Cabinet Mission to Partition & Independence (1945–1947)
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Why This Chapter Matters
The last two years of British rule pack more exam questions per page than almost any other stretch of modern history. SSC and RRB papers regularly pull 2 to 3 questions from this chapter in a single shift, usually on the Cabinet Mission (1946), the Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947), the Indian Independence Act (July 1947), and the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (9 December 1946). Banking exams like these too, because the Constituent Assembly links directly to Polity questions.
The sub-topics that repeat most are: the three members of the Cabinet Mission, the date of Direct Action Day, who headed which portfolio in the Interim Government, who drew the Radcliffe Line, and the three princely states that resisted merger, Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir. Learn every date in this chapter to the exact day where given. Examiners here test days and months, not just years.
1. The Stage in 1945: Wavell and the Simla Conference
Lord Wavell became Viceroy in October 1943, replacing Linlithgow. By 1945 the Second World War was ending, Britain was exhausted, and the Congress leadership was still in jail after Quit India. Wavell released the Congress Working Committee members in June 1945 and announced the Wavell Plan.
The Wavell Plan proposed reconstituting the Viceroy's Executive Council so that all members except the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief would be Indians, with equal representation for caste Hindus and Muslims. To discuss it, Wavell called the Simla Conference (25 June – 14 July 1945).
The conference failed on one point. M.A. Jinnah insisted that the Muslim League alone had the right to nominate all Muslim members of the Council. Congress, which had Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as its president at the time (and as its delegation leader at Simla), refused to accept that it was a Hindus-only party. Wavell called off the conference instead of overruling Jinnah, which effectively handed the League a veto. Exam tip: SSC likes to ask "Who led the Congress delegation at the Simla Conference?" Answer: Maulana Azad.
Note one earlier attempt too. In January 1945, Bhulabhai Desai (Congress) and Liaquat Ali Khan (League) had worked out the Desai-Liaquat Pact for an interim government with parity between Congress and League. Both parties disowned it, but the parity idea resurfaced later.
The Labour Government and the 1945–46 Elections
In July 1945, the Labour Party under Clement Attlee won the British general election. Labour was committed to an early transfer of power. Pethick-Lawrence became Secretary of State for India.
Elections to the Central Legislative Assembly were held in winter 1945, and to provincial assemblies in early 1946. The results settled the political map:
- Congress won 57 of the 102 seats in the Central Assembly and formed ministries in 8 provinces.
- The Muslim League won all 30 Muslim seats in the Central Assembly and about 87 per cent of provincial Muslim seats. It formed ministries in Bengal and Sind.
- In Punjab, a coalition of the Unionist Party, Congress and Akalis formed the government under Malik Khizr Hayat Khan, keeping the League out despite its strong showing.
The elections proved that the League now spoke for most Muslim voters. Any settlement would need both parties.
2. The Cabinet Mission (1946)
Attlee announced in February 1946 that a mission of three Cabinet ministers would go to India. The Cabinet Mission reached Delhi on 24 March 1946. Its three members, asked repeatedly in exams:
| Member | Office held in Britain |
|---|---|
| Lord Pethick-Lawrence | Secretary of State for India (mission head) |
| Sir Stafford Cripps | President of the Board of Trade |
| A.V. Alexander | First Lord of the Admiralty |
The mission talked to all parties, held a second Simla conference in May, and when no agreement came, announced its own award, the Cabinet Mission Plan of 16 May 1946.
Main Points of the 16 May Plan
- Rejection of a full sovereign Pakistan. The mission said a separate Pakistan of six full provinces was not viable and would not solve the minority problem, since the proposed Pakistan itself would contain large non-Muslim minorities.
- A three-tier structure: a Union of India at the top, groups of provinces in the middle, and provinces at the base.
- The Union government would handle only defence, foreign affairs and communications. All other subjects would stay with the provinces.
