QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT
A: RESOLUTION OF CWC ON JULY 14, 1942:
- After the failure of the Cripps Mission, the Indian National Congress decided to launch a non-violent mass movement. 
- On July 14, 1942, the Congress Working Committee passed a resolution to end the British rule in India. 
- The working committee demanded the complete independence for India. 
- The working committee resolved that if the British government did not accept the demand of the Congress then it would launch non-violent movement for the independence of India. 
B: GOWALIA TANK ANNOUNCEMENT OF GANDHIJI – AUGUST 7, 1942:
- In continuation of the resolutions of July 14, 1942, the working committee meeting was held on August 7, 1942 at Gowalia Tank in Mumbai.
- In his speech during at Gowalia Tank Gandhji asked the people to join the non-violent struggle for independence. 
C: LAUNCH OF QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT – DO OR DIE – AUGUST 8, 1942:
- On August 8, 1942, the Quit India Resolution was passed and the movement was launched. 
- In the resolution the Congress asked the British government to leave India. 
- Gandhiji was entrusted with the leadership of the non-violent movement to end the British rule in India. 
- While launching the Quit India Movement Gandhiji asked the people to consider themselves free from that day onwards. 
- Gandhiji also asked the people to prepare for the great sacrifice with the motive of ‘Do or Die’ in order to achieve the independence. 
D: BRITISH OPPRESSION FROM AUGUST 9, 1942: 
- British government reacted to Quit India resolution in an oppressive manner. 
- On August 9, 1942, Gandhiji was arrested. 
- Later the members of the Congress Working Committee which included Jwahar Lal Nehru, Mulana Abul Kalam Azad etc were also arrested. 
- The British government banned the Congress. 
- The government used its force to suppress the movement with cruelty.
- The government banned the press. 
- The government fired upon the demonstrators. 
- The government even used machine guns from the aeroplanes at places in Bihar and even dropped bombs at certain places. 
- The government inflicted severe torture to the imprisoned demonstrators. 
- The demonstrators were even publicly flogged. 
- The government imposed collective fines in villages as punishment for participating in the demonstrations. 
- The government used army along with police to fire upon the people and many people were killed in firing. 
E: PEOPLE BECAME THEIR OWN MASTERS: 
- People became very angry when they found that all their leaders were thrown behind the bars. 
- People however, continued the Quit India Movement in absence of their leaders in their own ways. 
F: QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT IN THE HANDS OF PEOPLE:
- People showed their anger in their own ways when they found that government had arrested all their leaders on the launch of the Quit India Movement. 
- People organised hartals and demonstrations all over India. 
- The students boycotted their schools and colleges. 
- The workers stopped their works in the factories. 
- People attacked and burned the government properties which were the symbol of the British Imperialism. 
- People also burned police stations, railways stations, post offices etc. 
- People also looted the government treasuries which had been filled by oppressing them. 
- People disrupted the transport and communication system by removing railway lines and cutting the electric and telegram wires. 
G: ESTABLISHMENT OF PARALLEL GOVERNMENTS: 
- At many places, people had taken government in their hands for many days. 
- People gave a big challenge to the sovereignty of the British government by running parallel governments for number of weeks before the British government could demolish their system. 
- The parallel governments were established in Midnapur in Bengal, Balia in Uttar Pardesh, Satara in Maharashtra, Satara in Orissa etc. 
- The Parallel governments by the Indians tried to overthrow the illegal and oppressive British government. 
- The Parallel governments tried to deliver justice to the worker and peasants. 
- The Parallel governments started collective revenue, maintained law and order and performed other functions of a government. 
- The Parallel governments also raised armed units of the peasants. 
h: Underground Activities of the Congress leaders:
- Many Congress leaders went underground to escape the arrest by the British government. 
- They continued the movement from their hideouts. 
- The socialist group performed the main role in such activities. 
h1: Activities of the Socialist group of the Congress:
- The leaders of the socialist group of the Congress directed the underground activities during the Quit India Movement. 
- Jayaprakash Narayan was the leading leader who directed the secret underground activities. 
- Some of the important leaders who undertook the underground activities were Achyutrao Patwardhan, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, N. G. Gore, S. M. Joshi, Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta and many others. 
- The main activities of the underground leaders were as follows.
i. They operated secret radio stations. 
ii. They disrupted the transport and communication systems. 
iii. They printed and distributed propaganda literature. 
h2: The Quit India Movement and Maharashtra: 
- The people of Maharashtra had taken a very active part in the Quit India Movement. 
