Category Civics

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, its first deputy prime minister, were two towering figures in India’s freedom struggle.

Both were Mahatma Gandhi’s closest associates, and had enormous influence within the Congress Party. Yet both were very different from each other. Nehru and Patel’s economic views differed drastically. Nehru believed in a socialist India, while Patel believed in free enterprise. They also differed on their views about foreign policy and how to tackle the problems of communalism.

 In spite of all this, they worked together as fellow-members of the Congress and colleagues in the Congress Working Committee. They were soldiers in the struggle for freedom, and were both devoted followers of Gandhiji.

 Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel shared the great burden of administration of independent India, for which the nation owes them a tremendous debt of gratitude. 

  The Kheda Satyagraha was launched in 1918 under the leadership of Gandhiji and Sardar Patel. Kheda in Gujarat was a poverty stricken region that had just suffered a severe famine. The poor farmers who lived there were heavily taxed by the British. Because of the drought, they found it impossible to pay the taxes as their crops had been destroyed.

The British, however, refused to lower the taxes, or give them any concessions whatsoever. Gandhiji, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and other leaders mobilized the farmers and spearheaded a historic revolt against the British. The peasants just refused to pay the taxes. The movement gathered a lot of support from different communities.

Continue reading “Why is the Kheda Satyagraha famous?”

India played a significant role in World War I. When the war broke out in 1914, there was growing political unrest in India against the British rule.

 However, when war was declared, India rallied behind Britain. Those with influence within India believed that the cause of Indian independence would best be served by helping out Britain in whatever capacity India could.

Offers of financial and military help were made from all over the country, especially from the princes. Indian troops were on the Western Front by the winter of 1914, and fought at the first Battle of Ypres.

In total, 10,000,00 Indian troops fought in all the theatres of the war. Of these, 74,187 were classed as killed or missing, with 67,000 wounded.

India expected to be rewarded with a major move towards independence, or at the least, self-government. When it became obvious that this was not going to happen, the Independence Movement became stronger. 

 The Lucknow Pact was an agreement that was signed in 1916 after both the Congress and the Muslim League realized that they would have to jointly demand self rule for India.

The Congress was led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, while Mohammed Ali Jinnah represented the League. Jinnah was then member of both the League and the Congress, and the chief architect of the pact. In fact, he was hailed as ‘the Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity’.

The Lucknow Pact also saw the reconciliation between the extremists and the moderate factions of the Indian National Congress. In addition, it witnessed the meeting of two leaders—Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru—for the first time on a platform, which changed the course of Indian politics and history. 

The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms were the measures taken by the British Government in 1918 to introduce self-governing institutions gradually to India.

The reforms take their name from Edwin Montagu, the British Secretary of State for India at that time, and Lord Chelmsford, the British Viceroy in India from 1916 to 1921.

The reforms introduced the principle of a dual mode of administration, or diarchy, in which both elected Indian legislators and appointed British officials shared power. They also expanded the central and provincial legislatures.

Agriculture, local government, health, education, and public works, were handed over to Indians, while more sensitive matters such as finance, taxation and maintaining law and order were retained by the provincial British administrators. These reforms represented the maximum concessions the British were prepared to make at that time. 

   In 1917, a committee was set up under Sir Sydney Rowlatt to look into the militant activities of the Indian freedom fighters.

On the basis of its report, the Rowlatt Act was passed in March 1919 by the Imperial Legislative Council. The Rowlatt Act gave the Viceroy extraordinary powers to quell the rising discontent of the Indian masses.

 According to this act, any person could be arrested on the basis of suspicion. No appeal or petition could be filed against such arrests. This act was called the ‘black Act’ and it was widely opposed.

 An all-India hartal was organized on 6th April 1919. People came out in support of the hartal in various cities. Shops were shut down, and workers in railway workshops went on strike.

 The British administration decided to clamp down on the nationalists. But the Rowlatt Act could not crush the will of the people. Instead, it only strengthened the resolve of the Indians not to give up the struggle until India attained independence.