How India won independence
Grade 10 Social Studies Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Use this
Cards A to D. Card A, a summary in our words, written today (from the Imperial War Museums and the National Archives): A Boundary Commission led by Cyril Radcliffe drew the new border through Punjab and Bengal. When the parties on the commission deadlocked, Radcliffe made many final decisions himself. Lahore, a Muslim-majority area, was made part of Pakistan. The final borders were announced on August 17, 1947, two days after independence took effect. Card B, two maps described in our words: Map 1 (1946): areas with a Muslim majority lay in the northwest, including Punjab, and in the east, in Bengal. Map 2 (1947): a border through Punjab and Bengal separates India from Pakistan, which has two parts, West Pakistan and East Pakistan, with India between them. Arrows show people crossing the border in both directions. Card C, an invented letter from a clerk in the Boundary Commission office, written for this sheet (not a real person), July 1947: "We have about five weeks. The maps are old and the figures disagree. None of us has walked these districts." Card D, a count from the Imperial War Museums for British India as a whole in the early 1900s: about 68 percent of people were Hindu, about 23 percent Muslim and about 2 percent Sikh. (Our note: the card gives no figures for single provinces or districts.)
Card A summarizes the commission's work and Card C is a clerk's invented letter. Together, what can they support about the border, Ari asks?
- The line was unfair, since the clerk reports old maps and almost no time to draw the border
- Card A is the weaker source here, since a summary written today cannot match a letter from July 1947
- The work was hurried and Radcliffe settled many points himself; fairness is not shown either way
- Radcliffe alone drew the whole line, since Card A says he decided where the parties deadlocked
Card C is a letter from inside the commission office. For which question is it a better source than Card A, Bo asks?
- Whether creating Pakistan was justified, since the letter was written as the border was being drawn
- Where the line finally ran through Punjab, since a clerk in the office handled the maps
- How hurried and uncertain the work felt to someone in the office in July 1947
- Who made the final call when the commission members deadlocked, since a clerk would have seen it
Did the new border follow the Muslim-majority areas exactly? What does Card B allow, Esme asks?
- It cannot be judged, since the two maps come from different years and cannot be compared
- Not exactly: Muslim-majority areas lay in Punjab and Bengal, and the border ran through both
- Exactly: Map 1 shades the Muslim-majority areas and Map 2 gives those areas to Pakistan
- In part: the border followed Muslim-majority areas in Bengal but not in Punjab
Use this
Cards A to D. Card A, facts in date order, a summary in our words, written today: In 1940 the Muslim League, led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, called for a separate state for Muslims. In August 1942 Gandhi demanded immediate independence in his 'Quit India' speech. In 1945 Britain's new government pledged to end colonial rule. On June 3, 1947 Lord Mountbatten announced a plan for two states. Independence took effect on August 15, 1947. The border through Punjab and Bengal, drawn by a commission led by Cyril Radcliffe, was announced on August 17. Card B, Reading X (invented for this sheet, not a historian's words): Partition came mainly because the Muslim League's demand for a separate state, made in 1940, grew until the Congress and Britain had to accept it. Card C, Reading Y (invented for this sheet, not a historian's words): Partition came mainly because Britain, worn out by the Second World War and in a hurry to leave, set a short timetable and left the border to a commission. Card D, figures from two sources: About 15 million people left their homes in the months around August 1947 (Imperial War Museums; the National Archives says over 15 million). Estimates of the number who lost their lives range from 200,000 to 2 million (Britannica). The Imperial War Museums gives about one million and says estimates vary to a huge degree.
Reading Y stresses a short timetable. Which fact on Card A best supports that part of Y, Jun asks?
- The Muslim League called for a separate state for Muslims in 1940, seven years before the end
- Britain's new government pledged in 1945 to end colonial rule, two years before independence
- A commission led by Radcliffe drew the border through Punjab and Bengal in 1947
- The plan came on June 3, 1947 and independence took effect on August 15, about ten weeks later
Does Card A favor Reading X or Reading Y overall, Kira asks?
- Reading Y, since the June to August 1947 timetable is the most exact dating on the card
- Reading X, since the League's 1940 call is the earliest event on the card
- Reading X, since Congress and Britain accepted two states after the League's call
- Neither alone: it has facts for both, so ranking them would need evidence of why
A student writes: "The pledge in 1945 and independence in 1947 prove Britain was in a hurry." What does Card A show, Luz asks?
