Saturday, June 5, 2010

Chronology of India's Freedom Struggle

1905
Partition of Bengal announced to come in force from Oct 15 1906.
The decision on the Partition of Bengal was announced on 19 July 1905 by then Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took effect on 16 October 1905. Due to the high level of political unrest generated by the partition, the eastern and western parts of Bengal were reunited because of Hindu pressure in 1911.

1906 DEC 31
Muslim League founded at Dacca.
Bengal Presidency, in 1906, was a political party in British India that played a decisive role during 1940s in the Indian independence movement and developed into the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state on the Indian subcontinent.  After the independence of India and Pakistan, the League continued as a minor party in India, especially in Kerala, where it is often in government within a coalition with others.
1908 July 22
Tilak sentenced to six years jail on charges of sedition.
He was arrested on May 25, 1908, convicted by jury trial on July 22, 1908, and sentenced to six years' imprisonment in the case - popularly known as 'Second Sedition Case'.

1908 August, 11
Khudiram Bose executed.
He joined Jugantar /Yungatar - the party of revolutionary activists.
Khudiram and Prafulla Chaki were sent to Muzaffarpur, Bihar to assassinate Kingsford, the Calcutta Presidency Magistrate, and later, magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Khudiram and Prafulla watched the usual movements of Kingsford and prepared a plan to kill him. On the evening of April 30, 1908, the duo waited in front of the gate of the European Club for the carriage of Kingsford to come. When a vehicle came out of the gate, they threw bombs and blew up the carriage. However, the vehicle was not carrying Kingsford and instead two British ladies - Mrs and Miss Kennedy (the wife and daughter of barrister Pringle Kennedy) were killed. Prafulla committed suicide. Khudiram was sentenced to death


1909 May 21
Minto Morley reforms Of Indian Council Act 1909
Indian Councils Act of 1909, commonly known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, began when John Morley, the Liberal Secretary of State for India, and the Conservative Governor-General of India, The Earl of Minto, believed that cracking down on terrorism in Bengal was necessary but not sufficient for restoring stability to the British Raj after Lord Curzon's partitioning of Bengal.
The Act of 1909 was important for the following reasons:
·        It effectively allowed the election of Indians to the various legislative councils in India for the first time. Previously some Indians had been appointed to legislative councils. The majorities of the councils remained British government appointments. Moreover the electorate was limited to specific classes of Indian nationals;
·        The introduction of the electoral principle laid the groundwork for a parliamentary system even though this was contrary to the intent of Morley. As stated by Burke and Quraishi -
·        Muslims had expressed serious concern that a ‘first past the post’ British type of electoral system would leave them permanently subject to Hindu majority rule. The Act of 1909 stipulated, as demanded by the Muslim leadership
·        that Indian Muslims be allotted reserved seats in the Municipal and District Boards, in the Provincial Councils and in the Imperial Legislature;
·        that the number of reserved seats be in excess of their relative population (25 percent of the Indian population); and,
·        that only Muslims should vote for candidates for the Muslim seats (' separate electorates').


1911
The coronation or Delhi Durbar held at which the Partition of Bengal was cancelled.

1912
Delhi becomes the new capital of India.

1912 Dec 23
Bomb thrown on Lord Hardinge on his state entry in India.

1913 Nov 1
Ghadar Party formed at San franscisco.
The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Indians of the United States and Canada in June, 1913 with the aim to liberate India from British rule. It was also known as the Hindi Association of the Pacific Coast.
The first issue of the Ghadar, their paper was published from University of California in Berkeley in November 1, 1913, in its Har Dayal wrote: "Today there begins in foreign lands, but in our country's tongue, a war against the British Raj... What is our name? Revolution. What is our work? Revolution. Where will be the revolution? In India. The time will soon come when rifles and blood will take the place of pens and ink."


Ghadar Party
Ghadar Flag.png
Founded   :1913
Dissolved :1919
Preceded by :Pacific Coast Hindustan Association
Ideology : Revolutionary Socialism Indian Nationalism
Official colours :Red, Saffron and Green

 
1914 June 16
B G Tilak Released from Jail.
Tilak was released on June 8, 1914. After his release, Bal Gangadhar Tilak tried to bring the two factions of Congress together. But his efforts did not bear much fruit. In 1916, Tilak decided to build a separate organization called the 'Home Rule League'. Its goal was swaraj. Tilak went from village to village, and explained the aim of his league to the farmers and won their hearts. He traveled constantly in order to organize the people. While fighting for people’s cause Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on August 1, 1920.

