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

The interior  of the earth can be understood only by indirect evidences as neither any one has nor any one can reach the interior of the earth. Various studies are done to reach at conclusion about structure of the Earth .

1 . Direct evidences

• By analysing the lava of the volcanoes coming out . However, it is difficult to ascertain the depth of the source of such magma.
• By analysing the deepest mines of earth . However, deepest mine is not more than 12 km deep (Kola Deep Borehole of Russia) .

2 . Indirect evidences

• Finding the rate of increase of Temperature , pressure and density  with increasing depth give information about material present
• Gravity anomalies  (gravitational value is not same at all places) . It gives  information regarding the unequal distribution of mass of material in the earth’s crust. 
• Study of Movement of seismic wave (dealt below)
• Meteors that at times reach the earth. Meteors have developed out of materials same as our planet.
• Magnetic surveys provide information about the distribution of magnetic materials in  crustal portion.

Earthquake & Seismic Waves

• An earthquake in simple words is shaking of the earth. It is caused due to release of energy , which generates waves that travel in all directions.
• The study of seismic waves provides a complete picture of the layered interior.

Waves generated by Earthquake

a. Body waves

• Generated due to the release of energy at  focus (ie point inside earth where earthquake occurs)  and move in all directions travelling through the body of the earth. Hence, the name body waves.
• It is of two types namely P-waves and S-waves.

b. Surface Wave

• The body waves interact with the surface rocks and generate new set of waves called surface waves.
  • These waves move along the surface.
  • The velocity of waves changes as they travel through materials with different densities. The denser the material, the higher is the velocity.
  • They are most destructive . They cause displacement of rocks, and hence, the collapse of structures occurs.
  • They are of two types ie Rayleigh and Love waves
  • But in study of earth’s structure they don’t play much role.

Type of Body Waves

There are two types of body waves ie  P and S-waves.

a.a P-Waves

• These are also called ‘primary waves’.
• The P-waves are similar to sound waves. They can travel through gaseous, liquid and solid materials.

a.b S-Waves

• S-waves arrive at the surface with some time lag. These are called secondary waves.
• An important fact about S-waves is that they can travel only through solid materials. This characteristic of the S-waves is quite important. It has helped scientists to understand the structure of the interior of the earth.

Emergence of Shadow zones and inferring Earth’s structure

• Earthquake waves get recorded in seismographs located at far off locations. However, there exist some specific areas where the waves are not reported. Such a zone is called the ‘shadow zone’. The study of different events reveals that for each earthquake, there exists an altogether different shadow zones.
• Observations were.
  • Seismographs located at any distance within 105° from the epicentre, recorded the arrival of both P and S-waves. 
  • Between 105° & 145° , no wave was recorded ie Shadow Zone for both P & S Waves
  • Seismographs located beyond 145° from epicentre, record the arrival of P-waves, but not that of S-waves.

• From this scientists have concluded that,
  • Till 2900 Km , there is solid surface ie Mantle 
  • Outer core is made up of liquid (because S wave cant travel through Liquid) .
  • Inside Liquid Core there is again Solid Core (inferred from the deflection of P-Waves inside Core) .

Structure of Earth

1 . Crust

• It is the outermost solid part of the earth.
• It is brittle in nature.
• The thickness of the crust varies under the oceanic and continental areas.

Continental  Crust	Oceanic  Crust
Average thickness of 30 km(thicker)	Average thickness of 5 km( thinner)
Less dense (density = 2.7 gm/cm3)	More dense (density = 3 gm/cm3)
Continental Crust is made up of SiAl ie Silica and Aluminium	It is made up of SiMa ie Silica and Magnesium

Note – The continental crust is thicker in the areas of major mountain systems. It is as much as 70 km thick in the Himalayan region.

Not many iron loving compounds are found in earth’s crust because they were depleted & relocated deeper .

2. Mantle

• The portion of the interior beyond the crust is called the mantle. The mantle extends from Moho’s discontinuity to a depth of 2,900 km.
• The crust and the uppermost part of the mantle (roughly upper 80 km)  is called lithosphere . (Entire lithosphere is broken into brittle moving plates (called tectonic plates) containing worlds continents & oceans . Lithosphere appears to be floating on asthenosphere)   .
• The upper portion of the mantle is called asthenosphere. The word astheno means weak. It is  semi  fluid material at high temperature. It is considered to be extending upto 400 km  . It is the main source of magma that finds its way to the surface during volcanic eruptions.
• Mantle is composed of silica, magnesium and iron.
• It has a density higher than the crust (3.4 g/cm³).
• The lower mantle extends beyond the asthenosphere. It is in solid state.

