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Mughal Empire

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Mughal Empire (1526 A.D.-1857 A.D.)

Babur-

His actual name was Zahiruddin Mohammed, son of Omar Sheikh Mirza, the king of Ferghana in Afghanistan. His ambition was to conquer Samarkand, the seat of Timur. In 1527 A.D., Babur defeated ranasanga in the battle of Kanwa. In the battle of Chanderi (1528 A.D.), Babur defeated Mediniroy. In the battle of Gogra in 1529 A.D., Babur defeated Mohd Lodi, brother of Ibrahim Lodi and conquered Bengal. Babur wrote his memories in Turkish language. It was called Tuzak-i-Babari or babarnamah.

 

Humayun (1530 A.D.- 1555 A.D.) 

Humayun means ‘the most fortunate’. In 1537 A.D., he conquered Gujarat. His arch enemy was sher shah. Humayun defeated sher shah suri in the battle of Chausa in 1540 A.D. and for the second time in the battle of bilgram (1540 A.D.). The mughals lost delhi in the battle of bilgram for the first time. Humayun took shelter in the court of Rana Prasad of Amarkot. In 1545 A.D., humayun defeated sikandar shah of the suri dynasty in the battle of sarhind and got back delhi. He fell from his personal library at dinpanah and died.

 

Akbar (1556 A.D.- 1605 A.D.)

Second battle of Panipat( October 1556 A.D.) was fought between Akbar and Hemu. Hemu took the title of ‘Raja Vikramajeet’. Akbar was declared the emperor of Hindustan at Kalanoor in sind without being coronated by his tutor Bairam Khan. The mughals got back delhi in the second battle of Panipat by killing Hemu.upto 1562 A.D., the government was called ‘Purdah government’ as mahamanagabagum, the first wife of Humayun ,hamidabanu begum and bairam khan managed the administration.

Akbar,s conquests-

In 1562 A.D., Rani durgavati of godwana was defeated.

In 1564 A.D., Bazbahadurof malwa was defeated.

In 1570 A.D., Dawood khan of Bengal was killed.

In 1572 A.D., Muzaffar shah of Gujarat was defeated.

In 1585 A.D, Akbar conquered Kashmir defeated Md. Padshah.

In 1600 A.D., Rani chandbibi of Amhmednagar was defeated btAbulFazl who sent by Akbar. this was the last conquest of Akbar.

Akbar,s Rajput policy-

Akbar was a great pragmatist. He was the first Muslim ruler to realize that without the help of the Rajput’s, no permanent empire could be set up in India. In January, 1562 when the Akbar was going to Ajmer to visit the holy shrine of Saint Chishti, he accepted the submission of Raja Bharmal of Amber and welcomed a matrimonial alliance with that Kachhwaha ruling family and on his return from Ajmer Akbar married with his daughter on 6th February, 1562.

Bharmal with his son Bhagwant Das and grandson Man Singh accompanied the Emperor to Aagra where he was given a command of 5,000 and his son and grandson were granted commissions in the imperial army.

The Rajput policy of Akbar was wise and statesman like. He succeeded in bringing the majority of the Rajput kingdoms under his authority. What is more important, Akbar was able to enlist the support of the Rajputs in fighting his wars.

But it would be a mistake to suppose that Akbar’s Rajput policy was wholly successful. It was not. He was unable to break the power and pride of Mewar. It was not till Jahangir’s time that Mewar concluded terms with the Mughals. Even then the Mughal Emperor had to concede to the ruler of Mewar, a status of special honour and privilege.

Akbar,s Religious policy-

In 1562 A.D., Akbar banned force conversion.

In 1563 A.D. the pilgrim tax on Hindus was abolished.

In 1564 A.D. JIzia tax was abolished.

In 1575 A.D. Akbar constructed Ibadatkhana at FatehpurSikri for religious discourses and discussions to be conducted every Thursday.

Akbar invited father monsuratte and father Aquinois to speak on Christianity, Pt. Puroshottam on Hinduism, jainasenasuri on Jainism and Raza on parsi religion.

In 1579 A.D., he issued his famous decree of infallibility called mahazir or Mahzarnama.