1914 Aug 4
Out Break of the First World War.

Outbreak of the First World War
World War I broke out by accident. No European government
wanted a general war, but most of the European powers preferred to fight rather than back down in the face of diplomatic provocation from their rivals.
The spark which provided the excuse to set the armies marching was the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne in the summer of 1914. Austria immediately accused Serbia of instigating the murderers and issued an ultimatum, whereupon Russia declared her support of Serbia. Once the Russians ordered general mobilization (and they 'had to' because they needed more time to move their forces to the frontiers then their enemies) Austrian, French, and German mobilization orders followed in quick succession, each triggered by the other.
Mobilization plans quickly changed into war plans, because to halt part way through the deployment of military forces would simply create chaos; and chaos invited enemy attack - exactly what mobilization was supposed to prevent ! Civilian leadership was displaced by military leadership, and rival armies plunged across European frontiers 'according to plan'
Germany and Austria struck at France and Russia and Serbia; the German armies marching through Belgium, Britain immediately came into war on the side of Belgium, bringing in Japan, as her ally, and very soon Turkey followed on the German and Austrian side.
Germany's aim was to encircle Paris and defeat France within the first few weeks of the war, in order to concentrate later against Russia on the East. There was a tremendous rush of the Germans upon Paris and an invasion of East Prussia by the Russians. Both attacks were held and turned.
Then the power of the defensive developed; there was a rapid elaboration of trench warfare until the opposing armies lay entrenched in long lines across Europe, unable to make any advances without enormous losses. It became apparent that the progress of modern technical science had changed the nature of warfare, a change that the most carefully advanced war plans did not anticipate. No one had expected four years of stalemate and the brutal butchering of industrial war.








1914 Sep 29
Komagatu ship reaches Budge Budge
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Gopal_krishan_gokhale.jpg/200px-Gopal_krishan_gokhale.jpg
Place of birth: Kothluk, Ratnagiri Dist., Maharastra, India
Place of death: Bombay, India
Movement: Indian Independence movement
Major organizations: Indian National Congress, Deccan Education Society

Rivalry between Gokhale and Tilak : T Tilak was an advocate of civil agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire, whereas Gokhale was a moderate reformist. As a result, the Congress Party split into two wings and was largely robbed of its effectiveness for a decade. The two sides would later patch up in 1916 after Gokhale died. Tilak was an advocate of civil agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire, whereas Gokhale was a As a result, the Congress Party split into two wings and was largely robbed of its effectiveness for a decade. The two sides would later patch up in 1916 after Gokhale died.ilak was an advocate of civil agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire, whereas Gokhale was a moderate As a result, the Congress Party split into two wings and was largely robbed of its effectiveness for a decade. The two sides would later patch up in 1916 after Gokhale died.al Gangadhar Tilak

Rivalry Tilak


On May 23, 1914, 376 British Subjects (12 Hindus, 24 Muslims and 340 Sikhs) of Indian origin arrived in Vancouver harbor aboard the Komagata Maru, seeking to enter Canada. 352 of the passengers were denied entry and forced to depart on July 23, 1914.
In 1914 the Komagata Maru was an outright challenge to these exclusionist laws. The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamliner chartered by an affluent businessman, Gurdit Singh, to bring Indian immigrants to Canada.

1915 Jan
Gandhi arrives in Delhi.
In 1915 Gandhi returned from south Africa after having won a partial victory against General Smut’s Regime there & set up an ashram at Ahmadabad on the banks of the Sabarmati to teach Indians the ideals & methods of Satyagraha.
1915 Feb 19
Death of Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
Gokhale continued to be politically active through the last years of his life. This included extensive travelling abroad: in addition to his 1908 trip to England, he also visited South Africa in 1912, where his protégé Gandhi was working to improve conditions for the Indian minority living there. Meanwhile, he continued to be involved in the Servants of India Society, the Congress, and the Legislative Council while constantly advocating the advancement of Indian education. All these stresses took their toll, however, and Gokhale died in Feb 19 1915 at forty-nine years of age.

1916 April 28
Tilak found the Home Rule League with its HQ at Poona.
The Indian political scene was overshadowed those days by two important persons – Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant. They had set up Home Rule Leagues, Tilak’s in Maharashtra and Besant’s in other parts of the country. Both the leagues had the same president, Dadabhai Naoroji.

Some of the leaders of the Congress like Surendranath Banerji thought that the growth of the Home Rule Movement would eat into the prospects of the Congress. But the Movement caught on and Annie Besant was invited to preside over the Congress session in Calcutta in 1916.


