Right to Equality

This article deals with ‘Right to Equality .’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Article 14

Article 14 provides – Equality before law & equal protection of law

Equality before Law	Equal protection of Law
British concept	American concept
Negative concept	Positive concept
Consist of – Absence of any special privileges in favour of any person – Equal subjection of all persons to ordinary law of land	Consist of – Equality of treatment under similar circumstances – Like should be treated alike without discrimination

Article 31-C

• When Article 31-C comes in Article 14 goes out.
• Article 31-C says that  implementing Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) under Article 39(b)&( c )cannot be challenged on grounds that they violate Article 14

Article 15

Article 15(1)

• Prohibition of discrimination only on grounds of religion , race, caste , sex or place of birth
• Deals only with actions of state and not individuals

Article 15(2)

• No citizen shall be subjected to any disability only on grounds of religion ,race,caste , sex or place of birth wrt
  • Access to shops,restaurants,hotels & places of public entertainment
  • Use of wells,tanks,ghats ,roads & public place
• Deals with state as well as private individuals

Exceptions

• Article 15(3) : State can make special provisions for women & children
• Article 15(4) : State can make special provision for advancement of Socially & Educationally Backward Classes and SC & STs
• Article 15(5) : State can make special provisions regarding their admission to Educational Institutions including private ones for above sections (93rd Amendment,2005)

Article 16

• Article 16(1) : Equality of Opportunity in matter of Public Employment 

Exceptions

• Article 16(4) :  Can provide Reservation in favour of certain Backward Class if not adequately represented

Article 17

• Abolition of Untouchability
• For this  Protection of Civil Rights Act (PCRA) ,1976
  • Under Act, where any of forbidden practices is committed in relation to a member of SC , the Court shall presume unless contrary is proved , that such act was committed on ground of Untouchability
• This right is available against State as well as Private Individual
• Although term Untouchability is no where defined

Mysore High Court Ruling

• It constitute practice as it has evolved historically in country
• Refers to social disabilities imposed on certain classes of persons by reason of their birth in certain castes
• Doesn’t include social boycott of few individuals or their exclusion from religious services

Article 18

Abolition of Titles and make four provisions

Supreme Court ruling 1996

• It upheld the constitutionality of National Awards like Padma Bhushan etc  as
  1. They are not hereditary . But they cant be used as prefix and suffix in names  
  2. Along with that, clause (j) of Article 51A (Fundamental Duties) exhorts every citizen “to strive towards excellence , so that nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement”. It is , therefore , necessary that there should be a system of awards and decorations to recognise excellence in performance of these duties.

Issues related to Right to Equality

Issue 1  : Classification for Purpose of Legislation

Concept of Equality before Law does not involve the idea of absolute equality among all.  Article 14 also includes the phrase ‘equal protection of the laws’ which means right to equal treatment in similar circumstances.

What Article 14 prohibits is ‘class legislation’ and not classification for the purpose of legislation  . But the classification should not be arbitrary and have relation to the object of legislation. So Article 14 does not mean that every person shall be taxed equally, but that persons under the same circumstances should be taxed by the same standard.

In order to be reasonable and not arbitrary, a classification must satisfy following  conditions 

1. Classification should be based on intelligible difference which distinguishes those  grouped together from others.
2. Difference must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the act.
3. Single Individual may be treated as class on account of some reasons applicable to him and not others.

Examples of Classifications

1. 25% reservation to children belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group in private schools. 

Issue 2 : Reservation

Reservation  in Indian law is quota based affirmative action . 

Why founding fathers opted reservation?

• To achieve Equality in true spirit : Although Equality and Reservation are on opposite ends of spectrum but it is well known fact that , unequal persons can’t be expected to compete on equal terms
• To provide justice as enshrined in Preamble .

Points regarding Reservation

1 . All societies face serious challenges due to institutionalised inequality

US	African Americans + American Indians
Europe	Gypsies
Australia	Aborigines
China	Non Han Minorities

But nowhere in the world is inequality by birth and moral neutrality to such discrimination so institutionalised as in Indian society.

2 . How Caste System became such an oppressive system ?

This happened because of certain features of Caste System like

1. Denial of education for all but a few “upper” castes
2. Linkage between caste and occupation
3. Institutionalised  untouchability 
4. Tradition of endogamous marriages within caste

3. Even before independence, Reservations  had a place in India for over a century

• In 1902, Pune’s Chhatrapati Maharaj reserved seats in educational institutions
• Mysore Maharaja and the states of Madras and Travancore 

Constitutional Provisions

• Article 15(3)  –  State can  make special  provision for  women and  children
• Article 15(4)  –  State  can  make  special  provision  for  the  advancement  of  any  socially  and  educationally backward  classes   or  for  the  Scheduled  Castes  and  the  Scheduled  Tribes
• Article  16(4)  –    reservation  of  appointments  or  posts 
• Article 16(4A) reservation in promotion for SC & ST .
• Article  46  –  To  promote  the  educational  and  economic  interests  of  SCs,  STs,  and  other  weaker  sections  of society

Types of Reservation

Vertical Reservation	In case of SC/ST/OBC Quota
Horizontal Reservation	Special reservation for women within SC / SC/ OBC

Important Supreme Court judgements

• MR Balaji vs State of Mysore (1963) : 
  • Quota cant be more than 50% (reiterated in Indira Sawhney/Mandal Judgement) 

• Indira Sawhney Case / Mandal Commission Case : In this , 27% reservation made for backward classes apart from SCs & STs was challenged . Was decided by 9 Judge Constitutional Bench . SC ruled that
  1. Reservation shouldn’t be more than 50% . 50% rule should be applied each year
  2. Caste can be made sole basis for determining social backwardness. Caste is quite often is a social class in India
  3. There is no constitutional bar to classify citizens into backward and more backward classes
  4. Creamy layer in OBC  can and must be excluded
  5. Creamy layer did not apply to Scheduled Castes (S.Cs) and Scheduled Tribes (S.Ts)
  6. There should be no reservation in promotion
  7. Backward class of citizens cant be identified only and exclusively with reference to economic criteria

• M. Nagaraj and others vs Union of India : Supreme Court  held that before providing reservations in promotion , “the concerned state will have to show in each case the existence of 
  • Backwardness to be shown by quantifiable data
  • Inadequacy of representation to be shown by quantifiable data
  • Overall administrative efficiency will not be effected

• Jat  Reservation Case :  UPA included Jats from  nine states, and  two Rajasthan districts, in the central list of OBCs going against advice of NCBC . SC scrapped it  ruling  that  “caste”  and  “historical  injustice”  cannot  blind  a  state  in according  backward  status  to  a  community  and  that  new  emerging  groups  such  as  transgenders  must  be identified  for  quota  benefits.

Issues with reservation policy of India

• Stagnant:  reservation  policy   was  initiated  as  a temporary  provision  (for  10  years) 
• Hindrance to develop National Consciousness by dividing  society on Caste lines  
• Elite Sub-stratum : Reservation has created class within class . Presently, it is not the poorest but non-poor, middle income groups of SC/ST/OBC who are beneficiaries of reservations. 
• Used as tool of Political  Mobilization:  Political  parties  are  utilizing  caste-based  reservation  for  vote  bank politics  
• Dissatisfaction:  in  communities  excluded  from  reservations

Reforms required

• Develop  Capabilities: Best way is  develop the  capabilities  of  the  deprived  and excluded  section  .
• Deprivation Points – JNU implements this system of admissions which takes a more nuanced view of disadvantage .  
• Use Socio-Economic Caste Census data : Data in SECCs, which takes a broader view of deprivation should be used
• Introducing Reserved category certificate which can be used only once in 20 years

Benefits

After Tina Dabi (SC Girl) & Kanishk Kataria (SC boy) topped UPSC Civil Services examination , some experts have been trying to give it as an evidence to positive impacts of Reservation given to SCs/STs.

