UPSC Prelims 2016 GS Paper I · Q93 of 100 History easy

The plan of Sir Stafford Cripps envisaged that after the Second World War

  1. (a) India should be granted complete independence
  2. (b) India should be partitioned into two before granting independence
  3. (c) India should be made a republic with the condition that she will join the Commonwealth
  4. (d) India should be given Dominion status ✓ UPSC's answer

Why the answer is (d)

• The Cripps Mission (March 1942) offered that after the War India would become a Dominion with the right to secede from the Commonwealth, with a constitution-making body elected by provincial legislatures, and provinces free to opt out — option (d).

• Congress rejected it as a 'post-dated cheque on a crashing bank' because it gave no immediate transfer of power; the League objected to the absence of Pakistan.

• Complete independence (a), partition (b) and a republic in the Commonwealth (c) were not what Cripps proposed.

• Hence option (d).

Why the other options are wrong

(a) India should be granted complete independence
Cripps offered Dominion status, not complete independence.
(b) India should be partitioned into two before granting independence
Partition was not proposed, though provinces could opt out.
(c) India should be made a republic with the condition that she will join the Commonwealth
A republic was not proposed.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, held on 7 August 2016. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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