It was drafted by sheikh Mubarak. With he decree, Akbar became Mir-i-Adil (chief interpretor of konan). In 1582 A.D. akbar founded a new faith called Din-iillahi. It was also called tauhid-i-illahi meaning universal faith. Its main theme sul-i-khul interpreted as ‘peace and harmony’ was  introduced for the first time by abdullatif, the teacher of akbar. din-i-illahi was openly criticized by raja bhagwan das.

Revenue Administration:

Akbar initially followed Sher Shah, revenue systems, particularly the Zabt system. Raja Todal Mal was made the Revenue Minister of Akbar and was known as Diwan-i-Ashraf. Todar Mal introduced ‘Bandobast’, a revenue assessment system classified into four categories:

Polaj (best tract), Parauti (second best), Checher (3rd grade) and Banjar (least fertile). On the basis of the average produce for the last 10 years, the category of land was decided and accordingly tax was levied. Dastur-ul-Amal was the price list for every area’s agricultural commodities. Akbar appointed supervisors for revenue collection called karoris at paraganah level.

 

Military Administration (Mansabdari System)

The Mansabdari  system was the unique administration system under the Mughals. Though introduced by Babur, it was perfected by Akbar. themansabdars were the civil servants selected on merit. They discharged civil, military, and judicial functions on behalf of the state/Emperor and were given land called Jagirs. The highest rank in Mansabdari of above 5000 was conferred by Akbar on raja man singhndAzizuddinKuka (11,000 sawars).

Mir-i-Atish was in charge of artillery.

Mir-i-Bahari was in charge of navy.

Mir-i-Askan was in charge of the military offences.

 

Jahangir (1605 A.D.- 1628 A.D.)

His pet name was Sheikh baba. He hung the ‘bell of justice’ in Agra Fort. He executed his son khusrau and also the fifth guru ArjunDev for supporting him. Mehr-un-nisa begum was given the tilte of ‘Noorjahan’and she became popular as padshah begum. She founded her own group called junta consisting of herself, her father MirzaGhiaz Beg (itamad-ud-daula)and her brother Asaf khan.

Khurram (shahjahan) made Rana Amar singh of Mewar accept Mughal suzerainty in1615 A.D.

In 1616 A.D. Khurram conquered Ahmadnagar and was given the title ‘Shahjahan’.

In 1622 A.D.,Persians occupied Kandahar and the Mughals lost Kandahar forever. Jahangir died at Lahore and was buried at Shahdra near Lahore.

Shahjahan (1628 A.D – 1658 A.D)

  • In 1629 A.D., Gujrat and Deccan famine resulted in the loss of man and material.
  • In 1630 A.D., Portuguese in Hoogly revolted and were driven away from Hoogly by Kasim Khan, Governor of Bengal.
  • In 1631 A.D., Mumtaz died.

 

Civil War– It was fought between DaraShikoh, the eldest son of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb, the third son. Begum jahanAra supported dara and RoshanArasupported  Aurangzeb. The secular dara followed Qadri Sufi Order and translated Upanishads into Persian whereas Aurangzeb followed NaqshBandi order.

Aurangzeb and his alliance with the fourth son Murad defeated the imperial armies commanded by dara and raja Jaswantsingh in the battle of varmat and samugarh in 1658 A.D. shahjahan was imprisoned on the charges of misusing public money. He died in 1665 A.D.

Aurangzeb defeated dara for the third time in the battle of deorai , performed coronation twice and came to power with the title ‘Alamgir’ meaning ‘king of the world’.

 

Aurangzeb (1658 A.D. -1707 A.D.)

After coming to the power, Aurangzeb brought about many changes.

  • He abolished the ‘kalimas’ (inscribing quranic verses on coins).
  • Mohitisib, the royal censor officer was entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing Koran.
  • The customs duties were fixed at 2.5% for Muslims and 5% for Hindus.
  • In 1669 A.D.he order for the destruction of temples.h The KashiVishwanath temple and Keshavrayatwmple in Mathura were the prominent ones to be destroyed.
  • In 1679 A.D.Jizia was reimposed.
  • He abolished both, vocal and instrument music. He also restrained court astrologer and historians; banned celebration of Diwali and Persian Navaroz festival.