3. Core

• As indicated earlier, the earthquake wave velocities helped in understanding the existence of the core of the earth. The core-mantle boundary is located at the depth of 2,900 km
  • Outer Core : 2900 to 5100 Km : Liquid
  • Inner Core : 5100 to 6400 Km : Solid
• The outer core is in liquid state while the inner core is in solid state.
• Its temperature is about 5500  C to 6000  C
• The density of material at the mantle- core boundary is around 5 g/cm3 and at the centre of the earth at 6,300 km, the density value is around 14g/cm3.
• The core is made up of very heavy material mostly constituted by nickel and iron.
• It is sometimes referred to as the NIFE layer (Barysphere).

Points : crust, mantle ,core are chemical composition based divisions whereas lithosphere, asthenosphere are physical state based division.

(GK) Composition with Earth as whole

1. Iron
2. Oxygen
3. Silicon

Side Topic : Discontinuities interior of Earth

Conrod Discontinuity	discontinuity between the Continental Crust and Oceanic Crust
Moho Discontinuity	discontinuity between the crust and mantle is called as the Mohorovich Discontinuity or Moho discontinuity.
Gutenburg Discontinuity	core is separated from the mantle by Guttenberg’s Discontinuity.
Lehmann Discontinuity	Discontinuity between Outer Core & Inner Core

Lithosphere , Asthenosphere , Mesosphere and Barysphere

Above classification was on the basis of chemical composition whereas this classification is on the basis of physical characteristics/rigidity.

1 . Lithosphere

• Lithos means rock => Lithosphere is the layer containing hard rocks
• It’s average thickness is 80 km . Hence, it contains crust and upper solid mantle.

2. Asthenosphere

• Asthenos means ‘a weak zone’ => Asthenosphere is the layer in plastic state.
• It’s thickness is upto 400 km from the surface. Hence, it is made up of Mantle

3. Mesosphere

• It is rigid in structure
• It consist of rest of Mantle below the Asthenosphere.

4. Barysphere

• It consist of Inner and Outer Core

Earth’s Magnetism

• Magnetic field of Earth is similar to that of a bar magnet tilted 11 degrees from the spin axis of the Earth.

Cause

• Earth’s magnetic field is attributed to a dynamo effect of circulating electric current in the core of the Earth.
  • At the Earth’s centre is a solid inner core surrounded by a fluid outer core
  • These convection currents, combined with the rotation of the Earth, are thought to generate a “geodynamo” that powers the magnetic field.

Significance if Earth’s Magnetism

• Atmosphere protection: Magnetosphere deflects most of the solar wind, whose charged particles would otherwise strip away the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation
• Rock Dating: The magnetic reversals provide the basis for magneto-stratigraphy, a way of dating rocks and sediments.
• Aurora: Interaction of the terrestrial magnetic field with particles from the solar wind near the poles
• Navigation: Humans have used Earth’s magnetic field for navigation purpose since ages. Various organisms ranging from bacteria to pigeons use it for navigation and orientation purposes.

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

• 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

• 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.

Events during World War 2

This article deals with ‘Events during World War 2 – 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

World War  2 (WW2)  broke out

• 1939 : WW2 broke out &  Government of India immediately joined war without consulting Congress or elected members of Central Legislature
• Congress was in full sympathy with victims of fascist aggression . It was willing to help forces of democracy in their struggle against fascism but Congress Leaders asked , how was it possible for an enslaved nation to aid others in their fight for freedom.  They demanded that India must be declared free or atleast effective power put in Indian hands – before it could actively participate in the war & after war, Constituent Assembly should be constituted consisting of elected Indians to frame constitution for India

Official Congress stand was adopted at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee held at Wardha from 10 to 14 September to which, in keeping with the nationalist tradition of accommodating diversity of opinion, Subhas Bose, Acharya Narendra Dev, and Jayaprakash Narayan were also invited. Sharp differences emerged in this meeting.

• Gandhi was for taking a sympathetic view of the Allies. He believed that there was a clear difference between the democratic states of Western Europe and the totalitarian Nazi state headed by Hitler.

• Socialists and Subhas Bose argued that the war was an imperialist one since both sides were fighting for gaining or defending colonial territories. Therefore, question of supporting either of two sides didn’t arise. Instead Congress should take advantage of the situation to wrest freedom by immediately starting a civil disobedience movement.