- Provinces would be placed in three sections (groups) for framing constitutions:
| Group | Provinces | Character |
|---|---|---|
| A | Madras, Bombay, United Provinces, Bihar, Central Provinces, Orissa | Hindu-majority |
| B | Punjab, NWFP, Sind | Muslim-majority (north-west) |
| C | Bengal, Assam | Muslim-majority (north-east) |
- A Constituent Assembly of 389 members would be elected: 292 from British Indian provinces, 93 from princely states, and 4 from chief commissioners' provinces. Provincial assembly members would elect them indirectly, roughly one member per ten lakh population.
- An Interim Government would be formed at the centre.
- A province could review its group membership after the first general election under the new constitution, and the constitution itself after ten years.
Acceptance and Breakdown
The League accepted the plan on 6 June 1946, reading the grouping clause as compulsory and as a seed of Pakistan. Congress accepted the constitution-making part on 24 June 1946 but insisted that grouping was optional for provinces. This one word, compulsory versus optional, wrecked the plan.
On 10 July 1946, Nehru said at a Bombay press conference that Congress would enter the Constituent Assembly "unfettered by agreements". Jinnah treated this as proof that Congress would not honour grouping. On 29 July 1946, the League withdrew its acceptance and called for Direct Action to achieve Pakistan.
Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July 1946. Congress won 208 of the 296 British-India seats, the League 73.
3. Direct Action Day and Communal Violence
The League observed Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946. In Calcutta, where the League ministry of H.S. Suhrawardy governed Bengal, the day exploded into the Great Calcutta Killings: roughly 5,000 to 6,000 dead in four days. Violence then spread in a chain:
- Noakhali (East Bengal), October 1946, attacks on Hindus. Gandhi walked village to village in Noakhali for months to restore peace, his most famous peace mission.
- Bihar, October–November 1946, retaliatory attacks on Muslims.
- Garhmukteshwar (UP) and later Rawalpindi and rural Punjab (March 1947).
This cycle of killing pushed many leaders, including Patel and eventually Nehru, towards accepting partition as the price of peace.
4. The Interim Government (2 September 1946)
Wavell went ahead and swore in an Interim Government on 2 September 1946, initially with Congress alone. Jawaharlal Nehru headed it as Vice-President of the Viceroy's Executive Council (the Viceroy remained formal head). The League joined on 26 October 1946, not to work the government but, in its own leaders' words, to fight for Pakistan from within.
The portfolio table below is a favourite of SSC. Learn at least the bold entries.
| Member | Portfolio |
|---|---|
| Jawaharlal Nehru | External Affairs & Commonwealth Relations |
| Vallabhbhai Patel | Home, Information & Broadcasting |
| Baldev Singh | Defence |
| Rajendra Prasad | Food & Agriculture |
| C. Rajagopalachari | Education & Arts |
| John Matthai | Industries & Supplies |
| Jagjivan Ram | Labour |
| Asaf Ali | Railways & Transport |
| Liaquat Ali Khan (League) | Finance |
| I.I. Chundrigar (League) | Commerce |
| Abdur Rab Nishtar (League) | Posts & Air |
| Ghazanfar Ali Khan (League) | Health |
| Jogendra Nath Mandal (League) | Law |
Two traps here. First, the League gave the Law portfolio to Jogendra Nath Mandal, a Scheduled Caste Hindu, to needle Congress. Second, Liaquat Ali Khan as Finance Member blocked or questioned every Congress proposal, and his 1947 budget taxing business houses angered Congress supporters. The Interim Government proved that Congress and the League could not run one government together.
5. The Constituent Assembly Meets
The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on 9 December 1946 in the Constitution Hall (now the old Parliament House), New Delhi. The Muslim League boycotted it.
- Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, was the temporary (interim) President.
- On 11 December 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected permanent President of the Assembly.
- On 13 December 1946, Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution, declaring India an independent sovereign republic. The Assembly adopted it on 22 January 1947. Its ideas later became the Preamble.
- B.N. Rau served as Constitutional Adviser to the Assembly.
For this chapter you need only these founding dates; the drafting story belongs to Polity.