Mughal Architecture

Akbar

The advent of the Mughals brought a new era in architecture. The synthesis of style which began earlier reached its zenith during this time. The architecture of Mughal style started during Akbar’s rule. The first building of this rule was Humayun’s Tomb at Delhi. In this magnificent building red stone was used. It has a main gateway and the tomb is placed in the midst of a garden. Many consider it a precursor of the TajMahal. Akbar built forts at Agra and FatehpurSikri. The BulundDarwaza reflects the grandeur of the mighty Mughal empire. This building was made following Akbar’s victory over Gujarat. The Arch of the BulandDarwaja is about 41 m high and is perhaps the most imposing gateway in the world. The tomb of SalimChishti, Palace of JodhaBai, IbadatKhana, Birbal’s House and other buildings at FatehpurSikri reflect a synthesis of Persian and Indian elements.

Jahangir

During the reign of Jehangir, Akbar’s Mausoleum was constructed at Sikandra near Agra. He built the beautiful tomb of Itimad-ud-daula which was built entirely of marble.

Shahjahan

Shahjahan was the greatest builder amongst the Mughals. He used marble extensively. Decorative design in inlay work, (called pietraduro) beautiful arches and minarets were the features of his buildings. The Red Fort and Jama Masjid of Delhi and above all the TajMahal are some of the buildings built by Shahjahan. The TajMahal, the tomb of Shahjahan’s wife, is built in marble and reflects all the architectural features that were developed during the Mughal period. It has a central dome, four elegant minarats, gateway, inlay work and gardens surrounding the main building.

The Mughal style of architecture had a profound influence on the buildings of the later period. The buildings showed a strong influence of the ancient Indian style and had courtyards and pillars. For the first time in the architecture of this style living beings- elephants, lions, peacocks and other birds were sculptured in the brackets.

Mughal Paintings

The art of textual illustration got a new look under the Mughals. Akbar and his successors brought revolutionary changes to painting and sensual illustrations. From this period book illumination or individual miniatures replaced wall painting as the most vital form of art. Emperor Akbar patronised artists from Kashmir and Gujarat; Humayun brought two Persian painters to his court. For the first time painters’ names were recorded in inscriptions. Some great painters of this period were Abd-us-SamadDasawanth and Basawan.

Beautiful illustrations are found on the pages of Baburnama and Akbarnama. Within a few years an integrated and dynamic style resulted from the synthesis of Persian and Indian style and the independent style of Mughal painting was developed. Between 1562 and 1577 a series of nearly 1400 cloth paintings were produced representing the new style and were placed in the imperial studio. Akbar also encouraged the art of making portraits.

The art of painting reached its climax during the period of Jahangir who himself was a great painter and connoisseur of art. Artists began to use vibrant colours such as peacock blue and red and were able to give three dimensional effects to paintings. Mansur, Bishan Das and Manohar were the most gifted painters of Jahangir’s time. Mansur had made an outstanding portrait of the artist AbulHasan and specialised in paintings of birds and animals.

Though Shah Jahan was more interested in architectural splendours, his eldest son DaraShikoh patronised painting like his gradfather. He preferred depicting natural elements like plants and animals in his painting. However withdrawal of royal patronage to painting under Aurangzeb led to the dispersal of artists to different places in the country.

Economic Condition during Mughal Period

The village was the unit around which peasant society revolved. It was also the real unit of assessment of the state’s revenue demand, which was distributed among villagers by the headman (muqaddam or kalantar  ) and the village accountant ( patwar ı). It thus had a financial pool, from which not only tax payments but also minor common expenses (kharch-i dih) were met. This seems to have formed the basic factor behind the celebrated, but often elusive, Indian village community.

Commerce seems to have penetrated the village economy to a great extent, since peasants needed to sell their crops in order to pay their taxes. There was little left them with which to buy any goods on the market. Even so, commerce must have intensified the already existing differences due to the unequal possession of agricultural and pastoral goods (seed, ploughs and cattle). The peasants were usually divided among castes. Even the administration recognized caste hierarchy by varying the revenue rates according to caste, as documents from Rajasthan especially show.

By and large, artisans were in the same position as peasants: they were technically’free’, but hemmed around by many constraints. Though some artisans were bound to render customary services as village servants, most could sell their wares in the market. The need for advances, however, often forced them to deal only with particular merchants, brokers or other middlemen. A small number worked in the workshops (karkhana  s) of nobles and merchants.

