress Flag to fall or be snatched from him by them. He was beaten to death by the Britishers but he still preserved the sanctity of the flag. Thus his patriotic gesture is remembered even today.

The event preceeding the partition has an important role. That is, grant of an executive council to the Lt.Governor of Bengal was rejected . Another one was dividing the province on ethnic and linguistic basis also failed. Because the east had the maximum Muslim population the British came up with the idea of partition. The partition was announced on 4th July 1905 and implemented on 16th October 1905. Thus East Bengal became East Pakistan and then Bangladesh.

Protests were already on by different means. However, on the same day of implementation that is on October 16,1905, the people of Bengal, in an unprecedented way observed the day as a day of "mourning" and organized protest meetings. At a meeting held at the "Federal Hall" it was resolved to launch "Swadesh" movement and adopt the slogan of "Bande Mataram". As for other regions, the people extended support, through the efforts of the extremist leaders, indulged in activities like boycott of employment in offices, courts, schools and colleges and of foreign goods and by establishing national schools and colleges for promotion of education etc.,

Through repressive measures like imprisonment of many of the leaders and deporting them by 1908.

The Act of 1909 - Minto Morley Reforms. (Minto was the Viceroy and Morley was the Secretary of State for India at UK).

It was a constitutional reforms act. By the Indina Council Act of 1892, only 16 additional members were allowed to the Governor General's council. By the Minto Morley Reforms, this number was raised to 60. Similarly, the additional members in Madras, Bombay and Bengal Presidencies were raised from 20 to 50. Likewise some reductions were made between official and non official members in Governor General's council. Based on these reforms, separate electorate for Muslims, landlords, and other academic and business professionals were announced which clearly indicated the policy of dividing the people in the guise of giving representation to wider sections.
The separate electorate provided for Muslims were later viewed by the Simon Commission as " a cardinal problem and controversy at every revision of the Indian electoral system ". Thus it is evident that the increase in the number of members and providing separate electorate (communally or otherwise) was a clear act of dividing the masses. John Morley subsequently stated that "If I were attempting to set up a parliamentary system in India, or if it could be said that this chapter of reforms led directly or indirectly to the establishment of a parliamentary system in India, I for one would have nothing to do with it". He further stated that "the idea of India emerging as a self governing body/colony was a "mere dream". Thus the statement underlines that electorates under communal division or for other reasons is bound to be an overgrowing contention among the people.

1. The British encouraged the pro-english people like Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Raja Siva Prasad to start an anti- congress movement;
2. They fanned the Hindu-Muslim rivalry, first among the educated Hindu and Muslims and then among the masses by providing the separate electorate for Muslims;
3. Exploited the controversy around Hindi-Urdu and the "cow protection" movement;
4. Efforts to divide the moderate/conservatives from the extremist groups;
5. Princes were won over by the creation of Chambers of Princes in 1921 by separating them from common people;
6. Zamindars were won over by granting them "Permanent settlement";
7. The most important step towards dividing the people, specifically on communal basis, was the "Communal Award of 1932" where the Harijans were granted a separate political entity;
8. Appeasement of reactionary forces individuals and on the other hand adopted repressive measures in areas and individuals wherever they could.

The Lucknow Pact of 1916 between Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.

Montague Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 - By this reforms, though the Muslims had to compromise on the number of electorates, they accepted the provisions made in the reforms. According to which, i) the Muslims obtained a representation of double of what they would have got on numerical basis; ii) at the centre, they obtained 1/3rd representation in the legislative council from separate Muslim constituencies.

This Montague Chelmsford Reforms proved at a later stage to be the base for raising the 'Separate State" demand by the Muslim League, for two reasons:
i) Muslim became dissatisfied with the fixed and disproportionate percentage of the seats they had erlier accepted;
ii)By recognizing the separate political identity of the Muslims, the Hindus had unintentionally committed themselves to the idea of a separate state for them (Muslims).

1. Though they believed in mass agitation, they failed to reach and mobilize the real masses viz. the peasants, labourers and workers;

2. They could not implement fully their higher concept of the forms of struggle.

To attain home rule for India within British Empire like Austrlia and New Zealand. Tilak, who had, at the time of anti-partition movement, demanded for complete independence, subsequently made it clear to say "Swaraj of today is within the empire and not independent of it".

1. First it brought Kayasthas and Kashmiri Brahmins from United provinces into the struggle;
2. Hindu Amil minority also joined from Sind;
3. Younger Gujarati professionals like lawyers, industrialists and traders joined into the struggle; secondly, it brought some new blood into the national struggle.They are:
a)Jawaharlal Nehru from Allahabad;
b)Satyamurthi from Tamilnadu;
c)Jitendralal Banerji from Calcutta;
d)Jamnadas Dwarakadas, Umar and others from Bombay and Gujarat.

1. Mrs Annie Beasant suddenly became a pro-British in late 1917 after Montague promised a responsible government;

2. Bal Gangadhar Tilak getting involved in legal battles against Valentine Chirol ( a journalist and author of England who made deprecatory comments in his book "Indian Unrest"), and traveling to London; (Chirol described Tilak as "father of Indian Unrest")

3. Most importantly, the arrival of Gandhiji to the national struggle, from the Champaran Satyagraha, changed the entire approach to the movement and the Home Rule Movement faded out by itself.

August 20, 1917: Montague was the Secretary of State for India, made a momentous declaration in the House of Commons on the British policy, to
1. Increase association of Indians in every branch of administration;
2. Gradual development of self governing institutions; Thus making the intention of British to be a responsible government.