1917 April
Gandhi Launches the Champaran Campaign in Bihar to focus attention on the grievances of indigo planters.
In Champaran, a district in state of Bihar, tens of thousands of landless serfs, indentured laborers and poor farmers were forced to grow indigo and other cash crops instead of the food crops necessary for their survival. These goods were bought from them at a very low price
Building on the confidence of villagers, he began leading the clean-up of villages, building of schools and hospitals and encouraging the village leadership to undo purdah, untouchability and the suppression of women. He was joined by many young nationalists from all over India, including Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha, Ramarshi Deo Trivedi "Rishi Ji", Brajkishore Prasad, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Jawaharlal Nehru.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/20/1917anugrah.jpg/220px-1917anugrah.jpg
(Dr. Rajendra Prasad(Sitting left) &
Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha (sitting right)
during 1917 Champaran
Satyagraha movement)
But his main assault came as he was arrested by police on the charge of creating unrest and was ordered to leave the province. Hundreds of thousands of people protested and rallied outside the jail, police stations and courts demanding his release, which the court unwillingly did. Gandhi led organized protests and strike against the landlords, who with the guidance of the British government, signed an agreement granting more compensation and control over farming for the poor farmers of the region, and cancellation of revenue hikes and collection until the famine ended. It was during this agitation, that Gandhi was addressed by the people as Bapu (Father) and Mahatma (Great Soul).


1917 Aug 20
The Secretary of State for India, Montagu, declares that the goal of British Govt in India is the introduction of Responsible Govt.
In late 1917, Montagu went to India to meet up with Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy of India, to meet with leaders of Indian community such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Muhammed Ali Jinnah to discuss the introduction of limited self-government to India and protecting the rights of minority communities such as Muslims and Sikhs.

The changes at the provincial level were significant, as the provincial legislative councils contained a considerable majority of elected members. In a system called "dyarchy," the nation-building departments of government — agriculture, education, public works, and the like — were placed under ministers who were individually responsible to the legislature. The departments that made up the "steel frame" of British rule — finance, revenue, and home affairs — were retained by executive councilors who were nominated by the Governor. They were often, but not always, British and who were responsible to the governor.
1918
Beginning of Trade Union Movement in India.

1918 April
Rowlatt Committee Submits its Report. Rowlatt Bill introduces in Feb 1919.
The Rowlatt Act was a law passed by the British in colonial India in March 1919, indefinitely extending "emergency measures" (of the Defence of India Regulations Act) enacted during the First World War in order to control public unrest and root out conspiracy. Passed on the recommendations of the Rowlatt commission, named for its chairman, British judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt, this act effectively authorized the government to imprison, without trial, any person suspected of terrorism living in the Raj. The Rowlatt Acts gave British imperial authorities power to deal with revolutionary activities.
Mahatma Gandhi, among other Indian leaders, was extremely critical of the Act and argued that not everyone should be punished in response to isolated political crimes. The Act led to indignation from Indian leaders and the public, which caused the government to implement repressive measures. Gandhi and others found that constitutional opposition to the measure was fruitless, so on April 6, a "hartal" was organized where Indians would suspend all business and fast as a sign of their hatred for the legislation. This event is known as the Rowlatt Satyagraha.

1919 April 6
All India Hartal over Rowlatt Bill.
On April 6, a "hartal" was organized where Indians would suspend all business and fast as a sign of their hatred for the legislation. This event is known as the Rowlatt Satyagraha.
However, the success of the hartal in Delhi, on 30 March, was overshadowed by tensions running high, which resulted in rioting in the Punjab and other provinces. Deciding that Indians were not ready to make a stand in consistence with the principle of Ahimsa (non-violence), an integral part of Satyagraha, Gandhi suspended the resistance.
The Rowlatt Act came into effect in March 1919. In the Punjab the protest movement was very strong, and on April 10, two outstanding leaders of the congress Dr. Satya Pal and Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, were arrested and taken to an unknown place.
A protest was held in Amritsar, which led to the Massacre of 1919.



1919 April 13
Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/JallianwalaBaghmemorial1227.JPG/450px-JallianwalaBaghmemorial1227.JPG 
On April 13, 1919, thousands of people gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) near the Golden Temple in Amritsar, on Baisakhi,

