Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939-1947), ISC Class 12 History

What Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947) is about

Weightage: CISCE publishes no chapter or unit weightage for ISC History. Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947) is part of Section A: Indian History, 1 of the 2027 syllabus and can be asked anywhere in the 80-mark Paper I (Section A 16 one-mark items, Section B 4-mark short answers, Section C 8-mark long answers).Source: CISCE ISC History (851) syllabus, examination year 2027; ISC 2025 specimen question paper

Key concepts

The August Offer (8 August 1940): reasons, proposals and rejection

Reasons behind the offer

• The war had turned against Britain: France fell in June 1940 and Britain stood almost alone, so Indian men, money and materials were vital.
• The Congress ministries had resigned in 1939, and the Congress (at Poona, July 1940) offered to co-operate in the war if a provisional national government was set up at the Centre.
• Britain wanted to keep India quiet and win the support of Indian parties without giving up real power.

Proposals (made by Viceroy Linlithgow)
1. Dominion status was accepted as the objective for India, with no date fixed.
2. The Viceroy's Executive Council would be expanded to include more Indians, and a War Advisory Council would be set up.
3. After the war a body representing Indians would be set up to frame the new constitution.
4. No constitution would be adopted, and no power transferred, without the consent of the minorities.

Why it was rejected

• The Congress wanted complete independence and a national government now, not vague dominion status later.
• The minorities' clause gave the Muslim League a virtual veto over any settlement.
• The Muslim League welcomed the veto but rejected the offer because it did not accept Pakistan.

Result: Gandhi launched the Individual Satyagraha in October 1940 (Vinoba Bhave was the first satyagrahi, Jawaharlal Nehru the second), a limited protest against India being dragged into the war.

Worked example

[4] Why did the British Government make the August Offer, and why did the Congress reject it? (Understanding)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Reason 1: after the fall of France in 1940 Britain urgently needed Indian co-operation in the war - 1 mark.
2. Reason 2: to end the deadlock after the Congress ministries resigned and to answer the Congress's offer of conditional support - 1 mark.
3. Rejection 1: it offered only dominion status at an unspecified date instead of independence or a national government now - 1 mark.
4. Rejection 2: the promise that nothing would be done without the minorities' consent gave the League a veto over India's future - 1 mark.

Answer: The offer was made because, after the fall of France, Britain badly needed Indian help in the war and wanted to end the political deadlock created by the resignation of the Congress ministries. The Congress rejected it because it promised only dominion status at some unstated date, gave no national government during the war, and handed the minorities, especially the Muslim League, a veto over any constitutional settlement.

The Cripps Mission (March-April 1942): why it came, its proposals and why it failed

Why the Mission came

• Japan had entered the war (December 1941), captured Malaya and Singapore (February 1942) and Rangoon (March 1942), and was approaching India's eastern frontier.
• The USA (President Roosevelt) and China (Chiang Kai-shek) pressed Britain to win Indian support; the Labour members of Churchill's War Cabinet also wanted a gesture.
• Britain needed active Indian co-operation for the defence of India.

Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the War Cabinet, arrived in March 1942.

Proposals
1. After the war India would become a Dominion (an Indian Union), free even to leave the Commonwealth.
2. After the war a constitution-making body would be set up: members elected by the provincial legislatures through proportional representation, plus members nominated by the princely states.
3. Any province not willing to accept the new constitution could stay out and frame its own constitution, with the same status as the Union.
4. A treaty between Britain and the constitution-making body would protect racial and religious minorities.
5. Meanwhile Britain would keep control of the defence of India; Indian leaders would be invited into the Viceroy's Executive Council.

Why almost every party rejected it

• Congress: it offered dominion status, not independence; nothing was offered now; defence stayed with the British; the princes' nominees would not represent the people; the right of provinces to opt out threatened the unity of India. Gandhi called the offer a 'post-dated cheque' (the phrase 'on a crashing bank' was added by others).
• Muslim League: Pakistan was not openly conceded; the constitution-making body would decide by a joint vote in which Muslims would be outvoted.
• Sikhs feared being cut off from Punjab if it opted out; the Depressed Classes, Christians and Anglo-Indians felt their interests were not safeguarded; the Hindu Mahasabha opposed the opt-out clause.

