Butler Committee
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Butler Committee ● Indian states committee was appointed to investigate & clarify the relationship between the paramount power & the Princes. ● Sir Harcourt Butler was its chairman Civil Disobedience Movement ● It was Gandhi’s movement. ● It was an all India mass movement. ● It was more popular among the peasants & in rural areas. Nature ● Gandhi started Dandi March with only 78 people, from Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March, 1930, but was joined by thousands by the time he reached Dandi. ● Bose compared it to Napoleon’s march to Paris. ● The entire distance was covered on foot passing through villages, towns. This enabled Gandhi to connect to the masses with his unique pad-yatra. Spread of the Movement ● Bhagalpur: The peasants stopped paying Chowkidari Tax to Zamindars. R Prasad & Abdul Bari emerged as main leaders. ● North West Frontier Province: Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan ● Tamil Nadu: In April 1930, C. Rajagopalachari organised a march from Thiruchirapalli to Vedaranniyam on the Tanjore coast to break the salt law. ● Malabar: K. Kelappan Nair,a Congress leader famed for the Vaikom Satyagraha, organised salt marches. ● Dharasana: On May 21, 1930, Sarojini Naidu, Imam Sahib & Manilal Gandhi took up the unfinished task of leading a raid on the Dharasana Salt Works. ● Webb Miller ● Assam: A powerful agitation led by students was launched against the infamous ‘Cunningham circular’ which forced students & their guardians to furnish assurances of good behaviour. ● Nagaland: Rani Gaidinliu ( member of Heraka religious movement). Nehru gave her the title of Rani when he met her in 1937 Shillong jail. Who of the following organized a march on the Tanjore coast to break the Salt Law in April 1930? A. V.O. Chidambaram Pillai B. C. Rajagopalachari C. K. Kamaraj D. Annie Besant Round Table Conference ❑ Round Table conference signifies that all the participants are equal. ❑ Participants of these conferences were – All political parties of India, Representatives of India Princely states ❑ It was held in Buckingham Palace in London ❑ Purpose of this meeting according to British was that they wanted to understand demands & grievances of Indian Leadership from different social backgrounds 1st Round Table Conference ● 12th November 1930-19th January 1931. ● 1st ever conference arranged between the British & Indians as equals 89 people were invited . ● It was held during the civil disobedience movement. ● Congress did not participate in the conference. ● Most business leader’s boycotted it. ● Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha, the Liberals & princes attended it. ● Purpose : To discuss Simon commission reports. Gandhi-Irwin Pact- 5th March 1931 ● It had been almost a year since the movement began which forced the British to initiate a dialogue with Gandhi. ● 1st time that an Indian leader was invited by the British for a dialogue at almost equal footing. ● As a result of these discussions, a pact was signed between the viceroy, representing the British Indian Government, & Gandhi, representing the Indian people, in Delhi.(Delhi Pact) Karachi Congress Session ● 1931: a special session of the Congress was held. ● 6 days before the session Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev & Rajguru had been executed. ● Throughout Gandhi's route to Karachi, he was greeted with black flag demonstrations by the Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha, in protest against his failure to secure commutation of the death sentence for Bhagat & his comrades. Congress Resolutions ● The Delhi Pact was endorsed. ● The goal of ‘purna swaraj’ was reiterated. ● 2 resolutions were adopted— ● one on Fundamental Rights & ● the other on National Economic Programme. 2nd Round Table Conference ● Held in London from September 7, 1931 to December 1, 1931. ● The government refused to concede the basic Indian demand of freedom. ● Congress participated in this conference as it was a part of pact ● Gandhi represented Congress in this conference. ● Sarojini Nayudu represented Indian women. Outcome ● The session ended with MacDonald's announcement of: ○ 2 Muslim majority provinces— NWFP & Sindh; ○ the prospect of a unilateral British Communal Award if Indians failed to agree. ● The Government failed to concede the basic Indian demand of freedom. McDonald Award or Communal Award ● British PM Ramsay Macdonald announced in 1932 that depressed class is a minority & will get separate electorate. ● This was a long demand of B.R. Ambedkar as the depressed classes had no chance of entering the assembly as election was based on limited franchise. Poona Pact 1932 ● Gandhi was lodged in the Yerwada Jail. He went on fast unto death in opposition of Macdonald Award on September 20, 1932. ● Due to Gandhi’s fast unto death, there was huge pressure on Ambedkar ● Now leaders of various persuasions, including Ambedkar, MC Rajah & Malaviya got together to hammer out a compromise. ● Ambedkar agreed to meet Gandhi for negotiations. Gandhiji’s Harijan Campaign ● In jail, he had set up the All India Anti Untouchability League in September 1932 & had started the weekly ‘Harijan’ in January 1933. ● He conducted a Harijan tour of the country in the period from November 1933 to July 1934, covering 20,000 km, collecting money for his newly set up Harijan Sevak Sangh, & propagating removal of untouchability in all its forms. 3rd Round Table Conference ● Held in 1932 (17th November-24th December) ● Congress boycotted this conference. ● Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha & Princely states participated 1935 Act: Provisions ● End of Dyarchy from provinces but introduced at the central government level. ● All – India Federation would be formed. ● Act vested the control of railways in a new authority called Federal Railway Authority free from control of ministers & councilors. ● Setting up of (Estd. 1935) Federal Bank (RBI). ● Federal court was set up in 1937 (Called Supreme court of India later on). 1935 Act: Provisions ● Burma was separated from British India. ● Orissa was separated from Bihar with Cuttack as capital. ● Sind was separated from Bombay with Karachi as the capital ● The number of provinces were increased to 11 by giving NWFP the status of fully-fledged province & creating 2 new provinces, Orissa & Sindh. The distribution of powers between the Centre and the States in the Indian Constitution is based on the scheme provided in the a) Morley-Minto reforms 1909 (b) Montagu Chelmsford act 1919 (c) Govt. of India act, 1935 (d) Indian Independence Act 1947 Congress’ Performance ● Elections were held in 11 provinces - Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab & Sindh. ● 716/1161(contested) seats was won. Congress emerged in power in 8 of the provinces - the 3 exceptions being Bengal, Punjab (Unionist Party) & Sindh. ● It got a majority in all provinces, except in Bengal, Assam, Punjab, Sindh & NWFP, & emerged as the largest party in Bengal, Assam & NWFP. ● Gandhi did not attend a single election meeting. CM: known as Premier ❑ Madras : Rajaji ❑ Central Provinces: Dr. Khare ❑ Bihar: Sri Krishna Sinha ❑ Orissa: Hare Krishna Mehtab ❑ United Provinces: G B Pant ❑ Bombay Presidency: B G Kher ❑ Assam: Congress supported Bardolai ❑ NWFP: Dr. Khan Saheb ❑ Bengal: Fazlul Haq invited Congress to join coalition but it refused. Later Haq joined hands with League. ❑ Punjab : Congress had no role. ❑ Sindh: Congress supported Gulam Hussain Hidyatullah ● On October 23, 1939, the CWC meeting ○ rejected the vice regal statement as a reiteration of the old imperialist policy, ○ decided not to support the war, ○ called upon the Congress ministries to resign in the provinces. ● Jinnah put out an appeal, calling for Indian Muslims to celebrate 22 December 1939 as a "Day of Deliverance" as congress resigned. Pakistan Resolution • Lahore • 1940 • The Muslim League passed a resolution calling for "grouping of geographically contiguous areas where Muslims are in majority (North- West, East) into independent states in which constituent units shall be autonomous & sovereign & adequate safeguards to Muslims where they are in minority". August Offer-1940 ● Hitler's astounding success & the fall of Belgium, Holland & France put England in a conciliatory mood. To get Indian cooperation in the war effort, viceroy announced the Offer which proposed: ○ dominion status as the objective for India. ○ expansion of viceroy's executive council (i.e, Majority of Indians). ○ setting up of a constituent assembly after the war. ○ no future constitution to be adopted without the consent of minorities. ● The Congress rejected the August Offer. ● Nehru:”Dominion status concept is dead as a doornail". Individual Satyagraha ● Government had taken the adamant position that no constitutional advance could be made till the Congress came to an agreement with the Muslim leaders. ● It issued ordinance after ordinance taking away the freedom of speech & that of the press & the right to organise associations. ● The radicals & leftists wanted to launch a mass Civil Disobedience Movement, but here Gandhi insisted on Individual Satyagraha. Aims of Individual Satyagraha ● The Individual Satyagraha was not to seek independence but to affirm the right of speech. ● If the Government did not arrest the satyagrahi, he or she would not only repeat it but move into villages and start a march towards Delhi, thus precipitating a movement which came to be known as the "Delhi Chalo Movement". ● Vinoba Bhave was the 1st , Nehru the 2nd & Brahma Datt was the 3rd to offer the satyagraha . Cripps Mission- March 1942 ● A mission headed by Stafford Cripps