PORTRAYING THE INDELIBLE INDIAN HISTORY

IMPORTANT HISTORICAL

EVENTS FROM

1857

TO

1947

1. indian Rebellion OF 1857

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of
the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion
began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi
(64 km) northeast of Delhi (that area is now Old Delhi). It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly
in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The
rebellion posed a considerable threat to British power in that region, and was contained only with the rebels' defeat
in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder,
though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859. Its name is contested, and it is
variously described as the Sepoy M. utiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian
Insurrection, and the First War of Independence.

A scene from the 1857
Indian Rebellion (Bengal
Army).

Charles Canning, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General
the Governor-General of of India from 1848 to 1856, who
India during the rebellion. devised the Doctrine of Lapse.

A 1912 map showing the centres of the Lakshmibai, the Rani of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the
rebellion. Maratha-ruled Jhansi, one of last Mughal Emperor,
the principal leaders of the crowned Emperor of India,
rebellion who earlier had lost by the Indian troops, he
her kingdom as a result of the was deposed by the
Doctrine of Lapse. British, and died in exile in
Burma.

2.CHAMPARAN SATYAGRAHA -1917

The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi in India and is considered a historically important revolt in the
Indian Independence Movement. It was a farmer's uprising that took place in Champaran district of Bihar, India, during the British colonial period.
The farmers were protesting against having to grow indigo with barely any payment for it.When Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915,
and saw peasants in northern India oppressed by indigo planters, he tried to use the same methods that he had used in South Africa to organize
mass uprisings by people to protest against injustice.Champaran Satyagraha was the first popular satyagraha movement. The Champaran
Satyagraha gave direction to India's youth and freedom struggle, which was tottering between moderates who prescribed Indian participation within
the British colonial system, and the extremists from Bengal who advocated the use of violent methods to topple the British colonialists in India.
Under Colonial-era laws, many tenant farmers were forced to grow some indigo on a portion of their land as a condition of their tenancy. This indigo
was used to make dye. The Germans had invented a cheaper artificial dye so the demand for indigo fell. Some tenants paid more rent in return for
being let off having to grow indigo. However, during the First World War the German dye ceased to be available and so indigo became profitable
again. Thus many tenants were once again forced to grow it on a portion of their land- as was required by their lease. Naturally, this created much
anger and resentment.

(Sitting Left to Right) Rajendra Prasad and Anugrah
Narayan Sinha, with local vakils (lawyers) Ramnavmi

Prasad and Shambhu Sharan Verma (Standing Left to
Right) during Mahatma Gandhi's 1917 Champaran
movement.
Date:-10 April - May, 1917
Location:-Champaran district of Bihar, India

Organised by:-Gandhi, Brajkishore Prasad, Rajendra
Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha Ramnavmi Prasad,
Mazhar-ul-Haq and others including J. B. Kripalani.

3.NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT-1920

The movement of Non-cooperation was launched on 1 August 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi with the aim of self-governance and obtaining full
independence (Purna Swaraj) as the Indian National Congress (INC) withdrew its support for British reforms following the Rowlatt Act of 21
March 1919, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April 1919.
The Rowlatt Act of March 1919, which suspended the rights of political prisoners in sedition trials, was seen as a "political awakening" by
Indians and as a "threat" by the British. Although it was never invoked and declared void just a few years later,[2] the act motivated Gandhi to
conceive the idea of satyagraha (truth), which he saw as synonymous with independence. This idea was also authorised the following month by
Jawaharlal Nehru, for who the massacre also endorsed “the conviction that nothing short of independence was acceptable”.Gandhi's planning
of the non-cooperation movement included persuading all Indians to withdraw their labour from any activity that "sustained the British
government and economy in India", including British industries and educational institutions. In addition to promoting “self-reliance” by spinning
khadi, buying Indian-made goods only and boycotting British goods, Gandhi's non-cooperation movement called for the restoration of the
Khilafat (Khilafat movement) in Turkey and the end to untouchability. This result in public held meetings and strikes (hartals) led to the first
arrests of both Jawaharlal Nehru sahibb and his father, Motilal Nehru, on 6 December 1921.It was one of the movements for Indian independence
from British rule, and ended, as Nehru described in his autobiography, "suddenly" in 4 February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident.
Subsequent independence movements were the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement.Through non-violent means or
Ahimsa, protesters would refuse to buy British goods, adopt the use of local handicrafts and picket liquor shops. The ideas of Ahimsa and non-
violence, and Gandhi's ability to rally hundreds of thousands of common citizens towards the cause of Indian independence, were first seen on a
large scale in this movement through the summer of 1920.