An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 4:30pm, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer marched a group of sixty-five Gurkha and twenty-five Baluchi soldiers into the Bagh, fifty of whom were armed with rifles. Dyer had also brought two armored cars armed with machine guns, however the vehicles were stationed outside the main gate as they were unable to enter the Bagh through the narrow entrance.
The Jallianwala Bagh was bounded on all sides by houses and buildings and had few narrow entrances, most of which were kept permanently locked. The main entrance was relatively wider, but was guarded by the troops backed by the armored vehicles. General Dyer ordered troops to open fire without warning or any order to disperse, and to direct fire towards the densest sections of the crowd. He continued the firing, approximately 1,650 rounds in all, until ammunition was almost exhausted.
Apart from the many deaths directly from the firing, a number of deaths were caused by stampedes at the narrow gates as also people who sought shelter from the firing by jumping into the solitary well inside the compound. A plaque in the monument at the site, set up after independence, says that 120 bodies were plucked out of the well.
Dyer was called to appear before the Hunter Commission, a commission of inquiry into the massacre that was ordered to convene by Secretary of State for India Edwin Montagu, in late 1919. Dyer admitted before the commission that he came to know about the meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh at 12:40 hours that day but took no steps to prevent it. He stated that he had gone to the Bagh with the deliberate intention of opening fire if he found a crowd assembled there.

1919 Dec 5
The House of Commons Passed the Montagu Chelmsford Reform or the Govt of India Act, 1919. The new reforms under this act came in peration in 1921.
The Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. V c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of the natives in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report of the Secretary of State for India, Sir Edwin Montagu, and the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford. The Act covered ten years, from 1919 to 1929. This retraction of British imperialism was a result of India's enthusiastic participation in World War I.
The Act provided a dual form of government (a "dyarchy") for the major provinces. In each such province, control of some areas of government, the "transferred list", were given to a Government of ministers answerable to the Provincial Council. The 'transferred list' included Agriculture, Health and Education. The Provincial Councils were enlarged.
At the same time, all other areas of government (the 'reserved list') remained under the control of the Viceroy. The 'reserved list' included Defence (the military), Foreign Affairs, and Communications.
The Imperial Legislative Council was enlarged and reformed. It became a bicameral legislature for all India. The lower house was the Legislative Assembly of 144 members, of which 104 were elected and 40 were nominated and tenure of Three years. The upper house was the Council of States consisting of 34 elected and 26 nominated members and tenure of five years. This structure allowed Britain to use the Princely States (who were directly represented in the Council of States) to offset the growing power of the native political parties.
The Indian National Congress was unhappy at these reforms and termed them as 'disappointing.' A special session was held in Mumbai under Hasan Imam and the reforms were condemned. However, leaders such as Surendranath Banerji were inclined to accept the reforms, so they left the Congress and formed the Indian Liberal Federation, which played a minor role in subsequent affairs.

1920

First Meeting of the All India Trade Union Congress.(Narain Malhar Joshi)


1920 Dec

The INC adopts the Non Cooperation Resolution (Started in Aug 31 1920)

The first Non cooperation movement

The first Satyagraha movement urged the use of Khadi and Indian material as alternatives to those shipped from Britain. It also urged people to boycott British educational institutions and law courts; resign from government employment; refuse to pay taxes; and forsake British titles and honours. Although this came too late to influence the framing of the new Government of India Act of 1919, the movement enjoyed widespread popular support, and the resulting unparalleled magnitude of disorder presented a serious challenge to foreign rule. In 1920, the Congress was reorganized and given a new constitution, whose goal was Swaraj (independence). Membership in the party was opened to anyone prepared to pay a token fee, and a hierarchy of committees was established and made responsible for discipline and control over a hitherto amorphous and diffuse movement. The party was transformed from an elite organization to one of mass national appeal and participation.
Gandhi was sentenced in 1922 to six years of prison, but was released after serving two. On his release from prison, he set up the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmadabad, on the banks of river Sabarmati, established the newspaper Young India, and inaugurated a series of reforms aimed at the socially disadvantaged within Hindu society — the rural poor, and the untouchables.
This era saw the emergence of new generation of Indians from within the Congress Party, including C. Rajagopalachari, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose and others- who would later on come to form the prominent voices of the Indian independence movement, whether keeping with Gandhian Values, or diverging from it.
The Indian political spectrum was further broadened in the mid-1920s by the emergence of both moderate and militant parties, such as the Swaraj Party, Hindu Mahasabha, Communist Party of India and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Regional political organizations also continued to represent the interests of non-Brahmins in Madras, Mahars in Maharashtra, and Sikhs in Punjab. However, people like Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi, Vanchinathan and Neelakanda Brahmachari played a major role from Tamil Nadu in both freedom struggle and fighting for equality for all castes and communities.

1920-22
The Non cooperation Movement suspended on Feb 11 12, after the violent incidents at Chauri Chaura on Feb 5 1922.
However, Gandhi called off the movement following the Chauri Chaura incident, which saw the death of twenty-two policemen at the hands of an angry mob.