Merchants formed a numerous and fairly well-protected class in the Mughal empire. This class was also quite heterogeneous in composition. There were, on the one hand, the large bands of the banjara  s (transporters of goods in bulk), who travelled with pack oxen over enormous distances; on the other, there were specialist bankers (sarraf s), brokers (dallal s) and insurers (the business of bıma, or insurance, being usually carried on by sarraf s). Some of them, at the ports, also owned and operated ships.

 

 

CPI

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The Central Statistics Office (CSO) of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation announced that the new series of Consumer Price Index(CPI)  numbers for Rural, Urban and Combined (Rural +Urban) on base 2010 ( January to December)=100 taking all segments of rural and urban population for the month of January, 2011 will be released by the  Central Statistics Office for the States/UTs and all- India on 18th February, 2011.These indices will be available for five major groups namely Food, beverages and tobacco; Fuel and light; Housing; Clothing, bedding and footwear, and Miscellaneous.

Read moreCPI

Banking- Role of Commercial Banks, Issue of NPA, Financial Inclusion:-

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Table of Content:-

  1. Role of Commercial Banks
  2. Issue of NPA
  3. Financial Inclusion


Role of Commercial Banks

A Commercial bank is a type of financial institution that provides services such as accepting deposits, making business loans, and offering basic investment products

There is acute shortage of capital. People lack initiative and enterprise. Means of transport are undeveloped. Industry is depressed. The commercial banks help in overcoming these obstacles and promoting economic development. The role of a commercial bank in a developing country is discussed as under.

  1. Mobilising Saving for Capital Formation:

The commercial banks help in mobilising savings through network of branch banking. People in developing countries have low incomes but the banks induce them to save by introducing variety of deposit schemes to suit the needs of individual depositors. They also mobilise idle savings of the few rich. By mobilising savings, the banks channelize them into productive investments. Thus they help in the capital formation of a developing country.

  1. Financing Industry:

The commercial banks finance the industrial sector in a number of ways. They provide short-term, medium-term and long-term loans to industry.

  1. Financing Trade:

The commercial banks help in financing both internal and external trade. The banks provide loans to retailers and wholesalers to stock goods in which they deal. They also help in the movement of goods from one place to another by providing all types of facilities such as discounting and accepting bills of exchange, providing overdraft facilities, issuing drafts, etc. Moreover, they finance both exports and imports of developing countries by providing foreign exchange facilities to importers and exporters of goods.

  1. Financing Agriculture:

The commercial banks help the large agricultural sector in developing countries in a number of ways. They provide loans to traders in agricultural commodities. They open a network of branches in rural areas to provide agricultural credit. They provide finance directly to agriculturists for the marketing of their produce, for the modernisation and mechanisation of their farms, for providing irrigation facilities, for developing land, etc.

They also provide financial assistance for animal husbandry, dairy farming, sheep breeding, poultry farming, pisciculture and horticulture. The small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural workers, artisans and petty shopkeepers in rural areas are provided financial assistance through the regional rural banks in India. These regional rural banks operate under a commercial bank. Thus the commercial banks meet the credit requirements of all types of rural people. In India agricultural loans are kept in priority sector landing.

  1. Financing Consumer Activities:

People in underdeveloped countries being poor and having low incomes do not possess sufficient financial resources to buy durable consumer goods. The commercial banks advance loans to consumers for the purchase of such items as houses, scooters, fans, refrigerators, etc. In this way, they also help in raising the standard of living of the people in developing countries by providing loans for consumptive activities and also increase the demand in the economy.

  1. Financing Employment Generating Activities:

The commercial banks finance employment generating activities in developing countries. They provide loans for the education of young person’s studying in engineering, medical and other vocational institutes of higher learning. They advance loans to young entrepreneurs, medical and engineering graduates, and other technically trained persons in establishing their own business. Such loan facilities are being provided by a number of commercial banks in India. Thus the banks not only help inhuman capital formation but also in increasing entrepreneurial activities in developing countries.

  1. Help in Monetary Policy:

The commercial banks help the economic development of a country by faithfully following the monetary policy of the central bank. In fact, the central bank depends upon the commercial banks for the success of its policy of monetary management in keeping with requirements of a developing economy.

 

 


Issue of NPA

A non performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.According to RBI, terms loans on which interest or installment of principal remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days from the end of a particular quarter is called a Non-performing Asset.