Note : some people say that they oppose today’s reservations because they believe reservation should be made on the basis of income rather than social background. However, reservation is intended not to be an anti-poverty programme. The government has many programmes which are, in principle, accessible to all poor people. Reservation exists because, in addition to being more likely to be poor than general castes, Dalits, backward Muslims, and Adivasis face social discrimination and exclusion that poor people from general caste backgrounds do not face. Reservation is a useful tool to level the playing field: we cannot expect groups who have been historically deprived of education, skills, and access to other means of economic mobility to suddenly start competing with those from groups who have had access to these means for centuries.

Issue 3 : Reservation in Promotions

• Indira Sahni Case : There should be no reservation in promotion
• 77th Amendment & Article 16 (4A): overturned Indra Sawhney on the issue of promotions (Article 16(4A) provides reservation in Promotion)
• M. Nagaraj  vs Union of India : Supreme Court  held that before providing reservations in promotion , “ concerned state will have to show in each case the existence of 
  1. Backwardness to be shown by quantifiable data
  2. Inadequacy of representation to be shown by quantifiable data
  3. Overall administrative efficiency will not be effected

Issue due to Judgement : requirement for quantifiable data had made it difficult to extend quota benefits to employees. Government was of the view that being SC/ST is itself proof that they are backward and no other data is required

Sept 2018 Judgement : Main points

• There is no need to show backwardness by quantifiable data but bench did not make changes about the two other conditions given in  Nagaraj verdict which dealt with adequacy of representation and administrative efficiency.
• Court also asked the government to examine the possibility of introducing creamy layer for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) says that if some sections bag all the coveted jobs ,it will leave the rest of the class as backward as they always were

Points in favour of reservation in promotions

• Skewed SC/ST representation at senior levels–  representation of SCs/STs, though, has gone up at various levels, representation in senior levels is highly skewed against SCs/STs due to prejudices.
• + all points in favour of reservations

Points against reservation in promotions

• Hurts efficiency of administration: This aspect becomes important in highly technical domains such as Nuclear research, space program, etc.
• Provisions under articles 16(4) & 16 (4A) of Constitution are only enabling provisions, and not a fundamental right.
• In a case the Supreme Court ruled that no reservation in promotions would be given in appointment for faculty posts at the super specialty block in AIIMS.

Issue 4 : Upper Caste Quota

103rd Constitutional Amendment Act

• Article 16(6) -provides 10% resevation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in higher education & government jobs
• Such reservation will not apply to minority educational institutions. 

Eligibility

• Annual  salary of less than ₹8 lakh per year
• Owns less than 5 acres of land

Points in favour of this quota

• DPSP contained in Article 46 of the Constitution enjoins that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people

• Ram Singh v. Union of India (2015) – SC asserted that  there is a need to evolve new yardsticks to move away from caste-centric definition of backwardness as social deficiencies may exist beyond the concept of caste (e.g. economic status / gender identity as in transgenders).

• It will lead to destigmatisation of reservation .

Points against this quota

• Legal arguments
  • Indira Sawhney  Judgement :  backward class cannot be determined only and exclusively with reference to economic criterion
  • Breaches 50% ceiling & hence against Right to Equality

• Constitutional
  • violative of the basic structure of the Constitution

• Assembly Debates
  • B R Ambedkar in his speech in the Constituent Assembly explicitly said that equality of opportunity would require that reservation should be for the “minority of the seats” and only in favour of “backward classes who had not so far had representation in the state”.

• Historical Argument
  • From the Poona Pact (1932) between M K Gandhi and Dr B R Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly debates, reservation was talked about in the context of social backwardness of classes. The 124th Amendment makes a departure by extending reservation to the economically disadvantaged. 

• Reservations can’t go to a section that is already adequately represented in public employment. Government doesn’t has quantifiable data to show that people from lower income groups are under-represented in Service

• Practical Issue: taxable population is still very low due to misrepresentation of income, implementing economic eligibility criteria would be a bureaucratic nightmare.

Issue 5 : New  Communities Demanding Reservation

Following new communities are demanding reservation

1. Jats in Haryana
2. Patels/Patidars  in Gujarat
3. Kapus in Andhra
4. (Dec 2018) Marathas : Maharashtra State Assembly unanimously passed a Bill providing 16% reservation for Marathas). 

Important point to note that all these castes are mainly agricultural castes & are well placed in social hierarchy .

Reason for increase in demand now

• Squeezing of agricultural incomes  after LPG reforms + Average size of farms is  decreasing making agriculture unviable.

• Inability to fit in Post Reform Economy – Post- LPG reforms skill intensive jobs have been created in service sector . But these communities have not acquired sufficient education to fit in service sector

• India’s Jobless Growth : Although India has been able to grow at rate of around 7% but this growth was jobless  

• Resentment against other OBC communities like Kunbi, Yadav, Gujjar, Reddy , and Saini which are socially and economically placed on same position is rural society are in OBC category.

• Political Support : These communities know that they have political support as well as numbers to bend political parties according to their needs .

• Competition for fewer brides : These castes have skewed sex ratio and Parents of girls prefer grooms with stable income – those with government jobs are often their preferred choice. 

Solutions

• Make available quality education to whoever wants
• Fast, job-producing economic growth.
• Relooking at feasibility of implementation of MS Swaminathan Report 

Article 12 , Article 13 and Judicial Review

This article deals with ‘Article 12 , Article 13 and Judicial Review  .’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Article 12

Article 12 defines ‘State’ – Actions of which can be challenged in courts as violation of Fundamental Right (FR)

‘State’ INCLUDE

• Government & Parliament of India
• Government & Legislature of States
• All Local Authorities like Panchayat, Municipalities
• And Other Authorities within Territory of India or under Control of territory of India

By Supreme Court judgement, following also constitute State under Article 12-

• Statutory & Non-statutory Authorities like LIC,ONGC,SAIL etc
• Even private body working as instrument of state

Most Problematic Expression in Article 12 is Other Authorities because it is not defined in the Constitution. Thus , it is for the courts to interpret this term and it is clear that the wider this term is interpreted , the wider is the ambit of Fundamental Rights.

Judicial History => Courts have widened the ambit of STATE with subsequent Judgements . 

• University of Madras vs Shanta Bai (1954) : Principle of ‘Ejsudem Generis‘ = only those authorities which  perform governmental or sovereign functions can be included in Article 12  . 

• (Landmark Judgement) RD Shetty vs International Airport Authority (1979) : Court laid down following tests
  1. Entire share capital is owned  by state
  2. Enjoys monopoly status
  3. Department of Government is transferred to Corporation
  4. Functional character is governmental in nature

Other Concern in era of Privatisation and Liberalisation

• In era of LPG, State is outsourcing its functions to the private authorities.
• Hence, where private entity is performing any  Public Utility Function , it should come within purview of Article 12 . 
• National Commission to Review the Working of Constitution ,2002  has recommended the same

Article 13

Declares all Laws that are inconsistent with any FR shall be void

And Law according to Article 13 are

1. Permanent laws enacted by Parliament & State Legislatures
2. Temporary laws like Ordinances
3. Statutory instruments like order, rule, regulations, notifications
4. Non Legislative Sources of law like customs or usage having force of law
5. SC ruling: Although Constitutional Amendments can’t be challenged in Supreme Court (SC)but in Keshavananda Bharti case it declared that if these constitutional amendments violates basic structure which include Fundamental Rights it can be challenged

Judicial review is conferred by Article 13 only.

Judicial Review

What is Judicial Review

• Term Judicial Review means the Power of a Court to review and potentially strike down an act of Legislature or Executive or Administration as unconstitutional  if they are not inline with Constitution 
• Doctrine of Judicial Review has originated in USA.

