Sunday, November 9, 2008

Post-war developments: transfer of power


Post-war developments: transfer of power



1909 Prevailing Religions, Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the prevailing majority religions of the population for different districts.




Map of India and Pakistan as envisaged in the Partition Plan

In January 1946, a number of mutinies broke out in the armed services, starting with that of RAF servicemen frustrated with their slow repatriation to Britain.[76] The mutinies came to a head with mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay in February 1946, followed by others in Calcutta, Madras, and Karachi. Although these latter mutinies were rapidly suppressed, they found much public support in India then gripped by the Red Fort Trials, and had the effect of spurring the new Labour government in Britain to action, and leading to the Cabinet Mission to India led by the Secretary of State for India, Lord Pethick Lawrence, and including Sir Stafford Cripps, who had visited four years before.[76]


Also in early 1946, new elections were called in India in which the Congress won electoral victories in eight of the eleven provinces.[77] The negotiations between the Congress and the Muslim League, however, stumbled over the issue of the partition. Jinnah proclaimed August 16, 1946, Direct Action Day, with the stated goal of highlighting, peacefully, the demand for a Muslim homeland in British India. The following day Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Calcutta and quickly spread throughout India. Although the Government of India and the Congress were both shaken by the course of events, in September, a Congress-led interim government was installed, with Jawaharlal Nehru as united India’s prime minister.


Later that year, the Labour government in Britain, its exchequer exhausted by the recently concluded World War II, and conscious that it had neither the mandate at home, the international support, nor the reliability of native forces for continuing to control an increasingly restless India,[78][79] decided to end British rule of India, and in early 1947 Britain announced its intention of transferring power no later than June 1948.


As independence approached, the violence between Hindus and Muslims in the provinces of Punjab and Bengal continued unabated. With the British army unprepared for the potential for increased violence, the new viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, advanced the date for the transfer of power, allowing less than six months for a mutually agreed plan for independence. In June 1947, the nationalist leaders, including Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad on behalf of the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League, B. R. Ambedkar representing the Untouchable community, and Master Tara Singh representing the Sikhs, agreed to a partition of the country along religious lines. The predominantly Hindu and Sikh areas were assigned to the new India and predominantly Muslim areas to the new nation of Pakistan; the plan included a partition of the Muslim-majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal.


Many millions of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu refugees trekked across the newly drawn borders. In Punjab, where the new border lines divided the Sikh regions in half, massive bloodshed followed; in Bengal and Bihar, where Gandhi's presence assuaged communal tempers, the violence was more limited. In all, anywhere between 250,000 and 500,000 people on both sides of the new borders died in the violence.[80] On August 14, 1947, the new Dominion of Pakistan came into being, with Muhammad Ali Jinnah sworn in as its first Governor General in Karachi. The following day, August 15, 1947, India, now a smaller Union of India, became an independent country with official ceremonies taking place in New Delhi, and with Jawaharlal Nehru assuming the office of the prime minister, and the viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, staying on as its first Governor General.





