Karol Bagh | GS Foundation Course | 28 March, 8 AM Call Us
This just in:

State PCS

Mains Practice Questions

  • Q. Discuss the achievements and failures of Non-cooperation movement of 1920. How did it impact the subsequent freedom movements in pre-independence India. (250 words)

    27 Mar, 2019 GS Paper 1 History

    Approach

    • Describe the Non-cooperation movement.
    • State its achievements and failures.
    • Give conclusion

    Answer

    Introduction:

    • At the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress. The programme of Non-cooperation was endorsed.
    • An important change made was, until now Congress sought to attain self-government through constitutional means as its goal.
    • In Nagpur session the Congress decided to have the attainment of Swaraj through peaceful and legitimate means, thus committing itself to an extra constitutional mass struggle.
    • Gandhi declared that if the non-cooperation programme was implemented completely, swaraj would be ushered in within a year.

    Body

    Achievements:

    • The non-cooperation movement led by Gandhi was  a mass movement which had never been seen before and after the Great Rebellion of 1857.
    • With the Non-Cooperation Movement, nationalist sentiments reached every nook and corner of the country and politicised every strata of population—the artisans, peasants, students, urban poor, women, traders, etc.
    • This politicisation  of men and women which imparted a revolutionary character to the national movement.
    • The myth that British rule was invincible was challenged by satyagraha through mass struggle.
    • It gave push to indigenous products thereby helping indian producers and damaged Britain’s economic and commercial interests.

    Failures:

    • People from the middle classes led the movement at the beginning but later they showed a lot of reservations about Gandhi’s programme.
    • In places like Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, which were centres of elite politicians, the response to Gandhi’s call was very limited.
    • The response to the call for resignation from the government service, surrendering of titles, etc., was not taken seriously.
    • A section of the big business remained sceptical towards the movement. They seemed to be afraid of labour unrest in their factories.
    • People had not learnt or fully understood the method of non-violence. Violent incident in Chauri-Chaura in February 1922 marred the spirit of the movement. Gandhi responded by withdrawing Non-Cooperation movement arguing masses have not yet learned to practice non-violence.

    Conclusion

    • Even though the Non-Cooperation movement did not achieve its stated aims but the strategic and leadership role of Mahatma Gandhi gave India’s freedom struggle new dimensions.
    • The biggest gain of the movement was that it gave a new confidence to the common people and taught them to be fearless in their political pursuit and made Swarajya an important goal.

    To get PDF version, Please click on "Print PDF" button.

    Print PDF
close
SMS Alerts
Share Page
images-2
images-2
× Snow