Judicial Review of Legislative Action  in India

• Indian Constitution provides for Judicial Review through Article 13, 32, 131-136, 143, 226 and 246.
• Judicial Review of Legislative Action is done by using some basic constitutional doctrines
  1. Doctrine of Basic Structure ,
  2. Pith and Substance  : Pith means ‘true nature’  and Substance means ‘ most important part of something’.Doctrine of Pith and Substance says that where the question arises of determining whether a particular law relates to a particular subject (mentioned in one List or another), the court looks to the substance of the matter.
  3. Colourable Legislation (Whatever legislature can’t do directly, it can’t do indirectly)
  4. Severability (when a part of the statute is declared unconstitutional, then the unconstitutional part is to be removed and the remaining valid portion will continue to be valid),
  5. Liberal Interpretation,
  6. Limitation of Stare Decisis:  Policy of the courts to stand by the precedent
  7. Unconstitutionality and Eclipse , and Waiver

Cases regarding Judicial Review

1 . AK Gopalan Vs State of Madras : Constitution is supreme and every statute has to be in conformity with the constitutional requirements. 

2. Minerva Mills Case : Judicial Review  is Basic Feature of Indian Constitution . 

3. Indira Gandhi vs Raj Narain (1975) : Ordinary Laws aren’t subject to Doctrine of Basic Structure . The Doctrine of Basic Structure is applied only to determine validity of Constitutional Amendment.

4. IR Coelho vs State of Tamil Nadu (2007) : All Constitutional Amendments made on or after 24th April 1973 by which Ninth Schedule is amended by inclusion of various laws therein shall have to be tested on the touchstone of Basic Features of the constitution enshrined in Article 14, 19 and 21. 

Judicial Review of Administrative Action

In this, Court scrutinises the whole Administrative Action and sees how the whole action was reached. If the court finds an Administrative Action as arbitrary or irrational, the court sets aside whole action 

1 . Delhi Development Authority vs UEE Electrical Engineering Private Limited (2004) :  irrationality and procedural impropriety are grounds for judicial review of administrative action .  

2. Doctrine of Proportionality : If Administrative Authority awards disproportionate punishment  to the allegations , it remains open for judicial review.

3. Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation : This doctrine has its genesis in UK in case of Schmidt vs Secretary of State (1969) where it was held that an alien who had been granted permission to enter UK for limited period had a legitimate expectation for being allowed to stay for the permitted period. This has been used by Indian courts too

Introduction to Fundamental Rights

This article deals with ‘Introduction to Fundamental Rights .’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Introduction

Constitution and Fundamental Rights

• Article 12-35 of Part III deals with Fundamental Rights

Why are Fundamental Rights fundamental

• Protected and guaranteed by Constitution which is fundamental law of land
• Most essential for all round development of individual

Fali S Nariman : Individuals possess basic human rights independently of any Constitution by reason of the fact that they are members of the human family. A Constitution does not “confer” Fundamental Rights. It confirms their existence and accords them protection.

Present Status of Fundamental Rights

Originally 7 now 6 only (Right to Property conferred by Article 31 was removed by 44th Amendment and now it is legal right under Article 300-A Part XII)

1 . Right To Equality(14-18)

Article 14	Equality before law & Equal protection of law
Article 15	Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion ,race, caste,  place of birth or sex only
Article 16	Equality of opportunity in matter of public employment
Article 17	Abolition of Untouchability
Article 18	Abolition of titles except military and academic

2. Right to Freedom (19-22)

Article 19	Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of 1. Speech 2. Assembly 3. Association 4. Movement 5. Residence 6. Profession
Article 20	Protection wrt conviction of offences
Article 21	Protection of life & personal liberty
Article 21A	Right to elementary education
Article 22	Protection against arrest & detention

Features of Fundamental Rights

• Some are available to citizens only &  others to all persons

• They are qualified & not absolute  ie state can impose reasonable restrictions on them but whether it is reasonable or not is decided by court
• Most of them against arbitrary action of state with few against action of private individual. If rights that are protected against states action is violated by person only legal remedy and not constitutional remedy is available
• Most of them negative in character but some are positive in character too conferring certain privileges
• Not sacrosanct and can be repealed or modified but only by Constitutional Amendment (but in such a way that they don’t affect Basic Structure )
• Can be suspended during national emergency except Article 20 & 21 and Article 19 can be suspended only in External emergency & not internal
• Most of them are directly enforceable while others can be enforced by law. But such laws can be made by Parliament to ensure uniformity in whole country( Article 35)

Preamble of Indian Constitution

This article deals with ‘Preamble of Indian Constitution.’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Introduction

First Preamble	Constitution  of USA  was the first to have Preamble
Based on	Objective Resolution, 1947 drafted & moved by Nehru and adopted by Constituent Assembly
Words added later	SECULAR SOCIALIST INTEGRITY – Three words by 42nd Constitutional Amendment
Reveals	Four things   1. Source of authority : Derives power from people of India 2. Nature of state : Sovereign, Socialist , Secular, Democratic, Republic 3. Objective :To achieve Justice,Liberty,Equality & Fraternity 4. Date of Adoption : Nov 26,1949

Important Note : Order  is important for Prelims

Sovereign -> Socialist -> Secular -> Democratic -> Republic (S3DR)

Keywords & Meaning 

1 . Sovereign

• India is neither dependency nor dominion of any nation
• 1949 controversy : India declared continuance of full membership of commonwealth and accepted British crown as head of commonwealth but this did not affect sovereignty in any respect

2. Socialist

• Added by 42nd Amendment : Explicitly mentioned via Amendment although implicitly already present in form of Directive Principles
• Indian Socialism is Democratic Socialism which hold faith in mixed economy and has blend of both Marxism & Gandhism  leaning heavily towards Gandhism

3. Secular

• Added by 42nd Amendment : Amendment stated it explicitly,  although implicitly it was already present
• Constitution makers assured this through Articles 25 to 28
• Indian constitution envisaged positive concept of secularism ie equal protection of all religions by state (western countries have adopted negative concept of secularism and constructs wall between State & Religion )
• Concept of secularism of state ie State  will have no religion  was propounded in Minerva Mills Case 1980

4. Democratic

• Based on doctrine of popular sovereignty
• In India, Democratic system is indirect & Parliamentary

5. Republic

• Democratic polity can be of two types 
  • Monarchy
  • Republic
• India is Republic i.e head of state is elected and not hereditary
• All public offices in India are opened to all citizens

6. Justice

• Justice – social, economic & political
• Secured through various Directive Principles & F.R.

Social Justice	Equal treatment of all
Economic Justice	Non discrimination of people on economic basis
Political Justice	Equal political rights to all people

• Taken from Russian Revolution

7. Liberty

• Absence of restraints on activities of individuals and providing opportunities for development
• Secured through Fundamental Rights which are enforceable in court of law
• Qualified and not absolute
• Taken from French Revolution

8. Equality

• Absence of special privileges to any section of  society
• There will be equality both of status as well as of opportunity.

9. Fraternity

• Fraternity means sense of brotherhood
• Promotes sense of brotherhood by single citizenship
• Fundamental  Duties Article 51A also calls for fraternity

Preamble as part of Constitution

Question was raised that whether Preamble is part of constitution or not ? Various judgements of Supreme Court has given answer to these questions.

1 . Berubari union Case,1960

• Preamble is not part of constitution but shows key to minds of constitution makers
• When terms in constitution are ambiguous , preamble can be used in interpretation

2. Keshavananda Bharti case,1973

• Rejected earlier decision and held that Preamble is part of constitution
• But
  • Neither source of power to legislature nor prohibits it
  • Non justiciable & not enforceable by court

Amendability of Preamble

Another question which came up was that – Whether Preamble can be amended or not ? Supreme Court has given judgement on this issue

Keshavananda Bharti case,1973

• Preamble is part of constitution & since it is part of constitution it can be amended under Article 368
• But subject to condition that basic features are not amended in doing so/basic structure is not damaged.

Present Controversy on Socialism & Secularism Debate

BJP leaders frequently raise this issue that word Socialism and Secularism which was added in Preamble should be removed . But this is a controversial issue which needs serious debate .