However, in terms of Agriculture / Farm Loans; the NPA is defined as under:

  • For short duration crop agriculture loans such as paddy, Jowar, Bajra etc. if the loan (installment / interest) is not paid for 2 crop seasons , it would be termed as a NPA.
  • For Long Duration Crops, the above would be 1 Crop season from the due date.

The Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act has provisions for the banks to take legal recourse to recover their dues. When a borrower makes any default in repayment and his account is classified as NPA; the secured creditor has to issue notice to the borrower giving him 60 days to pay his dues. If the dues are not paid, the bank can take possession of the assets and can also give it on lease or sell it; as per provisions of the SAFAESI Act.

Reselling of NPAs :- If a bad loan remains NPA for at least two years, the bank can also resale the same to the Asset Reconstruction Companies such as Asset Reconstruction Company (India) (ARCIL).  These sales are only on Cash Basis and the purchasing bank/ company would have to keep the accounts for at least 15 months before it sells to other bank. They purchase such loans on low amounts and try to recover as much as possible from the defaulters. Their revenue is difference between the purchased amount and recovered amount.

 


Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low-income segments of society, in contrast to financial exclusion where those services are not available or affordable.Financial-inclusion

Government of India has launched an innovative scheme of Jan Dhan Yojna for Financial Inclusion to provide the financial services to millions out of the regulated banking sector.

 

 

 

 

Various program’s for financial inclusion are:-

  • Swabhimaan Scheme: under the Swabhimaan campaign, the Banks were advised to provide appropriate banking facilities to habitations having a population in excess of 2000 (as per 2001 census) by March 2012.
  • Extention of  the banking network in unbanked areas,
  • Expansion of Business Correspondent Agent (BCA) Network
  • Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL)
  • RuPay, a new card payment scheme has been conceived by NPCI to offer a domestic, open-loop, multilateral card payment system which will allow all Indian banks and financial Institutions in India to participate in electronic payments.
  • Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was formally launched on 28th August, 2014. The Yojana envisages universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension. The beneficiaries would get a RuPay Debit Card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs.1.00 lakh. In addition there is a life insurance cover of Rs.30000/- to those people who opened their bank accounts for the first time between 15.08.2014 to 26.01.2015 and meet other eligibility conditions of the Yojana.

 

 

LAKE ECOLOGY

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Any – body of standing water, generally large enough in area and depth, irrespective of its hydrology, ecology, and other characteristics is generally known as lake.

Ageing of Lakes

The nutrient enrichment of the lakes promotes the growth of algae, aquatic plants and various fauna. This process is known as natural eutrophication.

Similar nutrient enrichment of lakes at an accelerated rate is caused by human activities and the consequent ageing phenomenon is known as ‘cultural eutrophication’.

In India, natural lakes (relatively few) mostly ile in the Himalayan region, the floodplains of Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra.

Lake ‘Sudarshan’ in Gujarat’s Girnar area was perhaps the oldest man-made lake in India, dating back to 300 BC.

Lakes are also classified on the basis of their water chemistry. Based-on the levels of salinity, they are known as Freshwater, Brackish or Saline lakes (similar to that of classification of aquatic ecosystem).

On the basis of their nutrient content, they are categorized as Oligotrophic (very low nutrients), Mesotrophic (moderate nutrients) and Eutrophic (highly nutrient rich).

Removal of the nutrients from a lake

  • Flushing with nutrient-poor waters.
  • Deep water abstraction.
  • On-site P-elimination by flocculation/flotation with water backflow, or floating Plant
  • NESSIE with adsorbents.
  • On-site algae removal by filters and P-adsorbers.
  • 0n-site algae skimming and separator thickening.
  • Artificial mixing / Destratification (permanent or intermittent).
  • Harvest of fishes and macrophytes.
  • Sludge removal

Reasons for the growth of militant nationalism

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Disillusionment of the nationalists with moderate policies

  • The moderates thought that the British could be reformed from within
  • Politically conscious Indians were convinced that the purpose of the British rule was to exploit India economically
  • The nationalists realized that Indian industries could not flourish except under an Indian government
  • Disastrous famines from 1896 to 1900 took a toll of over 90 lakh lives
  • The Indian Councils Act of 1892 was a disappointment
  • The Natu brothers were deported in 1897 without trial
  • In 1897 B G Tilak was sentenced to long term imprisonment for arousing the people against the government
  • In 1904, the Indian Official Secrets Act was passed restricting the freedom of the Press
  • Primary and technical education was not making any progress
  • Thus, increasing number of Indians were getting convinced that self-government was essential for the sake of economic, political and cultural progress of the country