- The people of Chimur, Ashti, Yawali, Mahad, Ahmadnagar, Pathardi, Gargoti and Nandurbar made a significant contribution in the movement. 
- The people of Maharashtra had virtually crippled the British administration for some time. 
- Krantisinha Nana Patil managed to run a Parallel government in Satara for quite a long time

FROM 1935 ACT TO CRIPPS MISSION
1. The Passing of Government of India Act 1935: 
- The Government of India Act 1935 was the result of Round Table Conference. 
- It allowed Indians to participate in the political processes. 
- It introduced principle of election on a wider scale. 
- It allowed the elected Indian representatives to run the administration at province level. 
- It laid the foundation of democracy. 
- It was a step towards improvement after 1919 Act. 
2. The provision of the Government of India Act 1935: 
a: Federalism:
a1: - The Indian provinces under the British rule and Princely states under the Indian rulers would form a federation. 
- The Princely states were allowed the option to remain outside proposed Indian Federation. 
a2: The powers of administration were divided into two lists at Center. One list was called Reserved List and the other was called Transferred List. 
- The Indian representatives in administration at provincial level could make laws only on the items included in the Transferred List. 
- The reserved list items were completely under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General. 
b: Province:
b1: - The Provincial autonomy was established by the act. It was achieved by scrapping the Dyarchy feature of 1919 Act and all the subjects of administration were transferred to the elected representatives at provincial level. 
- The Governor-General had the veto powers over the functions of the representatives of the people. 
- Two new provinces – Sindh and Orissa were created. Myanmar (Burma) was separated from India. 
3. Provincial Elections and the Congress Ministry:
a: Congress attitude towards 1935 Act:
- The Indian National Congress rejected the Act of 1935.
b: Why did Congress participate in 1936 elections:
- The Congress was not satisfied with the 1935 Act. It had rejected it. 
- The Congress wanted to demonstrate to the British government that the Congress had the popular support. 
- The Congress also wanted to use the opportunity to spread the awareness about its national programmes. 
Thus, the Congress which had rejected 1935 Act, participated in the election process held under the act. 
c: Success of the Congress:
- The Congress fought elections which took place as per the 1935 Act. 
- The Congress won and formed ministries in eight provinces out of eleven provinces. 
- The Congress formed ministries in Bombay Presidency, Madras Province, Orissa, Central Province, Bihar, Uttar Pardesh, North-West Frontier Province and Assam. 
d: The Achievement of Congress Ministries: (Oct. 98) (March 2001)
- The Tenancy Act and similar beneficial acts were past during the tenure of Congress rule. 
- The Congress ministries introduced many welfare programmes in the field of water supply, public health, village development, welfare of Dalits and primary education. 
- The Congress ministries promoted Khadi and village industries. 
- The Congress ministries removed restrictions on the newspapers. 
- The Congress ministries introduced civil reforms. 
- The Congress ministries released many political prisoners. 
The Congress ministries did commendable work during their first and a small tenure in government. They earned the appreciation for doing great deal of work inspite of all the shortcomings of the 1935 Act. 
e. The Congress ministries resigned: (Oct. 97, March 00)
- The Second World War started in 1939. 
- The British Crown declared that the British India government was participating in the war against Germany without taking into confidence the elected representatives of India. 
- As a protest against the arbitrary declaration of war, the Congress ministries resigned by the end of 1939. 
4. The Faizpur Session of the Indian National Congress:
a: Significance and Importance of Faizpur Session of the Congress: 
- Faizpur was a rural area in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. 
- It was for the first time that Indian National Congress held its session at Faizpur in December 1936. 
- A large number of peasants participated in the session. 
- The Faizpur Session was important for the Congress which had been raising demands for the welfare of the peasants and struggled for them. 
b: Main resolutions of the Faizpur Session:
- The Session passed a large number of resolutions for the welfare of the peasants. 
- A 50% reduction in land revenue assessment and in rent was demanded. 
- The Session demanded the deferment of the recovery of loans from farmers. 
- The Session demanded the fixing of adequate minimum wages to the agricultural labourers. 
- It demanded no extra taxes should be imposed on the farmers. 
- The President of the Session, Jwahar Lal Nehru asked the workers and the peasants to participate in the activities of the Congress. 
5. The Second World War and the Indian National Congress: 
- The Second World War started in September 1939.
a: The Policy of the Congress towards the World War:
- The working committee of the Congress declared its policy on the Second World War in September 1939. 
a1: Main features of the Policy of Congress on the World War II:
- The working committee declared that the Congress was against Nazism and Fascism. 
- It declared that the Congress was against the Imperialism and Colonialism. 
- It declared that India would not take part in the war from the side of England 
- It emphasized that England had denied freedom to her Indian possession in contradiction to her claim that it was fighting for the freedom of the democratic nations. Therefore, the Congress announced that it would not fight for England. 
- The Congress further declared that England should clearly state that her aim in the war was to end colonialism and imparting of independence to India. 
- The Congress emphasized that if England did not assure that she was fighting for the end of colonialism in India and elsewhere then, India would not participate in the war. 
- The Congress also clarified that if England wanted to end colonialism, then an independent India would fully support her efforts to protect the democracy. 
- The Congress also expressed its opposition to the war and supported democracy, independence and fraternity. 
In short, the Congress declared a policy of opposing imperialism, Nazism and Fascism which it had declared in its earliest sessions also. 
a2: Attitude of the British towards the policy of the Congress towards the World War II: 
- British did not care about the policy of the Congress and the demands of the Congress. 
- British announced that India was a party to her war efforts. 
- As the British had not responded to the demands of the Congress, The Congress ministries in various provinces resigned in October-November 1939. 
b: Ramgarh Session of the Congress-March 1940:
- In the Ramgarh Session of the Congress in March 1940, Jawahar Lal Nehru demanded independence of all the British colonies along with the independence of India.
- In July, the working committee in another meeting demanded that the British should setup an interim National government at the Centre as a step towards the independence of India. 
- It was also decided that during the period of crises, no mass movement would be started. 
c. Individual Satyagraha:
- It had been adopted as a policy decision by the working committee of the Congress that in hour of crises due to the World War, no mass movement would be started. 
- Mahatma Gandhi declared that they would definitely propagate against the war but it would be done through peaceful means of non-violence. 
- Gandhiji was not in favour of any mass movement but suggest an alternative in form of Individual Satyagraha. 
- On August 17, 1940, the Individual Satyagraha was launched. 
- Acharya Vinoba Bhave was chosen as the first Satyagrahi by Mahatma Gandhi. 
- Other important Satyagrahis were Jawahar Lal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. 
- By May 1941, twenty five thousands Congress workers had offered Individual Satyagraha. Most of the Satyagrahis were put behind the bars when they offered the Satyagraha. 
6. Cripps Mission:
a: Reasons for sending Cripps Mission:
- By the end of 1941, the World War had extended to the East. 
- Japan had reached upto the eastern borders of India after conquering Singapore, and Mayanmar by the end of March 1942. 
- England was highly worried about the loss of the Indian colony where she was not getting the support of the Indians. 
- President of America, Franklin D. Roosvelt pressurized England to enlist the support of Indians for the war efforts. 
- The pressure of President of America and looming danger of Japan forced England to solicit the support of the Indians in her war efforts. 
- In order to get the support of the Indians, the Prime Minister of England sent Sir Strafford Cripps, minister in his cabinet to negotiate with the Indian leaders. 
b: Main Features of the Cripps Mission Plan: 
i. Britain would grant a dominion status to India as soon as possible and would establish a Federal government in the dominion of India. 
ii. As soon as possible after the war, Britain would establish a Constituent Assembly for India to frame a constitution for India. 
iii. All the provinces would have the right to self-determination and permitted to decide that whether they would like to join the government framed under the new constitution whenever that would be formed. 
iv. The Princely states were allowed the right to self-determination. If they did not wish to join the proposed federation, a separate treaty with British government would singed with the Princely states. The princely states would then sign it as independent states. 
v. As long as the war continued, all the departments except the War department would be transferred to the Indian representatives. 
 the proposal - A Post Dated Cheque: (March 97) (Oct. 97) (Imp.)èb. Strong resentment of the Congress and straightway rejection of the Cripps Plan  
- The Congress straightaway rejected the Cripps proposal because of the following reasons. 
i. The proposal intended to give a dominion status to India only after the end of the war. The Congress had already demanded complete independence for India. 
ii. All the proposed powers were to be implemented after the end of the war. No body knew at that time that when and with what results would the war end. 
iii. The proposal desired to extend the right of self-determination to the provinces and the princely states. In other words, it had in its design to divide India. Had the Congress accepted it then it would have laid the ground for the future partition of India. 
iv. Mahatma Gandhi had rightly commented on its nature by a pithy statement that the proposal was a “post dated cheque on a crumbling bank”. As every proposed feature was to be implemented on some undecided future date, it was compared to post dated cheque.
v. Jinnah of Muslim League had also rejected it because it had not clearly mentioned creation of Pakistan. 
vi. The talks failed and Sir Cripps returned to England without achieving anything. 