My take on this issue

1. Doctrine of Basic structure says that Socialist + Secular + Preamble constitute Basic Structure of Constitution.  44th Amendment reverted almost all key aspects of 42nd Amendment but Preamble remained unchanged .
2. During Constituent Assembly Debates, Issue of including Secularism and Socialism in Constitution was sufficiently discussed. They were not included because
   • Secularism : There was only one model of secularism known at that time which makes wall between State and Religion. But when in 1970s , we were sure that Indian variant of Secularism is different, we included it in Preamble
   • Socialism : Same reason
3. Elimination of economic inequality still remains our national goal & MNREGA & food security bill and Jan Dhan Yojana point towards that . Hence, Socialism remains important even today and shouldn’t be removed

Sources of Constitution

Indian constitution has adopted various features from different sources especially constitutions of other countries .

1. Government of India Act of 1935 – Federal Scheme, Office of governor, Judiciary, Public Service Commissions, Emergency provisions and administrative details.
2. British Constitution – Parliamentary government, Rule of Law, legislative procedure, single citizenship, cabinet system, prerogative writs, parliamentary privileges and bicameralism.
3. US Constitution – Fundamental rights, independence of judiciary, judicial review, impeachment of the president, removal of Supreme Court and high court judges and post of vice-president.
4. Irish Constitution – Directive Principles of State Policy, nomination of members to Rajya Sabha and method of election of president.
5. Canadian Constitution – Federation with a strong Centre, vesting of residuary powers in the Centre, appointment of state governors by the Centre, and advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
6. Australian Constitution – Concurrent List, freedom of trade, commerce and inter-course, and joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.
7. Weimar Constitution of Germany – Suspension of Fundamental Rights during Emergency.
8. Soviet Constitution (USSR, now Russia) – Fundamental duties and the ideal of justice (social, economic and political) in the Preamble.
9. French Constitution – Republic and the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble.
10. South African Constitution – Procedure for amendment of the Constitution and election of members of Rajya Sabha
11. Japanese constitution – procedure established by law

Interior of Earth

This article deals with ‘Interior of Earth and Earths’s Magnetism .’ This is part of our series on ‘Geography’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Direct and Indirect Evidences

Earthquake & Seismic Waves

Structure of Earth

Side Topic : Discontinuities interior of Earth

Lithosphere , Asthenosphere , Mesosphere and Barysphere

Earth’s Magnetism

The Popular Urges

This article deals with ‘The Popular Urges – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Introduction

• Symptomatic expressions of the popular urges between 1945 & 1947 were of two types
  1. Those which led to direct confrontation with colonial administration
  2. Those which indirectly undermined colonialism through their opposition to its indigenous upholders/collaborators – certain Capitalists, Princes, Landlords & Mahajans

1. Direct Confrontation

1. 1 Indian National Army (INA) Trials

• Although Military campaign of INA was over but political impact on India was yet to unfold itself.
• After their surrender, the twenty thousand INA soldiers were interrogated and transported back to India.
  •  Those who appeared to have been persuaded or misled by Japanese or INA propaganda-classified as “Whites” and “Greys”-were either released or rehabilitated in the army.
  • But a few of them at least-the most committed and categorised as “Blacks”-were to be court marshalled.

Not to try them would be to give indication of weakness; and to tolerate ‘treason, would be to put the loyalty of the Indian army at risk. So altogether ten trials took place, and in the first and most celebrated one at Red Fort in Delhi, three officers-P.K. Sahgal, G.S. Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan-were charged of treason, murder and abetment of murder.

• The trial took place in public, as this was expected to reveal the horrors that these INA men had perpetrated and that, the government hoped, would swerve public opinion against them. But as the events subsequently unfolded, the government, it seemed, had completely miscalculated the political fallout of the INA trials.
• As the press censorship was lifted after the war, the details of the INA campaign were revealed every day before the Indian public and these officers appeared as patriots of the highest order-not by any means traitors-and the demand for discontinuing the trials grew stronger by the day. The election was round the corner & INA trials could be an excellent issue. Subhas Bose might have been a renegade leader who had challenged the authority of the Congress leadership and their principles. But in death he was a martyred patriot whose memory could be an ideal tool for political mobilisation.
• There were meetings and processions, angry outbursts and agitated speeches almost everywhere, calling for the immediate release of the INA prisoners. There were many factors that led to this mass up- surge
  1. The trial took place at Red Fort, which appeared to be the most authentic symbol of British imperial domination, as here took place in 1858 the trial of Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor and the acclaimed leader of the 1857 revolt.
  2. Furthermore, as trial progressed, its reports appeared in the press, leading to more awareness and to some extent more emotionalisation of the sacrifices made by the INA soldiers.
  3. All political parties, like the Congress Socialists, Akali Dal, Unionist Party, Justice Party, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, Hindu Mahasabha and even the Muslim League wanted the trials to be discontinued.
  4. And by a strange coincidence, the three accused belonged to three different religions: one Hindu, one Sikh and one Muslim. The demonstrations, therefore, showed signs of remarkable communal harmony.
• Protests were most widespread in Calcutta (21 Nov 45) in which students marched at the call of Forward Bloc & were joined by Students Federation (Communist Student wing) & league’s  Student Organisation . They tied their flags together to show unity . Police fired at them killing one Hindu & Muslim student . In response, people of Calcutta raged city on fire , disrupted traffic, burned cars & lorries & set up barricades on roads. On 22 & 23 Nov , whole of city was out of their control
• In the trial, the defense tried to argue that people fighting for freedom of their country could not be tried for treason. But despite that, they were found guilty as charged; but the commander-in-chief remitted their sentence and set them free on 3 January 1946. The three officers came out of the Red Fort to a hero’s welcome at public meetings in Delhi and Lahore, that celebrated a moral victory against the British.

Significance on Granting Independence

• Since the middle of 1945 the British were expecting a mass upheaval in India any way. But what really perturbed them was the impact of the INA trials on the loyalty of the army, which in post- Quit India days was their only reliable apparatus of rule. Further alarming to them was INA trial and the growing sympathy for the INA soldiers who were almost universally regarded as patriots, rather than “traitors”. The members of the RIAF, as well as some other army personnel in various centres openly donated money to the INA relief fund and on some occasions attended protest rallies in full uniform.
• Curiously enough, Indian publicmen, whether of nationalist or of communalist type, refused to see in the agitation what British had already seen, and they decided to brand mass actions as “frittering away” of energies in “trifling quarrels” with the police. As an antidote to the unified enthusiasm of the people, the Congress Working Committee chose  to remind everyone of the need for observing strict non-violence. Congress and the League’s leader  restraint over popular outbursts could only be explained by their pre-determination in favour of a negotiated settlement with the British, or by their opting for political bargaining rather than for fighting to the finish.
• They were willing to take up the INA question, or any such issue, only so far as to derive advantages from it in the coming elections, and no further. For example the Congressmen made a promise during Punjab elections that all INA personnel will be absorbed in the army of free India
• These agitations again struck in Feb 1946 & epicentre again was Calcutta . Reason was 7 year imprisonment passed on Rashid Ali of INA . This was called by League’s student organisation & joined by Communist Wing too amid communal solidarity . Massive rally & general strike was organised & resulted in clashes with police. Two days of encounters ended with 84 dead
• Tensions continued even after that not only in Calcutta but all over India

