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A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA SPECTRUM

SUMMARY NOTES MODERN HISTORY SPECTRUM CHAPTER:- 1 TO 38 RAJIV AHIR NOTES FOR 2020 & 2021.

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CONTENT

CHAPTER: 1 - SOURCES FOR THE HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA CHAPTER: 2 - MAJOR APPROACHES TO THE HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA CHAPTER: 3 - ADVENT OF THE EUROPEANS IN INDIA CHAPTER: 4 - INDIA ON THE EVE OF BRITISH CONQUEST CHAPTER: 5 - EXPANSION AND CONSOLIDATION OF BRITISH POWER IN INDIA CHAPTER: 6 - PEOPLE’S RESISTANCE AGAINST BRITISH BEFORE 1857 CHAPTER: 7 - THE REVOLT OF 1857 CHAPTER: 8 - SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORM MOVEMENTS: GENERAL FEATURES CHAPTER: 9 - GENERAL SURVEY OF SOCIO-CULTURAL REFORM MOVEMENTS CHAPTER: 10 - BEGINNING OF MODERN NATIONALISM IN INDIA CHAPTER: 11 - INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS: FOUNDATION AND THE MODERATE PHASE CHAPTER: 12 - ERA OF MILITANT NATIONALISM (1905-1909) CHAPTER: 13 - FIRST PHASE OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES (1907-1917) CHAPTER-14: - FIRST WORLD WAR AND NATIONALIST RESPONSE CHAPTER: 15 - EMERGENCE OF GANDHI CHAPTER NO: 16 – NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT AND KHILAFAT AANDOLAN CHAPTER: 17- EMERGENCE OF SWARAJISTS, SOCIALIST IDEAS, REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES AND OTHER NEW FORCES CHAPTER: 18 - SIMON COMMISSION AND THE NEHRU REPORT CHAPTER: 19 - CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT AND ROUND TABLE CONFERENCES CHAPTER: 20 - DEBATES ON THE FUTURE STRATEGY AFTER CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT CHAPTER: 21 - CONGRESS RULE IN PROVINCES CHAPTER: 22 - NATIONALIST RESPONSE IN THE WAKE OF WORLD WAR II CHAPTER: 23 - QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT, DEMAND FOR PAKISTAN, AND THE INA CHAPTER: 24 - POST-WAR NATIONAL SCENARIO CHAPTER: 25 - INDEPENDENCE WITH PARTITION CHAPTER: 26 - CONSTITUTIONAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS CHAPTER: 27 - SURVEY OF BRITISH POLICIES IN INDIA CHAPTER: 28 - ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BRITISH RULE CHAPTER: 29 - DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN PRESS CHAPTER: 30 - DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION CHAPTER: 31 - PEASANT MOVEMENTS 1857-1947 CHAPTER: 32 - THE MOVEMENT OF THE WORKING CLASS CHAPTER: 33 - CHALLENGES BEFORE THE NEW-BORN NATION CHAPTER: 34 - THE INDIAN STATES CHAPTER: 35 - MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION FOR INDIA CHAPTER: 36 - THE EVOLUTION OF NATIONALIST FOREIGN POLICY CHAPTER: 37 - FIRST GENERAL ELECTIONS CHAPTER: 38 - DEVELOPMENTS UNDER NEHRU’S LEADERSHIP (1947-64)

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CHAPTER: 1 - SOURCES FOR THE HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA  The records of the East India Company provide a detailed account of trading conditions during the period 1600-1857. When the British crown took over the administration, it also kept a large variety and volume of official records.  These records help historians to trace every important development stage-by-stage and follow the processes of decision-making and the psychology of the policy-makers. The records of the other European East India companies (the Portuguese, Dutch and French) are also useful for constructing the history of the 17th and 18th centuries. ARCHIVAL MATERIALS 

