Syllabus for Optional Mains
| European Penetration and Expansion | The Early European Settlements; The Portuguese and the Dutch; The English and the French East India Companies; Their struggle for supremacy; Carnatic Wars; Bengal -The conflict between the English and the Nawabs of Bengal; Siraj and the English; The Battle of Plassey; Significance of Plassey; Bengal; Buxar; The Afghan war; Sind; The Marathas; The three Anglo-Maratha Wars; Mysore; Punjab |
| Early Structure of the British Raj | The early administrative structure; From diarchy to direct control; The Regulating Act (1773); The Pitt’s India Act (1784); The Charter Act (1833); The voice of free trade and the changing character of British colonial rule; The English utilitarian and India; |
| Economic Impact of British Colonial Rule | (a) Land revenue settlements in British India; The Permanent Settlement; Ryotwari Settlement; Mahalwari Settlement; Economic impact of the revenue arrangements; Commercialization of agriculture; Rise of landless agrarian labourers; Impoverishment of the rural society. (b) Dislocation of traditional trade and commerce; De-industrialisation; Decline of traditional crafts; Drain of wealth; Economic transformation of India; (c) Railroad and communication network including tele-graph and postal services; European business enterprise and its limitations. (d) Famine and poverty in the rural interior; |
| Social Reforms and Developments | Social and Cultural Developments: The state of indigenous education, its dislocation; Orientalist-Anglicist controversy, the introduction of western education in India; The rise of press, literature and public opinion; The rise of modern vernacular literature; Progress of science; Christian missionary activities in India; Ram Mohan Roy, Brahmo Movement; Devendranath Tagore; Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, Widow Remarriage; The Young Bengal Movement; Dayanada Saraswati, Arya Samaj; Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda; The contribution of Indian renaissance to the growth of modern India; Social Reform movements; Religious Reform movements; Women Empowerment; Islamic revivalism – the Feraizi and Wahabi Movements. |
| Indian Response to British Rule | Peasant movements and tribal uprisings in the 18th and 19th centuries – Including the Rangpur Dhing (1783), the Kol Rebellion (1832), the Mopla Rebellion in Malabar (1841-1920), the Santal Hul (1855); The Great Revolt of 1857 – Origin, character, causes of failure, the consequences; Shift in the character of peasant uprisings in the post-1857 period; Indigo Rebellion (1859-60), Deccan Uprising (1875) and the Munda Ulgulan (1899-1900); The peasant movements of the 1920s and 1930s. |
| 1st Phase of Indian Nationalism | Factors leading to the birth of Indian Nationalism; Politics of Association; The Foundation of the Indian National Congress; (The Safety-valve thesis relating to the birth of the Congress;) Programme and objectives of Early Congress; The social composition of early Congress leadership; The Moderates and Extremists; The Partition of Bengal (1905); The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal; The economic and political aspects of Swadeshi Movement; Home Rule League |
| Nationalism under Gandhi’s leadership | Rise of Gandhi; Character of Gandhian nationalism; Gandhi’s popular appeal; Rowlatt Satyagraha; The Khilafat Movement; The Non-cooperation Movement; The two phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement; The Quit India Movement; National politics from the end of the NCM to the beginning of CDM; Simon Commission; The Nehru Report; The Round Table Conferences; Nationalism and the Peasant Movements; |
| Constitutional Developments | Constitutional Developments in the Colonial India between 1858 and 1935 |
| Other strands in the National Movement | The beginning of revolutionary extremism in India; The Revolutionaries: Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, U.P, Madras, Outside India. The Left: The Left within the Congress: JLN, SCB, CSP; The Communist Party of India, other left parties. The election of 1937 and the formation of ministries; Nationalism and Working class movements; Women and Indian youth and students in Indian politics (1885-1947); Cripps Mission; The Wavell Plan; The Cabinet Mission. Royal Indian Navy Mutiny |
| Consolidation as a Nation | Linguistic reorganization of States (1935-1947); Regionalism and regional inequality; Integration of Princely States; Princes in electoral politics; Question of National Language; Caste and Ethnicity after 1947 – Backward castes and tribes in post-colonial electoral politics; Dalit movements |
| Economic Development & Political change | Land reforms; Ecology and environmental policy in post – colonial India; The politics of planning and rural reconstruction; Progress of science. Nehru’s Foreign Policy; NAM; India and her neighbors (1947-1964); Hindu Code Bill/1962/1971/Emergency |