1. Annulment of the Rowlatt Act and remedying the "Punjab Wrong" (Jalianwalabagh massacre) incident and the British government should express its regret on the happenings in Punjab, particularly Amritsar.
2. Remedying the "Khilafat wrong" that is the British should adopt a lenient attitude towards Turkey, which was one of the defeated countries in the first world war.
3. Satisfying the nationalist urge for Swaraj by offering a new scheme of meaningful and substantial reforms. But, the British refused to meet any of the demands. Because the British government refused, Gandhiji launched the non-cooperation movement, in right earnest in January 1921.

1. Boycott of government or non-government schools, colleges, courts, elections and also foreign goods.
2. Surrender of titles and honorary offices and resignation from nominated seats in local bodies.
3. Refusal to attend government/semi government functions.
4. Refusal by the military, clerical and labouring classes to offer themselves as recruits in Mesopatamia.

1. Establishment of national schools and colleges.
2. Private arbitration courts such as Panchayats.
3. Popularisation of Swadeshi goods such as Khadi and revival of Khadi spinning activity.
4. Improvement of Hindu-Muslim relations.
5. Removal of untouchability and other measures for Harijan welfare.
6. Emancipation and upliftment of women.
The first two steps were to remove the hardships arising out of the negative programmes, while the rest are to ensure the participation of all classes of people.

TILAK SWARAJ FUND - It was proposed to raise one crore rupees to install charkas (spinning wheel) on a large scale, by enrolling more and more commoners. This was the second phase of the non-cooperation movement (April-June 1921). were - The first phase of not attending to Schools, colleges and courts/offices successfully carried out between January-March 1921.
The third phase of boycotting of foreign goods was also successfully carried out by not only boycotting but by burning of foreign goods. Thus the non cooperation movement was gaining substantial momentum and attention of the British at the same time.

An angry mob of peasants at Chauri Charua, a village near Gorakhpur Dt., UP, burnt down the police station and killed 22 policemen on 5th February 1922. Gandhiji upset and angered over the incident called off the non-cooperation movement.

1. The awakening, awareness and participation of the working class was substantial.

2. Spreading of the movement to even remotest places.

3. The image of the INC improved as an organization for action and not for deliberations alone.

4. Hindu-Muslim relations improved with the merger of Khilafat movement.

5. Endurance of hardships and making sacrifices for the cause of independence improved considerably.
These quality improvements was a great step forward towards independence.

08.11.1927 - for establishing a (supposedly) responsible government.

The members of commission were all white members and no Indian representation. Therefore it received widespread protests even before its arrival. The Committee in its report of 1930 gave its proposals without even mentioning about "Dominion Status" or other arrangements.

Grant of Dominion status - 31st October 1929 - called as the "Deepavali Declaration".

A.1927 - The Commission was headed by Harcourt Butler and two others and thus it was named so. The most important recommendation is that Viceroy (and not Governor Generals in Council) should be the direct and only to maintain relations with the princes and provinces. This distinct and separate identity was even incorporated in the later Government of India Act of 1935.

The disappointment over Simon Commission and the resentment, made an all party conference at Delhi on 12.2.1928 which received a good response from 29 organisational representatives from across the country, most importantly Muslim organizations. The convention appointed Motilal Nehru as the Chairman of a committee, to make recommendations on the Principles of the Constitution of India. The Committee submitted its report in August 1928.

1. Freedom of conscience and practice of one's religion.
2. Lower Houses in legislature in the Central Legislative and the Provincial Councils to consist members elected by joint mixed electorates with reservation of seats for Muslims or Hindus wherever they were in minority.
3. No reservation of seats for Muslims in Punjab and Bengal.
4. Reservation of seats on the basis of population and for a fixed period of ten years.
5. Provision for universal adult suffrage.

The report was placed at the Calcutta session of All Party Conference. Muhammad Ali Jinnah made a demand for one third of reservation for Muslims in the legislature. It was not only objected to by Mr.M.R.Jayakar of Hindu Maha Sabha, who besides questioning the locus standi of Jinnah and had a violent confrontation with him.
However, Jinnah's proposals for amendments were overwhelmingly voted down. Despite this, the report remained a non-starter and also created a crack in Hindu Muslim relations.

The Muslim League met in Delhi on 28.3.1929, rejected the Nehru Report and prepared a "fourteen point charter" of demands. They were:
1. The future constitution should be federal with the residuary powers vested in the provinces
2. Principle of adequate representation of minorities should be the basis for all elections.
3. Uniform autonomy for all provinces.
4. Central legislature should consist of one third representation.
5. Representation of communal groups should be continued through separate electorates.
6. Any future territorial redistribution should not affect the Muslim majority in Punjab, Bengal and NWF prvince.
7. Full religious liberty should be granted to all.
8. No bill should be passed in any elected body if three fourths of the members of any community in that particular body were to oppose such a bill.
9. Sind should be separated from the Bombay Presidency.
10. Reforms should be introduced in the NWFP and Baluchistan as in other provinces.
11. Muslims should be given adequate share in all Government services.
12. Adequate safeguards for protection of Muslim culture.
13. No cabinet should be formed without atleast one third Muslim representation.
14. No change should be made in the Constitution without the concurrence of the federating states.

1. Formation of Congress Muslim Party on 29.7.1929.
2. Participation of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the first All India Nationalist Muslim Conference at Allahabad. This influenced and infused more nationalist thought among Muslims.
3. Muslim League Conference March 1929 at Calcutta where Khilafat Conference leaders voiced their support for Nehru Report.
4. Foundation of Muslim Nationalist Party by its leaders like Khaliquzzamman, Dr.Sheikh Muhammad Alam, Dr.M.A.Ansari (as President).
5. In the NW Frontier provinces, Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan founded "Khudai Khidmatgars" (meaning Red Shirts), along with Dr.Khan Sahib.
These developments gave a great boost to the nationalist movement among the Muslims.