• Jawaharlal Nehru had a stand of his own. He had been for several years warning the world against the dangers of Nazi aggression, and he made a sharp distinction between democracy and Fascism. He believed that justice was on the side of Britain, France and Poland. But he was also convinced that Britain and France were imperialist countries and that the War was the result of the inner contradictions of capitalism’ maturing since the end of World War I. He, therefore, argued that India should neither join the war till she herself gained freedom nor take advantage of Britain’s difficulties by starting an immediate struggle.

Note – For Indian businessmen and traders in general, war meant an opportunity for fantastically quick profits, particularly so long as it remained distant and did not involve the threat of destruction of property through aerial bombardment or evacuation. Khaliquzzaman (Muslim League Leader of UP) makes the interesting point that the Muslim League was pressed towards greater co-operation with the British by business magnates as well as by ‘our Muslim taluqdars and zamindars  interested in smaller contracts for the supply of wood, charcoal and other small commodities. They could hardly be expected to forego the chance of a lifetime’. It is surely not illegitimate to suspect the existence of similar pressures on the Congress, too.

August Offer

In Europe, War was going against the Allies and France, Belgium , Holland etc had fallen to Axis Powers . Hence, they wanted to win support of Indians to use Indian resources (both man and money) for their cause without any backlash . Hence, they came up with August Offer in August 1940.

First offer to win over Congress & to secure its cooperation was made through August offer (August 1940)

• Certain number of representative Indians would be invited to join Governor General’s Executive Council
• War Advisory Council composed of representatives of Indian States & other interests in national life of India as whole would be established.
• British government would not transfer power to any system of Government whose authority is indirectly denied by large & powerful elements in national life . This was assurance to Muslims.
• Primary responsibility of framing new constitution should rest on Indians was accepted subject to fulfilment of obligations which Britain’s long connection with India has imposed on her & actual constitution making would begin after war  .

Congress & Muslim league both rejected August offer . It came as shock to Congress as it fell very much short of their demands . It offered nothing what constituted core of their demands ie immediate transfer of effective power to Indians . Rejection of August offer prepared grounds for Cripps Mission

National Defense Council was constituted consisting of 30 members including persons from Princely States & British Indian provinces as well as spokesmen of other elements in national life of British India . Congress didn’t join it . Some members of Muslim League joined but later resigned on Jinnah’s advice .

Cripps Mission (1942)

• Two major changes in British politics occurred during 1941.
  • Nazi attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.
  • In the East, Japan launched a surprise attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 December. It quickly overran the Philippines, Indo- China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Burma & occupied Rangoon in March 1942.

Hence, War was brought to India’s doorstep.

• Congress Working Committee passed a resolution at the end of December offering to fully cooperate in the Defence of India and the Allies if Britain agreed to give full independence after the War and the substance of power immediately.
• What was involved in this unprecedented military crisis was not only defence of India  but also of China which was essential part of war against Japan. India must not be held for herself but for China too . It was through India that essential supplies could be sent to Chiang Kai Shek’s forces . Ousted by Japanese from Philippines, Americans converted India into base for operations in South East Asia
• Military necessity was determining factor in US & Chinese interest in solution of constitutional deadlock in India for this alone can ensure full Indian support in war efforts

Proposals

• Creation of new  Indian Union which shall constitute a Dominion (C-D) associated with UK by common allegiance to Crown but equal to all dominions in every respect & in no way subordinate to them in its external or internal affairs
• During war & post war till new Constitution is framed , British government in London would retain control
• Body to frame  Constitution to consist of
  • Persons elected by  Legislative Assemblies of Provinces according to system of Proportional Representation
  • Representatives of Princely States
• Constitution framed would be accepted by British government subject to two conditions
  • Any province which wasn’t prepared to accept this consitution can do so
  • Treaty would be signed between British Government & Constitution making body , making provision for all matters arising out of transfer of power as also for protection of racial & religious minorities
• Constitution making body to be elected by Proportional Representation (departure from separate electorates)
• Actual control of Defence and Military Operations would be retained by the British Government

Indian Reaction

Congress rejected it because

• It contained only future promises & no immediate  transfer of power 
• Wanted full freedom & not Dominion Status
• Provision relating to non accession of Provinces was severe blow to Indian unity . They will become enclaves for preservation of foreign authority & permit stationing of foreign troops
• Members to frame constitution from Princely States were to be nominated by rulers & not elected by people
• There was problem regarding proposed Treaty between  British Government & Constituent Assembly . Principle of protection of racial & religious minorities may be loophole for British interference

Failure prepared the ground for congress action against what many Indians now believed to be Imperial war