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Central government archives,  The National Archives of India, located in New Delhi, contains most of the archives of the Government of India. These provide authentic and reliable source materials on varied aspects of modern Indian history.  The records with the National Archives come under various groups, representing different branches of the secretariat at different stages of its development. This happened as the work of the East India Company was distributed among various branches—public or general, revenue, political, military, secret, commercial, judicial, education, etc.—and a separate set of records was kept for each of these branches or departments.  With the appointment of James Rennell as the first Surveyor General of Bengal in 1767, the Survey of India began to scientifically map the unknown regions of the country and its bordering lands. Archives of the State Governments  The source material in the state archives comprise the records of (i) the former British Indian provinces, (ii) the erstwhile princely states which were incorporated in the Indian Union after 1947, and (iii) the foreign administrations other than those of the British. Archives of Three Presidencies  The early records of Fort Williams (Bengal Presidency) were lost during the sack of Calcutta in 1756, but the archives of the Bengal presidency after the British victory at Plassey have survived more or less in a complete series,  Which are partly available in the National Archives of India and partly in the State Archives of West Bengal. The records of the Madras Presidency begin from AD 1670 and include records of the Governor and Council of Fort St. George Archives of Other European Powers  The archives related to the Portuguese preserved in Goa, mainly belonging to the period from 1700 to 1900, are valuable for the history of Portuguese possessions in India.  The Dutch records of Cochin and Malabar are in the Madras Record Office and those of Chinsura in the state archives of West Bengal.  The French archives of Chandernagore and Pondicherry (now Puducherry) were taken to Paris by the French authorities before they relinquished these settlements.  The remaining Danish records, mainly relating to Tranquebar (1777-1845), are now housed in the Madras Record Office. Judicial Records  Housed in the Madras Record Office, the archives of the Mayor’s Court at Fort St. George, beginning from AD 1689, are the earliest available judicial archives.

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The pre-Plassey records of the Mayor’s Court at Fort Williams have been lost, but those for the years 1757-73 are kept in the record room of the Calcutta High Court, along with the archives of the Supreme Court of Bengal (1774-1861. Published Archives  The most significant archival publications are the Parliamentary Papers which include many excerpts from the records of the East India Company and the Government of India under the Crown. Private Archives  Private archives comprise papers and documents of individuals and families of note, who played a significant role in the development of modern India. Foreign Repositories  In England, the India Office Records, London and the records kept in the British Museum are very valuable. The India Office Records possesses various important documents: the minutes of the Courts of Directors and the General Court of the East India Company and various committees constituted from time to time; the minutes and correspondence of the Board of Control or the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India; and the records of the Secretary of State and the India Council.  The British Museum possesses collections of papers of British viceroys, secretaries of states and other high ranked civil and military officials who were posted in India. The archives of the missionary societies, for instance, of the Church Missionary Society of London, provide insight into the educational and social development in pre-independent India. Biographies, Memoirs and Travel Accounts  Many travellers, traders, missionaries and civil servants who came to India, have left accounts of their experiences and their impressions of various parts of India. An important group among these writers was that of the missionaries who wrote to encourage their respective societies to send more missionaries to India for the purpose of evangelising its inhabitants.  In this genre, Bishop Heber’s Journal and Abbe Dubois’s Hindu Manners and Customs, provide useful information on the socio-economic life of India during the period of decline of the Indian powers and the rise of the British. Newspapers and Journals  Newspapers and journals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, published in English as well as in the different vernacular languages, form an important and authentic source of information for the construction of the history of modern India. The first attempts to publish newspapers in India were made by the disgruntled employees of the  In 1780, James Augustus Hickey published the first newspaper in India entitled The Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser. Hickey’s press was seized within two years, owing to his outspoken criticism of government officials. Afterwards, many publications appeared such as The Calcutta Gazette (1784), The Madras Courier (1788) and The Bombay Herald (1789).  From the second half of the 19th century, some of their publications were: The Hindu and Swadesamitran under the editorship of G. Subramaniya Iyer, Kesari and Mahratta under Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bengalee under Surendranath Banerjea. Oral Evidence  Oral history refers to the construction of history with the help of non-written sources, for instance, personal reminiscence. Creative literature  The most significant outcome of the Indo-European contact was the novel which emerged in the latter half of the 19th century. The first important writer of that period was the famous Bengali novelist, Bankim Chandra Chatterji (1838 - 94). His novels are mostly historical, the best known

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among them being Anand Math (1882), especially for its powerful lyric ‘Vandemataram’ and depiction of the Sanyasi Revolt (1760s).  G.V. Krishna Rao’s Kilubommalu (The Puppets, 1956) in Telugu was concerned with the moral aspects and behaviour of the rural people.  Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (19101994) was one of the eminent writers in Malayalam whose famous novel Balyakala Sakhi (The Childhood Friends, 1944) was a tragic tale of love. Painting Some information on the socio-economic, political and cultural life during the colonial period can be obtained from the paintings of that period. The Company Paintings, also referred as ‘Patna Kalam’ emerged under the patronage of the East India Company. They picturise the people and scenes as they existed at the time. Trades, festivals, dances and the attire of people were visible in these works. Another painting of this period, In Memoriam by Joseph Noel Paton, recorded in painting two years of the revolt of 1857. One can see English women and children huddled in a circle, looking helpless and innocent, seemingly waiting for the inevitable—dishonour, violence and death.

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CHAPTER: 2 - MAJOR APPROACHES TO THE HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA  The modern history of India, for the convenience of understanding, can be broadly read under four approaches— the Colonial (or the Imperialist), Nationalist, Marxist, and Subaltern—each with its own distinct characteristics and modes of interpretation.  However, there are other approaches— Communalist, Cambridge, Liberal and Neo-liberal, and Feminist interpretations—which have also influenced historical writing on modern India.