1.2 Royal Indian Navy (RIN) Revolt

• In Feb 1946 ( second Calcutta confrontation at same time too)
• Ratings of RIN having served abroad became familiar with the world outside & were resentful  of the racist behavior of their English superiors. Besides being segregation they were well aware of the unrest building in country especially over INA Trials
• Immediate reason for revolt was poor food quality given to them
• 18 Feb 1946 : Ratings of HMS Talwar in Bombay Harbour went to hunger strike to protest against bad food & racial arrogance . 22 ships on same harbour followed the suit on same day
• They elected Naval Central Committee headed by MS Khan & their demands were as  much national as their own ones
  1. Release of INA prisoners
  2. Freedom of all political prisoners
  3. Withdrawal of Indian troops in Indo-China & Java
  4. Better Food
  5. More Civilized Treatment
  6. Equal Pay for European & Indian sailors alike
• 20 Feb : Ratings barracks were surrounded by Armed guards & fighting started as they preferred gun battle to surrender
• These confrontations reached Karachi too  spearheaded there by rebels in HMS Hindusthan & by 22 Feb revolt reached all naval bases with 78 ships involved & 20,000 ratings
• Mutineers invoked unprecedented popular response

Karachi

– Hindu & Muslim students & workers demonstrated in their support – Engaged with army & police with violent clashes

Bombay

– Witnessed emotional expressions of the public sympathy – people hailing the ratings , rushing in food for them & shopkeepers insisting on their taking whatever articles they like – Communists with support of Congress Socialists gave call for general strike on 22 Feb . – Congress & Muslim League gave counter directives but even after that 3 Lakh demonstrators came out on road that day . Same scenes as Calcutta . In Clashes , several hundreds died in two days

• Importance : The RIN mutiny was short lived, but it had dramatic psychological repercussions. Although it did not immediately lead to an open revolt in the Indian army, such a possibility could never be ruled out. The sympathetic strikes in the air force and army indicated very clearly that the Indian Army was no longer the same “sharp sword of repression” which the British could use as before, if a popular outburst of the 1942 proportions took place again. An official inquiry commission later revealed that “majority of ratings [were] politically conscious”

But movement ended because

• Overwhelming military might of Raj put in place
• Vallabhbai Patel & Jinnah jointly persuaded rating to surrender on 23 Feb & an undertaking was given by Congress & ML that they would prevent any victimisation of ratings  (but soon assurance was forgotten)

Note – R.I.N. ratings of February 1946, in sharp contrast to the men of the Azad Hind Fauj, have never been given the status of national heroes—although their action involved much greater risk in some ways than joining the I.N.A. as alternative to an arduous life in Japanese POW camps. The last message of the Naval Central Strike Committee deserves to be remembered far better than it is: ‘Our strike has been a historic event in the life of our nation. For the first time the blood of men in the Services and in the streets flowed together in a common cause. We in the Services will never forget this. We know also that you, our brothers and sisters, will not forget. Long live our great people! Jai Hind!’

2. Indirect Confrontation

2.1 Worlis

• Worlis are Tribal or Adivasi peasants in Thana district
• They were poverty stricken & took loans from moneylenders at exorbitant rates upto rate of interest of 200% .
• Generally failed  to pay back & eventually reduced to status of tenant at will on their own lands or became landless agriculture labourers or wage earners cutting grass on their fallow lands or workers for contractors of forest lands
• In times of difficulty they also took grain loans from moneylenders & landlords & on failure to pay back they were forced to give veth Bigar or labour without payment turning them into serfs for life
• In 1945 , Worlis were organised by Maharashtra Kisan Sabha & led by Outside leader Godavari Purulekar . They refused to give Veth Begar & demanded higher wage for cutting grass & higher wage for work in forest
• There were numerous confrontations between them & Zamindars with support of police & lathihars killing many .  By autumn of 1946 both demands met after series of repression
• This success enraged the Government & it hit revengefully by arresting large number of activists & constituting criminal charges against them . Movement disappeared gradually but many agitators who fled to jungles tried many a times to regroup themselves

2.2 Bakshat Peasants Agitation

• In Bihar
• More extensive & more desparate & was building from decades
• Zamindars in Bihar had three types of lands

Zirati	Which they kept for themselves & cultivated by Agricultural labourers
Rayati	Settled with occupancy tenants
Bakshat	Rented to Tenants at will at varying rates

• Bakshat Tenants had no occupancy rights and they were subjected to continuous ejections because
  • It was profitable for Zamindar
  • Under Tenancy Act,1885 if Bakshat land was  with same tenant for 12 years then he got some rights
• Peasants resisted this and fought furiously against this under banner of Kisan Sabha from 1937-1939 against Zamindari agents, government officials & police
• Hostility was temporary halted with onset of WW2 with some unreliable arbitrations & unstable agreements
• This issue again came into forefront when Congress run for elections in Bihar by promising to abolish Zamindari . Zamindar in order to safeguard their lands starting evicting Tenants at will & started to convert Bakshat land to Zirati land . Agitations started against it & spread to Gaya , Shahabad, Dharbhanga , Muzaffarpur etc
• Zamindars were repressing them with help of armed  lathials & Police but leadership of Kisan Sabha refused to give up . Women & children joined movement too
• Half hearted Bihar Bakshat Disputes Settlement Act 1947 was passed but  farmers werent satisfied & ended with passage of Bihar Zamindari Abolition Act,1948

2.3 Travancore Agitation

• Scene of happening was Alleppy – Shertalai Region
• Mainly by Communists supported by poor peasants, coir factory workers, tody tappers , fishermen &  depressed agri ranks
• Communists-launched a massive campaign against the “American model” constitution which C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, the Dewan, wanted to impose upon the state people. Through this device the Dewan and the Maharaja were in fact preparing clandestinely for the establishment of an independent Travancore state at the time of the foreseeable British departure from India. It was to provide for an irresponsible government in Travancore, with a Legislature elected on universal suffrage, but without having any effective control over the Executive, under a Dewan to be appointed by the Maharaja.
• Communist furore against the plan so enraged the State Authorities that they unleashed the forces of terror on their opponents in the Alleppy region. Police camps were set up, and indiscriminate arrests, detentions and tortures began. Persecutions eventually forced the workers to take shelter in places protected by their own volunteer force . Martial Law was declared & they killed 800 people
• This massacre swayed the public opinion against state’s independence move & thereby in favour of its integration with the nationalist India 

2.4 Tebhaga Agitation 

• Most extensive of all & drew 6 million peasants into it . It was against exploitative pattern of sharecropping system that prevailed in parts of Bengal
• In Bengal countryside, especially in those areas where large hilly, marshy and forest tracts were brought under cultivation, a relatively new class of rural exploiters emerged between the landlords (Zamindars) and the tenants (Ryots), known as the Jotedars.
• Jotedars (owners of jotes or considerable chunks of land) accumulated big estates for which they paid rent in cash, and which they-in their turn-rented out to landless peasants on the basis of sharing the crops in equal halves, or 50 per cent produce rent. In actual practice, the tillers’ share of crops used to be much less than one-half as he had initially to take advance from the Jotedar for procuring implements, seeds and cattle, and then pay it back at the time of sharing the crops. Apart from that have to give Nazarana , Salami & perform begar on lands of jotedar
• Sharecropping arrangement being renewable orally every year, the Jotedar could, and invariably did throw out one sharecropper for another on consideration for higher Nazarana and Salami.
• Bengal was facing Great famine in 1943 &  inflatory trends of WW 2 . Hence, Sharecroppers started viewing the customary division of crop to be wholly disadvantageous to their well-being. They, therefore, had no hesitation in responding to the call of the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha in September 1946, demanding 2/3 of the produce for the tillers instead 1/2
• Sharecroppers started taking harvested crops to their own yards (while custom was to take it to yards of Jotedar) & offered 1/3 to Jotedar & 2/3 for themselves . Where ever Jotedar was able to take crop to his godown they broke godown & demanded their 2/3 share
• Women joined the movement too
• Zamindars backed by Government officers, police & their musclemen repressed them . But after numerous casualties this ended because of govt ruthless repression, hostility of entire Bengali middle-class & above all worsened communal situation

2.5 Telangana Movement

• Area : Telangana
• Hyderabad was a  princely state and here the agriculture relations were feudal with -small population of jagirdars, pattadars (landowners), deshmukhs , deshpandes (revenue collectors) and moneylenders were exploiting the peasants and agricultural labourers . In 1940s, the falling prices continuing from the depression years also impacted the peasants . 
• Along with that, the communists were  mobilising the peasantry since mid-1930s through certain front organisations, such as the Andhra Conference in Telengana and the Andhra Mahasabha in the delta region.