In early 1930, Gandhiji submitted a 11 point charter of demands, to the British, concerning various issues affecting the common people and demanded the implementation of those demands within 41 days. The British failed to respond and thus Gandhiji was forced to start the Civil Disobedience movement. The demands included: Reduction of land revenue, abolition of Salt Tax and government monopoly, allocation of coastal shipping to Indians, lowering of the sterling-rupee exchange rate, protection to Indian Textile industry, cut in military expenditure, cut in civil administration expenditure, total prohibition, release of political prisoners, changes in intelligence department and changes in Arms Act to all citizens to bear arms for self protection.

In December 1929 Lahore Session of Congress, "Purna Swaraj" (complete independence) flag was unfurled/hoisted, and it was decided to observe 26th January 1930 as the Independence Day throughout the country.

"It is a crime against God and Man" when people submit themselves to the British and described the British Rule as "Satanic British Rule".

He began the movement with the "Salt Satyagraha" on 12th March 1930 with a march from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, Gujarat to Dandi, a coastal village in Gujarat to break the Salt Law. It was a march for 24 days covering a distance of 390 Kms. He was accompanied by 79 of his followers. He reached Dandi on 5th April and broke the Salt Law.

1. Mobilisation of strength from villages.
2. Salt Satyagraha spreading to down South upto Vedaranyam, where it was conducted by C.Rajagopalachari.
3. No revenue payment.
4. Piqueting of Liquor Shops.
5. Non payment of Chaukidhari Tax -- and a number of other protests, meetings etc. were followed. This phase of struggle witnessed the participation of even merchants and industrialists between March to September 1930. This brought about some changes in the minds of the British and finally Gandhi Irwin Pact of March 1931 was signed.

The British agreed to:
1. Withdraw all ordnances and prosecutions.
2. Release of all political prisoners excepting those arrested for violence.
3. Return the confiscated properties of the satyagrahis.
4. Permit peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign goods shops.
5. Permit free collection of salt to persons residing within a specific distance from the sea coast.
The Congress agreed to:
1. Suspend the Civil Disobedience movement. 2. Gandhiji agreed to participate in the II Round Table Conference.
3. Not to press for investigation into police excesses. As per this, Gandhiji attended the II Round Table Conference in London, between September-December 1931, but, as the outcome was a failure, and at the same time the British repression continued, Gandhiji revived the Civil Disobedience Movement, which lasted until 1934.
However, this time, the Civil Disobedience movement, in comparison to the non-cooperation movement, was much more effective due to the clear mindset of the people for "Swaraj", with certain amount of militancy attached risk free, and the Congress became organizationally more stronger. But, the same vigour and cooperation between Hindu-Muslim was missing and the labour participation was lesser than the earlier one.

Sir John Simon was the leader of the commission appointed in 1927 and Mr. Baldwyn was the Prime Minister. By the time Simon submitted his report in October 1929, recommending a conference to be held between the representatives of British India and Indian states/leaders to finalize the constitutional reforms. By the time the report was submitted, the government in UK Changed and Mr. Ramsay McDonald came to power from the Labour Party. Following this, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy made the "Deepavali Declaration" on 31st October 1929 - granting Dominion status to India and a Round Table Conference would be held in London soon after the Simon Commission report was submitted.

Three.
1. November 1930-January 1931: Actually it was more an internal conference of the British Government, 16 British India representatives and 16 Indian representatives, mostly of minor parties like, Muslim League, Hindu Maha Sabha, Indian Liberal Federation and B.R.Ambedkar for the depressed class. With the absence of Congress leaders or representatives, only a formal and a compromised offer was made - a federation with a weak responsible government. (rather than even a Dominion status). With only a communal based representatives, with a divided reservation plans for each of them, the British could not make a better decision than what was offered, which Indian leaders accepted. The Congress had boycotted the conference due to its unhappiness over the Simon report.
2.Septeber 1931- Attended by Gandhiji as the sole representative of Congress, along with other political and communal forces leaders. The meeting got deadlocked even before any start could be made as the communal forces issue for separate electorate was raised by all communal leaders viz:Muslims, Depressed Class, Indian Christians, Anglo Indians and Europeans. The Conference was a failure with no compromise reached. On the other hand the British announced the formation of two new Muslim provinces of North West Frontier and Sind. When depressed Gandhi returned to India, he was arrested and imprisoned.
3.17.11.1932 to 24.12.1932 - A weakened Indian strength of Indians, minus Congress and a reduced strength of others made it easy for the British to take the decision, based on the earlier discussions, and the "White Paper" approved by the Parliament, Government of India Act 1935 was passed. Before this 1935 Act, Ramsay McDonald made an important award on 16th August 1932 called the "Communal Award".

In the II Round Table when there was no compromise in the matter of reservation, Ramsay McDonald took the decision of making his own "Communal Award" which provided for separate electorates for Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Anglo Indians and Europeans, with an assured separate special constituencies with a right to vote in the remaining general constituencies. Provision was also made for women and for Marathas (7 seats) in the Bombay Presidency.

Gandhiji was upset, on the first hand, against the arbitrary British proposal of a communal award. Secondly, he was more upset with the provision of reservation for the Depressed. It became a big controversial issue. Being in jail, Gandhiji decided to undergo a fast unto death in September 1932 and this brought about a negotiation with B.R.Ambedkar, which brought a major modification to the original communal award, and was incorporated in the award. This agreement between Gandhiji and Ambedkar was called the "Poona Pact".

The British Indian without any consultation with the people or the leaders took active part in WW II and involved British Indian forces too. This made the Congress to make a demand to the British for a clear cut policy on the intentions of "War and Peace" aims against India, and also desired to know the British intentions regarding India's independence and induct a national government at the Centre. To this, the British made the announcement of the "August Offer" on 8th August 1940.

1. An immediate expansion of the Viceroy's Executive Council by inducting a number of Indians.
2. The establishment of a War Advisory Council comprising representatives of British India and Indian States.
3. The promotion of steps to arrive at an agreement among Indians on the form which the post war representative body would take.