The production of histories of India has become very frequent in recent years and may well call for some explanations… The reason is a two-fold one: changes in the Indian scene requiring a reinterpretation of the facts and changes in the attitudes of historians about the essential elements of Indian history. —Percival Spear

Colonial Approach/ Historiography 

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For the major part of the 19th century the Colonial School occupied a high position in India. The term ‘colonial approach’ has been used in two senses. One relates to the history of the colonial countries, while the other refers to the works which were influenced by the colonial ideology of domination. It is in the second sense that most historians today write about the colonial historiography. Certain characteristics common to most of the works of these historians are the following:  ‘Orientalist’ representation of India;  the opinion that the British brought unity to India;  the notions of Social Darwinism—the English considered themselves superior to the ‘natives’ and the fittest to rule;  India viewed as a stagnant society which required guidance from the British (White Man’s burden); and  Establishing Pax Britannica to bring law and order and peace to a bickering society.

Nationalist Historiography/ Approach 

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The nationalist approach to Indian history can be described as one which tended to contribute to the growth of nationalist feelings and to unify people in the face of religious, caste, or linguistic differences or class differentiation. This approach looks at the national movement as a movement of the Indian people, which grew out of the growing awareness among all people of the exploitative nature of colonial rule. This approach developed as a response to and in confrontation with the colonial approach. It should be noted that the nationalist historians of modern India didn’t exist before 1947. Before 1947 , nationalist historiography mainly dealt with the ancient and medieval periods of Indian history. The only accounts of the national movement was by nationalist leaders (not historians) such as R.G. Pradhan, A.C. Mazumdar, J.L. Nehru and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. R.C. Majumdar and Tara Chand are noted nationalist historians of modern India.

Marxist Historiography/ Approach 

The beginning of the Marxist approach in India was heralded by two classic books—Rajni Palme Dutt’s India Today and A.R. Desai’s Social Background of Indian Nationalism. Originally written for the famous Left Book Club in England, India Today, first published in 1940 in England, was later published in India in 1947. A.R. Desai’s Social Background of Indian Nationalism, was first published in 1948.

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Unlike the imperialist/colonial approach, the Marxist historians clearly see the primary contradiction between the interests of the colonial masters and the subject people, as well as the process of the nationin-the-making. Unlike the nationalists, they also take full note of the inner contradictions between the different sections of the people of the Indian society.

Subaltern Approach/ Historiography   

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This school of thought began in the early 1980s under the editorship of Ranajit Guha, as a critique of the existing historiography, which was faulted for ignoring the voice of the people. Right from the beginning, subaltern historiography took the position that the entire tradition of Indian historiography had had an elitist bias. For the subaltern historians, the basic contradiction in Indian society in the colonial epoch was between the elite, both Indian and foreign, on the one hand, and the subaltern groups, on the other, and not between colonialism and the Indian people. A few historians have of late initiated a new trend, described by its proponents as subaltern, which dismisses all previous historical writing, including that based on a Marxist perspective, as elite historiography, and claims to replace this old, ‘blinkered’ historiography with what it claims is a new people’s or subaltern approach. —Bipan Chandra Nationalism, say the subalterns, ignored the internal contradictions within the society as well as what the marginalised represented or had to say. They believe that the Indian people were never united in a common anti-imperialist struggle, that there was no such entity as the Indian national movement.

Communalist Approach 

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The historians of this school, relying completely on the colonial historiography of medieval India and colonial era textbooks, viewed Hindus and Muslims as permanent hostile groups whose interests were mutually different and antagonistic to each other. This view was not only reflected in the writings of the historians but it also found a more virulent form in the hands of the communal political leaders.

Cambridge school  

Fundamental contradiction under colonial rule was among the Indians themselves. It takes the mind or ideals out of human behaviour and reduces nationalism to ‘animal politics’

Liberal and Neo-Liberal Interpretations  

According to this interpretation, the economic exploitation of the colonies was not beneficial to the British people as a whole. The availability of markets for British industrial goods in the colonial world and capital investment in overseas markets (like laying of railways in India) might have actually discouraged domestic investment and delayed the development of the ‘new’ industries in Britain.

Feminist Historiography 

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The shift in terms of the writing of women’s history began with the women’s movement of the 1970s which provided the context and impetus for the emergence of women’s studies in India. Very soon, women’s history broadened and assumed the more complex shape of gender history. In the colonial period, two works based upon the women’s question in India—The High Caste Hindu Woman (1887) by Pandita Ramabai, and Mother India (1927) by Katherine Mayo—attracted international attention.

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