                    EXERCISE
                              Text Book and Question Bank Questions
1A. Fill in the blanks
i. Acharay Narendra Dev, Jayprakash Narayan and Dr. Lohia within the Congress formed the Congress _____ Party in 1934. (Socialist, Communist, Humanist) 
ii. The Congress Session held at ___ in 1931, accepted the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931. (Karachi, Allahabad, Mumbai) 
iii. In Maharashtra at _______ Martial Law was invoked by the collector. (Solapur, Satara, Pune). (Oct. 96; Oct. 98; March 97; March 99; 00)
iv. Gandhiji broke the Salt Act at _______ on April 6, 1930. (Dandi, Dharasana Salt factory, Sabarmati) (Oct. 01) 
1B. 
Match the followings 
a.
i. Mahatma Jotiba Phule Satyashodhak Samaj.
ii. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Independent Labour Party
iii. The Frontier Mahatma Gandhi Khuda-i-Khidmatgar
iv. Babu Genu Justice Party
The boycott movement against imported cloth. 
1C
Writing the following events in chronological order. 
i. Pune Pact
ii. Formation of the Congress Socialist Party
iii. The establishment of Hyderabad State Congress
iv. Mahad Satyagraha. 
2. Write the answer of the following in 2-3 sentences. 
i. Why was the issue of Salt was made the centre of civil disobedience movement by Gandhiji?
ii. Why was Gandhi-Irwin Pact signed? (Oct. 99)
iii. How did Dr. Ambedkar establish the right of Dalits to use water from public water sources?
iv. What were the principal demands of the Hyderabad State Congress in 1942? (March 96)
v. Who declared the Communal Award? What was its main purpose? (Oct. 97)
3. Give Reasons in two-three sentences.
i. The Nizam was forced to merge the Hyderabad State in the Indian union. 
ii. Completely disillusioned, Gandhiji returned to India from the Second Round Table Conference. (March 97)
iii. Mahatma Phule is known as the champion of the Dalit movement. (Oct. 97)
iv. Dr. Ambedkar paid special attention to the education for the Dalits. 
v. Martial Law was imposed in Solapur on May 6, 1930.
vi. The Salt Satyagraha received the overwhelming support of the masses. 
vii. Mahatma Phule opened schools for Dalit girls and boys. 
viii. The first Round Table conference failed. 
ix. Gandhiji decided to break the Salt Act. 
x. Mahatma Phule founded the ‘Satyashodhak Samaj’. 
xi. Gandhiji was disappointed after the Second Round Table Conference.
xii. In 1934, within the Congress, the Congress Socialist Party was formed. 
xiii. The Nizam imposed a ban on the State Congress.
xiv. In 1946, the Nizam revoke the ban on the Hyderabad State Congress. 
xv. Dr. Ambedkar established the Bhartiya Bahishkrit Shikshan Prasarak Mandal. 
xvi. Gandhiji started fast at Yerawada Jail. 
xvii. Gandhiji chose salt for the Civil Disobedience Movement. 
xviii. The Pune Pact was signed between Gandhiji and Dr. Ambedkar. (Oct. 96; 97; March 99, 00) 
xix. Pune Pact was signed in 1932.
xx. Dr. Ambedkar struggled hard to get social rights for the Dalits.
xxi. The leaders of the national Congress requested Dr. Ambedkar to reconsider the reservation issue. 
xxii. What were the steps taken by the Indian Government to solve the problem of the integration of Princely States? (March 2001)
xxiii. Martial Law was imposed in Solapur. (March 2001)
4. Write answer of the following in 5-6 sentences.
i. What demands were put forward by Hyderabad State Congress to the Nizam in 1942?
Question : 5 Write the answer of following in 20 lines
i. Give an account of Civil Disobedience Movement with the help of the following points. Oct. 96; 98; March 98)
1) Salt Satyagraha.
2) Movement in the North-West Frontier Province. 
3) Importance of the Movement. 
ii. Give an account of Civil Disobedience Movement with the help of the following points.
1) Nature of the Movement.
2) Effects of the Movement. 
3) Leadership.
iii. Give an account of the Communal Award with the help of the following points. 
1) Declaration of the Communal Award.
2) The provisions of the Award. 
3) Gandhiji’s reaction to the Award. 
iv. Explain the merger of Hyderabad with India with the help of the following points:
1) The Role of Nizam
2) The Role of Razakar
3) Police Action