It was hostile, because it inferred and intended only to increase in the participation of Indians in the Council at the Centre and not intended to transfer the responsibility from the British Parliament to the Indian legislature. Without even waiting for the Congress to react or respond, the British implemented its offer, in July 1941, enlarging the Council from 7 to 12 members, (4 British + 8 Indians as against the three earlier). Excepting the Congress or the League, other Indians joined the council.

Sir Stanford Cripps, a member of the British War Cabinet, the British wanted to bridge the gap between the British and Indians and the political impasse. It was in two parts:
I PART - Laid down the procedure for framing the Constitution required for a "Dominion Status". The initial step was holding of fresh elections to all the provincial legislatures. The elected body, along with provincial states to decide the Constitution making body. Any refusal to accept such constitution, it could refuse accession to the Indian Union, and its own constitution. II PART - was related to immediate and interim arrangements during the WWII, which did not carry any indication of either change in the Government of India Act of 1935 or the British hold on the defence of the country. As for the effect, the Congress was unhappy and took exceptions for the following reasons:
1. The report has an inbuilt inference towards the principle of Pakistan. Having sensed it, only the Muslim League welcomed the Cripps Mission, all other parties opposed it.
2. It was unhappy over the mode of selection of candidates/representatives of the princely states by their rulers.
3. Congress emphasized that, having understood the war and situation, emphasized for an assurance on the proposed "National Government".
4. Having failed to get any positive response, Gandhiji simply rejected the Cripps Mission report and termed it as a "post dated cheque on a crashing bank".
For this, Sir Stanford Cripps made to undergo criticism, and at the same time the British had to face huge pressure from its allies, to decide the issues about India.

1. British rout in the hands of Japan in South East Asia which made the people to believe that the end of British is in sight.
2. Inflation and price increase of essential commodities due to WWII and British management of economy at this time of war was poor.
3. The arrogant behavior of the American British and Australian soldiers stationed in India.
4. By mid 1942, the defeat of allied forces was seen as imminent as was anticipated by Gandhi and other leaders.
5. Provocation before and very repressive attitude of the British in the matter of Quit India movement.
All these reasons forced the Congress leaders and others to give the "Quit India" movement active consideration for implementation.

The failure of the Cripps Mission and the duration of the WW II created a wide gap in any dialogue between the British and the leaders of the nationalist movement. The situation got further deteriorated by inflation, British's mental absence, some arrogant behavior of foreign military personnel and British provocation even before "Quit India" was decided. Thus, the leaders were forced and united in declaring the "Quit India" slogan in the Bombay session of All India Congress Committee on 8th August 1942, on a non-violent mass struggle. Gandhiji has also gave the slogan " Do or Die" in his declaration at the Gowalia Tank Maidan now called "August Kranti Maidan"

Even before the Quit India Movement began, on the morning of 9th August 1942 all the leaders including Gandhiji were arrested and imprisoned. This act of the British made the people throughout the country furious and without any leader to organize and control the movement, the public had their own way and vented their feelings in the manner, individually and in groups, they thought it fit. This phase of agitation lasted from August 9th to December 1942 throughout the country, which included even educated youths indulging in some kind of extremist activities of blowing down police stations, communication installations etc., However, the entire movement was suppressed by brutal authority of the British.

1. Hindus were the majority in number and also dominated all spheres because of higher educational qualifications.
2. 1857 revolt, in which Muslims (with the last of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II) participated overwhelmingly which weakened their position.
3. Muslims avoided westernized education which resulted in their losing out in key posts officially and politically.
4. Politically conscious Hindus started claiming India for Indians that is for the majority, which brought in a sense of insecurity among Muslims.
5. Teaching of History in Indian National Schools where the period of Muslim Rule and its effect on the majority Hindus, gave a communal approach to the Indian history.
6. The activities of militant nationalists had a strong Hindu fervour, although they also believed in Hindu Muslim unity.
7. In response to the formation of Muslim League in 1906, the Hindus also formed their communal organizations like, Hindu Maha Sabha by Madan Mohan Malaviya in 1915, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1925 by Hedgewar. This widened the gap between the two communities.

When in 1906 the Muslims formed the Muslim League with plain intention of voicing their grievances, the British used it as a tool to divide the united nationalist movement. British intentions were very clearly exemplified when they granted communal electorates to the Muslims in their reforms in 1909.

RELIGIOUS AND SOCIO POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS:
1. Anushilan Samiti - Calcutta - 1902 by Barindrakumar Ghosh, Jatindra Nath Banerji and Promatha Mitter. Again at Dacca it was founded by Pulin Das. These were the first secret revolutionary societies formed.
2. Mitramela - The first organization to be formed in India/Maharashtra in 1899, by Savarkar brothers - Ganesh and Vinayak.
3. Abhinava Bharat - Founded by Ganesh Savarkar in 1907 - Poona.
4. Hindustan Republican Association - 1924 by Sachin Sanyal and Jogesh Chandra Chatterji. It was the first All India level organization.
5. Ghaddar Party - 1913 - Founded by Har Dayal and Sohan Singh Bakhna in USA - San Francisco.
6. Indian Independence League: 1942 - founded by Rash Behari Bose in Japan.
JOURNALISTIC DEVELOPMENTS:
The journals or newspapers mentioned here are those which aroused and contributed towards nationalism and patriotism rather than being a newspaper for the sake of it. There were some more newspapers and magazines prior or later to these, majority of them from abroad and were only conveyors.
1. Jugantar - 1906 by Barindrakumar Ghosh and Bupendranath Dutta in Bengal.
2. Sandhya - 1906 - by Brahmomandhab Upadhyay in Bengal.
3. Kal - 1906 - Maharashtra.
4. Bande Mataram - Madame Cama from Paris.
5. Talvar by Virendranath Chattapodhyay from Berlin
6. Free Hindustan - by Taraknath Das from Vancouer.
7. Gadadar - by Gadadhar Party from San Francisco.
8. Langal and Ganabani - 1927 by Gopu Chakravarti and Dharani Goswami in Bengal.
9. Kirti - 1927 - by S S Mirajkar, K N Joglekar and S V Ghate in Maharashtra.
10.Bandi Jivan - by Sachindranath Sanyal in Bengal.
11.Atmasakti, Sarati, Dhumkhetu, Bijoli etc., in Bengal.

April to September 1914 - Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamer chartered by Gurdit Singh Sandhu and was to transport Indian immigrants to Canada with 376 passengers (340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus) from Hong Kong to Vancouer in Canada. After some difficulty he managed to get the required clearance to sail from Hong Kong and reached Canada. But the Canadian Government refused to allow entry to the passengers. In spite of protests from within the ship and from outside by other people, the ship had to sail back to Calcutta and reached on September 27, 1914.
Upon arrival, the British attempted to arrest around 20 people suspected to be Gaddar Party activists. In the protest, the British opened fire and about 19 of them were killed. The rest of the passengers were taken to Punjab and were kept in village arrest for some time. Canada's racist attitude and British's apathetic treatment aroused more nationalism both at home and abroad. Gaddarites from abroad returned home to join the struggle to drive away the British.

1. SEPTEMBER 1915 - Attempt of Jatin Mukherji and his supporters, tried to disrupt train services and capture Fort Williams. The effort failed due to poor coordination, resulting in the death of Bhaga Jatin (as he is called) near Balasore in Orissa.
2. 21.2.1915 - A coordinated revolt by Rash Behari Bose and Sachin Sanyal and some Ghadadharites failed due to treachery. Rash Behari Bose escaped to Japan while Sachin Sanyal was deported.
3. 1915 - Indian Independence Committee in Berlin was formed with the help of German Foreign Office (it was called or covered by the Zimmerman Plan) by Virendranath Chattopadhyay, Bhupendranath Dutta and Hardayal etc.,
4. 1915 - a provincial government was set up at Kabul by Mahendra Pratap, Barakatullah a Ghadhadarite, and Obaidullah Sindhi a Deoband Mullah.
5. 1930 - to support the freedom struggle, a group of revolutionaries led by Surjiya Sen raided Chittagong (Bangladesh) armoury, disrupted telegraph lines, rail services and other installations and escaped to nearby villages and mountains. However, the British locating the revolutionaries in the Jalalabad hills, surrounded them and killed 12 of the revolutionaries, while many of them escaped to various places. Later in 1932, these revolutionaries regrouped and killed 22 British Officials and 220 others in the European Club. Many of the revolutionaries were later captured, tried, deported to different places. Surjiya Sen was captured and hanged to death on 12.1.1934.
6. September 1929 - Jatin Das (Jatindranath Das) who was imprisoned and jailed in Lahore Jail in the Lahore Conspiracy case, staged a hunger strike for 64 days demanding improved and equal treatment of political prisoners in the jail. His death shocked the whole of India.
7. 23.3.1931 - Execution of Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru for their killing British Police officer Saunders at Lahore in December 1928. Saunders was responsible for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai in the protest march at Lahore against the Simon Commission.
8. 27.2.1931 - Chandrasekhar Azad a revolutionary freedom fighter, who along with Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and many others, was a terror to the British. He was actively associated with Hindustan Republican Association and was involved in the Kakori Train Robbery in 1925 and also associated himself with Bhagat Singh in the killing of Saunders.When he was in Allahabad to find some ways to get Bhagat Singh released from prison, he was surrounded by the police and was killed.

1. 1897 - Damodar and Balakrishna Chapekar brothers assassinated WC Rand and Lt. Ayerst on 22nd July 1897. They were both in Poona supervising the medical arrangements and evacuation of people from Poona when serious plague disease was spreading and killing a lot of people. The forceful evacuation and misbehaviour of these two officials with the people angered the brothers which led to the assassination.
2. 1908 - Barindrakumar Ghosh - He was the founder of Jugantar a revolutionary journal in Bengal and was an active revolutionary leader of the freedom struggle. In a failed attempt to kill Mr.Fuller, Lt. Governor of Bengal, he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment to Andamans and was released only in 1920.
3. 30.4.1908 - Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki, associates of the revolutionary group of Bengal, threw bombs to kill Mr. Kingsford, Judge of Muzzafarpur (who was awarding severe punishments on nationalist convicts), unfortunately the bombs hit the other carriage (horse drawn) and killed wife and daughter of Mr. Pringle Kennedy. This case was known as the Alipore Bomb Case, in which Aurobindo Ghosh was implicated as the conspirator. While Khudiram Bose was captured and later hanged to death after trial, Prafulla Chaki killed himself. The case had as many as 49 people accused. Many of them found guilty of conspiracy were sentenced to life imprisonment. Aurobindo Ghosh was acquitted of the charges, but the freedom struggle lost an aggressive leader, in that he chose the spiritual path to pursue and settled in Pondicherry.
4. 1.7.1909 - Madan Lal Dingra, a student in England and a revolutionary freedom visionary, assassinated Curzon Willie a British Official.
5. 17.11.1911 - Mr. Ashe, Collector of Tirunelvely was shot dead by Vanchinathan at Maniyachi Junction. Vachinathan committed suicide after the killing.
6. 23.12.1912 - Rash Behari Bose and Sachin Sanyal made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Lord Hardinge, when he was passing through Chandni Chowk in Delhi. While Lord Hardinge escaped the attempt with minor injuries, it killed the aide of the Lord. After the incident, Rash Behari Bose went underground for three long years and escaped to Japan in 1916. The case is known as "Delhi Conspiracy Case".
7. 1928 - Murder of J.P. Saunders, a British official involved in the brutal assault on Lala Lajpat Rai in October 1928, by Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev. After the trials, all the three were hanged to death on 23.3.1931.
8. 1929 - An attempt to blow up the train carrying Lord Irwin near Delhi in December 1929 by the members of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
9. 14-12-1931 - Shanti and Suniti Chaudhuri, sisters (or classmates) and school girls, murdered Mr. Steven, District Magistrate, Tippera, West Bengal. Both of them were captured, tortured and imprisoned and later released. Of them, Suniti, (despite the poverty that struck her family after her involvement in the murder as her family was harassed by the British to that extent), after the release from the jail, became a doctor, married and served the cause of the poor people in her medical profession.

