Topic: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues;
1. The ‘reforms’ of 1909, institutionalized communalism in India. Critically Analyze The Indian Councils Act of 1909. (250 words)
Reference: India’s struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra.
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To bring out how the Morley Minto Reforms was the initiation of communal politics in India and to critique the act of 1909 by examining its positives and negatives.
Directive:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Give a brief preview of the major aspects of Morley and Minto reforms as introduction.
Body:
In the first, in detail, explain how by introducing the concept of separate communal electorate, the policy of communalism and divide and rule got legal sanction.
In the next part, bring out the circumstances under which it came into force. Discuss what the demands of the moderates were, like expansion of legislative council, responsible government etc. With examples show how these reforms were just a shadow of what was actually demanded.
Write about a few positives of the reforms.
Conclusion:
Conclude that the constitutional reforms instead of solving the political problems of the country created more problems by making the situation worse.
