Modern Indian History

Jatin Das was an Indian independence activist and revolutionary. he went on a hunger strike along with other revolutionaries to protest the ill-treatment meted out to the political prisoners. He died in Lahore jail after a 63-day hunger strike.

'Swaraj is my birth right' was said by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer and an independence activist. After the murder of Lt. Ayerst by Chapekar brothers, Tilak was charged with incitement to murder and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. When he emerged from the prison he adopted this slogan which was coined by Kaka Baptista.

The Bande Mataram was an English language newspaper founded in 1905 by Bipin Chandra Pal and later edited by Sri Aurobindo. It was first published on 6 August 1906.

The congress was divided into two camps-Extremist and Moderates at the Surat session of 1907. The Moderates believed in the constitutional methods of protests like petitions, prayers, meetings,etc. Extremists, on the other hand, believed in agitation, strikes and boycotts to force their demands. Tilak became the leader of extremists group in the Congress. He was very critical of the moderate group of leaders of Indian National Congress.

The Congress was divided into two camps-Extremist and Moderates at the Surat session of 1907. They differed on many points but one of the main point of difference was swaraj. Extremists aimed at nothing short of swaraj as it existed in United Kingdom and its self governing colonies. Moderates, on the other hand, wanted more Indians in the administration and not to an end of British rule.

The congress was divided into two camps-Extremist and Moderates at the Surat session of 1907. The Moderates believed in the constitutional methods of protests like petitions, prayers, meetings,etc. Extremists, on the other hand, believed in agitation, strikes and boycotts to force their demands. Tilak became the leader of extremists group in the Congress. He was very critical of the moderate group of leaders of Indian National Congress and left after the split in 1907.

Tilak gathered people for social activities (c) and started social groups (b), which were vehicles for instilling nationalist spirit. Through festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Shivaji Jayanti, and organizations like the Deccan Education Society, he mobilized masses and built national consciousness.

Early Nationalists and Assertive Nationalists differed significantly in their political goals, their attitude toward British rule, and their methods of agitation, making all these factors points of contention.

Tilak ran two newspapers- Kesari in Marathi and Maratha in English. The newspapers were not established as profit making venture but were a way to spread political education and ideas of liberty and justice among the common people and played an important role in the national movement.

Annual festivals in memory of Shivaji and Lord Ganesha were started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. These festivals were organized to build a national spirit among the common people and make them aware about freedom in opposition to colonial rule. But the major drawback of these events was that although they were meant to be a way to oppose colonial rule, they also contributed to religious tensions.

The Bombay Association was formed by  Jagannath Shankarshet in the year 1852. Its notable members were Sir Jamshedji Jejibhai, Naoroji Fursungi, Dadabhai Naoroji and Vinayak Shankarshet. Sir Jamshedji Jejibhai was the first president of the organization. It was established to vent public grievances to the British.

The Sarvajanik Sabha of Pune was a sociopolitical organisation founded by MG ranade in 1870. The primary aim of this organisation was to work as a mediating body between the government and people of India and to popularise the peasants' legal rights. It published a quartely journal to put forth the problems of people before the government.

The Madras Native Association was formed by Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty in the year 1849 in the Madras Presidency. He was an Indian merchant, Indian independence activist and political activist who established the organisation to agitate for the rights of Indians. 

The Charter Act of 1853 introduced the system of open competition for the selection of civil servants, thereby allowing Indians to compete for the first time.

 Indian Universities Act, which came into force on March, 1904 was based on the recommendations of Indian Universities Commission. Some of the important changes introduced by it were: