IB History India: Emergence of Democratic State Notes

The Indian Independence Movement

1. British colonial rule lasted nearly 200 years, beginning with the East India Company and shifting to direct Crown rule after the 1857 Rebellion
2. The Indian National Congress (INC), founded in 1885, became the main vehicle for Indian nationalism and self-rule
3. Mohandas Gandhi transformed the INC into a mass movement using satyagraha (non-violent civil disobedience) from the 1920s onward
4. Key campaigns included the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920), Salt March (1930), and Quit India Movement (1942)
5. Jawaharlal Nehru emerged as Gandhi's political heir - a modernist who favoured secular democracy and industrialisation
6. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel organised peasant movements and later integrated over 500 princely states into the Indian Union
7. Subhas Chandra Bose broke with the INC and formed the Indian National Army (INA) to fight British rule through armed struggle during WWII
8. The Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, demanded a separate Muslim state, adopting the Lahore Resolution (1940)
9. WWII weakened Britain financially; the Labour government of Clement Attlee accelerated the timetable for Indian independence
10. The Cabinet Mission Plan (1946) failed to keep India united; communal riots such as the Great Calcutta Killings hardened demands for partition

Partition of India, 1947

1. Lord Mountbatten announced partition on 3 June 1947; independence followed on 14-15 August 1947
2. The Radcliffe Line divided Punjab and Bengal; drawn in weeks by a British lawyer with no local knowledge
3. Communal violence erupted across northern India - estimates of 200,000 to 2 million deaths during 1946-48
4. Between 10 and 15 million people were displaced in one of the largest mass migrations in history
5. Partition created two states - India (secular republic) and Pakistan (Muslim-majority, split into West and East wings)
6. Gandhi opposed partition and fasted to stop communal violence; he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist in January 1948
7. The princely state of Kashmir became contested - its Hindu ruler acceded to India while its Muslim-majority population was divided
8. The first Indo-Pakistani War (1947-48) ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire, leaving Kashmir divided along the Line of Control

The Constitution and the Constituent Assembly, 1947-50

1. The Constituent Assembly was elected in 1946 and met for nearly three years to draft the Indian Constitution
2. Dr B.R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee - a Dalit leader who championed social equality and anti-caste provisions
3. The Constitution established India as a sovereign, democratic republic with a parliamentary system modelled partly on Westminster
4. Fundamental Rights guaranteed equality before the law, freedom of speech, religion, and assembly - influenced by the US Bill of Rights
5. Directive Principles of State Policy set non-justiciable goals for social welfare - inspired by the Irish Constitution
6. India adopted a federal structure with a strong centre - powers divided between Union and State governments via three legislative lists