6. Attlee's Statement of 20 February 1947
With the Interim Government deadlocked and violence spreading, Attlee made a decisive announcement in the House of Commons on 20 February 1947:
- Britain would transfer power by June 1948 at the latest.
- If no single constitution-making body was acceptable by then, Britain would decide to whom power should be transferred, whether to one centre or in some areas to provincial governments. This sentence opened the legal door to partition.
- Lord Mountbatten would replace Wavell as Viceroy.
A fixed deadline changed everyone's behaviour. The League intensified direct action in Punjab, where the Khizr Hayat Khan ministry resigned in March 1947, and communal killings swept Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore.
7. Mountbatten and the 3 June Plan
Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, was sworn in on 24 March 1947. He concluded quickly that the Cabinet Mission framework was dead and that delay meant civil war. His first draft scheme, nicknamed "Plan Balkan" (or the Dickie Bird Plan), would have let provinces choose independence individually. Nehru rejected it at Simla in May 1947 as an invitation to fragmentation. V.P. Menon, Reforms Commissioner, then drafted the alternative: partition into two dominions with power transferred under dominion status, which allowed speed.
The final scheme was announced on 3 June 1947, so it is called the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan. Its provisions:
- India would be partitioned into two dominions, India and Pakistan, if the Muslim-majority areas voted for it.
- The legislative assemblies of Bengal and Punjab would meet in two parts (Muslim-majority districts and the rest) and vote on partition of the province. Both provinces voted to be partitioned.
- A referendum in NWFP would decide between India and Pakistan. NWFP voted for Pakistan; Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the referendum, saying the option of Pakhtoonistan was denied. His remark "you have thrown us to the wolves" is a quotable exam line.
- A referendum in the Sylhet district of Assam decided that Sylhet would join East Bengal (Pakistan).
- The Sind assembly would decide (it chose Pakistan); Balochistan's position was decided through the Shahi Jirga and Quetta municipality.
- A Boundary Commission would demarcate Bengal and Punjab.
- Princely states would be free to join either dominion; the plan said paramountcy would lapse, and independence for states was discouraged.
- The date of transfer was advanced dramatically from June 1948 to 15 August 1947.
Congress accepted partition. Gandhi opposed it to the end but did not block the Working Committee. At the AICC meeting of 14–15 June 1947, the resolution accepting the plan was passed; Govind Ballabh Pant moved it, and Maulana Azad and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan expressed anguish.
8. The Indian Independence Act, 1947
The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act in July 1947; it received royal assent on 18 July 1947. Key provisions, all testable:
- Two independent dominions, India and Pakistan, would come into existence from 15 August 1947.
- Each dominion would have a Governor-General; the office of Secretary of State for India was abolished.
- The Constituent Assembly of each dominion would act as its legislature and could frame any constitution; the British Parliament lost all power to legislate for India.
- Paramountcy over princely states lapsed on 15 August 1947. States could accede to either dominion.
- The title "Emperor of India" was dropped from the British Crown.
- Until new constitutions were framed, governance would continue under the Government of India Act, 1935, as adapted.
On the midnight of 14–15 August 1947, Nehru delivered the "Tryst with Destiny" speech in the Constituent Assembly. Pakistan celebrated independence on 14 August 1947, with Jinnah as its Governor-General. Mountbatten became the first Governor-General of independent India. Gandhi spent 15 August in Calcutta, fasting and praying against communal violence, not in Delhi. Remember also: C. Rajagopalachari succeeded Mountbatten in June 1948 as the first and last Indian Governor-General of India.
9. The Radcliffe Line
Two boundary commissions, one for Punjab and one for Bengal, each with four Indian judges, worked under a common chairman, the British lawyer Sir Cyril Radcliffe. Radcliffe had never been to India before. He reached India on 8 July 1947 and had about five weeks to divide two provinces.