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[edit] Notes




  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1989: from Skr. rāj: to reign, rule; cognate with L. rēx, rēg-is, OIr. rī, rīg king (see RICH).
  2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1989. "b. spec. the British dominion or rule in the Indian sub-continent (before 1947). In full, British raj.
  3. ^ *Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1989. Examples: 1955 Times 25 Aug. 9/7 It was effective against the British raj in India, and the conclusion drawn here is that the British knew that they were wrong. 1969 R. MILLAR Kut xv. 288 Sir Stanley Maude had taken command in Mesopotamia, displacing the raj of antique Indian Army commanders. 1975 H. R. ISAACS in H. M. Patel et al. Say not the Struggle Nought Availeth 251 The post-independence régime in all its incarnations since the passing of the British Raj. For the latter usage, see: Google Scholar references: ("British Raj" in the primary sense of "British India," i.e. "regions of India under British rule") 1. "The important case of Islamic economics was a consciously constructed effort arising directly out of the anti-colonial struggle in the British Raj" 2 "... time" (1882: v). In keeping with the purpose of the Gazetteer (and indeed all such Gazetteers published for provinces in the British Raj), Atkinson's treatment ..." 3. "... Robert D’Arblay Gybbon-Monypenny, who had been born in the British Raj and educated at Sandhurst, afterwards seeing active service in the First World War ..." 4. "... In contrast, during the independence struggle in the British raj, the emphasis had always been on nationalism..." ("British Raj" in the second sense of "British India," i.e. "the British in India") 5. "Koch and the Europeans were entertained at clubs in the British Raj from which native Indians (called "wogs" for "worthy oriental gentleman") were excluded. ..." 6. "... prejudice and vindictiveness towards one's own race and, especially, toward someone of a different race who, as a servant in the British Raj, occupies a ..."
  4. ^ First the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland then, after 1927, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  5. ^ "Nepal." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008.
  6. ^ "Bhutan." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008.
  7. ^ "Sikkim." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 5 Aug 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-46212>.
  8. ^ Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV 1907, pp. 59-60
  9. ^ 1. Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume IV, published under the authority of the Secretary of State for India-in-Council, 1909, Oxford University Press. page 5. Quote: "The history of British India falls, as observed by Sir C. P. Ilbert in his Government of India, into three periods. From the beginning of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth century the East India Company is a trading corporation, existing on the sufferance of the native powers and in rivalry with the merchant companies of Holland and France. During the next century the Company acquires and consolidates its dominion, shares its sovereignty in increasing proportions with the Crown, and gradually loses its mercantile privileges and functions. After the mutiny of 1857 the remaining powers of the Company are transferred to the Crown, and then follows an era of peace in which India awakens to new life and progress." 2. The Statutes: From the Twentieth Year of King Henry the Third to the ... by Robert Harry Drayton, Statutes of the Realm - Law - 1770 Page 211 (3) "Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, the law of British India and of the several parts thereof existing immediately before the appointed ..." 3. Edney, M.E. (1997) Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843, University of Chicago Press. 480 pages. ISBN 9780226184883 4. Hawes, C.J. (1996) Poor Relations: The Making of a Eurasian Community in British India, 1773-1833. Routledge, 217 pages. ISBN 0700704256.
  10. ^ Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. II 1908, p. 463,470 Quote1: "Before passing on to the political history of British India, which properly begins with the Anglo-French Wars in the Carnatic, ... (p.463)" Quote2: "The political history of the British in India begins in the eighteenth century with the French Wars in the Carnatic. (p.471)"
  11. ^ a b Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV 1907, p. 60
  12. ^ a b c Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV 1907, p. 46
  13. ^ a b Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV 1907, p. 56
  14. ^ a b c Moore 2001a, pp. 424-426
  15. ^ Moore 2001a, p. 424
  16. ^ Brown 1994, p. 96
  17. ^ a b c d e f Moore 2001a, p. 426
  18. ^ Moore 2001a, p. 426, Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 104
  19. ^ Quoted in Moore 2001a, p. 426
  20. ^ Peers 2006, p. 76, Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 104, Spear 1990, p. 149
  21. ^ Peers 2006, p. 72, Bayly 1990, p. 72
  22. ^ a b c Spear 1990, p. 147
  23. ^ a b c d Spear 1990, pp. 147-148
  24. ^ a b Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts. 1. Verso, 2000. ISBN 1859847390 pg 7