A party founded by Chittaranjan Das (C.R.Das) and others who were part of the Congress. They formed this party on 1.1.1923 due to dissatisfaction over the outcome of the non-cooperation movement and the Congress leaders failure to adopt more aggressive methods for pressing the demands. While the people like C R Das, Motilal Nehru, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Ali brothers and others were for change in attitude and approach, others led by Rajagopalachari wanted no change in Gandhiji's path. Thus came the birth of Swaraj Party.
The Swaraj Party got the Congress nod for contesting elections ( by Gandhi himself in 1925) and contested the elections in 1923 (even before Gandhiji's consent) and won a sizeable seats/majority in West Bengal and other regions. With this boost, they formed the Nationalist Party along with independents and Md.Ali Jinnah.
After turning down various proposals and finance bill by the newly elected Nationalist Party, the British, in an attempt to pacify the Nationalists and independents, appointed Muddhiman Committee, 1924, to inquire into the working of the Reforms in 1919 - a delaying tactic by the British. In the meantime, Swaraj Party developed cracks and also fared badly in the elections of 1926 and finally in 1930, the Swarajists came back to the fold of the Congress.

The Committee consisted of nine members headed by Sir Alexander Muddiman to go into the dyarchy of the Montague Chelmsford Reforms. It opined through two reports viz :
1. Majority, consisting of officials and loyalists felt that the system had not been given a fair trial and hence recommended only minor changes.
2. The minority consisting of all non officials felt that the Dyarchy has failed and recommended for the appointment of a Royal Commission or any other agency, with sufficient terms of reference and a wider scope of inquiry. The British Secretary of State for India, announced that action would be taken on the basis of majority report.

1. The revolution (October 1917) and the subsequent development towards socialism and communist taking over.
2. The Congress' attitude of simple non-violence alone was not getting the desired results.
3. Adverse economic conditions gave room for the Communist ideologies attracting the labour class easily. Thus came the formation and entry of Communism to India.

The beginning for a Communist Party was made in Russia at Tashkent by M.N.Roy and Abani Mukherjee and some others in 1920 and founded this political outfit. But being in Tashkent, it did not bring in any change. Some of the members who tried their entry into India were arrested and later tried for Peshawar conspiracy Case ( a series of cases in which people who tried to infiltrate into India and indulge in revolutionary tactics) which the British initiated in fear of the Communism entering into India.
People like Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A.Dange and Nalini Gupta who were strong procommunists were arrested and imprisoned for the Kanpur Conspiracy Case in 1924. (Kanpur conspiracy case is a case of trial of communist activists). However, some of the hardcore communists were able to take over the functioning, after the 1925 Communist conference at Kanpur. Thus 1925 came to be recognized as the foundation of Communist Party of India.

1929-1934 - Started taking more serious leftist attitude, launched more vigorous attack on Congress, captured the leadership of AITUC - All India Trade Union Congress, called for a successful general strike which led to their being termed illegal by the British Indian Government, along with some other Trade Unions.
1934-1940 - The Communists were able to penetrate with their ideologies into the Congress, Congress Socialist Party (founded in 1934 by Acharya Narendra Dev, Jai Prakash Narayan and others), Forward Bloc (NSC Bose) and other student and labour organizations. But could not sustain it for long and were thrown out.
1941-1947 - It succumbed to the pressure of Russia and supported the British India, thus gaining back their recognition, but lost its image with the people.

Captain Mohan Singh, in 1942 with the help of Japanese with some prisoners of wars. Later came the support of Indian repatriates of Malaya and Burma.

The INA was started in 1942 and had to die of its own with the defeat of Japan in WW II and the death of NSC Bose. Thus, it is evident that the INA's role in Indian struggle, considering its own existence of only a limited period of three years, and also operating from abroad could only be limited. Even the limited support they were getting from Japan also was lost by defeat of Japan in the WW II. However, the spirit of their attitude towards India and its struggle for freedom is still an adorable fragrance even after 70 years. Subhas Chandra Bose escaping from India joined this movement in 1942 and later is believed to have died of an aeroplane crash in 1945 near Tokyo.

NSC Bose became increasingly active in the freedom struggle during 1941 specially with his new found party Forward Bloc. He was organizing more protests, meetings etc., against the British. Provoked by this, the British imprisoned him and was jailed. After release, he was kept under house arrest.
At this point, fearing that he would be kept under custody, NSC Bose managed to escape on 16/17th January 1941 and through Afghanistan he reached Russia and then to Japan where he joined the INA and took over the leadership.

1. The INA led by Nethaji, joined the Japanese army in its march into India and captured Kohima (Nagaland) in May 1944, as part of the WW II. However, the defeat of Japan and its surrender, led to the surrender of INA also. NSC Bose while escaping to Tokyo, is believed to have died of a plane crash.
2. INA internationalized the Indian independence issue and thus speeded up the process.
3. It exposed to the British the patriotism in each Indian soldier and thus cannot continue to subjugate him or his country any more.
4. It also demonstrated that the non violent methods of the Congress did not exhaust the armoury of the struggle for freedom.
5. The INA set a brilliant example of communal harmony and comradeship as the army consisted of prisoners of wars of all communities, Indian expatriates from Malaya, Burma etc., and also some Japanese soldiers.

