Who was first Governor-General of dominion of India?
Q. Who was the first Governor-General of dominion of India?
- Published on 12 Feb 17a. Lord Willian Bentick
b. Lord Clive
c. Lord Canning
d. Lord Mountbatten
ANSWER: Lord Mountbatten
- On February 20, 1947, the British Prime Minister Clement Atlee declared that the British rule in India would end by June 30, 1948; after which the power would be transferred to responsible Indian hands.
- But Muslim League demanded partition of the country.
- On June 3, 1947, the British Government made it clear that any Constitution framed by the Constituent Assembly of India (formed in 1946) cannot apply to those parts of the country which were unwilling to accept it.
- On June 3, 1947 Lord Mountbatten, the viceroy of India, suggested the partition plan, known as the Mountbatten Plan.
- The plan was accepted by the Congress and the Muslim League.
- Indian Independence Act (1947) gave effect to the Mountbatten Plan.
- At the stroke of midnight of 14–15 August, 1947, the power was transferred to the two new independent Dominions of India and Pakistan.
- Lord Mountbatten became the first governor-general of the new Dominion of India.
- He swore in Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of independent India.
- The Constituent Assembly of India, which was formed in 1946 became the Parliament of the Indian Dominion.
- The boundaries between the two Dominions were determined by a Boundary Commission headed by Radcliff.
- Pakistan included the provinces of West Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, East Bengal, North-Western Frontier Province and the district of Sylhet in Assam.
- The referendum in the North-Western Frontier Province and Sylhet was in favor of Pakistan.