1922 Aug
Moplah rebellion on the Malabar Coast.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Mappilas were known for active armed attacks against the British, including the 1921 Moplah rebellion where many Mappilas lost their lives, and many were taken as prisoners mostly to Port Blair. In the same Moplah rebellion, Mappilas murdered, raped, and forcibly converted thousands of Hindus. Mohommed Haji was proclaimed the Caliph of the Moplah Khalifat (Caliphate) and flags of Islamic Caliphate were flown. Ernad and Valluvanad were declared Khalifat kingdoms.
1923 Jan 1
Swarajist Party formed by Motilal Nehru and others.

1924
The Communist Party of India starts its activities first at Kanpur.

1925 Aug
Kakori Train Conspiracy
On August 9, 1925, the Number 8 Down Train travelling from Shahjahanpur  to Lucknow  was approaching the town of Kakori (now in Uttar Pradesh), when one of the revolutionaries pulled the chain to stop the train and overpowered the guard. It is believed that they looted money-bags belonging to the British Government Treasury from the guard's van and escaped to Lucknow while not a single Indian was looted. Following the incident, the police started an intense manhunt and arrested several of the revolutionaries involved. Bismil was arrested on September 26, 1925 and Ashfaqullah was arrested ten months later.
1927 Nov 8
The British PM announces the appointment of the Simon Commission to suggest future constitutional reforms in India. Simon Commission arrives in Bombay on Feb 3 1928 and all India Hartal.Lala Lajpat Rai assaulted by police at Lahore.
The Indian Statutory Commission was a group of seven British Members of Parliament that had been dispatched to India in 1927 to study constitutional reform in that colony. It was commonly referred to as the Simon Commission after its chairman, Sir John Simon. One of its members was Clement Attlee, who subsequently became the British Prime Minister who would oversee the granting of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947.
Almost immediately with its arrival in Bombay on February 3, 1928, the Simon Commission was confronted by throngs of protestors. The entire country observed a hartal (strike), and many people turned out to greet the Commission with black flags. Similar protests occurred in every major Indian city that the seven British MPs visited. However, one protest against the Simon Commission would gain infamy above all the others.
On October 30, 1928, the Simon Commission arrived in Lahore where, as with the rest of the country, its arrival was met with massive amounts of protestors. The Lahore protest was led by Indian nationalist Lala Lajpat Rai, who had moved a resolution against the Commission in the Legislative Assembly of Punjab in February 1928. In order to make way for the Commission, the local police force began beating protestors with their lathis (sticks). The police were particularly brutal towards Lala Lajpat Rai, who later that day declared, "The blows which fell on me today are the last nails in the coffin of British imperialism." On November 17, Lajpat Rai died of his injuries on his head.


1928
Nehru Report Recommends principles for the new constitution of India. All Parties Conference considers the Nehru Report Aug 28
Following the rejection of the recommendations of the Simon Commission by Indians, an all-party conference was held at Bombay in May 1928. This was meant to instill a sense of resistance among people. The conference appointed a drafting committee under Motilal Nehru to draw up a constitution for India. The Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress asked the British government to accord dominion status to India by December 1929, or a countrywide civil disobedience movement would be launched. By 1929, however, in the midst of rising political discontent and increasingly violent regional movements, the call for complete independence from Britain began to find increasing grounds within the Congress leadership. Under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru at its historic Lahore session in December 1929, The Indian National Congress adopted a resolution calling for complete independence from the British. It authorised the Working Committee to launch a civil disobedience movement throughout the country. It was decided that 26 January 1930 should be observed all over India as the Purna Swaraj (total independence) Day. Many Indian political parties and Indian revolutionaries of a wide spectrum united to observe the day with honour and pride.

1928 Nov. 17
Death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
On November 17, 1928, he succumbed to the injuries and left for his holy abode by not leaving the freedom struggle in between but passing over the baton the younger generation. The vengeance of his death was taken by Bhagat Singh and his associates.

1929
Sarda Act Passed prohibiting marriage of girls below 14 and boys below 18 of age with effect from 1930.
Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 popularly known as the Sarda Act after its sponsor Rai Sahib Harbilas Sarda to the British India Legislature in India was passed on 28 September 1929 fixed the age of marriage for girls at 14 years. It was a result of social reform movement in India. The legislation was passed by the British Indian Government.


1929 Mar 9
All Parties Muslim Conference formulates the Forteen points under the leadership Of Jinnah.
The Fourteen Points of Jinnah was proposed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India. The report was given in a meeting of the council of the All India Muslim League on March 28, 1929.