Battle of Imphal (March to July 1944 Allies Vs Japan), Battle of Kohima (April to June 1944 Allies Vs.Japan)., Battle of Admin Fox (British India Vs Japan INA) in Southern Burma etc., However, after mid 1944, Burma fell completely to the British India.

1. He proclaimed the provisional Government of Free India in Singapore with "Chalo Delhi" slogan on everybody's lips.
2. With this he marched towards Delhi, but was halted at Imphal and Netaji and his men had to retreat on foot to Malaya.
3. On this he wrote " Roads to Delhi are many" and " Delhi remains our goal".

1. Frustration among the youth with the constitutional methods of the moderates and the passive resistance of the extremist nationalists.
2. Failure of the Swadeshi and anti-partition movements to get the partition of Bengal repealed.
3. Racial arrogance of the British and the repressive measures adopted by them.
4. Influence of the Irish terrorist movements and the Russian Nihilists.( Nihilist movement was a movement in Russia in the 1860s. It became more known to the world after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 and their indulgence in violence for a political settlement)

1. Forming of secret societies in India and abroad.

2. Assassination of repressive British officials and Indian traitors.

3. Organizing militant conspiracies.

4. Raiding banks, police stations and armouries.

The Muslim League was a very minor force, with only a few elites functioning actively. It had no mass backing. Because of this, it was not able to perform anything substantially in any elections or in any dialogues with the British as the Congress had not only big elite group but also had the backing of huge mass support.
Thus, when Md. Muhammad Ali Jinnah took over it was a bleak picture of Muslim League. Jinnah realized the importance of mass strength and organizational strength. By 1937, Jinnah was able to, within three months of his taking over, improved the Muslim League's position to 170 branches and over one lakh members. This helped the position of Muslim League in the future years to come.

1944 - It was called the CR formula. Realising that a settlement between Congress and Muslim League was necessary for attaining independence, by India, Ragagopalachari suggested that:
1. Muslim League should cooperate with the Congress in forming a provisional interim government for the transitional period.
2. After the close of war, a commission shall be appointed to demarcate the boundaries of the Muslim dominated districts in the NW and East of India. The people of these demarcated regions shall decide by referendum, the issue of separation from India.
3. In the event of separation, a mutual agreement shall be entered into between the two governments to jointly safeguarding defence, communication, commerce and other essential sectors.

9th September 1944 : At Bombay, Gandhi and Jinnah commenced a talk on the CR Formula, and the talks continued upto 27th September 1944. Gandhiji maintained that CR Forcuma conceded the Muslim League demand and hence suggested Jinnah to renounce its Lahore resolution. Jinnah on the other hand insisted for the acceptance of two nation theory. Thus the talks were a failure.

To resolve the political impasse, Bhulabhai Jivanji Desai and Liaqat Ali Khan, leaders of Congress and Muslim League, met at Peshawar on April 22, 1945 and agreed upon:
1. Congress and League would form an interim government at the centre.
2. With nomination of equal number of persons by both, in the central executive.
3. Representation of the minorities, in particular of the Scheduled Castes and the Sikhs.
However, both Congress and the Muslim League did not endorse the agreement formally at any stage.

WAVELL PLAN - 1945: Lord Wavell held a meeting with both leaders at Simla and offered the following plan. " The Executive Council, except the Commander in Chief, will be left in charge of the Indians, and to give equal representation to the Muslims and Hindus in the council". This arrangement was to be an interim arrangement till a new Constitution was drafted for India. The plan and the talks failed due to the unreasonable attitude of the Muslim League and that the Muslim Members of the Executive Council be appointed by them only and unwilling to accept appointment of Muslim members by the Congress. As it was not acceptable to the Congress, the talks failed. The conference was held at Shimla and thus known as Shimla Conference 1945.

1945 - General elections in England. The Conservative Party led by Churchill lost to the Labour Party led by Clement Atlee, who became the Prime Minister. He summoned Lord Wavell and informed him that the decision to quit India had been taken.

1945-1946 - Elections were held for both provincial assemblies and legislative assembly at the centre. Both the Congress and the Muslim League made substantial gains, specially the Muslim League which made a remarkable performance.

England deputed a special cabinet mission represented by Lord Penthick Lawrence, Sir Stanford Cripps and A,V.Alexander to help in expediting the process of freedom. The Cabinet Commission arrived in India on 24th March 1946.

The Cabinet Mission after formal deliberations with the leaders and British Officers, held a conference with the Congress and the Muslim League on May 5, 1946 to explore the grouping of provinces, Character of the Federal union, and setting up of a Constitution making machinery. Unfortunately, with the Congress and the Muslim League remaining irreconcilable from their demands, the conference was closed. The Mission made a statement outlining their recommendations.

1. A Union of India, comprising both British India and princely states should deal with three subjects viz: foreign affairs, defence and communications.
2. It should have an executive as well as a legislature.
3. All subjects other than the Union subjects and all residuary powers should vest in the provinces of British India.
4. The Princely States would retain all subjects other than those ceded to the Union.
5. Provinces should be free to form subfederal groups.
6. The Constitution of the Union and the groups should contain a provision whereby any province could by a majority vote of its legislative assembly call for a reconsideration of the terms of the Constitution after an initial period of 10 years.
7. The formation of Constitutional Assembly on the basis of the recently elected provincial legislatures by allotting to each province a total number of seats proportional to its population. Elections were to be held by a method of proportional representation with single transferable vote.
8. To carry on the country's administration while the constitution making was proceeding, an interim government having the support of the major political parties should be set up.

A. Both Congress and the Muslim League were more in disagreement than any agreement over the Cabinet Mission Plan, specially over the filling the posts in the interim government. Unable to bring the parties together the Cabinet Mission left for England on 23.6.1946.