Movement can be seen in two phases

Phase 1

• Movement started in Nalgonda district in July 1946 with an attack on a notorious landlord and within a month it spread to a wide region in Nalgonda, Warangal and Khammam districts
• Demands were many
  • Wage increase
  • Abolition of vethi, illegal exactions, eviction and the recently imposed grain levy
• However, movement was less organised and more ‘spasmodic’ in nature .

Phase 2

• In June 1947,  Nizam announced that after the withdrawal of the British, Hyderabad would maintain its independence and would not join the Indian union.
• In reaction, local Congress decided to launch a satyagraha, and the communists, despite their reservations, joined in and hoisted national flags in various parts of the state.
• But the alliance soon broke down, as the movement was not going anywhere, while the Majlis lttehad-ul-Musalmin, an outfit of the minority Muslim aristocracy, now recruited its own armed bands, called the Razakars, and with the endorsement of the Nizam unleashed a reign of terror in the Telengana countryside.
• To resist repression, the peasants under communist leadership now began to form volunteer guerrilla squads called dalams, began to seize wastelands and surplus land from big landlords and redistribute them, and formed village republics or ‘soviets’ in areas considered to be liberated zones.

Phase 3

• On 13 September 1948 the Indian army entered Hyderabad and Nizam’s army, police and the Razakar bands surrendered immediately. But this did not mark the end of the Telengana insurrection
• Communist Party, despite some opposition from within, decided to continue the struggle
• Indian army also launched its “Police Action” against the communist guerrillas and the uneven battle continued until October 1951, when the movement was formally withdrawn

Indian National Army and Subash Chandra Bose

This article deals with ‘Indian National Army and Subash Chandra Bose– UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Subash Chandra Bose  in World War 2

• After outbreak of Second WW in 1939 Subas Chandra Bose argued that Indians were losing the rare opportunity , for they must take advantage of empire’s weakest moment. He was convinced in 1939 , when disciplinary action was taken against him, that it was the result of ‘Right Wing Consolidation‘ and now this hesitation to initiate mass movement against the Raj was because of same Right Wing Leaders who were out of touch with new forces and new elements that had come into existence in last few years.

• Back in Bengal, he forged a link with the Muslim League, and decided to launch a civil disobedience movement to destroy the Holwell monument that stood in Calcutta as a reminder of a Black hole tragedy which most people believed did never happen and was invented only to tar the memory of Siraj-ud-daula, the last independent ruler of Bengal. It was a campaign that had an obvious appeal to the Muslims and thus could further strengthen the Hindu-Muslim pact in Bengal. But before it could start, he was arrested by the British on 3 July 1940 under the Defence of India Act.  Bose remained incarcerated until he threatened to start a hunger strike in December. He was then released unconditionally, but kept under constant surveillance.

• In the meanwhile, war progressed in Europe, and Bose believed that Germany was going to win. Although he did not like their  totalitarianism or racism, he began to nurture the idea that the cause of Indian independence could be furthered with the help of the Axis powers and started exploring various possibilities. He escaped from the eyes of government and disappeared on 26 Jan 1941 & reached Germany via Kabul & Russia . After  meeting  Hitler he reached Japan . He had embarked on the last and most dramatic phase of his patriotic career, but the decision to rely primarily on help from Britain’s enemies was also in a sense a confession of the weakness of internal forces, and marked a kind of return to the methods of the revolutionary terrorists during the First World War.

Indian National Army (INA)

• There were many Indian revolutionaries working abroad for the country’s cause & most prominent among them was  Rasbehari Bose, living as a fugitive from the British since 1915 in Japan. He seized the opportunity offered by war to mobilise Indians for armed struggle
• There were large number of Indians fighting on behalf of British . When they were taken as prisoners in SE Asia , Major Fujiwara persuaded Captain Mohan Singh to work in collaboration with Japanese for India’s freedom
• 1942 : Indian Independence League was formed in a conference held in Tokyo & Rash Bihari Bose was elected as President & decision was taken to raise INA with Captain Mohan Singh as Commander.  SC Bose was invited to lead the movement
• June, 1943:  He came to Tokyo and then joined  INA at Singapore in July. Rashbehari Bose handed over leadership to Subhas Bose, and an Azad Hind Sarkar was formed.
• In November, 1943, the Japanese announced their decision to hand over the administration of Andamans and Nicobar islands to the INA . INA in a few months time had three fighting brigades named after Gandhi, Azad and Nehru. Soon other brigades were raised, namely the Subhas brigade and Rani Jhansi brigade. The overseas Indians contributed heavily in terms of money and material for the army.
• Fighting side by side Japanese forces,  INA reached India & hoisted  tricolour on Indian soil . INA failed to capture Imphal mainly because Japanese failed to supply necessary material & air cover to INA & monsoon prevented their advance
• Meantime Britishers regrouped their forces. Although INA fought heroically but after suffering loss of manpower & collapse of Germany  & Japanese army INA too couldn’t stand on its own

Bose and Indian National Army (INA)

• He became very popular by the name of Netaji . Now he organised AZAD HIND FAUJ which consisted of most of those soldiers which were forcibly recruited by British & were sent on fronts
• He trained soldiers of INA on modern military weapons & trained himself in modern warfare . Then he came Singapore via Japan
• INA was given recognition by many nations . In 1943 , he declared war on England & USA & made  HQ in Burma
• 1944 – cross Indo-Burmese border and freed Assam .
• He planned to march Delhi by declaring Delhi Chalo March . It was due to onset of monsoon & shortage of food supply that his dream was not fulfilled
• His efforts had great influence on the minds of Indians who were ready to make sacrifice for independence . Slogans of Jai Hind & Give me Blood , I will give you freedom made lasting influence on Indians
• Towards end of 1944 , Japan became weak & allied armies reoccupied Rangoon & INA has to retreat from Burma . On 6 & 9 Aug 1945 ,  Atom bombs were dropped on two cities of Japan & soon Japan surrendered before Allied nations
• Due to lack of provisions & ammunition INA had to accept defeat before Allied Nations . Most of soldiers were taken prisoners by British . After defeat, Netaji went to Singapore & on 16th Aug when he was going to Japan, his plane crashed near Formosa & he most probably died in Accident

• British Government tried three high officials of INA – Shah Nawaz Khan, Gurbaksh Singh & Prem Kumar Sehgal in Delhi in a special court . Congress tried its best to save them . Team headed by Bhulabhai Desai & consisting of Asaf Ali, Tej Bahadur Sapru , Kailash Nath Katju & JL Nehru tried their best as lawyer to save them but government gave them death punishment . Indians opposed severely & government had to bow down & free the accused . It was great victory for INA.

CAUSES OF FAILURE OF INA 

• The reasons were many, as Joyce Lebra enumerates them:
  1. Lack of air power,
  2. Breakdown in the chain of command,
  3. Disruption of the supply line,
  4. Strength of Allied  defensive,
  5. Lack of cooperation  from the Japanese.

But Bose still remained optimistic, thought of regrouping, and after Japanese surrender, contemplated seeking help  of Soviet Russia. The Japa­nese agreed to provide him transport upto Manchuria  from where he could travel to Russia. But on his way, on 18 August 1945 at Taihoku airport in Taiwan, he died in an air crash, which many in Indi­a  still believe never happened.

