Partition of India and Independence

• Clement R. Attlee was the Prime Minister of Britain

• He was the Prime Minister from the year 1945 to 1951
• 20th February, 1947, Attlee in House of Commons declared that before 30th June, 1948 we will
free India
• Mountbatten came to India in March 1947
• The plan was prepared for the partition of India, this plan is known as the Mountbatten Plan (3rd
June, 1947)
• *As per the plan on 18th July 1947, Indian Independence Act
• *Indian's Independence Bill was presented by Attlee on 4th July, 1947 in the British Parliament.
House of Commons passed this Bill on 15th July, 1947 and was passed by House of Lords the
next day. The Bill got Assent of his Majesty on 18th July, 1947.
• *Between 24 March and 6 May 1947, in series of 133 interviews
• So he prepared another substitute plan for this and termed it as “Balkan Plan”
• *Punjab boundary Council and Bengal boundary Council were formed by Mountbatten on 30th
June, 1947 to determine the division of land between India and Pakistan
• Cyril Radcliffe was the chairman of both the Councils
• Gandhiji, in his fi rst meeting with Mountbatten on 31st March 1947, suggested that the control
of the Interim Government be handed completely to Md. Ali Jinnah
• J. B. Kriplani was the Congress President when Congress general committee in Delhi accepted
the proposal of partition of India on 15th June, 1947
• This proposal was presented by Govind Vallabh Pant and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad seconded
this proposal.
• On November 1947, J.B. Kriplani resigned from Congress and Dr. Rajendra Prasad became the
interim President.
• Congress presidents -
❖ In Jaipur Session of Congress (1948)- Pattabhi Sitaramayya
❖ Nasik session of Congress (1950)- Purushottam Das Tandon
❖ from 1951 to 1954 - Nehru was President of Congress

• *Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (Frontier Gandhi) voted against the proposal for India’s partition at the
meeting of All India Congress Working Committee on 14th-15th June, 1947
• *Dr. Saiffudin Kichlu on the passing of this proposal said that today Nationalism surrendered to
Communalism
• *On 14/15 August 1947, at midnight Constituent Assembly took charge as an Interim Parliament.
• The meeting of Constituent Assembly was held at the midnight of 14 August.
• On 15th August 1947, in the midnight 'Jan-Gan-Man' and 'Sare-Jahan-Se Accha' song was sung
by M.S. Subhalaxmi.
• First Governor General of Independent India (1947-48) whereas C. Rajagopalachari was the First
Indian Governor-General of Independent India (1948-50) He stayed on this post till 26th January,
1950 He was the C.M. of Madras from year 1952 to 1954.
• *Indian national leaders wanted to make 26th January a memorable day (26 January 1930
Independence day celebration), that is why our constitution completely came into force on 26th
January 1950 since it was fully prepared on 26 November, 1949.
• *R. Copland said, “Indian nationalism is offspring of English rule”.
• On the unifi cation of India by British rule K.M. Pannikar said, “ the Greatest Achievement of
British Rule is the Unity of India”.

Formation of Interim Government (1946)

• On 12th August, 1946 Lord Wavell invited Congress President Jawahar Lal Nehru to form the
interim Government
• On August 24th, 1946 in the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress announced fi rst Interim
Government of India.
• On 2nd September, 1946 First Interim Government of India was formed in which Muslim league
didn’t participate in the beginning.
• Baldev Singh was Defence Minister
• Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs were looked by Jawahar Lal Nehru in this interim
government.
• Asaf Ali held Rail and Transport Ministry in the interim government of 1946
• Muslim League on repeated requests by Lord Wavell joined the Interim Government in 1946
• In October, 1946 fi ve members of League joined the Interim Government
• *Liaqat Ali was given Finance Ministry, who in his Budget presentation imposed several taxes on
businessmen and industrialist
• This Interim Government had twelve congress Ministers- Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Vallabh Bhai
Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Aruna Asaf Ali, C. Rajagopalchari, Sharat Chandra Bose, Dr. John
Mathai, Sardar Baldev Singh, Sir Safat Ahmed Khan, Jagjeevan Ram, Sayyed Ali Zaheer and C.H.
Bhabha
• Three of these twelve were to be removed Sayyed Ali Zaheer, Sharat Chandra Bose and Sir Safat
Ahmed.
• Krishak Praza Party in the leadership of Fazlul Haq joined hands with Muslim League and this
coalition won the election in Bengal and Cabinet of the Muslim League was formed in Bengal
which ruled till 14th August 1947 *S.S. Suharawardi was its Chief Minister
• 16th August, 1946 was decided as Direct Action day by Muslim League. ‘Noakhali’ was the main
centre of these activities