4.DANDI MARCH-1920

The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India
led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty four day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and
nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly. Another reason for this march was that the Civil Disobedience Movement needed a strong
inauguration that would inspire more people to follow Gandhi's example. Gandhi started this march with 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march
spanned 240 miles (390 km), from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, which was called Navsari at that time (now in the state of Gujarat).Growing numbers of
Indians joined them along the way. When Gandhi broke the British Raj salt laws at 6:30 am on 6 April 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil
disobedience against the salt laws by millions of Indians.After making the salt by evaporation at Dandi, Gandhi continued southward along the coast,
making salt and addressing meetings on the way. The Congress Party planned to stage a satyagraha at the Dharasana Salt Works, 25 mi (40 km) south
of Dandi. However, Gandhi was arrested on the midnight of 4–5 May 1930, just days before the planned action at Dharasana. The Dandi March and the
ensuing Dharasana Satyagraha drew worldwide attention to the Indian independence movement through extensive newspaper and newsreel coverage.
The satyagraha against the salt tax continued for almost a year, ending with Gandhi's release from jail and negotiations with Viceroy Lord Irwin at the
Second Round Table Conference . Although over 60,000 Indians were jailed as a result of the Salt Satyagraha,[5] the British did not make immediate
major concessions. The Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi's principles of non-violent protest called satyagraha, which he loosely
translated as "truth-force". Literally, it is formed from the Sanskrit words satya, "truth", and agraha, "insistence". In early 1930 the Indian National
Congress chose satyagraha as their main tactic for winning Indian sovereignty and self-rule from British rule and appointed Gandhi to organise the
campaign. Gandhi chose the 1882 British Salt Act as the first target of satyagraha . The Salt March to Dandi, and the beating by British police of
hundreds of nonviolent protesters in Dharasana, which received worldwide news coverage, demonstrated the effective use of civil disobedience as a
technique for fighting social and political injustice . The satyagraha teachings of Gandhi and the March to Dandi had a significant influence on
American activists Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, and others during the Civil Rights Movement for civil rights for African Americans and other
minority groups in the 1960s.The march was the most significant organised challenge to British authority since the Non-cooperation movement of
1920–22, and directly followed the Purna Swaraj declaration of sovereignty and self-rule by the Indian National Congress on 26 January 1930. It gained
worldwide attention which gave impetus to the Indian independence movement and started the nationwide Civil Disobedience movement which
continued until 1934.

Gandhi leading his followers on the Gandhi picked up grains of salt at the end of his march.
famous salt march to break the Behind him is his second son Manilal Gandhi and Mithuben
British Salt Laws. Petit.
Date:-12 March 1930 – 6 April 1930.
Location:-Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

5.QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT-1942

The Quit India Movement (translated into several Indian languages as the Leave India Movement), also known as the August Movement, was a
movement launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 August 1942, during World War II, demanding
an end to British rule in India.After the failure of the Cripps Mission to secure Indian support for the British war effort, Gandhi made a call to Do or Die
in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay on 8 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. The All-India Congress Committee launched a mass protest
demanding what Gandhi called "An Orderly British Withdrawal" from India. Even though it was at war, the British were prepared to act. Almost the
entire leadership of the Indian National Congress was imprisoned without trial within hours of Gandhi's speech. Most spent the rest of the war in prison
and out of contact with the masses. The British had the support of the Viceroy's Council (which had a majority of Indians), of the All India Muslim
League, the Hindu Mahasabha, the princely states, the Indian Imperial Police, the British Indian Army, and the Indian Civil Service. Many Indian
businessmen profiting from heavy wartime spending did not support the Quit India Movement. Many students paid more attention to Subhas Chandra
Bose, who was in exile and supporting the Axis Powers. The only outside support came from the Americans, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt
pressured Prime Minister Winston Churchill to give in to some of the Indian demands. The Quit India campaign was effectively crushed. The British
refused to grant immediate independence, saying it could happen only after the war had ended.Sporadic small-scale violence took place around the
country and the British arrested tens of thousands of leaders, keeping them imprisoned until 1945. In terms of immediate objectives, Quit India failed
because of heavy-handed suppression, weak coordination and the lack of a clear-cut program of action.[citation needed] However, the British
government realized that India was ungovernable in the long run due to the cost of World War II, and the question for postwar became how to exit
gracefully and peacefully . In 1992, the Reserve Bank of India issued a 1 rupee commemorative coin to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Quit India
Movement.

Procession in Bangalore during the Quit
India Movement

6.INDIAN INDEPENDENCE LEAGUE-1942

The Indian Independence League (also known as IIL) was a political organisation operated from the 1920s to the 1940s to
organise those living outside India into seeking the removal of British colonial rule over India. Founded by Indian
nationalists, its activities were conducted in various parts of Southeast Asia. It included Indian expatriates, and later,
Indian nationalists in-exile under Japanese occupation following Japan's successful Malayan Campaign during the first
part of the Second World War. During the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, the Japanese encouraged Indians in Malaya to
join the League.Established primarily to foster Indian nationalism and to obtain Japanese support for the Indian
Independence Movement, the League came to interact and command the first Indian National Army under Mohan Singh
before it was dissolved. Rash Behari Bose handed over the INA to Subhas Chandra Bose. Later, after the arrival of
Subhas Chandra Bose in South East Asia and the revival of the INA, the League came under his leadership, before giving
way to Azad Hind.