Muslim  League also rejected it  & objections was

• Scheme of one Indian Union for two principal nations
• They wanted definite concept of Pakistan

Note – Cripps was member of Labour Party and was sympathetic with Indian cause. On his part , he tried his best to give maximum to Indians but he didn’t has free hand in whole episode. Actually, Churchill only wanted to present a picture to the world that Britishers were doing something and gave Indians deal which Indians would reject to give impression that Indians were not ready to negotiate. Cripps went to extend of reaching compromise formula  by which an Indian would be in charge of the Defense Department while the British Commander-in-Chief would retain control over field operations and head a War Department whose functions were specified. But  Linlithgow and C-in-C Wavell were seriously worried that Cripps was conceding far too much real power to the Congress and, together with Churchill, they were able to block the settlement at the last moment. For Churchill, certainly, ‘it mattered not so much that something should be done as that some attempt should be seen to be made’

Individual Satyagraha (Oct 1940-1941)

• Congress Socialists & All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) were in favour of immediate struggle. N.G. Ranga even suggested that the AIKS should sever links with Congress & launch an independent movement. He was, however, checked by P. Sundarayya from doing so. It was in such an atmosphere that the Congress met at Ramgarh in March 1940 under the presidentship of Maulana Azad
• After August Offer,  Gandhi met Viceroy in Shimla . Long  dialogue ended without result
• Convinced that the British would not modify their policy in India, Gandhi decided to start the Individual Satyagraha. The very reason for confining the movement to individual participation was that neither Gandhi nor the Congress wished to hamper the War effort and this could not’ have been the case in a mass movement. Even the aim of the Satyagraha was a limited one i.e. to disprove the British claim of India supporting the War effort whole heartedly.
• Satyagrahi would publicly declare: ‘It is wrong to help the British war-effort with men or money. The only worthy effort is to resist all war with non-violent resistance.’ The Satyagrahi would inform the District Magistrate of the time and place where he or she was going to make the anti-war speech.
• Carefully chosen Satyagrahis — Vinoba Bhave was to be the first Satyagrahi on 17 October 1940 and Jawaharlal Nehru the second
• Individual Satyagraha had a dual purpose — while giving expression to the Indian people’s strong political feeling, it gave the British Government further opportunity to peacefully accept the Indian demands.
• By 15 May 1941, more than 25,000 Satyagrahis had been convicted for offering individual civil disobedience

