India 1885 1947

The establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1885 marked a turning point in modern South Asian history. At the time, few grasped the significance of the event, nor understood the power that its leader would come to wield. From humble beginnings, the Congress led by Gandhi would go on to spearhead India s fight for independence from British rule: in 1947 it succeeded the British Raj as the regional ruling power. Ian Copland provides both a narrative and analysis of the process by which Indians and Pakistanis emancipated themselves from the seemingly iron-clad yoke of British imperialism. In so doing, he goes to the heart of what sets modern India apart from most other countries in the region its vigorous democracy.

'...it is well written, balanced and comprehensive. It splendidly incorporates the new work of the last twenty years as no one else has and it will be the starting point for everyone doing any work, from sixth forms upwards, on modern India.' D.A.Low

The Punjab--an area now divided between Pakistan and India--experienced significant economic growth under British rule from the second half of the nineteenth century. This expansion was founded on the construction of an extensive network of canals in the western parts of the province. The ensuing agricultural settlement transformed the previously barren area into one of the most important regions of commercial agriculture in South Asia. Nevertheless, Imran Ali argues that colonial strategy distorted the development of what came to be called the "bread basket" of the Indian subcontinent. This comprehensive survey of British rule in the Punjab demonstrates that colonial policy making led to many of the socio-economic and political problems currently plaguing Pakistan and Indian Punjab. Subordinating developmental goals to its political and military imperatives, the colonial state cooperated with the dominant social classes, the members of which became the major beneficiaries of agricultural colonization. Even while the rulers tried to use the vast resources of the Punjab to advance imperial purposes, they were themselves being used by their collaborators to advance implacable private interests. Such processes effectively retarded both nationalism and social change and resulted in the continued backwardness of the region even after the departure of the British. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1885 marked a turning point in modern South Asian history. At the time, few grasped the significance of the event, nor understood the power that its leader would come to wield. From humble beginnings, the Congress led by Gandhi would go on to spearhead India s fight for independence from British rule: in 1947 it succeeded the British Raj as the regional ruling power. Ian Copland provides both a narrative and analysis of the process by which Indians and Pakistanis emancipated themselves from the seemingly iron-clad yoke of British imperialism. In so doing, he goes to the heart of what sets modern India apart from most other countries in the region its vigorous democracy.

This volume presents an analytical history of India's struggle for freedom and the role played in it by the Indian National Congress. It provides a comprehensive account of the Independence movement, encompassing events such as the extremist-moderate split in the Congress, Morley-Minto reforms, Round Table Conferences, the Quit India Movement; and the Partition. Drawing on statistical analysis and exhaustive research, it examines the impact of prevailing domestic and international economic conditions on the evolution of the politics of the Congress, the Muslim League, as well as the Indian revolutionary, socialist, and communist parties. The book also throws light on the complex interplay of power politics between the Centre, the States, and the various grass-roots organizatons on one hand and the push and pull of Hindu-Muslim communal politics on the other. This is the first English translation of the Bengali classic Swadhinata Sangrame Bharatiya Jatiya Congress: 1885-1947 (first published in 1990) by the late Professor Amales Tripathi, an eminent scholar and a renowned historian. This translation also carries a foreword by Dr Rudrangshu Mukherjee.

In pre-partition days Urdu has been the vehicle of learned expressions in Social Sciences and humanities but in the post-partition era it was not in much use by the scholars, partly because the young generation of scholars was not so familiar with Urdu. The present work is a meticulous effort to unfold the vast learned material on Modern India for research scholars. Had this effort not been made a large segment of valuable material it would have remained untapped by them. Primary sources like articles in Urdu newspapers and journals have been scanned. The entries give names of authors and titles in transliterated form but annotation is given in English in each entry. The book contains author, title and subject indices.