1War changed everyday life

• Defence spending rose during the First World War. War loans and higher taxes financed it.
• Customs duties rose and income tax was introduced. Prices doubled between 1913 and 1918.
• Forced recruitment made villages supply soldiers and caused anger.
• Expected relief did not follow the war. Crop failures in 1918-19 and 1920-21 added food shortages.

3Satyagraha: active resistance

• Gandhi returned from South Africa in January 1915, after campaigns against racist laws.
• Satyagraha: Organised resistance to injustice through truth, persuasion and non-violence.
• A satyagrahi appeals to the opponent's conscience rather than seeking revenge or inflicting pain.
• Source A stresses intense activity. Non-violence does not mean waiting without action.

4Hardship and political organisation

• Famine and influenza worsened the crisis. Citing the 1921 census, NCERT gives 12 to 13 million deaths from famine and the epidemic together.
• People experienced colonial rule differently. Shared grievances could support mobilisation, but organisation and methods were still needed.
• Gandhi believed non-violence could unite Indians. That belief did not establish universal agreement.

5One method, different immediate grievances

1The legal grievance

• The Rowlatt Act of 1919 gave the government broad powers to repress political activity.
• Political prisoners could be detained for two years without trial.
• Indian members opposed the Act in the Imperial Legislative Council, but it passed.
• Gandhi called for non-violent resistance, beginning with a hartal on 6 April. A hartal suspends work and closes shops.

3Presence does not prove one motive

4What followed

• News brought strikes, clashes and attacks on government buildings in many north Indian towns.
• Repression included flogging, forced salutes and humiliating crawling orders. Villages around Gujranwala were bombed.
• Gandhi called off the Rowlatt movement as violence spread.
• The agitation remained mainly urban. He looked for a broader movement and closer Hindu-Muslim cooperation.

1Two concerns came together

• Ottoman Turkey's defeat in the First World War raised fears of a harsh settlement against the Ottoman emperor, the Khalifa.
• A Khilafat Committee formed in Bombay in March 1919 to defend his temporal powers.
• Temporal powers: Worldly political authority, distinct here from spiritual status.
• Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali discussed united mass action with Gandhi.

2Why Gandhi supported the alliance

1. Rowlatt's limited reach

   Agitation was concentrated in cities and towns.

   prompted a search for
2. A broader connection

   Khilafat concerns could join Indian self-rule in shared action.

   supported
3. A mass campaign

   Gandhi sought closer Hindu-Muslim cooperation through Non-Cooperation.

4Agreement had to be built

• At Calcutta in September 1920, Gandhi convinced Congress leaders to support Non-Cooperation for Khilafat and swaraj.
• Congress still debated the programme's methods. The Nagpur compromise in December adopted Non-Cooperation.
• An alliance could widen participation without settling every future disagreement. Later distrust developed through events, not an inevitable failure from the start.

1Withdraw the support sustaining rule

• In Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi argued that Indian cooperation sustained British rule.
• He proposed surrendering titles and boycotting services, the army, police, courts, councils, schools and foreign goods.
• He expected swaraj within a year if Indians refused cooperation. This was a political expectation, not an achieved result.
• The plan envisaged fuller civil disobedience if repression followed.

2From debate to campaign

1. September 1920

   Calcutta Congress supported Non-Cooperation. Leaders still disputed council-election boycott and feared violence.

2. December 1920

   Nagpur Congress adopted a compromise programme.

3. January 1921

   The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began.

Sequence only. Spacing is schematic, not proportional to elapsed time.

3Participation in towns

• Students left government institutions, teachers resigned and lawyers gave up practice.
• Most provinces boycotted council elections. Madras's Justice Party entered councils to gain opportunities for non-Brahmans.
• Foreign goods were boycotted, foreign cloth burnt and liquor shops picketed. Indian textile-mill and handloom production rose.
• The value of foreign cloth imports fell from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore between 1921 and 1922.

4Two useful terms

• Boycott: Refusing goods, activities or associations as a form of protest.
• Picketing: Demonstrating by blocking the entrance to a shop, factory or office.
• Both could withdraw support from colonial trade and institutions. They did not automatically create affordable alternatives.

1Freedom from local burdens

• Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi formerly an indentured labourer in Fiji, led Awadh peasants against talukdars and landlords.
• High rents and other cesses reduced peasant incomes. Regular eviction left tenants without secure rights to leased land.
• Begar required unpaid work on landlords' farms.
• Demands included reduced revenue, abolition of begar and social boycott of oppressive landlords. Nai-dhobi bandhs withheld barbers' and washermen's services.

3Organisation and local expectations

1. June 1920

   Nehru visited Awadh villages to understand grievances.

2. October 1920

   Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and others headed the Oudh Kisan Sabha. Over 300 branches formed within a month.

3. 1921

   Congress tried to connect the peasant struggle with Non-Cooperation. Some actions exceeded its programme.

4. 1928, separate campaign

   Vallabhbhai Patel led the successful Bardoli struggle in Gujarat against enhanced land revenue.