Crisis of Tripuri and Subash Chandra Bose

• Subash Chandra Bose has joined Non Cooperation Movement after resigning from Indian Civil Services & since then has been promising dynamic young leader of Congress
• He nurtured revolutionary ideas & was never fully happy with Gandhi’s philosophy & technique of political agitation
• 1924 : He was appointed as  CEO of  Calcutta Corporation & government was suspicious of his connections with revolutionaries
• 1928 : He was GOC of Congress volunteers in Calcutta session of congress. During this period he, like  JL Nehru & other young Congressmen came to be influenced by communist ideas & became more critical of Gandhi’s policy & programmes
• Bose differed fundamentally from Gandhi on vital issues such as industrialisation & India’s attitude towards British Government during coming World War . He was critical of  rightist Gandhites who he felt, exploited Mahatma’s influence to promote personal interests .
• Bose complained that Rightists were engaged in power politics & were trying to beat down all opposition within Congress so that they might continue to enjoy power for years . However, Gandhi was still anxious to keep left wing within congress to preserve organisational unity & support Bose’s candidature for Presidentship in 1938.
• Haripura Congress (1938 Session) adopted a resolution which firmly expressed the Congress’s disapproval for war preparations. It asserted that India could not be party to imperialist war & she would not permit her man power& resources to be exploited in interest of British  Imperialism.
• Gandhi didn’t view with favour the Congress attitude of uncompromising opposition to British Government . He also didn’t agree with Draft Plan of Industrialisation & National Development prepared by  National Planning Committee of Congress which was  set on the initiative of SC Bose who strongly believed in industrialisation, land reform & modernisation of agriculture
• Next session was to be held in Tripuri in March 1939 . Gandhi opposed election of Bose & lent his support to candidature of Pattabhi Sitaramayya as President. Bose said that he represented the ‘new ideas, ideologies, problems and programmes’ that had emerged with ‘the progressive sharpening of the anti-imperialist struggle in India.’ The Presidential elections, he said, should be fought among different candidates ‘on the basis of definite problems & programmes.” Old guard rejected saying that Congress President was like that of a constitutional head who represented & symbolized the unity & solidarity of the nation. Bose won by narrow margin . Gandhi issued statement describing Sitaramayya’s defeat as his own defeat which caused much consternation in the country & rallied large section of leading Congressmen against Congress President
• Tripuri Congress adopted following resolutions
  • Reiterated the goal of independence & rejecting of Federal Part of the Act of 1935 .
  • It demanded a constitution for free India through a Constituent Assembly elected by people on basis of adult franchise & without any interference by foreign authority
  • Condemned imperialist  British Foreign Policy as well as fascism in clear terms
• Gandhi’s advice was still considered essential for Congress & National Movement . Breakaway from Gandhian policy and program was impossible for Congress . Gandhi wing as Bose calls pro-Gandhi group in this Indian struggle made it impossible for Congress President to function effectively resulting in deadlock in organisation
• Situation made Bose realise that in absence of an organised & disciplined left wing , it was impossible to balance the Gandhi wing . He felt that primary political need was an organised & disciplined Left Wing Party in Congress . He resigned from  Presidentship & founded Forward Bloc . It was intended to be a radical & progressive party within Congress with view of rallying entire left wing under one banner . But the differences were so deep rooted & fundamental that very soon Forward Bloc became separate independent body
• BOSE REVOLT has not been regarded as struggle between left and right but as conflict arising out of personal differences between Bose and Gandhi. Their style of leadership were different.
• Immediate cause of final rift between two was  Bose’s view in favour of forming a coalition ministry in Bengal which was opposed by Congress old guard , conflict between Bose & Patel over Vithalbhai Patel’s leaving a legacy of ₹ 1Lakh to Bose for carrying on propaganda abroad in favour of Indian struggle for Independence and Bose’s insistence on an immediate showdown with British Government
• But by far the more crucial issues were the attitude of Congress to imminent war in Europe , question of priority in national planning & formulation of economic policy , Bose’s total loss in a purely non violent policy & his fiery patriotism which made him impatient for attainment of India’s freedom .
• In January 1940, Gandhi wrote to C.F. Andrews describing Subhash as “my son”-but a “spoilt child of the family” who needed to be taught a lesson for his own good.

Gandhi had three reasons for not starting immediate movement

• Since cause of Britain & France was just, they shouldn’t be embarrassed in the prosecution of war
• Lack of Hindu -Muslim unity . Hence,  starting mass movement will start rioting .
• Congress wasn’t organizationally fit to sustain movement because of rampant corruption .

28 months of Congress Ministries

This article deals with ‘28 months of Congress Ministries  – 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

‘The British, after imposing the Act of 1935, decided to immediately put into practice provincial autonomy, and announced the holding of elections to provincial legislatures in early 1937. Nationalists were faced with a new political reality. All of them agreed that the 1935 Act must be opposed root and branch; but the question was how to do so in a period when a mass movement was not yet possible.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Bose, the Congress Socialists and the Communists were totally opposed to office acceptance and thereby working within the 1935 Act. The Left case was presented effectively and passionately by Nehru, especially in his Presidential Address at Lucknow in early 1936.

1. Firstly, to accept office, was ‘to negate our rejection of it (the 1935 Act) and to stand self-condemned.’
2. Secondly, office acceptance would take away the revolutionary character of the movement imbibed since 1919.

Behind this issue, said Nehru lay the question ‘whether we seek revolutionary changes in India or (whether we) are working for petty reforms under the aegis of British imperialism.’ Office acceptance would mean, in practice, ‘a surrender’ before imperialism.

Pro-office acceptance leaders agreed that there were pitfalls involved and that Congressmen in office could give way to wrong tendencies. But the answer, they said, was to fight these wrong tendencies and not abandon offices. Moreover, the administrative field should not be left clear to pro-Government forces. Even if the Congress rejected office, there were other groups and parties who would readily form ministries and use them to weaken nationalism and encourage reactionary and communal policies and politics. Lastly, despite their limited powers, the provincial ministries could be used to promote constructive work especially in respect of village and Harijan uplift, khadi, prohibition, education and reduction of burden of debt, taxes and rent on the peasants.

Congress decided at Lucknow in early 1936 and at Faizpur in late 1936 to fight the elections and postpone the decision on office acceptance to the post-election period .