Cripps withdrew the offer and left in April 1942. Its failure convinced Gandhi that the British would not part with power and led directly to the Quit India Resolution.

Worked example

[4] State any four reasons why the Congress rejected the Cripps proposals. (Analysis)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. It offered dominion status after the war, not full independence - 1 mark.
2. There was no immediate transfer of power; defence stayed under British control - 1 mark.
3. Princely states' representatives would be nominated by rulers, not elected by the people - 1 mark.
4. The right of provinces to stay out of the Union opened the way to the break-up of India - 1 mark.

Answer: The Congress rejected the Cripps proposals because (1) they offered only dominion status, and that after the war; (2) no real power was transferred during the war and defence stayed with the British; (3) the princely states would send nominees of the rulers, not elected representatives; and (4) the provinces' right to stay out of the Indian Union threatened the unity of the country.

The Quit India Movement (1942): resolution, course, suppression and significance

Why Gandhi demanded immediate freedom

• The failure of Cripps showed that Britain would not part with power.
• The British had abandoned Malaya, Singapore and Burma; Gandhi feared India might share their fate and come under a new imperialist, Japan.
• He argued that the British presence invited Japanese attack; a free India would be better able to defend itself.
• Rising prices, war-time shortages and racial discrimination during the evacuation from Burma had made people angry.

The Resolution: on 8 August 1942 the All India Congress Committee, meeting at Gowalia Tank in Bombay, passed the Quit India Resolution, demanding an immediate end of British rule and sanctioning a mass struggle on non-violent lines. Gandhi gave the call 'Do or Die'.

Course

• In the early hours of 9 August the government arrested Gandhi and the top Congress leaders; the Congress was banned.
• Leaderless, the people rose spontaneously: hartals, strikes in factories and colleges, attacks on railway lines, telegraph wires, police stations and post offices.
• Underground activity was led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Aruna Asaf Ali (who hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank on 9 August); Usha Mehta ran an underground Congress Radio.
• Parallel governments were set up at Ballia (UP, under Chittu Pandey), Tamluk in Midnapore (Bengal, the Jatiya Sarkar) and Satara (Maharashtra, the Prati Sarkar).
• Students, peasants, workers and women took a leading part. In February 1943 Gandhi went on a 21-day fast in prison.

Suppression: the government used the army and police, firing on crowds, mass arrests (tens of thousands of people were jailed), collective fines on villages, public floggings and even machine-gunning from aircraft. By the end of 1942 the movement was largely crushed, though underground activity continued.

Significance
1. It showed the depth of nationalist feeling and the people's readiness to sacrifice.
2. After 1942 independence was no longer a question of whether but of when; the British realised that India could not be held against the will of its people.
3. Ordinary people, youth and women took the lead when leaders were in jail.
4. It weakened the loyalty of the administration and police at the lower levels.
5. The Muslim League gained ground while the Congress was banned, and the Communist Party, which supported the war effort, opposed the movement.

Worked example

[4] Give any four reasons why the Quit India Movement is regarded as a turning point in the freedom struggle. (Evaluate)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. It was a mass, largely spontaneous upsurge involving students, peasants, workers and women - 1 mark.
2. It made immediate independence the demand; after it, the question was only when Britain would leave - 1 mark.
3. Parallel governments at Ballia, Tamluk and Satara showed the people's capacity to govern themselves - 1 mark.
4. The British realised they could not rule India for long against popular will, especially after the war - 1 mark.

Answer: Quit India was a turning point because it was a mass upsurge led by ordinary people when leaders were in jail; it put immediate independence on the agenda; parallel governments at Ballia, Tamluk and Satara showed Indians could run their own affairs; and its scale convinced the British that India could not be held against the will of its people once the war ended.

Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army

Origins

• The first INA was formed in 1942 by Captain Mohan Singh from Indian prisoners of war taken by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore, with the support of Rash Behari Bose and the Indian Independence League (Bangkok Conference, June 1942). It ran into differences with the Japanese.
• Subhas Chandra Bose escaped from house arrest in Calcutta in January 1941, reached Germany, and travelled by submarine to South-East Asia, arriving in Singapore in July 1943.

Bose's organisation of the INA

• He took command of the INA (Azad Hind Fauj) and enlisted Indian soldiers and civilians in South-East Asia.
• On 21 October 1943 he set up the Provisional Government of Free India (Azad Hind) at Singapore; it declared war on Britain and the USA and was recognised by the Axis powers.
• Brigades were named after Gandhi, Nehru and Azad, and a women's regiment, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, was led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan.
• Slogans: 'Delhi Chalo', 'Jai Hind' and 'Give me blood and I will give you freedom'.
• The Japanese handed over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to his government; Bose renamed them Shaheed and Swaraj.

Operations

• INA units fought in the Arakan and joined the Japanese offensive on Imphal and Kohima in 1944. The INA flag was hoisted at Moirang in Manipur in April 1944.
• The offensive failed: the monsoon, shortage of food, arms and medicine, lack of air cover and the Allied counter-attack forced a retreat.

Defeat: after the Allied reconquest of Burma in 1945 and Japan's surrender in August 1945, the INA surrendered. Bose is believed to have died in an air crash at Taipei (Taihoku) on 18 August 1945.

Significance
1. It brought Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs together under one flag and included women soldiers.
2. The INA trials at the Red Fort (November 1945) of Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, defended by Bhulabhai Desai, Nehru and others, caused protests across India; the sentences were remitted.
3. It shook the loyalty of the Indian armed forces, a factor behind the Royal Indian Navy mutiny of February 1946.
4. It convinced the British that they could no longer rely on the Indian army to hold India.

Worked example

[4] Discuss any four contributions of the INA to India's freedom struggle. (Understanding)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Under Bose it formed the Provisional Government of Free India (October 1943) and declared war on Britain - 1 mark.
2. Its slogans 'Delhi Chalo' and 'Jai Hind' inspired Indians; it united soldiers of all religions and included a women's regiment - 1 mark.
3. It fought on Indian soil at Imphal-Kohima and hoisted the national flag at Moirang in 1944 - 1 mark.
4. The Red Fort trials of 1945 turned INA soldiers into national heroes and shook the loyalty of the armed forces - 1 mark.

Answer: The INA set up a Provisional Government of Free India and declared war on Britain; it gave India the slogans 'Delhi Chalo' and 'Jai Hind' and united Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and women in one army; it carried the struggle onto Indian soil at Imphal and Kohima, hoisting the tricolour at Moirang; and the Red Fort trials made its soldiers national heroes and undermined the loyalty of the Indian forces to the Raj.

Why the British attitude changed after the Second World War

1. Change of government: the Labour Party under Clement Attlee came to power in July 1945; it was more sympathetic to Indian independence.
2. Britain was exhausted: the war had left it in debt (it owed India large sterling balances) and dependent on American loans; it could no longer afford to hold an empire by force.
3. Changed balance of world power: the USA and USSR, the new superpowers, opposed colonialism; the United Nations Charter spoke of self-determination.
4. The armed forces could no longer be relied on: the INA trials (1945-46) and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay (February 1946), along with unrest in the air force and the army, showed that loyalty was cracking.
5. Mass upsurge in India: Quit India, strikes, peasant movements and the popular reaction to the INA trials showed India could not be governed against the people's will.
6. A shrinking and war-weary British civil service in India had fewer officers to run the administration.

Worked example

[4] State any four reasons for the change in the attitude of the British Government towards India after the Second World War. (Analysis)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. The Labour government of Attlee, elected in 1945, favoured granting independence - 1 mark.
2. Britain was economically and militarily exhausted by the war - 1 mark.
3. The INA trials and the RIN mutiny of 1946 showed the armed forces were no longer reliable - 1 mark.
4. The USA, the USSR and the UN were against colonial rule; world opinion had turned - 1 mark.