Congress refused to join the interim government and instead decided to contest the election and take part in the Assembly.
Muslim League on the other hand, hoped that the Viceroy would call them to form the government. But the Viceroy did not consider it at all. Thus, the Muslim League withdrew its acceptance of the Cabinet Mission Plan. Thereupon, on August 12, 1946, Lord Wavell called upon the Congress to form the interim government. The reluctant Congress accepted the offer. The Muslim League which initially refused, later joined the interim government but continued its claim for Pakistan, also refused to participate in the Constituent Assembly that met to draft the Constitution, but also demanded for dissolving the same.

The Muslim League decided to observe August 16th 1946 as "Direct Action Day" throughout the country. The call for the Congress to form the interim government added fuel to the fire in the Muslims camp. On August 16, the Muslim League resorted to the proposed action and held public meetings, hartals, which unfortunately turned violent and continued for 4 days resulting in huge loss of life and properties - a Hindu-Muslim Clash. H.S.Suhrawardy of Muslim League, was the leader of the provincial government and declared August 16 a holiday, which worsened the situation. This government also failed to call the army's help until the situation got very worse. However, the situation, after the call of the army, slowly returned to normalcy after four days of violence and rioting.

It was conducted between July-August 1946 for a total of 292 seats, of which 4 Sikh seats remained uncontested due to its non-participation . Of the 288 seats,the Congress bagged 201, The Muslim League 73 and others 14. The Assembly elected a committee of 15 to frame the rules of procedure with Dr.Rajendra Prasad as Chairman (he was actually preceded by Dr.Sachidananda Sinha who died). The Assembly also adopted the most important "Objective resolution" on 22.1.1947 later to be incorporated substantially in the Preamble of the Constitution.

1946 to 15th August 1947 - It comprised of the following:
1. Jawaharlal Nehru - Vice President of the Executive Council, External Affairs, and Commonwealth relations.
2. Vallabhai Patel - Home, Information and Broadcasting.
3. Baldev Singh - Defence.
4. Dr. John Mathai - Industries and Supplies.
5. C.Rajagopalachari - Education
6. C.H.Bhabha - Works, Mines, and Power.
7. Rajendra Prasad - Food and Agriculture.
8. Asaf Ali - Railways.
9. Jagjivan Ram - Labour
10. Liaqat Ali Khan - Finance.
11. T.T.Chundrigar - Commerce.
12. Abdur Rab Nishtar - Communications.
13. Ghazanfar Ali Khan - Health.
14. Jogendranath Mandal - Law.

Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946.

9.12.1946 - Dr.Sachidananda Sinha was the Chairman. Upon his death, Dr. Rajendra Prasad took over as the Chairman.

B.R.Ambedkar. Thus he is called the "father of Constitution of India".

The Objective Resolution refers to the ideology and philosophy. Proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru.

22.1.1948 - Lord Mountbatten.

26.11.1949

Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Gopalasamy Iyengar, Dr.K.M.Munshi, Syed Muhammad Saudulla, B.I.Miller, N. Madhava Rao, D.P.Khaitan and T.T. Krishnamachari.

India was to be free but not united and the contents of his plans were:
1. Though the work of the Constituent Assembly was to be continued, the Constitution framed by it was not applicable to those parts of India unwilling to accept it.
2. For ascertaining the wishes of the different parts of the country two alternative suggestions were made viz i) through the existing constituent assembly which would be joined by the representatives of the dissident parties; or
3. In the case of Punjab, Bengal, North West Frontier Provinces, Sylhet in Assam, the people would decide by elections, referendum and other means as decided by the legislative Assemblies, or by the method proposed by British Indian authorities.
4. Negotiations were to be held between the successor governments between England and the partitioned regions for transfer of power, administration of provincial subjects etc.,
5. As regards Indian States, the British Government would cease to exercise the powers of paramountcy. It would then be to the states to enter into political relations with the successor governments.
In simple, Mountbatten plan was for partition of United India into India and Pakistan.

On 18.7.1947 under the Indian Independence Act of 1947.

Clement Atlee - he belonged to the Labour Party.

Sir Radcliffe did the demarcation of the borders for India and Pakistan. Pakistan was granted independence on 14.8.1947 and India on 15.8.1947.

Lord Mountbatten as Governor General From 15.8.1947 to 21.6.1948, followed by Sir C.Rajagopalachari as the Governor General from 21.6.1948 and remained so till 26.1.1950 when India became Republic. He was replaced by Dr.Rajendra Prasad as the I President of India. Sir C.Rajagopalachari remains the first and the only Indian Governor General of India.

The Constituent Assembly took over as the provisional parliament of India under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister with the following ministers:
1. Sardar Vallabhai Patel - Home
2. T.T.Krishnamachari - Finance
3. Maulana Azad - Education
4. Sarat Chandra Bose - Mines and Works
5. Rafi Ahmed Kidwai - Communication
6. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur - Health
7. Asaf Ali - Railways, Transport
8. Rajendra Prasad - Food, Agriculture
9. Baldev Singh - Defence.
This provisional ministry continued till the First General elections.

1951/1952 from 25.10.1951 to 26.2.1952 - 489 seats - Congress won 364 seats.

17.4.1952

G.V.Mavlankar.

1. Jawaharlal Nehru - PM, External Affairs.
2. Vallabhai Patel - Home
3. Baldev Singh - Defence.
4. Shanmugham Chetty - Finance.
5. Maulana Azad - Education.
6. Jagjivan Ram - Labour
7. B.R.Ambedkar - Law
8. Rafi Ahmed Kidwai - Communication.
9. S.P.Mukherji - Industry
10. Amrit Kaur - Health
11. John Mathai - Railways.
Thus came the independent India into existence.