Results  of election

Congress won a massive mandate at the polls despite the narrow franchise. It won 711 out of 1,161 seats it contested. It had a majority in most of the provinces. The exceptions were Bengal, Assam, the NWPF, Punjab and Sind; and in the first three, it was the largest single party (BANPS)

Note – There was evident failure of the Muslim League to make good its claim to be the sole representative of the Muslims. The League failed to win a single seat in the N.W.F.P. and could capture only 2 out of 84 reserved constituencies in the Punjab and 3 out of 33 in Sind. The Congress also won most scheduled caste seats, except in Bombay where Ambedkar’s Independent Labour Party captured 13 out of 15 seats reserved for Harijans.

28 months of Congress Ministries

• During June, it formed Ministries in six provinces: Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces, Orissa, Bihar and U.P. Later, Congress Ministries were also formed in the North-West Frontier Province and Assam.
• To guide and coordinate their activities and to ensure that the British hopes of the provincialization of the Congress did not materialize, a central control board known as the Parliamentary Sub-Committee was formed, with Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Rajendra Prasad as members.
• Congress was now to function both as a government in the provinces and as the opposition vis-a-vis the Central Government where effective state power lay
• The formation of the Ministries by the Congress changed the entire psychological atmosphere in the country. People felt as if they were breathing the very air of victory and people’s power, for was it not a great achievement that khadi clad men and women who had been in prison until just the other day were now ruling in the secretariat and the officials who were used to putting Congressmen in jail would now be taking orders from them?
• Responsibility was, of course, tremendous. However, there were limitations on the Congress Ministries’ power and financial resources. But, within the narrow limits of their powers, and the time available to them (their tenure lasted only two years and four months), they did try to introduce some reforms, take some ameliorative measures, and make some improvement in the condition of the people — to give the people a glimpse of the future Swaraj.
• Congress Ministers set an example in plain living. They reduced their own salaries drastically from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 500 per month. They were easily accessible to the common people. And in a very short time, they did pass a very large amount of ameliorative legislations

Work done by Ministries

1 . Civil Liberties

• Commitment to civil liberties was as old as Congress itself
• All emergency powers acquired by the provincial governments during 1932, through Public Safety Acts and the like, were repealed; bans on illegal political organizations such as the Hindustan Seva Dal and Youth Leagues and on political books and journals were lifted.
• Securities taken from newspapers and presses were refunded and pending prosecutions were withdrawn.
• In Congress provinces, police powers were curbed and the reporting of public speeches and the shadowing of political workers by CID  agents stopped.
• Thousands of political prisoners were released + many revolutionaries involved in kakori & other conspiracies released
• Difference between the Congress provinces and the non- Congress provinces of Bengal and Punjab was most apparent in this realm. In the latter, especially in Bengal, civil liberties continued to be curbed and revolutionary prisoners and detenus, kept for years in prison without trial

2. Peasants Question

Ministry formation raised the expectations & brought back militancy among peasants & also brought right wingers in power to take back power from clutches of the socialists

2.1 Bihar

• Tenancy Legislation was taken up in all the Congress ruled provinces. The Right Wing did not want to go ahead without negotiations with the landlords & positions varied from province to province
• In Bihar, Congress signed pact with Zamindars regarding the provisions of the Tenancy Bill . Rajendra Prasad & Maulana Azad had been instrumental in this
  • In Bakshat land, permanent tenancy was converted to short term tenancies
  • Bihar  Kisan sabha totally criticised this along with left  leaning congressmen who sympathised with Peasants
  • At this time ban was imposed on Congressmen from participating in Kisan Sabha activities in Bihar
  • Kisan Sabha launched number of movements at regional level to remind congress to implement Faizpur Agrarian Programme

2.2 UP

• In UP there was more left leaning leaders . Tenancy Bill was passed but governor didn’t give assent for two years
• Gave all statutory tenants both in Agra and Oudh full hereditary rights . The rents of hereditary tenants could be changed only after ten years 

2.3 Bombay

• They were able to restore lands to original owners which were confiscated due to no rent campaign of Congress

2.4 Orissa

• Tenancy  bill was passed  granting the right of free transfer of occupancy holdings, reducing the interest on arrears of rent from 12 to 6 per cent and abolishing all illegal levies on tenants.