 

Growth of Self-respect and  self-confidence

  • Tilak, Aurobindo and Pal preached the message of self-respect
  • They said to the people that remedy to their condition lay in their own hand and they should therefore become strong
  • Swami Vivekananda’s messages

 

Growth of education and unemployment

 

International Influences

  • Rise of modern Japan after 1868
  • Defeat of the Italian army by the Ethiopians in 1896 and of Russia by Japan in 1905 exploded the myth of European superiority

Existence of a Militant Nationalist School of Thought

 

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CHARACTERISTICS AND PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE

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CHARACTERISTICS AND PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE

  1. Subsistent in Character
  2. Heavy Pressure of Population
  3. Predominance of Food Grains
  4. Mixed Cropping
  5. High Percentage of the Reporting Area under Cultivation
  6. Small Size of Holdings and Fragmentation of Fields
  7. Limited Intensive Agriculture
  8. Primitive Technology
  9. Indian Agriculture is Labour Intensive
  10. Rain-fed Agriculture
  11. Less Area under Leguminous and Fodder Crops
  12. Tradition Bound
  13. Low Productivity
  14. Government Policy
  15. Lack of Definite Agricultural Land Use Policy
  16. Lack of Marketing and Storage Facilities
  17. Low Status of Agriculture in the Society
  18. Land Tenancy
  19. Poverty and Indebtedness of the Farmers
  20. Inadequacy of Extension Service
  21. Inadequate Agricultural Research and Education, Training, and Extension
  22. Soil Erosion and Soil Degradation
  23. Other Characteristics and Problems

 

Coastal Regulation Zone

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 Act of 1991

  • To regulate development activity on India’s coastline
  • The approach adopted by the first notification was to define the ‘High Tide Line’ and ‘Coastal Regulation Zone’ and thereafter specify the activities permitted and restricted in the vicinity of the CRZ
  • This regulated zone was further divided into four categories (CRZ 1-4) as per permitted land use
  • There have been about 25 amendments in this notification between 1991 and 2009
  • Rules re-issued in 2011
    • The difference between 1991 and 2011 rule is that the ‘no development zone’ has been reduced from 200 m from the high-tide line (HTL) to 100 m only to meet the increased demands of housing of fishing and other traditional coastal communities.
    • CRZ has been expanded to include territorial waters as protected zone
    • The concept of ‘hazard line’ has been introduced
    • Concept of classification of CRZ into four zones has been continued
  • CRZ I- ecologically sensitive areas such as mangroves, coral reefs, salt marshes, turtle nesting ground and the inter-tidal zone.
  • CRZ II- areas close to the shoreline, and which have been developed.
  • CRZ III- Coastal areas that are not substantially built up, including rural coastal areas.
  • CRZ IV- water area from LTL to the limit of territorial waters of India
    • A new category called areas requiring special consideration has been created which includes
      • CRZ areas of Greater Mumbai, Kerala and Goa
      • Critically vulnerable coastal areas such as Sunderbans
    • The list of exceptions to the rule prohibiting setting up of new industries and expansion of existing industries has been expanded

 

Lucknow Pact (1916),Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms and Rowlatt Act

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Lucknow Pact (1916)

