In 1911, Henri Piquet carried 6500 letters and postcards
in his Humber plane from the exhibition grounds at Allahabad to Naini Junction, thus India
became the first country in the world to send mails by plane. The Indian Postal
department, in 1920, made another attempt to start an airmail service Mumbai and Karachi
but unfortunately after 14 trips, the experiment was given up because of lack of public
support. In this same year, King George V and Queen Mary visited India. They were the
first British King and Queen to do so. They landed at the Gateway of India, in Mumbai and
a massive stone arch was built in their honor. To declare King George V, the Emperor of
India, the British government held a spectacular coronation durbar in Delhi. People high
and low came to pay obeisance to the king and his consort. The King made two important
announcements at the durbar. The first announcement abolished the partition of Bengal,
hoping it would stem the tide of revolt by the Bengalis. The transfer of capital of India
from Calcutta to Delhi planned by Sir Edwards Lutyens, was the second announcement, for
which the king laid the foundation stone.
It was at Jamshedpur in Bihar in 1913, when the first ingot of steel rolled on the lines
of India's own steel plant and made history. Although the very idea that Indians could
produce steel was mocked by the British experts, the Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd. was
born. The Tata's then exported 2400 kms of steel rails by 1916, to Mesopotamia. The steel
giant produces several million tonnes of steel at present, for the country and to export.
Three years after Jamshedji Tata's death, TISCO tragically saw the light of day. Steel,
Power, Scientific Research and Technical Education, according to Tata was the backbone of
a nation and so built the first great industrial empire in India.
A year later, war broke out between the European imperialist powers, in 1914. India was
enlisted into the war on the side of the Allies fighting against Germany, Austria, Hungary
and Turkey combined. During the war, the British exploitation of India was intensified. To
the fullest extent, her resources and manpower were used. War loans were imposed on the
people and the soldiers. There were many who were forcefully recruited and sent to fight
and die in the battlefields of Europe and other parts of the world. Indian leaders
supported Britain in the hope that it would grant self government to them. 85,000 Indian
soldiers sacrificed their lives in the war.
Two years later, in 1916, in the form of Home Rule League, a campaign to popularise the
idea of self rule for India was started. In India's struggle for freedom, it marked a new
phase. In almost all the big cities and towns in India, branches of the Home Rule League
sprang up. People who remained uninterested in the political problems joined the movement.
The idea of Home Rule League was championed by both Tilak and Dr.Annie Besant. In 1983,
Dr. Annie Besant, an Irish woman, came to India as a Theosophist but later took part in
the national movement. She had many followers like Jawaharlal Nehru as she was one of the
greatest orators of her time. The commonweal and new India were the two weekly paper
founded by her, which became powerful weapons for propagating India's demand for
self-government.
The greatest tragedy of the twentieth century was the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre which took
place on 13 April, 1919 on Baisakhi day. The India leaders had supported British during
World War 1 and Indian soldiers had fought and died for the British cause. Indians
expected the British Government to concede their visits to participate in government, in
return for her sacrifices. But Britain was reluctant to part with power. Their protest
increased as the Montague- Chelms ford constitutional reforms introduced in 1919 providing
joint rule, failed to satisfy the people. By curbing civil liberties, including
imprisonment without trial, the government tried to suppress opposition. All over the
country, there were protest meetings. Thousands of protesters assembled in Punjab at
Jallianwala Bagh on Baisakhi in Amritsar. The entrance to the Bagh was blocked by troops.
When the meeting was on and the British commander General Dyer without warning, ordered
his soldiers to open fire. Nearly 400 persons were killed and over thousand were wounded.
This incident became a turning point for India's freedom struggle.
In 1919, the non- co-operation movement began Gandhiji stayed for nearly 21 years in South
Africa to fight against racial discrimination. When the South African government and
conceded to his demands, his non- violent strategy of satyagraha gave him his first
victory. In 1915, Gandhiji returned to India and on the banks of the Sabarmati River near
Ahmadabad, settled down in an ashram, with a group of his followers. He went to Champaran,
in 1917, a district of Bihar to champion the cause of the labourers of the European indigo
planters and succeeded in persuading the government to abolish many abuses. Later,
Gandhiji offered the country his method of resisting the government by non-violent
non-co-operation, when the government passed the Rowlatt Bills and started a reign of
terror. The boycott of government schools, colleges and law courts, British textiles and
even civil and milt services were involved in his programmes. And thus, Gandhiji invited
the nation for its trial of strength against British rule.
After non-co-operation movement was Tilak's mass awakening in 1920. Tilak gave an
inspiring assertion to the country, "Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have
it". He was also called as "The father of Indian unrest". He was also the
first to demand that India be freed from British rule. Among the Indian leaders, he was
the first to realise the strength of mass support as the means of fighting foreign
domination. Tilak urged the masses to demand from the British government what was due to
them, not as favour but as a right.
He was arrested on charges of sedition. He defended his own case but was convicted and
sent to Mandalay, in Burma for 6 years. He wrote Gita Rahasya, a commentary on the Gita,
while in prison.
