Indian Independence Act

Indian Independence Act, legislation passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on July 18, 1947, providing for the establishment of independent India and Pakistan in the territories of South Asia defined as “India” under the 1935 Government of India Act. The two new countries were to be created as dominions within the British Commonwealth, with the British monarch as the symbolic head of state. This dominion status was temporary and lasted until each country adopted its own constitution, India in 1950 and Pakistan in 1956. The Indian Independence Act, the culmination of decades of struggle throughout the Indian Independence Movement, took effect on August 15, 1947, less than a month after its enactment.

Background

Direct British rule of India began in 1858 as a consequence of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the paramountcy of the East India Company. Direct rule was intended to increase Indian representation while preserving British imperial interests, but continued aggravations and injustices in the following decades created an increasingly adamant independence movement. By the 1920s, programs of noncooperation and civil disobedience were placing pressure on the British to grant India self-governance; in 1930 the Indian National Congress promulgated the Purna Swaraj (“Complete Self-Rule”) resolution calling for complete independence. In 1942, Richard Stafford Cripps, sent by the British government to Delhi, offered India dominion status after World War II in exchange for support in the fight against Japan. The Cripps Mission, however, was rejected by Indian National Congress leaders and ultimately failed. Unrest in India after World War II persuaded war-weary Britain to arrange its exit from the subcontinent.

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Simmering communal tensions between major religious groups in India also influenced Britain’s plans to exit the region. In 1940, the Muslim League, led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, demanded a separate state for Muslims. The Muslim League was concerned that India’s sizable Muslim minority would lack adequate say in a Hindu-dominated government. By the end of World War II, Britain was economically strained and politically weakened. This made it difficult for Britain to maintain control over its colonies. Finding a solution to the communal tensions and safely withdrawing British troops from the Indian subcontinent became urgent priorities for the government in London.

In June 1947 Lord Mountbatten, the British viceroy of India, proposed a partition plan to address disagreements over communal representation in an independent India. The plan intended to hand over governance of Hindu-majority areas to the Indian National Congress, while the Muslim League would gain control over areas with predominantly Muslim populations. Based on Mountbatten’s proposal, the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on July 18, 1947.

The act that split a subcontinent

The Indian Independence Act provided for the establishment of two independent dominions—India and Pakistan—on August 15, 1947. Main provisions of the act included:

• The provinces of Bengal and Punjab were to be dissolved. Bengal was to be divided into West Bengal and East Bengal, and Punjab into West Punjab and East Punjab.
• Pakistan was to comprise the territories of East Bengal (became East Pakistan; now Bangladesh), West Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. The North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) would become part of Pakistan if a majority of people in the province voted to join the new dominion.
• The two new dominions were to have a governor-general to represent the British Parliament. After August 15 Mountbatten remained India’s governor-general and Jinnah became Pakistan’s governor-general.
• India and Pakistan were granted the power to make their own laws, even if those laws applied outside their borders. Each dominion could also change any British law still in effect.
• The British crown’s control over the princely states lapsed.
• The British monarch ceased to use the title “Emperor of India.”
• The British Indian armed forces were to be divided between the two new dominions.

With the partition of British India scheduled for August 15, Mountbatten appointed a Boundary Commission, led by Cyril Radcliffe, to divide the provinces of Punjab and Bengal. The commission, with limited time and little familiarity of the land, hastily drew borders that cut through the heart of communities and shared lands. Soon entire families, neighbors, and livelihoods would be torn apart.

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The transfer of power took effect on August 14 in Pakistan and August 15 in India. Lord Mountbatten marked the transfer of power in ceremonies in Karachi, Pakistan, and in New Delhi, India. Independence Day in these countries is celebrated on the dates of those respective ceremonies.

Aftermath

Although the Indian Independence Act brought the curtain down on the British raj, it also unleashed a wave of chaos. The partition resulted in a population transfer of unprecedented magnitude, accompanied by devastating communal violence, as some 15,000,000 Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims rushed to cross the hastily demarcated borders before the partition would be complete. The death toll, estimated to be between 200,000 and 2,000,000, remains one of the darkest chapters of the region’s history.

India and Pakistan remained dominions under Britain until their constitutions came into force in 1950 and 1956, respectively. Article 395 of the Indian Constitution and Article 221 of Pakistan’s 1956 constitution repealed the Indian Independence Act.