Impact of Indian National Army’s formation

• Became clear to Britishers that they could no longer depend on loyalty of Indian Soldiers & treat them as mercenaries. Trials of INA resulted in Royal Indian Navy (RIN) Mutiny. These two incidents showing the vulnerability of Army to rebellion are treated as main cause of Britishers for their early withdrawl from India 
• Psychological Impact : Although in military terms, its achievement was almost negligible because when INA started its operations in 1944, Axis powers were on retreat in almost all places. But important to distinguish between immediate achievement and ultimate (and mainly psychological) impact.  We must not underestimate the impact on the patriotic imagination of an actual army fighting, however ineffectively, for the country’s liberation, led by a Bengali—the least ‘martial’ of India’s’races’ in traditional British stereotype.
• Struggle of INA demonstrated that those who waged an armed struggle against British were not at all affected by communal division . There were Hindus, Muslims & Sikhs who fought as Indians
• Actions of Rani Jhansi Brigade demonstrated the capabilities of Indian Women
• INA demonstrated the enthusiasm & concern of overseas Indians for freedom of motherland.
• It is quite probable, as P.S. Gupta has surmised, that the situation, particularly the more mass based INA agitation, “led to the sending of a Cabinet Mission“

Quit India Movement

This article deals with ‘Quit India Movement – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Introduction

• Legendary struggle which also became famous by the name of the ‘August Revolution‘
• Common people of the country demonstrated an unparalleled heroism and militancy. Moreover, the repression that they faced was the most brutal that had ever been used against the national movement.
• Using the justification of the war effort, Government had armed itself with draconian measures & suppressed even basic civil liberties.

Reasons for start of Quit India Movement

1. Failure of the Cripps Mission in April 1942 made it clear that Britain was unwilling to offer an honorable settlement and a real constitutional advance during War, and that she was determined to continue India’s unwilling partnership in the War efforts
2. Popular discontent, a product of rising prices and war-time shortages, was gradually mounting. British, who were running a most efficient war economy at home based on sternly egalitarian rationing, made little serious effort in their colony to check a rampant black-market, and profiteering in food  along with stoppage in the supply of Burmese rice that directly led to the terrible famine of 1943 in Bengal. The synchronization of rising prices and shortages with the coming of a large number of Allied troops led to not unfounded fears that the food reserves of the country were being depleted to feed the army.
3. High-handed government actions such as the commandeering of boats in Bengal and Orissa to prevent their being used by the Japanese had led to considerable anger among the people.
4. Impact of the manner of the British evacuation from Malaya and Burma. It was common knowledge that the British had evacuated the white residents and generally left the subject people to their fate. It is probably not accidental that east U.P. and west and north Bihar—the region where the ‘August Rebellion’ attained its maximum popular intensity—was also traditionally one of the principal catchments areas for Indian migrant labour going to South East Asia and other parts of the world. Azamgarh district, for instance, used to receive Rs 30 lakhs annually from foreign money orders.
5. There were sections of the Indian people who had benefited from the war in its first phase, particularly industrialists, traders, and businessmen in general profiting from war contracts. Such gains continued throughout the war—the bulk of the contractors and black marketeers were after all Indians—but for a brief period in 1942 other considerations seem also to have weighed considerably in the calculations of a significant section of the Indian business community. Eg losses incurred in Malaya and Burma had stricken the Banias and Marwaris to the soul . A war which yields no profits, in the circumstances of the Excess Profits Tax, and which is accompanied by the sacrifices experienced at Singapore and Rangoon, is not at all to their tastes. Hence, capitalist elements in the Congress Working Committee wanted to safeguard themselves and their property from the ill effects of a possible Japanese invasion.
6. One major reason for the leadership of national movement thinking it necessary to launch a struggle was their feeling that the people were becoming demoralized and, that in the event of a Japanese occupation, might not resist at all. In order to build up their capacity to resist Japanese aggression, it was necessary to draw them to of this demoralized state of mind and convince them of their own power.

Features of Quit India Movement

• Its essence was that British rule in India must end immediately .
• Movement was started & conducted in haphazard manner in different areas by different persons without any guidance from any central authority . Chaotic character made resort to violence inevitable
• It covered all provinces except Punjab, NWFP & Sind where it remained symbolic
• Duration of movement was brief . It was broken by Oct 1942 as far as open activities are concerned but underground activities organised mainly by Jaiprakash Narayan continued till early months of 1943
• Movement was leaderless & hence directionless since all leaders were arrested even before movement was launched. There was no definite line of action and each Indian who was to contribute to this movement became his own guide
• Characterised by terrorist activities by educated youth which made communication, police & army establishment their targets
• Saw installation of parallel governments at various places most notable were Satara in Maharashtra , Tumluk in Midnapur & Talchar in Orissa . However,  they didn’t pose serious threat to British rule
• Congress Socialists faught strenuously & Jaiprakash Narayan played crucial role
• Communists played opposite role . They did their best to help  British governments by acting as spies. Through its control over AITUC , Communist Party exerted its utmost influence to keep workers out of  national unrest
• Hindu Mahasabha , RSS, Muslim League and section of Dalits represented by Ambedkar didn’t participate in Quit India Movement.

All India Pattern

On 7 August, Gandhi had placed the instructions he had drafted before the Working Committee, and in these he had proposed that peasants ‘who have the courage, and are prepared to risk their all’ should refuse to pay the land revenue. In the early hours of 9 August, in a single sweep, all the top leaders of the congress were arrested and taken to unknown destinations. The Government had been preparing for the strike since the outbreak of the War itself, and since 1940 had been ready with an elaborate Revolutionary Movement Ordinance.

Note – Different stance of Gandhi was seen in it. Gandhi declared in his passionate ‘Do or die‘ speech, “if a general  strike becomes a dire necessity, I shall not flinch” . Gandhi,  was prepared for once to counterance political strikes, precisely at a moment when the Communists were bound to keep aloof from them—in very sharp contrast to his attitudes in previous periods of Left-led labour militancy in 1928-29 or the late-1930s and early’ 40s. The Wardha Working Committee resolution had also introduced an unusual note of social radicalism : ‘the princes, “jagirdars”, “zamindars” and propertied and monied classes derive their wealth and property from the workers in the fields and factories and elsewhere, to whom eventually power and authority must belong.’

Whole movement can be seen in three phases

Sumit Sarkar has identified three phases of the Quit India movement.

Phase 1

• It initially started as an urban revolt, marked by strikes, boycott, hartals , picketing & clashes with police which were quickly suppressed.
• In Bombay, as soon as the news of arrests spread lakhs of people flocked to Gowalia Tank where a mass meeting had been scheduled and there were clashes with the authorities.  
• On 10th August ,Delhi and many towns in U.P. and Bihar, including Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Patna followed suit with hartals, public demonstrations and processions in defiance of the law.
• In Patna , administration lost control virtually for two days 
• Government responded by gagging the press. The National Herald and Harijan ceased publication for the entire duration of the struggle, others for shorter periods.
• Tata steel plant was totally closed down for 12 days from 20 August in which sole labour slogan was they will not resume work until national government was formed
• In Ahmedabad , textile mill strike lasted for three & half month . Nationalist chronicler later described city as Stalingrad of India
• Spearheaded by students & urban middle class 

Phase 2

• Started from end of August which witnessed a major peasant rebellion
• Focus shifted to countryside
• Militant students fanned out from centers like  Benaras , Patna & Cuttack
• Destroyed communication on massive scale such as railway tracks and stations, telegraph wires and poles, attacks on government buildings or any other visible symbol of colonial authority and  finally, the  formation of “national governments” in isolated pockets like Talcher (Orissa) , Satara (MH) , Midnapur , Balia etc  leading a veritable peasant struggle against white authority strongly reminiscent in some ways of 1857 revolt. This brought in severe government repression  forcing the agitation to move underground.
• Major centers – Northern & Western Bihar, Eastern UP , Midnapur in Bengal & pockets of Maharashtra , Karnataka & Orissa

Phase 3

• Weakened by brutal repression
• Movement entered its longest but formidable phase
• Characterised by
  • Terroristic activities by educated youth directed against communication , police & army installations occasionally rising to level of guerrilla war eg in North Bihar by Jai Prakash (JP)
  • Propaganda activities by using various means, including a clandestine radio station run by hitherto unknown Usha Mehta  from “some where in India”.
• Part time peasant squads engaged in farming by day &  sabotage activities by night aka Karnatak Method & in some parts parallel governments continued eg Talcher in Orissa