The Radcliffe Award was announced on 17 August 1947, two days after independence, a deliberate choice so that Independence Day would not be marred by boundary anger. The line gave Calcutta to India and, in Punjab, districts such as Lahore to Pakistan while Amritsar and Gurdaspur (by tehsil division) came to India. The Chittagong Hill Tracts, with an overwhelmingly non-Muslim population, went to Pakistan, a decision still cited as an anomaly.
Partition uprooted an estimated one crore or more people and killed several lakhs in the Punjab massacres of August–November 1947. This human cost is background knowledge; exams stick to the dates and names above.
10. Integration of the Princely States
At independence there were about 565 princely states (the commonly used figure; some books say 562). British paramountcy lapsed, so legally each ruler could join India, join Pakistan, or dream of independence. The job of bringing them in fell to the new States Department, created in June–July 1947, with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as minister and V.P. Menon as secretary. Patel earned the title "Iron Man of India" chiefly for this work, and his instrument was a mix of persuasion, pressure and the appeal to sign two documents:
- Instrument of Accession: the state acceded to India on three subjects, defence, external affairs and communications, the same three the Cabinet Mission had given the Union.
- Standstill Agreement: existing administrative arrangements continued meanwhile.
By 15 August 1947, all states within India's borders had signed except three: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir. Travancore and Bhopal had flirted with independence but signed in time; Jodhpur's young Maharaja was tempted by Jinnah's offers but Patel and Menon pulled him back.
Junagadh
A small Kathiawar state with a Hindu-majority population and a Muslim Nawab (Mahabat Khan), surrounded by Indian territory. Its Dewan, Shah Nawaz Bhutto, steered accession to Pakistan (announced September 1947). The people revolted, a parallel provisional government (Aarzi Hukumat) formed under Samaldas Gandhi, the Nawab fled to Karachi, and Indian troops moved in. A plebiscite in February 1948 voted almost unanimously for India.
Hyderabad
The largest princely state, ruled by Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, wanted independence. India signed a Standstill Agreement in November 1947, but the Nizam's regime leaned on the Razakars, a militia led by Qasim Razvi of the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, which terrorised the population while the Telangana peasant uprising was already underway. On 13 September 1948, Indian forces launched Operation Polo (the "police action"). Hyderabad surrendered on 17 September 1948 and acceded to India.
Jammu & Kashmir
A Muslim-majority state with a Hindu ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, the mirror image of Junagadh. He signed standstill agreements and hoped for independence. On 22 October 1947, Pashtun tribal raiders backed by Pakistan invaded the state and pushed towards Srinagar. Hari Singh appealed to India and signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947. Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar on 27 October 1947 and stopped the invasion. Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference headed the emergency administration. The fighting ended with a UN-sponsored ceasefire on 1 January 1949, leaving part of the state under Pakistani control.
With the French settlements transferred later (Pondicherry, de facto 1954) and Goa liberated in 1961 (Operation Vijay), the map of India was completed, but those events lie beyond this chapter.
11. Why Partition Happened: The Standard Exam Narrative
Exams occasionally ask cause-effect questions, so keep the settled sequence in mind. The League's two-nation theory (Lahore Resolution, 1940) gained mass Muslim support by the 1945–46 elections. The Cabinet Mission's loose federation was the last chance for unity; it broke on the grouping dispute. Direct Action and the killings of 1946–47 convinced Congress leaders that a strong united centre was impossible with the League inside, and that a smaller India with real central authority was better than a balkanised subcontinent. Attlee's deadline and Mountbatten's speed turned that conclusion into the 3 June Plan. Gandhi's opposition remained moral, not organisational. State it this way in Mains-style descriptive papers; for MCQs, the dates carry the marks.
Quick Revision — One-Line Facts
- Wavell Plan and Simla Conference: June–July 1945; failed on Jinnah's claim that only the League could nominate Muslims.
- Congress delegation at Simla (1945) was led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
- Desai-Liaquat Pact: January 1945, Congress-League parity formula, disowned by both parties.
- Labour government under Clement Attlee took office in Britain in July 1945.