  • Nationalists saw that their disunity was affecting their cause
  • Two important developments at the Lucknow Session of Congress
    • The two wings of the Congress were again united
    • The Congress and the Muslim League sank their old differences and put up common political demands before the government.
  • INC and ML passed the same resolutions at their sessions, put forward a joint scheme of political reforms based on separate electorates, and demanded that the British Government should make a declaration that it would confer self-government on India at an early date.
  • The pact accepted the principle of separate electorates
  • Main clauses of the pact
    • There shall be self-government in India.
    • Muslims should be given one-third representation in the central government.
    • There should be separate electorates for all the communities until a community demanded joint electorates.
    • A system of weightage should be adopted.
    • The number of the members of Central Legislative Council should be increased to 150.
    • At the provincial level, four-fifth of the members of the Legislative Councils should be elected and one-fifth should be nominated.
    • The size of provincial legislatures should not be less than 125 in the major provinces and from 50 to 75 in the minor provinces.
    • All members, except those nominated, should be elected directly on the basis of adult franchise.
    • No bill concerning a community should be passed if the bill is opposed by three-fourth of the members of that community in the Legislative Council.
    • The term of the Legislative Council should be five years.
    • Members of Legislative Council should themselves elect their president.
    • Half of the members of Imperial Legislative Council should be Indians.
    • The Indian Council must be abolished.
    • The salaries of the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs should be paid by the British government and not from Indian funds.
    • Of the two Under Secretaries, one should be Indian.
    • The Executive should be separated from the Judiciary.
  • Evaluation
    • As an immediate effect, the unity between the two factions of the congress and between INC and ML aroused great political enthusiasm in the country
    • However, it did not involve Hindu and Muslim masses and was based on the notion of bringing together the educated Hindus and Muslims as separate political entities without secularization of their political outlook
    • The pact therefore left the way open to the future resurgence of communalism in Indian politics.
  • Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
    • Provincial LC enlarged. More elected members
    • Dyarchy
      • Some subjects were reserved and remained under the direct control of the Governor; others such as education, public health and local self-government were called transferred subjects and were to be controlled by the ministers responsible to the legislature.
    • At the centre, there were two houses of legislature.
    • Response of nationalists
      • INC condemned the reforms as disappointing and unsatisfactory
      • Some others , led by Surendranath Banerjea, were in favour of accepting the government proposals. They left the Congress at this time and founded the Indian Liberal Federation
    • Evaluation
      • The governor could overrule the ministers on any grounds that he considered special
      • The legislature had virtually no control over the Governor-General and his Executive Council.
      • The central government had unrestricted control over the provincial governments

 

Rowlatt Act

  • March 1919
  • It authorized the Government to imprison any person without trial and conviction in a court of law.

 

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Niche

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Niche:- a  description  of  all  the  biological,  physical  and  chemical  factors  that  a  species needs to survive, stay healthy and reproduce. No two species have exact identical niches. Niche plays an important role in conservation of organisms.

Types of Niche

  1. Habitat niche – where it lives
  2. Food niche – what is eats or decomposes & what species it competes with
  3. Reproductive niche -how and when it reproduces.
  4. Physical & chemical niche – temperature, land shape, land slope, humidity & other requirement.

World War I and Gadar movement

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World War I and Indian Nationalism

  • Increasing number of Indians from Punjab were emigrating to North America.
  • The British government thought that these emigrants would be affected by the idea of liberty. Hence, they tried to restrict emigration.
  • Tarak Nath Das, an Indian student in Canada, started a paper called Free Hindustan.
  • The Hindi Association was setup in Portland in May 1913.
  • Under the leadership of Lala Har Dayal, a weekly paper, The Ghadar was started and a headquarters called Yugantar Ashram was set up in San Fransisco.
  • On November 1, 1913, the first issue of Ghadar was published in Urdu and on December 9, the Gurumukhi edition.
  • In 1914, three events influenced the course of the Ghadar movement:
    • The arrest and escape of Har Dayal
    • The Komagata Maru incident
    • Outbreak of the first world war
  • Gharadites came to India and made several attempts to instill the Indian population to revolt. However, this was of no avail.
  • The Ghadar movement was very secular in nature.
  • Ghadar militants were distinguished by their secular, egalitarian, democratic and non-chauvinistic internationalist outlook.
  • The major weakness of the Ghadar leaders was that they completely under-estimated the extent and amount of preparation at every level – organizational, ideological, strategic, tactical, financial – that was necessary before an attempt at an armed revolt could be organized.
  • It also failed to generate an effective and sustained leadership that was capable of integrating the various aspects of the movement.
  • Another weakness was its almost non-existent organizational structure.
  • Some important leaders: Baba Gurmukh Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Rahmat Ali Shah, Bhai Parmanand and Mohammad Barkatullah.
  • Inspired by the Ghadar Party, 700 soldiers at Singapore revolted under the leadership of Jamadar Chisti Khan and Subedar Dundey Khan. The rebellion was crushed.
  • Other revolutionaries: Jatin Mukharjee, Rash Bihari Bose, Raja Mahendra Pratab, Lala Hardayal, Abdul Rahim, Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, Champakaraman Pillai, Sardar Singh Rana and Madame Cama

 

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