Indian History Quiz: Partition and Independence

The correct answer is C, Cabinet Mission Plan. These three were the members of the Cabinet Mission that reached Delhi on 24 March 1946: Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India, who headed it, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander. Their plan rejected a sovereign Pakistan and proposed a three-tier union with grouping of provinces and an indirectly elected Constituent Assembly. Option A is wrong because the Wavell Plan of 1945 was the Viceroy's own proposal for a reconstructed Executive Council, discussed at the Simla Conference. Option B is wrong because the Mountbatten Plan, misspelt here, was the partition plan of 3 June 1947. Option D is wrong because the Cripps Mission of 1942 was a single-member mission; Cripps came alone then, which is why his name appears in both and makes this a favourite trap.

The correct answer is D, Direct Action Day. After withdrawing its acceptance of the Cabinet Mission Plan in July 1946, the Muslim League called for direct action to press the demand for Pakistan and fixed 16 August 1946 for it. The day ended in the Great Calcutta Killings, which spread violence to Noakhali, Bihar and the United Provinces and hardened opinion on both sides. Option A is wrong because Republic Day marks the commencement of the Constitution of India on 26 January 1950. Option B is wrong because the Congress had observed 26 January as Independence Day since 1930 after the Lahore session resolved on Purna Swaraj, and India's independence day is 15 August. Option C is wrong because Bloody Sunday is not associated with the Indian national movement; the term belongs to Russian and Irish history.

The correct answer is B, 24 August 1946. The Viceroy announced the formation of the interim national government on 24 August 1946, and the new Executive Council took office on 2 September 1946 with Jawaharlal Nehru as its Vice-President, which made him in effect the head of government. The Muslim League stayed out at first and joined only in October 1946. Options A, C and D are wrong because they shift the announcement by a day or two; the dates worth memorising in this chapter are the announcement on 24 August 1946 and the assumption of office on 2 September 1946. Candidates often confuse this interim government with the Constituent Assembly, which first met on 9 December 1946, so keep the two sequences separate: the interim government was the executive, the Assembly was the constitution-making body.

The correct answer is D, Clement Attlee. Attlee, the Labour Prime Minister of Britain, told the House of Commons on 20 February 1947 that His Majesty's Government intended to transfer power to responsible Indian hands by June 1948, and announced at the same time that Lord Mountbatten would succeed Lord Wavell as Viceroy. Option A is wrong because Nehru headed the interim government in India and could not make a declaration of British policy. Option B is wrong because Wavell was the Viceroy being replaced; the statement in effect ended his tenure. Option C is wrong because Mountbatten took office only on 24 March 1947 and later advanced the date of freedom to 15 August 1947 through his 3 June Plan. Remember the pair: the June 1948 deadline belongs to Attlee, the August 1947 date to Mountbatten.

The correct answer is C, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. At the midnight sitting of the Constituent Assembly on 14 and 15 August 1947, Nehru moved the pledge resolution with his Tryst with Destiny speech, and Dr S. Radhakrishnan, then a member of the Assembly and later the first Vice-President and the second President of India, spoke after him. Option A is wrong because C. Rajagopalachari was not among the speakers that night; he became Governor-General in 1948. Option B is wrong because Rajendra Prasad presided over the sitting as President of the Constituent Assembly rather than speaking as one of the orators in this list. Option D is wrong because Sardar Patel, though a member of the interim cabinet and soon Deputy Prime Minister, did not address the House at that midnight session.

The correct answer is C, 18 July 1947. The Indian Independence Bill was introduced in the British Parliament on 4 July 1947 and received the royal assent on 18 July 1947, after which it came into force on 15 August 1947. Option A is wrong because 3 June 1947 is the date of the Mountbatten Plan, the policy statement that the Act gave legal shape to. Option B is wrong because 4 July 1947 is the date of introduction of the Bill, not of the assent, and this is exactly the confusion the question exploits. Option D is wrong because 15 August 1947 is the appointed day on which the Act took effect and the two Dominions came into being. The Act ended the office of Secretary of State for India, abolished British paramountcy over the princely states and gave each Dominion a sovereign Constituent Assembly.

The correct answer is B, Sir Cyril Radcliffe. Radcliffe, an English lawyer who had never been to India before, chaired both the Punjab and the Bengal Boundary Commissions, each of which had two Congress and two League nominees. His award was signed on 12 August and published on 17 August 1947, two days after independence, and the frontier it drew is still called the Radcliffe Line. Option A is wrong because Cripps was a member of the Cabinet Mission and of the earlier 1942 mission. Option C is wrong because Pethick-Lawrence headed the Cabinet Mission as Secretary of State for India. Option D is wrong because Wavell was the Viceroy till March 1947 and had no part in the boundary award. Remember that Lahore went to Pakistan while Amritsar and Gurdaspur came to India.

The correct answer is C, the Mountbatten Plan, 1947. Announced on 3 June 1947 and therefore also called the 3 June Plan, it provided that the legislative assemblies of Bengal and Punjab would meet in two parts to decide on partition, that a referendum would be held in the North-West Frontier Province and in Sylhet district of Assam, that Sind and Baluchistan would make their own decision, and that British paramountcy over the princely states would lapse. Option A is wrong because the Wavell Plan of 1945 dealt only with the composition of the Viceroy's Executive Council. Option B is wrong because the Cabinet Mission Plan rejected partition and proposed grouping of provinces within one union. Option D is wrong because the Cripps Proposals of 1942 offered Dominion status after the war with a right of provinces to stay out of the union.

The correct answer is B, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India from 24 March 1947 and continued after 15 August 1947 as the first Governor-General of the Dominion of India, holding the post till June 1948. Option A is wrong because Wavell was Viceroy from 1943 to March 1947 and left before independence. Option C is wrong because C. Rajagopalachari succeeded Mountbatten in 1948 and was the only Indian and the last Governor-General, the office ending when the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. Option D is wrong because Rajendra Prasad was President of the Constituent Assembly and then the first President of the Republic from 1950. In Pakistan the arrangement differed: Muhammad Ali Jinnah became its first Governor-General and Liaquat Ali Khan its first Prime Minister.

The correct answer is B, the Wavell Plan. Lord Wavell called Indian leaders to Simla in June 1945 to consider his plan for a reconstructed Executive Council in which all members except the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief would be Indians, with equal representation for caste Hindus and Muslims. The conference broke down when Jinnah demanded that the Muslim League alone should nominate every Muslim member. Option A is wrong because the August Offer was made in 1940 and promised Dominion status after the war along with an expanded council. Option C is wrong because the Cabinet Mission came only in March 1946. Option D is wrong because the Cripps Mission proposals were made in 1942 and were rejected by the Congress, with Gandhi calling the offer a post-dated cheque. The lesson examiners draw from Simla is that the League had by then secured a veto on any settlement.

The correct answer is A, 9 December 1946. The Constituent Assembly, elected indirectly by the provincial legislatures under the Cabinet Mission Plan, met for the first time on 9 December 1946 in the Constitution Hall at New Delhi, with Dr Sachchidananda Sinha as temporary chairman as the oldest member present. The Muslim League boycotted the sitting, and Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected permanent President on 11 December 1946. Option B is wrong because 24 March 1946 is the date the Cabinet Mission reached India. Option C is wrong because 15 August 1947 is the date of independence, when the same Assembly became the sovereign legislature of the Dominion. Option D is wrong because 26 November 1949 is the date the Constitution was adopted, while it came into force on 26 January 1950.