- Cabinet Mission arrived in Delhi on 24 March 1946.
- Cabinet Mission members: Pethick-Lawrence, Stafford Cripps, A.V. Alexander.
- Cabinet Mission Plan announced on 16 May 1946; it rejected Pakistan and proposed grouping of provinces.
- Group A: Madras, Bombay, UP, Bihar, CP, Orissa. Group B: Punjab, NWFP, Sind. Group C: Bengal, Assam.
- Union subjects under the Cabinet Mission Plan: defence, foreign affairs, communications.
- Constituent Assembly strength: 389 (292 provinces + 93 states + 4 chief commissioners' provinces).
- Constituent Assembly elections (July 1946): Congress 208, Muslim League 73.
- Direct Action Day: 16 August 1946; Great Calcutta Killings under the Suhrawardy ministry.
- Gandhi's peace march after the riots: Noakhali, East Bengal, from November 1946.
- Interim Government formed 2 September 1946; Nehru was Vice-President of the Executive Council.
- Muslim League joined the Interim Government on 26 October 1946; Liaquat Ali Khan held Finance.
- League nominee for Law in the Interim Government: Jogendra Nath Mandal.
- Constituent Assembly first met on 9 December 1946; temporary President Sachchidananda Sinha; permanent President Rajendra Prasad (11 December 1946).
- Objectives Resolution: moved by Nehru on 13 December 1946, adopted 22 January 1947.
- Attlee's statement, 20 February 1947: power to be transferred by June 1948; Mountbatten to replace Wavell.
- Mountbatten sworn in on 24 March 1947; his rejected first draft was Plan Balkan.
- 3 June 1947: Mountbatten Plan announced partition; drafted with V.P. Menon's dominion-status formula.
- Referendums under the 3 June Plan: NWFP and Sylhet (Assam); NWFP referendum boycotted by Khudai Khidmatgars.
- Indian Independence Act received royal assent on 18 July 1947.
- Pakistan: 14 August 1947 (Jinnah as Governor-General); India: 15 August 1947 (Mountbatten as Governor-General).
- Radcliffe Award announced 17 August 1947, two days after independence; Sir Cyril Radcliffe chaired both boundary commissions.
- States Department (1947): Patel minister, V.P. Menon secretary; states signed the Instrument of Accession.
- Junagadh: Nawab acceded to Pakistan; plebiscite of February 1948 brought it to India; parallel government under Samaldas Gandhi.
- Hyderabad: Nizam Osman Ali Khan, Razakars under Qasim Razvi; Operation Polo, 13–17 September 1948.
- Kashmir: tribal invasion 22 October 1947; Instrument of Accession signed 26 October 1947 by Hari Singh; ceasefire 1 January 1949.
- C. Rajagopalachari became the first Indian Governor-General in June 1948.
Memory Tables
Table 1: Chronology 1945–1948
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Jan 1945 | Desai-Liaquat Pact |
| 25 Jun – 14 Jul 1945 | Simla Conference on the Wavell Plan; fails |
| Jul 1945 | Attlee's Labour government takes office in Britain |
| Winter 1945 – early 1946 | Central and provincial elections; League sweeps Muslim seats |
| 24 Mar 1946 | Cabinet Mission arrives in Delhi |
| 16 May 1946 | Cabinet Mission Plan announced |
| 6 Jun 1946 | Muslim League accepts the plan |
| 29 Jul 1946 | League withdraws acceptance, calls for Direct Action |
| 16 Aug 1946 | Direct Action Day; Great Calcutta Killings |
| 2 Sep 1946 | Interim Government sworn in under Nehru |
| 26 Oct 1946 | Muslim League joins the Interim Government |
| 9 Dec 1946 | First meeting of the Constituent Assembly |
| 13 Dec 1946 | Nehru moves the Objectives Resolution |
| 20 Feb 1947 | Attlee fixes June 1948 deadline; announces Mountbatten |