Answer: (1) The Labour Party under Attlee, which came to power in 1945, favoured Indian independence. (2) The war had left Britain economically drained and unable to hold India by force. (3) The INA trials and the naval mutiny of 1946 showed that Indian troops could no longer be relied upon. (4) The new superpowers and the United Nations opposed colonialism, so world opinion favoured India.

The Cabinet Mission Plan (16 May 1946): aims and provisions

Members: Lord Pethick-Lawrence (Secretary of State for India), Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander. They arrived in March 1946.

Aims

• To reach agreement with Indian leaders on the method of framing a constitution.
• To set up a constitution-making body.
• To set up an Interim (Executive) Government with the support of the main parties.

Major provisions
1. The demand for a separate, sovereign Pakistan was rejected.
2. A Union of India of British India and the princely states, dealing with foreign affairs, defence and communications and able to raise finance for these; all other powers with the provinces and states.
3. Provinces would be placed in three groups: Group A (Hindu-majority provinces: Madras, Bombay, United Provinces, Bihar, Central Provinces, Orissa), Group B (Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind) and Group C (Bengal, Assam). Groups could frame their own constitutions.
4. After the first general elections a province could leave its group; after ten years any province could ask for the constitution to be reconsidered.
5. A Constituent Assembly of 389 members: 292 from the provinces, elected by the provincial assemblies by proportional representation in three communities (General, Muslim, Sikh), 93 from the princely states and 4 from the Chief Commissioners' provinces.
6. An Interim Government with the support of the major parties, all portfolios held by Indians.
7. India would be free to remain in or leave the Commonwealth.

Reactions

• The Congress accepted the long-term plan (it kept India united) but read grouping as optional and refused parity with the League in the Interim Government.
• The Muslim League accepted the plan in June 1946, seeing compulsory grouping as the basis of Pakistan, but withdrew its acceptance in July after Nehru said the Congress would be free to change the plan in the Assembly. It called for Direct Action on 16 August 1946, which led to the Great Calcutta Killings.
• An Interim Government under Nehru took office on 2 September 1946; the League joined in October 1946 but obstructed its work and boycotted the Constituent Assembly, which first met on 9 December 1946.

Worked example

[4] State any four major provisions of the Cabinet Mission Plan. (Recall)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. A Union of India of British India and the states, controlling defence, foreign affairs and communications - 1 mark.
2. Provinces grouped into A, B and C, with the right to leave a group after the first elections - 1 mark.
3. A Constituent Assembly elected by provincial assemblies by proportional representation on a community basis - 1 mark.
4. An Interim Government of Indians with the support of the major parties - 1 mark.

Answer: (1) An Indian Union of British India and the princely states, in charge of defence, foreign affairs and communications, with residual powers in the provinces. (2) Provinces grouped into Sections A, B and C, which could frame group constitutions; a province could leave its group after the first elections. (3) A 389-member Constituent Assembly elected by the provincial legislatures by proportional representation in three communities, plus members from the states. (4) An Interim Government formed by Indian leaders with the support of the major parties.

Attlee's Declaration, the Mountbatten Plan and the Indian Independence Act (1947)

Attlee's Declaration (20 February 1947)

• Britain would transfer power to Indian hands by a date not later than June 1948.
• If no fully representative constitution was ready by then, power would be handed either to a central government or, in some areas, to existing provincial governments, or in any other reasonable way.
• Lord Mountbatten would replace Lord Wavell as Viceroy.

The deadline forced the parties to decide; the clause on handing power to provinces hinted that partition was possible.

The Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947): main features
1. India would be divided into two dominions, India and Pakistan.
2. The legislative assemblies of Punjab and Bengal would meet in two parts (Muslim-majority and other districts); if either part voted for partition, the province would be divided.
3. Sind's assembly would decide which Constituent Assembly to join; a referendum would be held in the North-West Frontier Province and in Sylhet district of Assam.
4. A Boundary Commission would mark the boundaries in Punjab and Bengal (it was chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe).
5. Paramountcy would lapse; princely states could join either dominion (or, in theory, stay independent).
6. Power would be transferred on 15 August 1947, well before the June 1948 deadline.

Why the parties accepted it

• Congress: communal riots after Direct Action Day showed that a united India could only be held by force; the League's obstruction in the Interim Government made joint rule impossible; a smaller India with a strong Centre was better than a weak federation; partition removed separate electorates and the League's veto; delay risked civil war and the break-up of the country by the princes.
• Muslim League: the plan conceded Pakistan, even though a smaller ('truncated') one.
• Sikhs: accepted the division of Punjab, which kept East Punjab in India.

The Indian Independence Act (passed by the British Parliament in July 1947; came into force on 15 August 1947)
1. Two independent dominions, India and Pakistan, from 15 August 1947.
2. Each dominion would have a Governor-General appointed by the Crown on the advice of its own government.
3. The Constituent Assembly of each dominion became sovereign and acted as its legislature until a new constitution was made; the British Parliament lost all authority over the dominions.
4. The office of Secretary of State for India was abolished.
5. British paramountcy over the princely states lapsed, and treaties with them ended.
6. Until new constitutions were made, each dominion was governed under the Government of India Act, 1935, modified as necessary; the Governor-General no longer had power to veto bills or act in his discretion.
7. The British monarch dropped the title 'Emperor of India'.

Worked example

[4] What was the most significant change that the Mountbatten Plan made to the Cabinet Mission proposals? Give three other features of the Mountbatten Plan. (Understanding)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Most significant change: India would be partitioned and a separate dominion of Pakistan created, whereas the Cabinet Mission had rejected Pakistan - 1 mark.
2. Punjab and Bengal assemblies would vote on dividing their provinces - 1 mark.
3. Referendums in the North-West Frontier Province and Sylhet; Sind's assembly to choose - 1 mark.
4. A Boundary Commission to draw borders; power to be transferred on 15 August 1947 - 1 mark.

Answer: The Cabinet Mission had kept India united; the Mountbatten Plan partitioned it into two dominions, India and Pakistan. It also provided that the Punjab and Bengal assemblies would vote on partitioning those provinces, that referendums would be held in the NWFP and Sylhet while Sind's assembly chose its dominion, and that a Boundary Commission would fix the borders before power was transferred on 15 August 1947.

Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947) in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Topics in this chapter

• Attlee's Declaration, Mountbatten Plan and Independence Act
• Why Britain Changed Course and the Cabinet Mission Plan
• The Quit India Movement, 1942
• Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army

Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947): key facts

August Offer

8 August 1940, Viceroy Linlithgow

Dominion status (no date), expanded Executive Council, minorities' veto; led to Individual Satyagraha (October 1940).

Cripps Mission

March-April 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps

Dominion status after the war; provinces may opt out; defence with Britain; 'post-dated cheque'.

Quit India Resolution

8 August 1942, Gowalia Tank, Bombay

'Do or Die'; leaders arrested 9 August; parallel governments at Ballia, Tamluk, Satara.

Provisional Government of Free India

21 October 1943, Singapore

Bose; 'Delhi Chalo', 'Jai Hind'; flag at Moirang, April 1944.

INA trials and RIN mutiny

Red Fort trials November 1945; RIN mutiny February 1946

Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal, G. S. Dhillon.

Cabinet Mission Plan

16 May 1946: Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps, A. V. Alexander

Union with three subjects; groups A, B, C; 389-member Constituent Assembly; Interim Government.

Direct Action Day

16 August 1946

Great Calcutta Killings.

Attlee's Declaration

20 February 1947

Power to be transferred by June 1948; Mountbatten to replace Wavell.

Mountbatten Plan and Independence Act

Plan 3 June 1947; Act July 1947; independence 15 August 1947

Partition into two dominions; paramountcy lapses; Secretary of State abolished.

How the board asks Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947)

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Tricks to remember Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947)

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

• Three plans, three signatures

  Cripps = 'Opt-out' (provinces may stay out); Cabinet Mission = 'ABC' (three groups, no Pakistan); Mountbatten = 'Cut' (Punjab and Bengal divided, two dominions).

  Use it when: Prevents the plan mix-up that examiners reported in both 2024 and 2025.

• Dates ladder 40-42-43-46-47

  1940 August Offer; 1942 Cripps and Quit India (both in one year: March, then August); 1943 Azad Hind; 1946 Cabinet Mission and Direct Action; 1947 Attlee (Feb), Mountbatten (June), Act (July), freedom (August).

  Use it when: Sequencing questions and timelines.

• Quit India parallel governments: 'BTS'

  Ballia (UP), Tamluk (Bengal), Satara (Maharashtra).

  Use it when: Course of the movement.

• Cabinet Mission members: 'PCA'

  Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps, Alexander.

  Use it when: Recall MCQs.

Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947): board-level solved questions

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Case-study practice (Section D style)

Read the situation, then answer every part. In the board paper this is a 8-mark question split into 2 + 2 + 4 marks.

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is split into step marks. Show every step: a right final answer alone rarely earns full marks.

Where students lose marks in Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947)

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

• ✗Mistake: Mixing up the Cripps, Cabinet Mission and Mountbatten proposals

  CISCE examiners' comments, 2024: candidates 'Confused Cripps Mission proposals with those of the Cabinet Mission and Mountbatten Plan'. In 2025 they again 'Confused the Mountbatten Plan with the Cabinet Mission Plan'.

  Wrong working

  Cripps Mission: provinces grouped into A, B and C.

  Right working

  Cripps: provinces could opt out of the Union. Grouping into A, B and C belongs to the Cabinet Mission.

  ✓Do this: Learn the plans as a table with one signature feature each: Opt-out, ABC, Cut.

  Usually costs: Up to all 4 marks of a short answer.

• ✗Mistake: Giving the terms of the Mountbatten Plan when reasons for accepting it are asked

  CISCE examiners' comments, 2025: candidates 'Confused reasons for acceptance with specific clauses of the Plan' and 'Gave vague justifications such as "to come to power" without motives.'

  Wrong working

  The Congress accepted because India was to be divided into two dominions.

  Right working

  The Congress accepted because communal riots and the League's obstruction made a united India unworkable, and a strong Centre in a smaller India was preferable.

  ✓Do this: For 'why accepted', write causes (riots, deadlock, strong Centre, fear of delay), not clauses.

  Usually costs: Most of the 4 marks.

• ✗Mistake: Answering about Bose when the INA's contributions are asked

  CISCE examiners' comments, 2024: candidates 'Wrote about Subhash Chandra Bose instead of the INA'.

  ✓Do this: Write about what the army did: the Provisional Government, campaigns, the trials and the effect on the armed forces. Mention Bose only as its leader.

  Usually costs: 2 or more marks.

• ✗Mistake: Giving only the Congress's reasons for rejecting Cripps

  CISCE examiners' comments, 2024: candidates 'Mentioned reasons for rejection by Congress but not by other parties'.

  ✓Do this: When the question says 'almost all political parties', give at least one point each for the Congress, the League and another group (Sikhs, Depressed Classes, Hindu Mahasabha).

  Usually costs: 1 or 2 marks.

• ✗Mistake: Unclear reasons for Gandhi's demand for immediate freedom

  CISCE examiners' comments, 2024: candidates were 'Confused about the reasons for Gandhi's demand for immediate independence'.

  ✓Do this: Learn the four linked reasons: Cripps's failure, the fate of Malaya and Burma, the British presence inviting Japan, and popular discontent.

  Usually costs: Up to 3 marks.

• ✗Mistake: Seeing two true statements but missing the link in assertion-reason

  CISCE examiners' comments, 2025 (Q1(vi), on the resignation of the Congress ministries in 1939): candidates 'Recognised both statements as true but failed to see the cause-and-effect link between them.'

