Gandhi’s early career and activism

Gandhi was the first Indian barrister to have come to South Africa. He was faced with various racial discriminations within days of his arrival in SA. He led the Indian struggle in SA. The first phase of Gandhi’s political activities from 1894-1906 may be classified as the ‘moderate’ phase. He set up the Natal Indian … Read more Gandhi’s early career and activism

Lucknow Pact (1916),Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms and Rowlatt Act

Lucknow Pact (1916) Nationalists saw that their disunity was affecting their cause Two important developments at the Lucknow Session of Congress The two wings of the Congress were again united The Congress and the Muslim League sank their old differences and put up common political demands before the government. INC and ML passed the same … Read more Lucknow Pact (1916),Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms and Rowlatt Act

Partition of Bengal and The Swadeshi Movement

Partition of Bengal Curzon announced the partition of Bengal. The reason for partition was given as an attempt to improve administration. But the real aim was to ‘Divide and Rule’. The partition was done in order to create a separate State for Muslims and so introduce the poison of communalism in the country. However the … Read more Partition of Bengal and The Swadeshi Movement

The Split in the Congress: Surat 1907

  The Split in the Congress: Surat 1907 Moderates were successful to some extent. Moderates failed in many aspects. Why? They could not acquire any roots among common people. They believed that they could persuade the rulers to change their policies. However, their achievement in this regard was meager. They could not keep pace with … Read more The Split in the Congress: Surat 1907

Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909 and Growth of Communalism

Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909 Increased the number of elected members in the Imperial Legislative Council and the provincial council However, most of the elected members were elected indirectly The reformed councils still enjoyed no real power, being merely advisory bodies. Introduced separate electorates under which all Muslims were grouped in separate constituencies from which Muslims alone … Read more Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909 and Growth of Communalism

The Home Rule Movement

After being released in 1914, Tilak sought re-entry into Congress. Annie Besant and Gokhale supported. But finally Pherozshah Mehta won and Tilak was not admitted. Tilak and Besant decided to start the home rule movement on their own. In early 1915, Annie Besant (and S Subramaniya Iyer) launched a campaign through her two newspapers, New … Read more The Home Rule Movement

Reasons for the growth of militant nationalism

Disillusionment of the nationalists with moderate policies The moderates thought that the British could be reformed from within Politically conscious Indians were convinced that the purpose of the British rule was to exploit India economically The nationalists realized that Indian industries could not flourish except under an Indian government Disastrous famines from 1896 to 1900 … Read more Reasons for the growth of militant nationalism

Moderate phase:early nationalists,Freedom of Press and Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Contribution of early nationalists Early nationalists believed that a direct struggle for the political emancipation of the country was not yet on the agenda of history. On agenda was: Creation of public interest in political questions and the organization of public opinion Popular demands had to be formulated on a country-wide basis National unity had … Read more Moderate phase:early nationalists,Freedom of Press and Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Indian National Congress

Rise of Indian National Congress   Predecessors of INC East India Association By Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866 in London To discuss the Indian question and to influence the British public men to discuss Indian welfare Branches of the association in prominent Indian cities Indian Association Surendranath Banerjee and Ananda Mohan Bose in 1876, Calcutta The … Read more Indian National Congress

Modern Indian history (from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present)- significant events, personalities and issues

India in the Eighteenth  CenturyBahadur Shah 1 (1707-12) Muzam succeeded Aurungzeb after latter’s death in 1707 He acquired the title of Bahadur Shah. Though he was quite old (65) and his rule quite short there are many significant achievements he made He reversed the narrow minded and antagonistic policies of Aurungzeb Made agreements with Rajput … Read more Modern Indian history (from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present)- significant events, personalities and issues