| 24 Mar 1947 | Mountbatten sworn in as last Viceroy |
| 3 Jun 1947 | Mountbatten (3 June) Plan announced |
| 18 Jul 1947 | Indian Independence Act gets royal assent |
| 14 Aug 1947 | Pakistan becomes independent |
| 15 Aug 1947 | India becomes independent |
| 17 Aug 1947 | Radcliffe Award published |
| 22–27 Oct 1947 | Tribal invasion of Kashmir; accession; Indian troops land in Srinagar |
| Feb 1948 | Junagadh plebiscite votes for India |
| 13–17 Sep 1948 | Operation Polo; Hyderabad accedes |
| 1 Jan 1949 | Ceasefire in Kashmir |
Table 2: Person → Role (1945–1948)
| Person | Role in this chapter |
|---|---|
| Lord Wavell | Viceroy 1943–47; Wavell Plan, Simla Conference, Interim Government |
| Maulana Abul Kalam Azad | Congress president; led Congress at Simla, 1945 |
| Pethick-Lawrence | Secretary of State; head of the Cabinet Mission |
| Stafford Cripps | Cabinet Mission member (Board of Trade) |
| A.V. Alexander | Cabinet Mission member (Admiralty) |
| H.S. Suhrawardy | League Premier of Bengal during the Calcutta killings |
| Jawaharlal Nehru | Vice-President, Interim Government; moved Objectives Resolution |
| Liaquat Ali Khan | Finance Member, Interim Government |
| Sachchidananda Sinha | Temporary President, Constituent Assembly |
| Rajendra Prasad | Permanent President, Constituent Assembly |
| Clement Attlee | British PM; 20 February 1947 statement |
| Lord Mountbatten | Last Viceroy; 3 June Plan; first Governor-General of free India |
| V.P. Menon | Drafted the dominion-status transfer plan; Secretary, States Department |
| Cyril Radcliffe | Chairman, Punjab and Bengal boundary commissions |
| Vallabhbhai Patel | Home Member; Minister, States Department; integrated the states |
| Hari Singh | Maharaja of J&K; signed accession on 26 October 1947 |
| Mir Osman Ali Khan | Nizam of Hyderabad; surrendered after Operation Polo |
| Samaldas Gandhi | Head of Junagadh's parallel government (Aarzi Hukumat) |
| Qasim Razvi | Razakar leader in Hyderabad |
| C. Rajagopalachari | First and only Indian Governor-General (June 1948) |
Table 3: The Three Problem States
| State | Ruler | Population majority | Issue | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junagadh | Nawab Mahabat Khan (Muslim) | Hindu | Acceded to Pakistan, Sep 1947 | Plebiscite, Feb 1948, joined India |
| Hyderabad | Nizam Osman Ali Khan (Muslim) | Hindu | Wanted independence; Razakar violence | Operation Polo, 13–17 Sep 1948 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | Maharaja Hari Singh (Hindu) | Muslim | Delayed decision; tribal invasion 22 Oct 1947 | Instrument of Accession, 26 Oct 1947 |
Practice MCQs
Q1. The Cabinet Mission arrived in India in which year? (a) 1944 (b) 1945 (c) 1946 (d) 1947
Q2. Who among the following was NOT a member of the Cabinet Mission? (a) Stafford Cripps (b) Pethick-Lawrence (c) A.V. Alexander (d) Lord Wavell
Q3. Direct Action Day was observed by the Muslim League on: (a) 16 August 1946 (b) 16 August 1947 (c) 3 June 1946 (d) 9 December 1946
Q4. Who chaired the boundary commissions that partitioned Punjab and Bengal in 1947? (a) Cyril Radcliffe (b) Stafford Cripps (c) Pethick-Lawrence (d) John Simon
Q5. The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of India was held on: (a) 26 January 1946 (b) 9 December 1946 (c) 15 August 1947 (d) 22 January 1947
Q6. Who was the first Governor-General of independent India? (a) C. Rajagopalachari (b) Lord Wavell (c) Lord Mountbatten (d) Rajendra Prasad