3. Pro Labour

• Congress had promised better working conditions to the working class , however its policy was influenced by Relations between Right wing & Left wing leaders

• 1937 :  Labour Committee appointed by Congress accepted a programme
  • Holidays with pay
  • Employment insurance
  • Leave with pay during sickness
  • To devise a way to fix minimum wage
  • Legitimisation of trade unions which pursued policy of peaceful & legitimate means

• The formation of popular ministries initially stimulated labour organization and militancy. Trade union membership went up by 50% in 1938 as compared to 1937, and labour unity was strengthened by the coming together of the AITUC and the moderate N.F.T.U. Major industrial disputes of these years included the great general strike in Bengal jute mills , a series of stoppages in Kanpur cotton mills, textile strikes in Amritsar, Ahmedabad and particularly in Madras province , the strike in Martin Burn’s Kulti and Hirapur iron and steel works in 1938, and the bitter six month-long struggle in the Digboi oil works in Assam (April-October 1939).
• Birla complained of rampant ‘indiscipline’ in Congress provinces  and there were   threats of a flight of capital from Congress-ruled Bombay and U.P. to the princely states where labour laws hardly existed.

• In Bengal , Congress supported strike in Jute mills & condemned the repression of jute workers by non congress government
• However, Bombay Province Ministry Introduced Industrial Disputes Bill  aim to prevent strikes & lockouts & crush workers which went on  strike

4. Other constructive works

• Dalit Temple entry allowed by Madras Ministry  (led by C Rajagopalachari)
• A vigorous campaign in favour of prohibition  of liquor
• Grant of ₹ 2 Lakh for Khadi & Hand spinning in Madras.
• Honorary medical officers to be appointed in Hospitals
• Investment in public buildings to be considerably reduced
• Reduction in salaries of ministers
• Declaration of fundamental rights
• Welfare scheme for tribals
• Jail reforms.
• Repeal of Moplah Outrage Act

Challenges to legislatures

• Nearly all the Congress-run states (that is, U.P., Bihar, Bombay, Madras and Assam) had reactionary second chambers in the form of Legislative Councils, which were elected on a very narrow franchise — was less than 70 thousand for the second chambers. These were, therefore, dominated by landlords, capitalists and moneylenders, with the Congress forming a small minority. Hence, majority in the lower house was not enough in order to get any legislation passed .
• There was malicious propaganda set out by communal parties & accused congress of discrimination against minorities.
• Many opportunists entered congress during this period in order to take advantage of office . Gandhi & Congressmen were well known to this situation & wrote about this in Harijan

Congress itself began to lose its popularity as indicated in the drastic fall in its membership, from 4.5 million in 1938-39 to 1.4 million in 1940-41

Government of India Act 1935

This article deals with ‘Government of India Act 1935 – 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

Even-though, the Government had successfully suppressed the mass movement during 1932-33, it was aware that suppression could only be a short-term tactic. It couldn’t prevent the resurgence of another powerful movement in the years to come. For that it was necessary to permanently weaken the movement. For this British Parliament passed Government of India (GoI) Act 1935

Main Provisions

1 . Related to Provinces

• Provincial Autonomy –  for the first time, Provinces to have separate legal entity . Full freedom & responsible government was given  to provinces except in certain cases .
• Dyarchy introduced by GoI Act,1919 abolished
• Two new states – Orissa and Sind established
• Governors, appointed by the British Government, retained special powers. They could veto legislative and administrative measures, especially those concerning minorities, the rights of civil servants, law and order and British business interests.
• Governor also had the power to take over and indefinitely run the administration of a Province. Thus both political and economic power remained concentrated in British hands; colonialism remained intact.
• Responsible government to be provided to all 11 states . Among them Bengal, Madras , Bombay, UP, Bihar and Assam to have Bicameral Legislature

2. All India Federation

• Act provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation to be based on the union of the British Indian provinces and Princely States. However, entry into Federation was compulsory for Indian Provinces but optional for Princely states.
• This Federation will come into being when the more than 50 per cent of the Princely States formally acceded to it by signing the Instruments of Accession, which would override their previous treaties with the British Crown (this didn’t happen and Federation was never formed)
• Federal Legislature was Bicameral comprising of
  • Council of States having 156 representatives of British India & not more than 104 (40%) of Indian states. It was a permanent house with 1/3 members retiring every 3rd year.
  • Federal Assembly was to have 250 representatives of British India & not more than 125 (33.3%) members of Indian States with normal tenure of 5 years.
• The representatives of the States to the federal legislature were to be appointed directly by the Princes who were to be used to check and counter the nationalists.
• Dyarchy was introduced at the centre,
  • Reserved Subjects included departments of Foreign Affairs , Defence, Internal Security & Ecclesiastical Affairs to be administered by GG through Councillors appointed by him only
  • Transferred Subject were to be administered by Governor General on the advice of popular ministers answerable to Federal Assembly subjected to safeguards
• Federation of India was not intended to be sovereign legislature . It couldn’t amend the Indian Constitution which right remained with British Parliament . Besides, the range of its legislative activities was limited in that it couldn’t enact legislation affecting British suzerainty over India or even armed forces maintained in India.
• Governor General retained power to issue Ordinances