The Fourteen Points

  1. The form of the future constitution should be federal with the residuary powers vested in the provinces.
  2. A uniform measure of autonomy shall be granted to all provinces.
  3. All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate and effective representation of minorities in every province without reducing the majority in any province to a minority or even equality.
  4. In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than one third.
  5. Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of separate electorate as at present, provided it shall be open to any community at any time to abandon its separate electorate in favor of a joint electorate.
  6. Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority in the Punjab, Bengal and the North West Frontier Province.
  7. Full religious liberty, i.e. liberty of belief, worship and observance, propaganda, association and education, shall be guaranteed to all communities.
  8. No bill or any resolution or any part thereof shall be passed in any legislature or any other elected body if three-fourth of the members of any community in that particular body oppose such a bill resolution or part thereof on the ground that it would be injurious to the interests of that community or in the alternative, such other method is devised as may be found feasible and practicable to deal with such cases.
  9. Sindh should be separated from the Bombay Presidency.
  10. Reforms should be introduced in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan on the same footing as in the other provinces.
  11. Provision should be made in the constitution giving Muslims an adequate share, along with the other Indians, in all the services of the state and in local self-governing bodies having due regard to the requirements of efficiency.
  12. The constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture and for the protection and promotion of Muslim education, language, religion, personal laws and Muslim charitable institution and for their due share in the grants-in-aid given by the state and by local self-governing bodies.
  13. No cabinet, either central or provincial, should be formed without there being a proportion of at least one-third Muslim ministers.
  14. No change shall be made in the constitution by the Central Legislature except with the concurrence of the State's contribution of the Indian Federation.

1929 April 8
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt drops bombs on Central Legislative Assembly.
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association was formed under the leadership of Chandrasekhar Azad. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 protesting against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill. Following the trial (Central Assembly Bomb Case), Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged in 1931. Allama Mashriqi founded Khaksar Tehreek in order to direct particularly the Muslims towards the independence movement.

1929 Oct 31
Lord Irwin's Announcement that goal of British policy in India was the grant of Dominion status.
Gandhi–Irwin Pact refers to a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5th March 1931. Before this, the viceroy Lord Irwin announced in October 1929,a vague offer of 'dominion status' for India in an unspecified future and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution. It was signed after meetings between Gandhi and the Viceroy that spanned over a three week time period. Many Indian citizens were originally unsatisfied with the conditions of this truce. The agreement spelled out certain specific action points, to be initiated by the colonial Government of India as well as the Indian National Congress. Important action points of the Pact included:
·        Discontinuation of the civil disobedience movement by the Indian National Congress
·        Participation by the Indian National Congress in the Round Table Conference
·        Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the British Government imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress
·        Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to several types of offenses except those involving violence
·        Release of prisoners arrested for participating in the civil disobedience movement
·        The removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use.

1929 Dec 31
the Lahore session of INC adopts the goal of complete independece-poorna Swaraj for India.
The flag of India had been hoisted by Congress President Jawaharlal Nehru on December 31, 1929, on the banks of the Ravi River in Lahore. The Congress asked the people of India to observe January 26 as Independence Day. The flag of India was hoisted publicly across India by Congress volunteers, nationalists and the public.
The Purna Swaraj declaration or Declaration of the Independence of India was promulgated by the Indian National Congress on January 26, 1930, resolving the Congress and Indian nationalists to fight for Purna Swaraj, or complete self-rule independent of the British Empire. (Literally in Sanskrit, purna, "complete," swa, "self," raj, "rule," thus "complete self-rule")


1930 Feb 14
The working committee of the INC meets at Sabarmati and passes the civil Disobedience resolution.
In April 1930 there were violent police-crowd clashes in Calcutta. Approximately 100,000 people were imprisoned in the course of the Civil disobedience movement (1930–31), while in Peshawar unarmed demonstrators were fired upon in the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre. The latter event catapulted the then newly formed Khudai Khidmatgar movement (founder Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the Frontier Gandhi) onto the National scene. While Gandhi was in jail, the first Round Table Conference was held in London in November 1930, without representation from the Indian National Congress. The ban upon the Congress was removed because of economic hardships caused by the Satyagraha. Gandhi, along with other members of the Congress Working Committee, was released from prison in January 1931.

1930 March 12
Gandhi Launches the Civil Disobedience movement with his epic Dandi March (March 12 to April 5), First phase of the C D Movement March 12 1930 to March 5 1931.
Gandhi emerged from his long seclusion by undertaking his most famous campaign, a march of about 400 kilometers from his commune in Ahmadabad to Dandi, on the coast of Gujarat between 12 March and 6 April 1930. The march is usually known as the Dandi March or the Salt Satyagraha. At Dandi, in protest against British taxes on salt, he and thousands of followers broke the law by making their own salt from seawater.