Q7. Under the Cabinet Mission Plan, which of the following subjects was NOT assigned to the proposed Union government? (a) Defence (b) Foreign affairs (c) Communications (d) Finance
Q8. In the Interim Government of 1946, the Finance portfolio was held by: (a) John Matthai (b) Liaquat Ali Khan (c) Vallabhbhai Patel (d) R.K. Shanmukham Chetty
Q9. In his statement of 20 February 1947, Clement Attlee declared that the British would leave India by: (a) August 1947 (b) June 1948 (c) December 1947 (d) June 1947
Q10. Which provinces formed Group C under the Cabinet Mission Plan? (a) Punjab, NWFP, Sind (b) Bengal and Assam (c) Madras and Bombay (d) Bihar and Orissa
Q11. Match the pairs:
- Operation Polo — A. Junagadh
- Plebiscite, February 1948 — B. Hyderabad
- Instrument of Accession, 26 October 1947 — C. Jammu & Kashmir (a) 1-B, 2-A, 3-C (b) 1-A, 2-B, 3-C (c) 1-C, 2-A, 3-B (d) 1-B, 2-C, 3-A
Q12. The Congress delegation to the Simla Conference of 1945 was led by: (a) Jawaharlal Nehru (b) Vallabhbhai Patel (c) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (d) Mahatma Gandhi
Q13. Arrange the following events in chronological order:
- Muslim League joins the Interim Government
- Cabinet Mission Plan announced
- Radcliffe Award published
- Mountbatten Plan announced (a) 2, 1, 4, 3 (b) 1, 2, 4, 3 (c) 2, 4, 1, 3 (d) 1, 2, 3, 4
Q14. Consider the following statements about the Indian Independence Act, 1947:
- It received royal assent on 18 July 1947.
- It abolished the office of Secretary of State for India.
- It declared that paramountcy over princely states would transfer automatically to the Dominion of India. Which of the statements are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3
Q15. Which member of the Interim Government of 1946 was nominated by the Muslim League even though he was not a Muslim? (a) Jogendra Nath Mandal (b) Jagjivan Ram (c) John Matthai (d) Asaf Ali
Answer Key
| Q | Answer | One-line reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | (c) | The Cabinet Mission reached Delhi on 24 March 1946. |
| 2 | (d) | Wavell was the Viceroy, not a Mission member; the three were Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps and Alexander. |
| 3 | (a) | The League's Direct Action Day, 16 August 1946, triggered the Great Calcutta Killings. |
| 4 | (a) | Sir Cyril Radcliffe chaired both the Punjab and Bengal boundary commissions. |
| 5 | (b) | The Assembly first met on 9 December 1946 with Sachchidananda Sinha as temporary President. |
| 6 | (c) | Mountbatten stayed on as first Governor-General; Rajagopalachari succeeded him in June 1948. |
| 7 | (d) | The Union was to control only defence, foreign affairs and communications. |
| 8 | (b) | Liaquat Ali Khan of the League held Finance and used it to block Congress proposals. |
| 9 | (b) | Attlee fixed June 1948 as the outer limit; the 3 June Plan later advanced it to 15 August 1947. |
| 10 | (b) | Group C consisted of Bengal and Assam; Group B was Punjab, NWFP and Sind. |
| 11 | (a) | Operation Polo was against Hyderabad; the Junagadh plebiscite was in February 1948; Hari Singh signed for Kashmir on 26 October 1947. |
| 12 | (c) | Maulana Azad, then Congress president, led the party at Simla in 1945. |
| 13 | (a) | Plan (16 May 1946) → League joins Interim Government (26 Oct 1946) → Mountbatten Plan (3 Jun 1947) → Radcliffe Award (17 Aug 1947). |
| 14 | (a) | Statements 1 and 2 are correct; paramountcy lapsed, it did not transfer to India. |
| 15 | (a) | The League nominated Jogendra Nath Mandal, a Scheduled Caste Hindu, for the Law portfolio. |