August has special importance in indian history.While celebrating 75 anniversary of Quit india movement,the importance of August also comes into light.

EIC delegation (1608 Aug )

When the East India Company first visited the Mughal court in the early 17th century, it was as supplicants attempting to negotiate favorable trading relations with Akbar’s successor, Emperor Jehangir. The company had initially planned to try and force their way into the lucrative spice markets of south-east Asia, but found this trade was already dominated by the Dutch. After EIC merchants were massacred at Amboyna (in present day Indonesia) in 1623, the company increasingly turned their attention to India.

Initially, the company struggled in the spice trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, and imports of pepper from Java were an important part of the company’s trade for twenty years

Read more about EIC and TIME LINE for better understanding here

Non co-operation movement (1920 Aug)

The Non-Cooperation Movement was a significant phase of the Indian independence movement from British rule. It was led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. It aimed to resist British rule in India through nonviolent means. Protestors would refuse to buy British goods, adopt the use of local handicrafts and picket liquor shops. The ideas of Ahimsa and nonviolence, and Gandhi’s ability to rally hundreds of thousands of common citizens towards the cause of Indian independence, were first seen on a large scale in this movement through the summer 1920. Gandhi feared that the movement might lead to popular violence. The non-cooperation movement was launched on 1st August, 1920.

August offer (1940 Aug 8)

On 8 August 1940, early in the Battle of Britain, the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, made the so-called August Offer, a fresh proposal promising the expansion of the Executive Council to include more Indians, the establishment of an advisory war council, giving full weight to minority opinion, and the recognition of Indians’ right to frame their own constitution (after the end of the war). In return, it was hoped that all parties and communities in India would cooperate in Britain’s war effort.

The declaration marked an important advance over the existing state of things, as it recognised at least the natural and inherent right of the people of the country to determine the form of their future constitution, and explicitly promised dominion status.

The following proposals were put in:

1. After the war a representative Indian body would be set up to frame a constitution for India.
2. Viceroy’s Executive Council would be expanded without delay.
3. The minorities were assured that the government would not transfer power “to any system of government whose authority is directly denied by large and powerful elements in Indian national life.

Quit India Movement (1942 Aug)

The Quit India Movement or the India August Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942, during World War ||, demanding an end to British Rule of India.The Cripps Mission had failed, and on 8 August 1942, Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. The All-India Congress Committee launched a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called “An Orderly British Withdrawal” from India. Even though it was wartime, the British were prepared to act.

Independence (1947 Aug)

Attlee’s announcement

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced on 20 February 1947 that:

1. British Government would grant full self-government to British India by June 1948 at the latest,
2. The future of Princely States would be decided after the date of final transfer is decided.

June Plan

This was also known as the Mountbatten Plan. The British government proposed a plan announced on 3 June 1947 that included these principles:

1. Principle of Partition of India was accepted by the British Government
2. Successor governments would be given dominion status

Independence Day is annually observed on 15 August as a national holiday in India commemorating the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the UK Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act 1947 transferring legislative sovereignty to the Indian Constituent Assembly. India still retained King George VI as head of state until its transition to full republican constitution. India attained independence following the Independence Movement noted for largely nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress (INC). Independence coincided with the partition of India, in which the British Indiawas divided along religious lines into the Dominions of India and Pakistan; the partition was accompanied by violent riots and mass casualties, and the displacement of nearly 15 million people due to religious violence. On 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India that day, raised the Indian national flag above the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. On each subsequent Independence Day, the prime minister customarily raises the flag and gives an address to the nation.

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