Sequence only. Spacing is schematic, not proportional to elapsed time.

4A national movement could be reinterpreted

• In 1921, houses were attacked, bazaars looted and grain hoards seized in some places.
• Local leaders claimed Gandhi had authorised tax refusal and redistribution of land.
• His name gave local aspirations legitimacy. These claims do not establish that he issued those instructions.
• Congress leaders were unhappy with some forms of action. Participation did not mean uniform obedience.

1Swaraj meant control over everyday life

• Forest closures in the Gudem Hills restricted grazing and collection of fruit and fuelwood.
• Hill people saw threats to livelihoods and customary rights. Forced road-building begar added anger.
• In Assam tea gardens, workers needed permission to leave under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859. Permission was rarely granted.
• These were distinct restrictions, even when people used the same word: swaraj.

3Inspiration and method could differ

• Raju admired Gandhi, encouraged khadi and opposed drinking.
• He nevertheless believed force was necessary for liberation. Rebels attacked police stations and used guerrilla warfare.
• Congress could not approve this armed method.
• Stories about Raju's special powers show followers' beliefs and his appeal. They do not verify supernatural ability.

4Expectation and outcome could differ

• Plantation workers believed Gandhi Raj was coming and that they would receive land in their home villages.
• The account records these as hopes. It does not say the promised land or freedom was delivered.
• Invoking Gandhi and swaraj connected local struggles to an all-India movement without making local aims identical to Congress's programme.

1Why Gandhi withdrew

• At Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, a peaceful demonstration became a violent clash with police.
• Gandhi withdrew Non-Cooperation in February 1922, believing violence was spreading.
• He wanted satyagrahis properly trained before another mass struggle.
• Non-violence remained a condition of his method, even when withdrawal cost political momentum.

3Box 1: HSRA and Bhagat Singh

• HSRA was founded at Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi in 1928. NCERT names Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das and Ajoy Ghosh among its leaders.
• Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutta threw a bomb in the Legislative Assembly in April 1929.
• The box also describes an attempt against Irwin's train that year.
• Bhagat Singh was 23 when tried and executed. His trial statement emphasised labour and revolution in society rather than glorification of weapons.

1Why salt mattered

• Rich and poor consumed salt, an essential food item.
• A tax and the government monopoly over production placed this daily need under colonial control.
• Making salt against the law gave people a concrete way to challenge that control.
• Shared use made salt a powerful symbol. It did not give every participant the same wider aims.

3The sequence

1. December 1929

   Lahore Congress, under Jawaharlal Nehru, adopted Purna Swaraj: complete independence.

2. 26 January 1930

   An independence pledge called for struggle. Its celebrations attracted little attention.

3. 31 January 1930

   Gandhi sent eleven demands to Irwin, covering several class interests. The deadline was 11 March.

4. March 1930

   With no negotiation, Gandhi and 78 volunteers walked from Sabarmati towards Dandi: over 240 miles in 24 days.

5. 6 April 1930

   At Dandi, Gandhi broke the salt law by making salt from sea water. This began Civil Disobedience.

Sequence only. Spacing is schematic, not proportional to elapsed time.

4The situation before the march

• Agricultural prices began falling in 1926 and collapsed after 1930. Falling exports and incomes made revenue harder to pay.
• The Simon Commission arrived in 1928 with no Indian member. Congress and the Muslim League joined protests.
• Lala Lajpat Rai died from injuries inflicted during a peaceful anti-Simon demonstration.
• Irwin offered future dominion status in October 1929 without a clear date. This did not satisfy Congress leaders.

5Source C: a demand, not an achieved result

• The Independence Day Pledge linked freedom with the fruits of labour, necessities of life and opportunities to grow.
• It argued that people could change or abolish an oppressive government. The pledge demanded independence; it did not announce its achievement.

6Two movements: the key distinction

1Action went beyond refusal

• People made salt against the law and demonstrated at government salt factories.
• Peasants refused some revenue and chaukidari taxes. Village officials resigned.
• Forest communities entered Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle in defiance of restrictions.
• Foreign-cloth boycott and liquor-shop picketing continued. Tactics varied across places.

3What the Pact changed

4Why support could change

• Peaceful satyagrahis, women and children faced attacks. NCERT reports about 100,000 arrests.
• Repression raised the cost of participation. Negotiation and unmet demands changed expectations.
• Some groups did not return when the campaign resumed. A decline in one campaign did not mean every supporter abandoned freedom.

1Shared opposition, different interests

• Rich Patidars in Gujarat and Jats in Uttar Pradesh produced commercial crops. Falling prices reduced cash income and made government revenue difficult to pay.
• Small tenants also faced falling incomes, but their unpaid rent was owed to landlords.
• Merchants and industrialists wanted room to expand trade and industry. Workers sought better wages and conditions.
• Congress tried to hold these groups together. Supporting one demand could alienate another group.

3Business organisation

• The Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress formed in 1920; FICCI followed in 1927.
• G. D. Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas supported the early campaign financially and through import boycotts.
• After failed conference negotiations, business enthusiasm became less uniform.