Some regional variations

1 . Punjab & NWFP

• Unusually quiet with only two cases of police firing & 2500 arrests each
• Politics in the Punjab was already set hard in the communal mould – Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, while wartime army employment and rising grain-prices kept quiet a peasantry which had developed a prosperous kulak-type upper stratum

2. Madras Presidency

• Movement was relatively weak except scattered pockets like Guntur & west Godavari in AP & Coimbatore & Ramnad in TN
• Main reason – Rajagopalachari opposed the movement,  strength of constitutionalism, absence of the socialists, opposition of the Kerala communists, indifference of the non-Brahmans and strong southern challenge to a political campaign dominated by north

3. Provinces

• Well below the intensity
• Among big states only Mysore was seriously affected
• Agitations followed three phase pattern here as well

4. Bihar

• Greatest intensity in whole country
• Main reason was during 1930s this region became principle base of Kisan sabha & had bulk of Kisan Sabha cadres and considerable tribal participation too

5. Bombay Presidency

• Took two forms
  1. PEASANT GUERRILLA WAR + TERRORIST ACTIVITY
  2. SABOTAGE BY STUDENTS

Main leaders

• Brutal and all-out repression succeeded within a period of six or seven weeks in bringing about a cessation of the mass phase of the struggle.
• But in the meantime, underground networks were being consolidated in with prominent members such as Achyut Patwardhan, Aruna Asaf Ali, Ram Manohar Lohia, Sucheta Kripalani, Chotubhai Puranik, Biju Patnaik, R.P. Goenka and later, after his escape from jail, Jayaprakash Narayan (with his Azad Dastas) had begun to emerge.

Gandhi’s Fast

• February 1943, striking new development provided a new burst of political activity. Gandhi commenced a fast on’ 10 February in jail. He declared the fast would last for twenty-one days. This was his answer to Government which had been constantly exhorting him to condemn the violence of the people in the Quit India Movement. Gandhi not only refused to condemn the people’s resort to violence but unequivocally held the Government responsible for it. It was the ‘leonine violence’ of the state which had provoked the people, he said.
• The popular response to the news of the fast was immediate and overwhelming.’ All over the country, there were hartals, demonstrations and strikes. Calcutta and Ahmedabad were particularly active. Prisoners in jails and those outside went on sympathetic fasts. Groups of people secretly reached Poona to offer Satyagraha outside the Aga Khan Palace where Gandhi was being held in detention. Public meetings demanded his release and the Government was bombarded with thousands of letters and telegrams from people from all walks of life — students and youth, men trade and commerce, lawyers, ordinary citizens, and labour organizations. From across the seas, the demand for his release was made by newspapers such as the Manchester Guardian, New Statesmen, Nation, News Chronicle, Chicago Sun, as well as by the British Communist Party, the citizens of London and Manchester, the Women’s International League, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Ceylon State Council.
• Severest blow to the prestige of the Government was the resignation of the three Indian members of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, M.S. Aney, N.R. Sarkar and H.P. Mody, who had supported the Government in its suppression of the 1942 movement, but were in no interest to be a party to Gandhi’s death.
• Viceroy and his officials remained unmoved guided by Winston Churchill’s statement to his Cabinet that ‘this is our hour of triumph everywhere in the world & was not the time to crawl before a miserable old man who had always been our enemy
• Fast had done exactly what it had been intended to do. The public morale was raised, the anti-British feeling heightened, and an opportunity for political activity provided.

Participants

• Marked a new high in terms of popular participation in the national movement and sympathy with the national cause
• Students from colleges and even schools were the most visible element, especially in the early days of August
• Women especially college and school girls, played a very important role. Aruna Asaf Ali and Sucheta Kripalani were two major women organizers of the underground movement
• Peasants of all strata, well-to-do as well as poor, were the heart of the movement especially in East U.P. and Bihar .
• Government officials, especially those at the lower levels of the police and the administration, were generous in their assistance to the movement. They gave shelter, provided information and helped monetarily.

Note – In general, regions marked by some amount of agricultural progress and the emergence of a prosperous and broad rich peasant upper stratum tended to keep away from Quit India Movement : Punjab, western U.P., Gujarat, the Thanjavur delta in Tamilnadu. The main centres of peasant rebellion in contrast were in eastern India, where per capita agricultural production  have stagnated or even declined.

Was movement spontaneous outburst or an organised rebellion ?

• The element of spontaneity of 1942 was certainly larger than in the earlier movements, although even in 1919-22, as well as in 1930-31 and 1932, the Congress leadership allowed considerable space  for an initiative and spontaneity.
• In fact, the whole pattern of the Gandhian mass movements was that the leadership chalked out a broad programme of action and left its implementation at local level to the initiative of the local and grass roots level political activists and the masses.
• In 1942, even the broad programme had not yet been spelt out clearly since the leadership was yet to formally launch the movement. But, in a way, the degree of spontaneity and popular initiative that was actually exercised had sanctioned by the leadership itself. The resolution passed by the AICC on 8 August 1942 clearly stated: ‘A time may come when it may not be possible to issue instruction or for instructions to reach our people, and when no Congress committees can function. When this happens, every man and woman who is participating in this movement must function for himself or herself within the four corners of the general instructions issued. Every Indian who desires freedom and strives for it must be his own guide.’
• Apart from this, the Congress had been ideologically, politically and organizationally preparing for the struggle for a long time. Congress Socialists in Poona had been holding training camps for volunteers since June 1942. Gandhi himself, through the Individual Civil Disobedience campaign in 1940-41, and more directly since early 1942, had prepared the people for the coming battle, which he said would be ‘short and swift.’

How did use of violence by people in this struggle square with congress policy of non violence

• There were many who refused to use or sanction violent means and confined themselves to the traditional weaponry of the Congress. But many of those, including many staunch Gandhians, who used ‘violent means’ in 1942 felt that the peculiar circumstances warranted their use.
• Many maintained that cutting of telegraph wires and the blowing up of bridges was all right as long as human life was not taken.
• Gandhi refused to condemn the violence of the people because he saw it as a reaction to the much bigger violence of the state.

Significance of Movement

1. Great significance of this historic movement was that it placed the demand for independence on the immediate agenda of the national movement. After Quit India there could be no retreat. Any future negotiations with the British Government could only be on the manner of the transfer of power.
2. Due to this movement & violence , Britishers learned that after the war keeping India by force would be expensive proposition. Hence, there was greater readiness to accept a negotiated settlement . In these negotiations, Congress was to figure prominently because they had the potential to mobilise masses on large scale.
3. D.D. Kosambi pointed out in a brilliant piece of contemporaneous  history-writing in 1946, ‘the glamour of jail and concentration camp served to wipe out the so-so record of the Congress ministries in office, thereby restoring the full popularity of the organisation among the masses.’ Rightist Congress leaders who throughout the late 1930s had urged more and more cooperation with the British and pursued increasingly conservative policies as ministers could now bask in the halo of patriotic self-sacrifice, as much as the Socialists who had done most of the actual fighting in 1942.
4. Left  was very much weakened . They performed heroic actions, but it was untimely and doomed to failure, given the British control of massive military resources in 1942. Brutal repression also exhausted many peasant bases, built up through years of Gandhian constructive work or radical Kisan Sabha activity. It is significant that Bihar, eastern U.P., and the Maharashtra, Karnatak and Orissa countryside where Quit India Movement was strong played little or no part in the anti-imperialist upsurge of 1945-46

After the war, Congress was dominated by the Right-wingers and they strongly disapproved popular militancy, they wanted to return to a regime of discipline & order rather than confrontation. Hence, Congress drifted swiftly away from the path of agitation & leaned towards Constitutionalism . Thus by way of fighting the Raj, DA Low argued , Congress itself was in the process of becoming Raj.