  ✓Do this: After checking A and R, ask: 'Did R make A happen?' If yes, choose (a).

  Usually costs: 1 mark.

Practice questions on Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947)

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

1. Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

   The Individual Satyagraha of 1940 was launched in response to:
   (a) the Cripps proposals
   (b) the August Offer
   (c) the Cabinet Mission Plan
   (d) the Wavell Plan

   Hint

   1940 itself.

   Answer

   (b) The August Offer.

2. Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level

   Name the women's regiment of the INA and its commander.

   Hint

   A queen of 1857.

   Answer

   The Rani of Jhansi Regiment, commanded by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan.

3. Q3 · 1 mark · MCQHarder board level

   Arrange in chronological order: (P) Attlee's Declaration; (Q) Direct Action Day; (R) Cripps Mission; (S) Provisional Government of Free India.
   (a) R, S, Q, P
   (b) S, R, Q, P
   (c) R, S, P, Q
   (d) R, Q, S, P

   Hint

   1942, 1943, 1946, 1947.

   Answer

   (a) R (1942), S (1943), Q (August 1946), P (February 1947).

4. Q4 · 1 mark · Very short answerHarder board level

   Which provision of the Indian Independence Act ended Britain's relationship with the princely states?

   Hint

   A doctrine that 'lapsed'.

   Answer

   The lapse of British paramountcy over the princely states (and of all treaties with them).

5. Q5 · 4 marks · Short answerBoard level

   [4] Why did the Congress demand complete freedom at once in 1942 rather than wait for the end of the war? Give four reasons.

   Hint

   Cripps, Japan, British retreat, hardship.

   Answer

   (1) Cripps's failure showed Britain would not transfer power. (2) The Japanese advance to India's borders made a free India's own defence urgent. (3) The British had abandoned Malaya, Singapore and Burma and might do the same to India. (4) Inflation, shortages and discrimination in the war had made the people ready for a final struggle.

6. Q6 · 4 marks · Short answerHarder board level

   [4] Explain the significance of the Red Fort trials of the INA officers (1945-46).

   Hint

   Unity, defence lawyers, armed forces, British reaction.

   Answer

   (1) The trial of a Hindu (Sahgal), a Muslim (Shah Nawaz Khan) and a Sikh (Dhillon) together united all communities in protest. (2) The Congress formed a defence committee (Bhulabhai Desai, Nehru, Sapru), making the trials a national cause. (3) Demonstrations spread across India and into the armed forces, contributing to the RIN mutiny. (4) The government was forced to remit the sentences, showing it could no longer defy public opinion or rely on its soldiers.

7. Q7 · 4 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency

   [4] Attlee announced on 20 February 1947 that the British would leave India by June 1948. Analyse why this declaration made partition more likely.

   Hint

   Deadline plus the 'provincial governments' clause.

   Answer

   (1) A fixed deadline ended the hope of a long negotiation, so a quick solution was needed. (2) It said power might be handed to existing provincial governments if no agreed constitution was ready, which encouraged the League to seize power in Muslim-majority provinces. (3) It intensified the struggle for control of Punjab and Bengal and the communal violence there. (4) It brought in Mountbatten with a mandate to settle quickly, and the quickest settlement possible was division.

8. Q8 · 4 marks · Short answerHarder board level

   [4] Distinguish between the Cripps proposals and the Mountbatten Plan on four points.

   Hint

   Timing, unity, provinces, princely states.

   Answer

   (1) Cripps promised dominion status after the war; Mountbatten transferred power at once (15 August 1947). (2) Cripps envisaged one Indian Union that provinces could leave; Mountbatten created two dominions. (3) Cripps did not divide provinces; Mountbatten allowed Punjab and Bengal to be partitioned. (4) Cripps gave princely states nominated seats in the constitution body; under Mountbatten paramountcy lapsed and states chose which dominion to join.