4Workers' action

• Railway workers struck in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932.
• In 1930, Chotanagpur tin-mine workers wore Gandhi caps and joined rallies and boycotts.
• Some adapted nationalist methods to workplace struggles. This did not make workers' demands central to the Congress programme.

1A wider public role

• Thousands of women came to hear Gandhi during the Salt March.
• Women marched, made salt and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many went to jail.
• Many understood national service as a sacred duty. Political action took them into a public arena beyond domestic life.

3Social background also mattered

• NCERT describes urban participants from high-caste families and rural participants from rich peasant households.
• This describes the source's account, not identical resources or opportunities for every woman.
• A procession shows participation. Access to leadership and decisions is different evidence, needed to assess authority.

1Two routes to empowerment

• Congress had long neglected Dalit demands for fear of offending conservative high-caste Hindus.
• Gandhi made ending untouchability central to swaraj. He sought social reform and a change in upper-caste attitudes.
• Many Dalit leaders sought political power alongside social rights. They wanted safeguards allowing Dalits to choose their representatives.

2The disagreement was about representation

3From demand to compromise

1. 1930

   Ambedkar organised the Depressed Classes Association.

2. Second Round Table Conference

   Ambedkar demanded separate electorates; Gandhi opposed the proposal.

3. 1932

   The British accepted separate electorates. Gandhi began a fast.

4. September 1932

   The Poona Pact provided reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, elected through the general electorate.

Sequence only. Spacing is schematic, not proportional to elapsed time.

5Social rights and political safeguards

• Gandhi organised satyagraha for access to temples, wells, tanks, roads and schools.
• He cleaned toilets to dignify sanitation work and urged upper castes to give up untouchability.
• Dalit leaders also demanded reserved places in educational institutions.
• Civil Disobedience participation was limited, especially in Maharashtra and Nagpur, where Dalit organisation was strong.

1Unity needed political trust

• After Non-Cooperation-Khilafat declined, large sections of Muslims felt alienated from Congress.
• Congress's growing association with openly Hindu nationalist groups, including the Hindu Mahasabha, deepened concern.
• Militant religious processions, communal clashes and riots increased separation.
• Many leaders feared that minority culture and identity would be submerged under majority domination.

2Negotiating representation

1. 1927

   Jinnah was willing to give up separate electorates if Muslims had reserved Central Assembly seats and representation proportional to population in Bengal and Punjab.

2. 1928

   Negotiations at the All Parties Conference failed when M. R. Jayakar opposed compromise.

3. 1930

   Civil Disobedience began amid distrust. Some Muslim organisations responded with limited enthusiasm.

Sequence only. Spacing is schematic, not proportional to elapsed time.

1How a nation became imaginable

• Shared struggles helped people recognise a common nation. Cultural work also made belonging visible and shareable.
• Fiction, prints, songs, folklore, flags and retold histories carried national ideas.
• In Figure 11, sacred buildings of different faiths frame Tilak. They convey intended unity, not proof of every viewer's response.

3Folklore and collective pride

• Rabindranath Tagore collected ballads, nursery rhymes and myths in Bengal.
• Natesa Sastri published the four-volume Folklore of Southern India, a collection of Tamil tales.
• Collectors believed folklore revealed national tradition. These were historical beliefs about culture, not proof of a single pure tradition.

4Retelling the past

• Colonial accounts portrayed Indians as backward and incapable of self-government.
• Nationalist histories answered with achievements in art, architecture, science, mathematics, religion, philosophy, law, crafts and trade.
• Source E, Tarinicharan Chattopadhyay's 1858 history, contrasts past glory with decline under colonial rule.
• It is evidence of a nationalist interpretation. Its claims about ancient achievements and decline still require examination.

5Historical flags are not today's flag

1A nation with many voices

• Colonial oppression supplied a shared bond. Different groups nevertheless experienced it differently and imagined different freedoms.
• Congress under Gandhi channelled grievances into organised campaigns.
• Leaders tried to support one group's demands without alienating another. These choices produced cooperation and conflict.
• High points of mobilisation alternated with withdrawal, disagreement and retreat. Unity was negotiated, not automatic.

3Later context: Quit India, 1942

1. Before the call

   The Cripps Mission failed. The Second World War added widespread discontent.

2. 14 July 1942

   Congress Working Committee passed its Quit India resolution at Wardha.

3. 8 August 1942

   The All India Congress Committee endorsed it in Bombay. Gandhi called for a broad non-violent struggle and delivered his Do or Die speech.

4. The following struggle

   Hartals, demonstrations and processions involved students, workers, peasants and women. British force took more than a year to suppress it.

Sequence only. Spacing is schematic, not proportional to elapsed time.

4People named in the later box

• NCERT names Jayprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali and Ram Manohar Lohia.
• It also names Matangini Hazra in Bengal, Kanaklata Barua in Assam and Rama Devi in Odisha.
• Quit India belongs to 1942. It is not the 1932 resumption of Civil Disobedience.