  25. ^ The Regulating Act - 1773
  26. ^ a b c d e Ludden 2002, p. 133
  27. ^ Ludden 2002, p. 135
  28. ^ Ludden 2002, p. 134
  29. ^ a b Robb 2004, pp. 126-129
  30. ^ a b c Peers 2006, pp. 45-47
  31. ^ Tomlinson 1993, p. 43
  32. ^ Peers 2006, p. 47, Brown 1994, p. 65
  33. ^ a b c Brown 1994, p. 67
  34. ^ Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 79
  35. ^ Bandyopadhyay 2004, pp. 169-172 Bose & Jalal 2003, pp. 88-103 Quote: "The 1857 rebellion was by and large confined to northern Indian Gangetic Plain and central India.", Brown 1994, pp. 85-87, and Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 100-106
  36. ^ Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 101
  37. ^ Brown 1994, p. 88
  38. ^ Metcalf 1991, p. 48
  39. ^ Bandyopadhyay 2004, p. 171, Bose & Jalal 2003, p. 90
  40. ^ Bandyopadhyay 2004, p. 172, Bose & Jalal 2003, p. 91, Brown 1994, p. 92
  41. ^ Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 102
  42. ^ Bose & Jalal 2003, p. 91, Metcalf 1991, Bandyopadhyay 2004, p. 173
  43. ^ Brown 1994, p. 92
  44. ^ Nehru 1946, p. 295
  45. ^ (Stein 2001, p. 259), (Oldenburg 2007)
  46. ^ (Oldenburg 2007), (Stein 2001, p. 258)
  47. ^ a b (Oldenburg 2007)
  48. ^ (Stein 2001, p. 258)
  49. ^ (Stein 2001, p. 159)
  50. ^ Ian J. Kerr, Engines of Change: The Railroads that Made India, page 9 (2006)
  51. ^ a b (Stein 2001, p. 260)
  52. ^ (Stein 2001, p. 260) Quote: "The British knew about Indian famines well before the East India Company assumed political responsibility for India. Peter Mundy, an early seventeenth-century Company agent, reported a devastating series of bad harvests and food shortages in Gujarat and elsewhere in western India which drove cultivators and artisans to migrate, some making their way a thousand miles to the southern tip of India, where they continue to live. Mundy described the responses of the Mughal governor of the province, ..., he noted with appreciation the free food distributions ordered by Emperor Shah Jahan."
  53. ^ Angus Maddison, The World Economy, pages 109-112, (2001)
  54. ^ a b c d Brown 1994, pp. 197-198
  55. ^ Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report, Nombre de bations representees, p. 168. Quote: "31 Nations avaient accepté l'invitation du Comité Olympique Belge: ... la Grèce - la Hollande Les Indes Anglaises - l'Italie - le Japon ..."
  56. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Brown 1994, pp. 203-204
  57. ^ a b c Brown 1994, pp. 201-203
  58. ^ Lovett 1920, p. 94, 187-191
  59. ^ Sarkar 1921, p. 137
  60. ^ Tinker 1968, p. 92
  61. ^ a b c Spear 1990, p. 190
  62. ^ a b c Brown 1994, pp. 195-196
  63. ^ a b c Stein 2001, p. 304
  64. ^ Ludden 2002, p. 208
  65. ^ a b c d e f g h i Brown 1994, pp. 205-207
  66. ^ Chhabra 2005, p. 2
  67. ^ (Low 1993, pp. 40, 156)
  68. ^ a b (Low 1993, p. 154)
  69. ^ a b (Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 206-207)
  70. ^ Bandyopadhyay 2004, pp. 418-420
  71. ^ Nehru 1942, p. 424
  72. ^ (Low 1993, pp. 31-31)
  73. ^ Lebra 1977, p. 23
  74. ^ Lebra 1977, p. 31, (Low 1993, pp. 31-31)
  75. ^ Chaudhuri 1953, p. 349, Sarkar 1983, p. 411,Hyam 2007, p. 115
  76. ^ a b (Judd 2004, pp. 172-173)
  77. ^ (Judd 2004, p. 172)
  78. ^ Hyam 2007, p. 106 Quote:By the end of 1945, he and the Commander-in-chief, General Auckinleck were advising that there was a real threat in 1946 of large scale anti-British Disorder amounting to even a well-organised rising aiming to expel the British by paralysing the administration. Quote:...it was clear to Atlee that everything depended on the spirit and reliability of the Indian Army:"Provided that they do their duty, armed insurrection in India would not be an insolube problem. If, however, the Indian Army was to go the other way, the picture would be very different... Quote:...Thus, Wavell concluded, if the army and the police "failed" Britain would be forced to go. In theory, it might be possible to revive and reinvigorate the services, and rule for another fifteent to trwenty years, but:It is a fallacy to suppose that the solution lies in trying to maintain status quo. We have no longer the resources, nor the necessary prestige or confidence in ourselves.
  79. ^ Brown 1994, p. 330 Quote: "India had always been a minority interest in British public life; no great body of public opinion now emerged to argue that war-weary and impoverished Britain should send troops and money to hold it against its will in an empire of doubtful value. By late 1946 both Prime Minister and Secretary of State for India recognized that neither international opinion no their own voters would stand for any reassertion of the raj, even if there had been the men, money, and administrative machinery with which to do so." Sarkar 1983, p. 418 Quote: "With a war weary army and people and a ravaged economy, Britain would have had to retreat; the Labour victory only quickened the process somewhat." Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 212 Quote: "More importantly, though victorious in war, Britain had suffered immensely in the struggle. It simply did not possess the manpower or economic resources required to coerce a restive India."
  80. ^ (Khosla 2001, p. 299)


