Overview of India in First Quarter of 20th Century

The Colonial Framework at the Dawn of the Century

The first quarter of the twentieth century in India unfolded almost entirely within the framework of British colonial rule, known as the British Raj. At the start of the 20th century, there was almost no organised opposition to British rule. The British Raj extended over almost all of present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, taking charge of the administration and the armed forces of these territories. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces administered either by a governor or a lieutenant-governor. Alongside these directly administered territories existed a parallel structure of princely states — nominally sovereign but practically subordinate to British paramountcy. There were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan eventually became independent from Britain in August 1947.

The economic condition of India at the outset of this period was deeply impoverished by the drain of colonial extraction. India’s share of world income had collapsed from 22.6% in 1700 to as low as 3.8% by 1952. Indeed, at the beginning of the 20th century, “the brightest jewel in the British Crown” was among the poorest countries in the world in terms of per capita income. Coal production, by contrast, had jumped from roughly 500,000 tons in 1868 to some 6,000,000 tons in 1900 and more than 20,000,000 tons by 1920, reflecting the extent to which India’s natural resources were being extracted to serve the imperial machinery. The economic policies of the British Raj caused a severe decline in the handicrafts and handloom sectors — the yarn output of the handloom industry, for example, declined from 419 million pounds in 1850 to 240 million pounds in 1900. A large majority of the population remained dependent on agriculture, and public health was catastrophically poor: as of 1900, 1 out of every 100 residents of India died of cholera each year.

The Partition of Bengal and the Awakening of Nationalism (1905–1909)

The single most explosive political event of the decade was the Partition of Bengal in 1905. The Partition of Bengal came into effect on October 16, 1905, through a Royal Proclamation, reducing the old province of Bengal in size by creating a new province of East Bengal. The government explained that it was done to stimulate growth of the underdeveloped eastern region, but the actual objective was to weaken the political influence of the educated middle class, among whom the Bengali intelligentsia were the most prominent. It also set up a communal gulf between Hindus and Muslims.

The reaction across India was intense and immediate. The partition was considered “a subtle attack on the growing solidarity of Bengali nationalism.” The Bengalis felt “humiliated, insulted and tricked” and resorted to vigorous agitation to get the wrong undone. The Indian National Congress initiated the Swadeshi movement as a protest, which also gave a lead to the Boycott movement across the country. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Lala Lajpat Rai were among the key figures in the Swadeshi movement. There was a significant decline in foreign imports during 1905–1908. The movement ignited a fervent sense of nationalism, particularly among the youth, who adopted more radical methods in their opposition to British rule. Inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan, numerous educational institutions promoting Indian culture and values emerged, including the Bengal National College and various national schools across the nation.

The Swadeshi movement also widened the political divide within the Indian National Congress itself, between the moderate wing — which believed in constitutional reform and dialogue — and the extremist wing, which demanded complete self-rule (Swaraj) and employed mass mobilisation. In the 1906 Calcutta session headed by Dadabhai Naoroji, the resolution of Swaraj was formally adopted by the Congress.

A pivotal institutional development during this period was the founding of the All India Muslim League. The Muslim League was established in 1906 as an alternative political party to represent the distinct interests of Muslims. The League focused on advocating for separate electorates and enhanced political representation for Muslims, which was finally granted in the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909.

Faced with the developments of the Swadeshi movement and growing nationalist pressure, the British government felt the need to introduce reforms that would both appease Indian aspirations and prevent unrest from spiraling out of control. The result was the Indian Councils Act of 1909, better known as the Morley-Minto Reforms. The reforms envisaged a separate electorate for Muslims besides other constitutional measures. The government thereby sought to create a rift within the Congress by winning the support of the moderates on the one hand, and the favour of Muslims against Hindus on the other. To achieve the latter objective, the reforms introduced the system of separate electorates under which Muslims could only vote for Muslim candidates — an arrangement designed to encourage the notion that the political, economic, and cultural interests of Hindus and Muslims were separate. Indian political leaders were broadly dissatisfied with these reforms, and many historians have traced the seeds of future communal politics directly to this moment.

The Impact of the First World War (1914–1918)

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 drew India into a global conflict it had no voice in entering. The war was met with an instant declaration of loyalty and support for Britain from all sections of Indian society. Offers of support poured in from the Congress, the Muslim League, and the princely states. India contributed 1.3 million soldiers and labourers to the British war effort, spent over £146 million, and suffered approximately 74,000 casualties — all without the consent of Indian representatives. The Indian Army expanded to nearly 1.5 million men, enormously swelling from only 150,000 men in 1914. Some 335,000 men were taken from Punjab alone, significantly damaging its economy.

The war inflicted severe economic hardship on ordinary Indians. Prices of food grains rose by 93%, of Indian-made goods by 60%, and imported goods by 190%. The situation was exacerbated by the failure of monsoon rains in 1918–19 and consequent grain shortages and famine. A disastrous decline in the production of food crops occurred in 1918–1919 and 1920–1921, devastating poorer peasants and agricultural workers. Despite the agrarian crisis, food and fodder were exported to feed the military, bringing parts of the country close to a famine situation. Layered upon these economic catastrophes came a demographic one: between June 1918 and June 1919, the influenza pandemic is thought to have resulted in 17–18 million deaths in India — one-third of the total death toll of the pandemic worldwide.

The war also deepened the political consciousness of Indians, who had expected political concessions in return for their loyalty and sacrifice. The Lucknow Pact of December 1916 represented a historic rapprochement: a joint scheme prepared by the Congress and the Muslim League was put forward, in which both parties set aside mutual differences and jointly demanded self-government. The promises made by Britain during the war regarding eventual self-rule were widely perceived as unfulfilled, fuelling a new wave of nationalist anger.