1930 Nov 30
First round table conference begins in London to consider the report of Simon.
The Round Table Conference was opened officially by King George V on November 12, 1930 and chaired by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. The three British political parties were represented by sixteen delegates. There were fifty-seven political leaders from British India and sixteen delegates from the princely states. However, the Indian National Congress, along with Indian business leaders, kept away from the conference. Many of them were in jail for their participation in civil disobedience.

Participants

·        Muslim League: Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Shafi, the Aga Khan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, A.K. Fazlul Huq
·        Hindu Mahasabha: B. S. Moonje and M.R. Jayakar
·        Liberals: Tej Bahadur Sapru, C. Y. Chintamani and Srinivasa Sastri
·        Sikh: Sardar Ujjal Singh
·        Depressed Classes: B. R. Ambedkar
·        Princely states: Akbar Hydari (Dewan of Hyderabad), Mirza Ismail (Diwan of Mysore), Kailas Narain Haksar of Gwalior, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda, Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, Nawab Hamidullah Khan of Bhopal, K.S. Ranjitsinhji of Nawanagar, Maharaja Jai Singh Prabhakar of Alwar and the rulers of Indore, Rewa, Dholpur, Koriya, Sangli and Sarila.
The idea of an All-India Federation was moved to the centre of discussion. All the groups attending the conference supported this concept. The responsibility of the Executive to Legislature was discussed, and B. R. Ambedkar demanded a separate electorate for the Untouchables.

1931 March 5
Gandhi Irwin Pact signed, Civil Disobedience Movement Suspended.
Gandhi–Irwin Pact refers to a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5th March 1931. Before this, the viceroy Lord Irwin announced in October 1929, a vague offer of 'dominion status' for India in an unspecified future and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution. It was signed after meetings between Gandhi and the Viceroy that spanned over a three week time period. Many Indian citizens were originally unsatisfied with the conditions of this truce. The agreement spelled out certain specific action points, to be initiated by the colonial Government of India as well as the Indian National Congress. Important action points of the Pact included:
·        Discontinuation of the civil disobedience movement by the Indian National Congress
·        Participation by the Indian National Congress in the Round Table Conference
·        Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the British Government imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress
·        Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to several types of offenses except those involving violence
·        Release of prisoners arrested for participating in the civil disobedience movement
·        The removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use.

1931 March 23
Bhagat Sing, Sukh Dev and Rajguru Executed.
On 23 March 1931, Bhagat Singh was hanged in Lahore with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. His supporters, who had been protesting against the hanging, immediately declared him as a Shaheed or martyr. According to the Superintendent of Police at the time, V.N. Smith, the hanging was advanced:
Normally execution took place at 8 am, but it was decided to act at once before the public could become aware of what had happened...At about 7 pm shouts of Inquilab Zindabad were heard from inside the jail. This was correctly, interpreted as a signal that the final curtain was about to drop.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Bhagat_Singh%27s_execution_Lahore_Tribune_Front_page.jpg/250px-Bhagat_Singh%27s_execution_Lahore_Tribune_Front_page.jpg

1931 Sep 7
Second Round Table Conference.
The second session opened on September 7 1931. There were three major differences between the first and second Round Table Conferences. By the second:
·        Congress Representation — The Gandhi-Irwin Pact opened the way for Congress participation in this conference. Mahatma Gandhi was invited from India and attended as the sole official Congress representative accompanied by Sarojini Naidu and also Madan Mohan Malaviya, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Muhammad Iqbal, S K Dutta and Sir Syed Ali Imam. Gandhi claimed that the Congress alone represented political India; that the Untouchables were Hindus and should not be treated as a “minority”; and that there should be no separate electorates or special safeguards for Muslims or other minorities. These claims were rejected by the other Indian participants. According to this pact, Gandhi was asked to call off the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and if he did so the prisoners of the British government would be freed excepting the criminal prisoners, i.e. those who had killed British officials. He returned to India, disappointed with the results and empty-handed.
·        National Government — two weeks earlier the Labour government in London had fallen. Ramsay MacDonald now headed a National Government dominated by the Conservative Party.
·        Financial Crisis – During the conference, Britain went off the Gold Standard further distracting the National Government.


During the Conference, Gandhi could not reach agreement with the Muslims on Muslim representation and safeguards. At the end of the conference Ramsay MacDonald undertook to produce a Communal Award for minority representation, with the provision that any free agreement between the parties could be substituted for his award.
Gandhi took particular exception to the treatment of untouchables as a minority separate from the rest of the Hindu community. He clashed with the Untouchable leader, B. R. Ambedkar, over this issue: the two eventually resolved the situation with the Poona Pact of 1932.

1931 Dec 28
1930 Mar 12 Gandhi Launches the Civil Disobedience movement with his epic Dandi March (March 12 to April 5), First phase of the C D Movement March 12 1930 to March 5 1931.

