Direct administration by the British, which began in 1858, affected a political and economic unification of the subcontinent. The British Empire developed into the Commonwealth in the 20th century, as former British dependencies obtained sovereignty but retained ties to the United Kingdom. Under dominion status colonies were still part of the empire and held allegiance to the British crown but ruled themselves. These states became part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth developed from the British Empire. By the 19th century the traditional British policy of allowing self-government in its colonies led to the existence of several dependent states that were populated with a significant number of Europeans accustomed to forms of parliamentary rule and that required large measures of authority. By 1931 these states were recognized as having special status within the empire, referred specifically to as a "British Commonwealth of Nations."
The rapid growth of nationalism in other parts of the empire from the 1920s produced a long series of grants of independence, beginning with India in 1947. When British rule came to an end in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries-India, with a majority of Hindus, and Pakistan, with a majority of Muslims.
The country has faced religious violence, naxalism, terrorism and regional separatist insurgencies. India has unresolved territorial disputes with China which escalated into a war in 1962 and 1967, and with Pakistan which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. India was neutral in the Cold War, and was a leader in the Non-Aligned Movement. However, it made a loose alliance with the Soviet Union from 1971, when Pakistan was allied with the United States and the People's Republic of China.
In 1949 India adopted a constitution proclaiming it a republic. It desired to remain in the Commonwealth, but as a republic it could not recognize the British king or queen as its sovereign. Commonwealth heads of government agreed that as a republic India could continue its membership if it accepted the British crown as only "the symbol of the free association of Commonwealth members. The word British was dropped from the name of the organization, and thereafter the official name was the Commonwealth of Nations or simply the Commonwealth. These areas of the empire now ruled themselves but most kept their ties to Britain as members of the Commonwealth.
There are many socio-political issues propped up in time of Independence. When British rule came to an end in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries-India, with a majority of Hindus, and Pakistan, with a majority of Muslims. The partition led to a population transfer of more than 10 million people between India and Pakistan and the death of about one million people. The democracy has been sustained since then. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newly independent states.
After two centuries of imperial rule, the proximate cause of India's independence was the economic damage Britain suffered after World War II-a war, it should be remembered, in which 2.5 million Indians also fought.
When the time came to pack up and return home, Britain tasked a London barrister named Sir Cyril Radcliffe with drawing the lines on the map that would partition the colony into two dominions, India and Pakistan, and settle the fate of hundreds of millions of people. Radcliffe, who had never been to India before, showed little interest in the people living there, and was given just 40 days to complete his work.
What followed this irresponsible and careless partition was murder, rape, and mob lynching on a scale never before seen in South Asia. The subcontinent had always prided itself on its syncretic traditions; certainly, there were moments of disharmony, but nothing like what would happen in 1947. Muslims killed Hindus and Sikhs, Hindus and Sikhs killed Muslims, neighbor turned on neighbor-and on their neighbors' children.
Around 565, princely kingdoms recognized and developed special ties with the British Empire. All these states, a total of 565, would subsequently gain legal independence. The Britishers claimed that the Princely States would no longer be under British control once they no longer ruled India just before India attained independence.
The rulers of the princely states were not uniformly enthusiastic about integrating their domains into independent India. The Congress' stated position was that the princely states were not sovereign entities, and as such could not opt to be independent notwithstanding the end of paramountcy. The princely states must therefore accede to either India or Pakistan.
Vappala Pangunni Menon, who served as Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of the States, under Sardar Patel, actually charged with the actual job of negotiating with the princes, took a more conciliatory approach than Nehru.
The language problem was the most divisive issue in the first twenty years of independent India, and it created the apprehension among many that the political and cultural unity of the country was in danger. Upon independence, it was decided that Hindi be adopted as the Central Government's official language (OL).
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