With the occupation of South-East Asia, a large expatriate Indian population had come under the
Japanese occupation. A framework of local Indian associations had existed even before the war reached
Malaya. The biggest of these included the likes of the pre-war Central Indian Association, the Singapore
Indian Independence league and other organisations, and had amongst their members eminent Indian
expatriates, e.g. K. P. K. Menon, Nedyam Raghavan, Pritam Singh, S.C. Goho and others. With the
occupation authority's encouragement, these groups began amalgamating into the local Indian
Independence leagues and became the predominant liaising organisation between the local Indian
population and the Japanese occupation force.Joining the Indian Independence League brought security
and perks. Displaying an IIL card smoothed the purchase of a railway ticket and allowed purchase at the
IIL headquarters of hard-to-get items like tooth paste and soap at reasonable prices. It was also the
means by which rations were issued. In addition, since the IIL was allowed to work with the Swiss Red
Cross, members could receive and send letters to then hard to reach places, such as Ceylon.

7.INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT-1947

The 1947 Indian Independence Act [1947 c. 30 (10 & 11. Geo. 6.)] is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British
India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The Act received the Royal Assent on 18 July 1947 and thus India and
Pakistan, comprising West (modern day Pakistan) and East (modern day Bangladesh) regions, came into being on 14 August. The
legislature representatives of the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League, and the Sikh community came to an agreement with Lord
Mountbatten on what has come to be known as the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan. This plan was the last plan for independence.

PROVISIONS

The was Act's most important provisions were:

division of British India into the two new dominions of India and Pakistan, with effect from 15 August 1947.
partition of the provinces of Bengal and Punjab between the two new countries.
establishment of the office of Governor-General in each of the two new countries, as representatives of the
Crown.
conferral of complete legislative authority upon the respective Constituent Assemblies of the two new
countries.
termination of British suzerainty over the princely states, with effect from 15 August 1947.These states
could decide to join either India or Pakistan.
Abolition of the use of the title "Emperor of India" by the British monarch (this was subsequently executed
by King George VI by royal proclamation on 22 June 1948).

The Act also made provision for the division of joint property, etc. between the two new countries, including
in particular the division of the armed forces.

PARTITION

There was much violence, and many Muslims from what would become India fled to Pakistan; and Hindus and Sikhs from what would
become Pakistan fled to India. Many people left behind all their possessions and property to avoid the violence and flee to their new
country.

PRINCELY STATES

On 4 June 1947, Mountbatten held a press conference in which he addressed the question of the princely states, of which there were
over 565. The treaty relations between Britain and the Indian States would come to an end, and on 15 August 1947 the suzerainty of
the British Crown was to lapse. They would be free to accede to one or the other of the new dominions contrary to popular beliefs
independence was never an option for the princely states as per the Mountbatten plan.Princely States had no option to remain
independent.

INDIA

Lord Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy, was asked by the Indian leaders to continue as the Governor-General of India.
Jawaharlal Nehru became the Prime Minister of India and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel became the Home Minister.
Over 560 princely states acceded to India by 15 August. The exceptions were Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir was contiguous to both India and Pakistan, but its Hindu ruler chose to remain initially
independent. Following a Pakistani tribal invasion, he acceded to India on 26 October 1947, and the state was disputed between
India and Pakistan.[13] The state of Junagadh initially acceded to Pakistan but faced a revolt from its Hindu population.
Following a breakdown of law and order, its Dewan requested India to take over the administration on 8 November 1947. India
conducted a referendum in the state on 20 February 1948, in which the people voted overwhelmingly to join India. The state of
Hyderabad, with the majority Hindu population but Muslim ruler faced intense turmoil and sectarian violence. India intervened in
the state on 13 September 1948, following which the ruler of the state signed the Instrument of Accession, joining India.

PAKISTAN

Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the Governor-General of Pakistan, and Liaquat Ali Khan became the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Between October 1947 and March 1948 the rulers of several Muslim-majority states signed instruments of accession to join
Pakistan. These included Amb, Bahawalpur, Chitral, Dir, Kalat, Khairpur, Kharan, Las Bela, Makran, and Swat.

REPEAL

The Indian Independence Act was subsequently repealed in Article 395 of the Constitution of India and in Article 221 of the
Constitution of Pakistan of 1956,[17] both constitutions being intended to bring about greater independence for the new states.
Although under British law, the new constitutions did not have the legal authority to repeal the Act, the repeal was intended to
establish them as independent legal systems based only on home-grown legislation.[18] The Act has not been repealed in the United
Kingdom, where it still has an effect, although some sections of it have been repealed.

THE
END