1932 Jan 4
Gandhiji Arrested and imprisoned without Trial.
In Bombay, at Mani Bhuvan, Gandhi was arrested at three in morning.
1932 Aug 16
British Prime minister Pamsay Macdonald announces his infamous "Communal Awards".
Mr. MacDonald announced the 'Communal Award' on August 16, 1932. According to the Award, the right of separate electorate was not only given to the Muslims of India but also to all the minority communities in the country. The Award also declared untouchables as a minority and thus the Hindu depressed classes were given a number of special seats, to be filled from special depressed class electorates in the area where their voters were concentrated. Under the Communal Award, the principle of weightage was also maintained with some modifications in the Muslim minority provinces. Principle of weightage was also applied for Europeans in Bengal and Assam, Sikhs in the Punjab and North West Frontier Province, and Hindus in Sindh and North West Frontier Province.
1932 Sep 20
Gandhiji in jail begins the epic fast unto death against teh Communal Awards and the fat on sep 26 after the Poona Pact.

1932 Nov 17
The IIIrd RTC begins in London.
The third and last session assembled on November 17 1932. Only forty-six delegates attended since most of the main political figures of India were not present. The Labour Party from Britain and the Indian National Congress refused to attend.
In this conference, Chaudhary Rahmat Ali, a college student, coined the name "Pakistan" (which means "land of pureness") as the name for the Muslim part of partitioned India. He took the "P" from Punjab, the "A" from the Afghan, the "KI" from Kashmir, the "S" from Sindh and the "TAN" from Balochistan.

1933 May 9
Gandhiji released from prison as he begins the fast for self purification .INC suspends C D Movement but Authorizes Satyagraha by individuals.

1934
Gandhiji withdraws from active politics and Devote himself to Constructive programmes.

1935 Aug 4
The GOvt India Act Passed.

1937
Elections held in India under the Act of 1935 (Feb 1937).The INC contest election and forms ministries in 7 provinces.

1938 Feb 19-20
Haripura session of INC Subhas Chandra Bose elected Congress President.

1939 March 10-12
Tripura session of INC.

1939 April
Subhash Chandra Bose resigned as the president of INC.

1939 Sep 3
Second World War.

1939 Oct 27
the INC ministries in Province.

1939 Nov 5
The congress ministries in province resign in protest against the war policy of British Govt.

1939 Dec 22

The Muslim League observes the resignation of the congress minister as the Deliverance Day.

1940 March
Lahore session of the Muslim League passes the Pakistan Resolution.

1940 Aug 10
Vice roy Linlithgow annouces the August Offer.

1940 Aug 18-22
The congress working committe rejects the August Offer.

1941 Jauary 17
Subhas Chandra bose escapes from India Arrives in Berlin (March 28).

1942 March 11
Churchill annonces the Cripps Mission

1942 Aug 7-8

The INC meets in Bombay Adopts Quit India resolution.8

1942 Aug 9
Gandhiji and other Congress leaders arrested.

1942 Aug 11
Quit India Movement begins the great August Uprising.

1942 Sep 1
Subhas Chandra Bose establish the Indian National army (Azad Hind Fauz)

1943 oct 21
Subhash Chandra bose proclaims the formation of Provisional Government of free India.

1943 Dec
Karachi session of the Muslim League adopts the slogan Divide and Quit.

1944 June 25
Wavell calls Simla Conference in a bid to form the Executive Council of Indian Political leaders.

1946 Feb 18
Mutiny of the Indian Naval Ratings in Bombay.

1946 March 15
British P M Attlee announces Cabinet Mission to propose new solution to the Indian Deadlock Cabinet Mission Arrives in New Delhi (March 14) issue proposal (May 16)

1946 July 6
Jawaharlal Nehru takes over as Congress President.

1946 Aug 6
Wavell invites Nehru to form an Interim Government takes office.(Sep 2).

1946 Dec 9
First session of Constituent Assembly starts .Muslim League boycotts it.

1947 Feb 20
British PM Atlee Declared that the British Govt would leave India not later than June 1948.

1947 March 24
Lord Mountbatten the last British Viceroy and Governor General of India sworn in (March 24 1947 to June 21 1948).

1947 June 3
Mountbatten Plan for the partition of India and the announcement (June 4) that the transfer of power will take place on Aug 15.

1947 Aug 15
India wins Freedom.


7 comments:

  1. It proves that it were the British who engineered and encouraged religious and caste divides in India.

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  2. It should be helpful to the learners.all the Indians must know the history and dedications of the freedom fighters of India.we should be inspired by them

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