Cabinet Mission Plan (1946)

• *Clement Attlee became British Prime Minister on 26th July, 1945

• The Secretary of State, Pethick Lawrence announced on February 19th, 1946, the dispatch of the
Cabinet Mission for constitutional reforms
• Cabinet Mission arrived at Delhi on 24th March 1946
• The Cabinet Mission to India consisted of the Secretary of State Mr. Pethick Lawrence was
president Sir Stafford Cripps the President of the Board of Trade and A.V. Alexander, fi rst Lord of
the Admiralty
• On 16th May, 1946 Cabinet Mission announced its recommendations and its main proposals
were –
❖ A united dominion of India would be given Independence.
❖ Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan was rejected.
❖ The Union should have an Executive and Legislature constituted from British
Indian and State Representative.
❖ Constituent Assembly would be formed with the representatives of State
Legislature and the Princely States.

• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the Congress President during the arrival of Cabinet Mission

Constituent Assembly (1946)

• The very first idea of Constituent Assembly was enshrined in Swaraj Bill of 1895 s prepared
under Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s directions
• In the 20th century, Gandhiji fi rstly pointed towards this idea when in the year 1922 he said that
the Indian Constitution should be made as per India’s need
• Motilal Nehru, in 1924, demanded the formation of Constituent Assembly
• After this M.N. Roy offi cially proposed this demand and the basic concepts of Constituent
Assembly was prepared by Jawahar Lal Nehru
• Congress in Faizpur Session (December 1936) defi ned the idea of the Constituent Assembly and
also pointed out its importance
• Pethick Lawrence made it clear that the aim of this mission is to prepare a plan for the formation
of Constituent Assembly to make a constitution of free India and to make proper arrangements
of an interim government for the Indians
• *As per the Cabinet Mission plan, for the formation of Constituent Assembly each provinces
were given the number of seats in the proportion of one seat for every Ten lakh of the
population.
• Three voter groups were made - General, Muslims and Sikhs (Only in Punjab)
• *Elections for the 296 seats of the Constituent Assembly were held in provinces in July 1946
• *In the constituent Assembly, 208 Congress members were elected, 73 Muslim League
candidates were winners and 15 others were elected
• The fi rst session of Constituent Assembly was held on 9 December, 1946. Dr. Sachchidananda
Sinha was its fi rst provisional president.
• *On 11th December, 1946, its second meeting was held at Delhi and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was
elected as its President
• At the time of Indian constirution formation, the Constituent Assembly was not a sovereign
institution.
• *On 14th August, 1947, Constituent Assembly was declared as a sovereign body of the Indian
Union with Dr. Rajendra Prasad as its President
• *G.V. Mavlankar held the posts of Speaker of Central Legislative Assembly and the speaker of
Indian Parliament
• . He was the speaker of Central Legislative Assembly from the year 1946 to 14th August, 1947
and became the fi rst speaker of Lok Sabha after India’s Independence. He was the Speaker of
Lok Sabha from 1952 to 1956. He was the Speaker of Bombay Legislative Assembly from the year
1937 to 1946

Development of Press in Modern India

• James Augustus Hickey in 1780 started the Bengal Gazette, the First newspaper in India
• . Lord Wellesley enacted Censorship of Press Act, 1799. In 1807 this Act included pamphlets,
books and magazines too
Censorship of Press Act, 1799- The Censorship of Press Act of 1799 was
enacted by Governor-General Richard Wellesley to prevent the French from publishing content
that could harm British interests.
• in 1818 lord hasting dispensed this Act. Vernacular Press Act, 1878 was passed during the
tenure of Lord Lytton (1876-1880).
• *Under this Act proceedings were instituted against Som Prakash, Bharat Mihir, Dhaka Prakash
and Sahachar.
• *B. G. Tilak was imprisoned for 4 months for anti-British journalism. He was the fi rst Indian to
be punished for the performance of his duty in this fi eld.
• ’Free Hindustan’ newspaper was started by Tarak Nath Das in North America (Vancouver)
• Tilak was arrested after the murder of Rand on the ground of the publication of a poem,
“Shivaji’s utterances” in Kesari,
• In 1897, BG Tilak was imprisoned for 18 months for inciting Chaperkar brothers for killing Rand