Tremendous progress has been made in India during the modern period. British rule unified India, gave new ideals of Parliamentary Government and established factories, railways, telephone, etc. Due to development of new scientific weapons and impact of Industrial Revolution, East India Company was able to defeat Indian powers and succeeded in establishing British rule in India, Burma and Ceylon. In 1857, Great Rebellion took place which ended rule of East India Company and British Parliament in the name of Queen and King began to rule all over India through the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy of India. The book is divided into two parts.
Part I deals with Anglo-French wars, Maratha and Sikh wars and wars with other small powers and role of different Governor Generals such as Clive, Warren Hastings, Cornwallis, Wellesley, Hastings and Dalhousie etc. Socioreligious movements took place during this period and Brahmo Samaj was established by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Arya Samaj by Swami Dayanand, Ram Krishna Mission by Swami Vivekanand. Reform movements of Muslims and Sikhs also took place.
Part II of the book deals with the constitutional developments and nationalist movement and the role played by the eminent leaders during this period. Ultimately, India became free on 15th August, 1947, and constitutional parliamentary Government was established and India became the largest democracy of the world. India was divided, Pakistan came into existence, which gave rise to conflicts between these two powers. Though in 1971, Pakistan was divided and Bangladesh came into existence but conflict is still continuing. After Independence, India has made great progress and she is now one of the mightiest powers on earth with nuclear weapons and viable economy. From 1947 to 2002 tremendous progress has been made in scientific inventions, art, literature and in other social aspects which have been described in brief. |