3. Others

• Franchise to be based on Property but increased from 5 million to 30 million
• Separate electorates were extended further to Muslims, Sikhs, Europeans, Indian Christians, Anglo Indians, Sikh Women in Punjab, Mohammedan Women, Indian Christian Women in Madras,  Anglo Indian women in Bengal besides electrodes for Commerce and Industry , Landlord, Labour, University etc
• Transfer of financial control from London to New Delhi, in response to a long-standing demand of the Government of India for fiscal autonomy.
• Secretary of State’s Council was abolished. Not Secretary of State BUT HIS COUNCIL.
• Establishment of Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

Why Britishers gave these concessions

• Hoped that once the Congressmen in office had tasted power and dispensed patronage they would be most reluctant to go back to the politics of sacrifice.

• Reforms could be used to promote dissensions and a split within the demoralized Congress ranks on the basis of constitutionalist vs. non constitutionalist and Right vs. Left. The Left and radical elements, it was hoped, would look  all this as a compromise with imperialism and abandonment of mass politics and would, therefore, become even more strident. Then, either the leftists (radicals) would break away from the Congress or their aggressive anti-Right politics and accent on socialism would lead the right- wing to kick them out. Either way, the Congress would be split and weakened.

• Provincial autonomy, it was further hoped, would create powerful provincial leaders in the Congress who would wield administrative power in their own right, gradually learn to safeguard their administrative prerogatives, and would, therefore, gradually become autonomous centres of political power

• In the Bicameral Central Legislature, members nominated by the princes would constitute 30 to 40 per cent of the seats, thus permanently eliminating the possibility of a Congress majority.

Analysis

• Federal character was seriously distorted by the provisions of safeguards and special responsibility which gave extraordinary powers to the executive head at the Centre and the Provinces. An important point to be noted is that fully responsible government was not introduced at the centre.

• In the provinces, in place of Dyarchy the Act of 1935 provided for responsible government in all the departments. But this was balanced off by wide discretionary powers given to the governors about
  1. Summoning legislatures,
  2. Giving assent to bills and
  3. Administering tribal regions.
  4. Safeguard minority rights, privileges of civil servants and British business interests.

And finally, they could take over and run the administration of a province indefinitely under a special provision.

• The electorate was enlarged to 30 million; but the high property qualifications only enfranchised 10 percent of the Indian population. In rural India, it gave voting right to the rich and middle peasants, as they were presumably the main constituency for Congress politics. So the act, suspects D.A. Low, was a ploy to corrode the support base of the Congress and tie these important classes to the Raj.

• In the bicameral central legislature, members nominated by the princes would constitute 30 to 40 % of the seats, thus permanently eliminating the possibility of a Congress majority.

• Act of 1935 did not mention the granting of dominion status . However much die-hard Conservatives like Winston Churchill might think that the act amounted to Britain’s abdication of empire, his colleagues had consciously chosen the federal structure because, as Carl Bridge has argued, it “would act primarily to protect Britain’s interests rather than hand over control in vital areas”. Its net effect was to divert Congress attention to the provinces, while maintaining strong imperial control at the center.

The Act of 1935 was condemned by nearly all sections of Indian opinion and was unanimously rejected by the Congress. The Congress demanded instead, the convening of a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise to frame a constitution for an independent India.

Why Federation didn’t come to being ?

• The federation scheme ultimately failed because the Princes were reluctant to join it. Their main objection was that the act did not resolve the issue of paramountcy. The Government of India as a paramount power enjoyed the right to intervene in the affairs of their states or even overthrow them if necessary.
• Their other fear was about joining a democratized federal central government, where the elected political leaders of British India would have little sympathy for their autocratic rulers and would provide encouragement to the democratic movements in their territories.
• Furthermore, the larger states did not want to surrender their fiscal autonomy, while the smaller states complained of their inadequate representation in the legislature
• Along with that, Congress and Muslim leaders were also not very much enthusiastic about it. Muslim leaders, first of all, were afraid of Hindu domination and felt that the proposed federal structure was still very unitary. All the representatives of British India to the central legislature were to be elected by the provincial assemblies and this would go against the Muslims who were minorities in all but four provinces. The Congress too did not like the proposed structure of the federation, where one-third of the seats in the federal assembly were to be filled in by the princes, thus tying up the fate of democratic India to the whims of the autocratic dynastic rulers.