- It rules out hurry, since two years is plenty of time to plan and carry out a handover
- It shows the League's call caused the pledge, since the call came first
- It shows hurry, since two years is a very short time for a worldwide empire to leave
- Two years passed, but dates alone do not say whether Britain hurried
Use this
Cards A to D. Card A, a summary in our words, written today (from the Imperial War Museums and the National Archives): A Boundary Commission led by Cyril Radcliffe drew the new border through Punjab and Bengal. When the parties on the commission deadlocked, Radcliffe made many final decisions himself. Lahore, a Muslim-majority area, was made part of Pakistan. The final borders were announced on August 17, 1947, two days after independence took effect. Card B, two maps described in our words: Map 1 (1946): areas with a Muslim majority lay in the northwest, including Punjab, and in the east, in Bengal. Map 2 (1947): a border through Punjab and Bengal separates India from Pakistan, which has two parts, West Pakistan and East Pakistan, with India between them. Arrows show people crossing the border in both directions. Card C, an invented letter from a clerk in the Boundary Commission office, written for this sheet (not a real person), July 1947: "We have about five weeks. The maps are old and the figures disagree. None of us has walked these districts." Card D, a count from the Imperial War Museums for British India as a whole in the early 1900s: about 68 percent of people were Hindu, about 23 percent Muslim and about 2 percent Sikh. (Our note: the card gives no figures for single provinces or districts.)
Cards B and D together: which statement is fair, Milo asks?
- The Muslim-majority areas matched the two parts of Pakistan exactly, since Pakistan had two parts
- With just 23 percent overall, no area could have had a Muslim majority
- Muslims were 23 percent in Punjab and Bengal too, since 23 percent is the share for British India
- Muslims were a minority overall yet formed majorities in areas of the northwest and the east
Use this
Cards A to D. Card A, facts in date order, a summary in our words, written today: In 1940 the Muslim League, led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, called for a separate state for Muslims. In August 1942 Gandhi demanded immediate independence in his 'Quit India' speech. In 1945 Britain's new government pledged to end colonial rule. On June 3, 1947 Lord Mountbatten announced a plan for two states. Independence took effect on August 15, 1947. The border through Punjab and Bengal, drawn by a commission led by Cyril Radcliffe, was announced on August 17. Card B, Reading X (invented for this sheet, not a historian's words): Partition came mainly because the Muslim League's demand for a separate state, made in 1940, grew until the Congress and Britain had to accept it. Card C, Reading Y (invented for this sheet, not a historian's words): Partition came mainly because Britain, worn out by the Second World War and in a hurry to leave, set a short timetable and left the border to a commission. Card D, figures from two sources: About 15 million people left their homes in the months around August 1947 (Imperial War Museums; the National Archives says over 15 million). Estimates of the number who lost their lives range from 200,000 to 2 million (Britannica). The Imperial War Museums gives about one million and says estimates vary to a huge degree.
Card D gives 200,000 to 2 million lives lost and also about one million. A writer calls one million "the average of the range." Is that right, Ren asks?
- Yes: one million is the middle of 200,000 and 2 million, so the range can be dropped
- No: the middle of the range is 1.1 million, and one million is one source's own estimate
- Yes: two sources agree on one million, so the range is not needed
- No: the range is wrong, since a single figure of one million is the true count that the sources share
Card D gives about 15 million who left their homes and 200,000 to 2 million lives lost. A student adds them to count people harmed. What is wrong, Tala asks?
- The deaths should be subtracted from the 15 million, since people who lost their lives did not move
- The smaller figure should be dropped, since it is part of the 15 million
- The figures count different things that may overlap, and one is a range, so the sum counts no real group
- Nothing is wrong, since both are counts of people affected by partition and adding them gives the total
From the plan (June 3, 1947) to independence (August 15) was about ten weeks. What can that figure support, Zee asks?
- That the League set the timetable, since it had called for a separate state in 1940
- That the timetable was short, though not by itself why Britain chose it
- That Britain hurried because of the Second World War, since the war ended in 1945
- That ten weeks was enough to draw the border, since independence took effect on time