Mountbatten Plan And Partition of India - General Knowledge of Modern India

Mountbatten Plan And Partition of India - General Knowledge of Modern India

Lord Mountbatten came to India for the partition of India and the speedy transfer of power. Initially this transfer of power was to be given in the form of Dominion status to the Indian governments of divided India. On 3 June 1947, Lord Mountbatten presented his plan, which outlined the various steps to solve India's political problem. Initially this transfer of power was to be given in the form of Dominion status to the Indian governments of divided India.

Read More History: Mudiman Committee (1924) - General Knowledge of Modern India

Mountbatten Plan

• India will be divided into India and Pakistan.
• Bengal and Punjab will be partitioned and referendum will be held in North Eastern Frontier Province and Sylhet district of Assam.
• A separate Constituent Assembly will be formed for the constitution of Pakistan.
• The princely states would be free to either join Pakistan or India or declare themselves independent.
• 15 August 1947 was fixed as the day for the transfer of power to India and Pakistan.

The British Government passed the Indian Independence Act, 1947 in July 1947. It contained the major provisions that were carried forward by the Mountbatten Plan.

Partition And Freedom

• All political parties accepted the Mountbatten plan.
• Under the chairmanship of Sir Radcliffe, two commissions were set up by the British government, whose function was to look after the partition and to determine the international boundaries of the newly formed nations.
• At the time of independence, there were 562 small and big princely states in India.
• The first Home Minister of India, Vallabhbhai Patel followed a strict policy in this regard. By 15 August 1947, all the princely states had signed the Instrument of Accession except for a few exceptions like Jammu and Kashmir, Junagadh and Hyderabad. Goa was ruled by the Portuguese and Puducherry by the French.