India got Independence on 15th August 1947.
The First thing we need to know is the circumstances in which India got independence???
This can in itself be a Mains Questions.
So Lets try to analyse what were the circumstances in which India got Independence.
There were many reasons:
1)World War II made the power of Britishers very dull.
2)Freedom Movement was going across the world, so India was not an exeption.
3)America was pressurising the Britishers for granting freedom(since America was once a british colony)
4)Role of our Leaders and the Freedom activities were increased manyfolds.
So overall it was not feasible for the Britishers to carry out their administration in India.
What were the Challenges that were present when India got Freedom?
Independent India faced various kinds of challenges:
i. The first and immediate challenge was to shape a nation , to consolidate and integrate India.
ii. The second challenge was to establish democracy. Many people were sure that India will not survive the democracy due to diversity and its size.
iii. The third challenge was to ensure inclusive development and well-being of the entire society. Due to the
widespread poverty, the real challenge now was to evolve effective polices for economic development
and eradication of poverty.
iv.The Challenge of Partition, Displacement and Rehabilitation.
v.Challenge of Providing Social Security, health , Education to all its masses.
vi.Challenge of the world order: Communism or Capitalism.
Some Facts at the Time of Partition:-
- Literacy rate at the time of Independence (1947) = 12%
- Life Expectancy was just 32 years in 1947.
Plan of consolidation:
The broad strategy for national consolidation after 1947 involved :
1. Territorial integration,
2. Mobilization of political and institutional resources
3. Economic development, and
4. Adoption of polices which would promote social justice, remove glaring inequalities and provide equal
opportunities
The biggest Challenge was Integration and Consolidation of Princely States, India was divided into nearly 565 parts.
This mammoth task of integrtion was performed by the brilliance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, V.P Krishna Menon, and little help rom Lord Mountbatten.
On June 27, 1947, Sardar Patel assumed additional charge of the newly created states department with V.P. Menon as its Secretary.
Sardar Patel used the techniques of Persuasion , Force and diplomacy to integrate.
Patel threw a series of lunch parties where he requested his princely guests to help the Congress in framing the new constitution for India.
Patel's first step was to appeal to the princes whose territories fell inside India to accede to the Indian Union in three subjects which affected the common interests of the country, namely, foreign relations, defence and communications
Next step of Patel was to convince Mountbatten to bat for India. 25th July speech of Mountbatten to the Chamber of Princes finally persuaded the Princes
After this, virtually all the states except 3 signaled the instrument of accession.
Travancore, Bhopal and Jodhpur.
The Diwan of Travancore C.P Aiyyar was attacked after which he was ready for accession.
Jodhpur- A young hindu king was there, it’s accession was a serious issue due to its proximity to border. Jinnah also persuaded him but after tremendous pressure from Patel, finally he signed the Instrument of Assession.
Bhopal's ruler Habibullah was very much influenced by Mountbatten and also there was a revolt against the ruler of Bhopal, plus pressure from Sardar Patel.
Thus before August 15, 1947 peaceful negotiations has brought almost all states whose territories were contiguous to the new boundaries of India, into the Indian Union. The rulers of most of the states signed a document called the "Instrument of Accession" which meant that their state agreed to become a part of the Union of India.
Accession of the princely states of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir and Manipur proved more difficult than the rest.
We will Countinue with this in the Next Part.
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