9. Q9 · 8 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

   [8] (a) Explain any four reasons for the failure of the INA's military campaign. [4]
   (b) Evaluate the claim that the Quit India Movement, though crushed, was a success. [4]

   Hint

   (a) supplies, weather, Japanese reverses, air power; (b) weigh both sides.

   Answer

   (a) (1) Shortage of food, arms, medicines and transport. (2) The monsoon of 1944 made movement impossible in Manipur and Burma. (3) The Japanese, on whom the INA depended, were losing the war and lacked air cover. (4) The Allied counter-offensive under superior air power drove them back from Imphal and Kohima. (b) It was crushed within months by mass arrests and force, and it did not win immediate freedom. But it showed the depth of national feeling, involved students, peasants and women on a vast scale, created parallel governments, and convinced Britain that India could not be held after the war; so as a political movement it succeeded.

10. Q10 · 8 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

    [8] Assess the factors that compelled the British to transfer power in 1947 and explain why the Muslim League accepted a 'truncated' Pakistan.

    Hint

    Six factors plus two League reasons.

    Answer

    Factors: (1) a Labour government sympathetic to independence; (2) Britain's economic exhaustion after the war; (3) the INA trials and RIN mutiny showing the forces were unreliable; (4) mass anti-British feeling after Quit India; (5) pressure from the USA, the USSR and the UN; (6) a shrinking British civil service. The League accepted a smaller Pakistan because (1) it achieved the core demand of a separate Muslim homeland, and (2) holding out risked losing everything, since the Congress, the British and the Sikhs all insisted Punjab and Bengal be divided if India was.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1. 1.Who was the first satyagrahi of the Individual Satyagraha (1940)?Show answer

   Vinoba Bhave.

2. 2.When and where was the Quit India Resolution passed?Show answer

   8 August 1942, by the AICC at Gowalia Tank, Bombay.

3. 3.Name the three parallel governments of 1942.Show answer

   Ballia (UP), Tamluk (Midnapore, Bengal) and Satara (Maharashtra).

4. 4.When was the Provisional Government of Free India proclaimed?Show answer

   21 October 1943, at Singapore.

5. 5.Name the three INA officers tried at the Red Fort.Show answer

   Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon.

6. 6.What deadline did Attlee announce on 20 February 1947?Show answer

   Power would be transferred not later than June 1948.

7. 7.Which groups formed Group B under the Cabinet Mission Plan?Show answer

   Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province and Sind.

8. 8.Which office did the Indian Independence Act abolish?Show answer

   The Secretary of State for India.

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

• ☐1939: India declared at war without consultation; Congress ministries resign.
• ☐August Offer 1940: dominion status (no date), bigger Executive Council, minorities' veto; rejected; Individual Satyagraha.
• ☐Cripps 1942: dominion after the war, provinces may opt out, defence with Britain; rejected by all; 'post-dated cheque'.
• ☐Quit India: 8 August 1942, 'Do or Die'; leaders arrested; spontaneous revolt; Ballia, Tamluk, Satara; crushed by force; made freedom inevitable.
• ☐INA: Mohan Singh 1942; Bose takes over 1943; Azad Hind Government 21 October 1943; Imphal-Kohima 1944; surrender 1945; Red Fort trials.
• ☐British change: Labour government, exhausted Britain, unreliable forces (INA trials, RIN mutiny 1946), world opinion.
• ☐Cabinet Mission 1946: no Pakistan; Union for defence, foreign affairs, communications; groups A-B-C; 389-member Assembly; Interim Government; Direct Action 16 August 1946.
• ☐Attlee 20 February 1947: leave by June 1948.
• ☐Mountbatten 3 June 1947: two dominions; Punjab and Bengal divided by vote; referendums NWFP and Sylhet; Boundary Commission; 15 August 1947.
• ☐Independence Act July 1947: sovereign Constituent Assemblies; Secretary of State abolished; paramountcy lapses; 1935 Act modified as interim constitution.

Towards Independence and Partition: The Last Phase (1939–1947): frequently asked questions