[edit] References



[edit] Contemporary General Histories




[edit] Monographs and Collections




[edit] Articles in Journals or Collections




[edit] Classic Histories and Gazetteers



  • Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. II (1908), The Indian Empire, Historical, Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Pp. xxxv, 1 map, 573.
  • Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III (1907), The Indian Empire, Economic (Chapter X: Famine, pp. 475–502, Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Pp. xxxvi, 1 map, 520.
  • Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV (1907), The Indian Empire, Administrative, Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Pp. xxx, 1 map, 552.
  • Lovett, Sir Verney (1920), A History of the Indian Nationalist Movement, New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company, ISBN 81-7536-249-9
  • Majumdar, R. C.; H. C. Raychaudhuri & Kalikinkar Datta (1950), An Advanced History of India, London: Macmillan and Company Limited. 2nd edition. Pp. xiii, 1122, 7 maps, 5 coloured maps..
  • Smith, Vincent A. (1921), India in the British Period: Being Part III of the Oxford History of India, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press. 2nd edition. Pp. xxiv, 316 (469-784).


[edit] Tertiary Sources




[edit] Related Reading



  • Bairoch, Paul, Economics and World History, University of Chicago Press, 1995
  • Bhatia, B. M., Famines in India: A study in Some Aspects of the Economic History of India with Special Reference to Food Problem, Delhi: Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 1985
  • Bowle, John, The Imperial Achievement, Secker & Warburg, London, 1974, ISBN-13: 978-0316104098
  • Coates, Tim, (series editor), The Amritsar Massacre 1919 - General Dyer in the Punjab (Official Reports, including Dyer's Testimonies), Her Majesty's Stationary Office (HMSO) 1925, abridged edition, 2000, ISBN 0-11-702412-0
  • Davis, Mike, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World 2001, ISBN 1-85984-739-0
  • Dutt, Romesh C. Open Letters to Lord Curzon on Famines and Land Assessments in India, first published 1900, 2005 edition by Adamant Media Corporation, Elibron Classics Series, ISBN 1-4021-5115-2
  • Dutt, Romesh C. The Economic History of India under early British Rule, first published 1902, 2001 edition by Routledge, ISBN 0-415-24493-5
  • Forbes, Rosita, India of the Princes', London, 1939
  • Forrest, G. W., CIE, (editor), Selections from The State Papers of the Governors-General of India - Warren Hastings (2 vols), Blackwell's, Oxford, 1910
  • James, Lawrence, Raj - The Making and Unmaking of British India, London, 1997, ISBN 0-316-64072-7
  • Keay, John, The Honourable Company - A History of the English East India Company, HarperCollins, London, 1991, ISBN 0-00-217515-0
  • Moorhouse, Geoffrey, India Britannica, Book Club Associates, UK, 1983
  • Morris, Jan, with Simon Winchester, Stones of Empire - The Buildings of the Raj, Oxford University Press, 1st edition 1983 (paperback edition 1986, ISBN 0-19-282036-2
  • Sen, Amartya, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlements and Deprivation, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1982
  • Srivastava, H.C., The History of Indian Famines from 1858-1918, Sri Ram Mehra and Co., Agra, 1968
  • Voelcker, John Augustus, Report on the Improvement of Indian Agriculture, Indian Government publication, Calcutta, 2nd edition, 1897.
  • Woodroffe, Sir John, Is India Civilized - Essays on Indian Culture, Madras, 1919.
  • British Website address within Wikipedia


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