Nationalism in India is Chapter 2 of Class 10 History, from the NCERT book India and the Contemporary World II. It tells the story of how Mahatma Gandhi turned the freedom struggle into a mass movement between 1919 and the early 1930s, and how different groups of Indians joined it for their own reasons.
This is a date-heavy chapter, so these notes include a timeline you can revise in five minutes, along with the full chapter in simple English and the most important board questions.
Chapter at a glance
- The First World War caused high prices, forced recruitment and crop failures, which made people angry with British rule.
- Gandhiji brought the idea of Satyagraha: the power of truth and non-violent resistance.
- The Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) led to the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22).
- The Salt March (1930) started the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Peasants, tribals, workers, business classes and women joined, but each group understood swaraj in its own way.
- Songs, symbols, folklore and the image of Bharat Mata created a sense of collective belonging.
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The First World War and its effects
- Defence spending rose, financed by war loans and higher taxes. Customs duties were raised and income tax was introduced.
- Prices nearly doubled between 1913 and 1918.
- Villages were forced to supply soldiers (forced recruitment).
- Crops failed in 1918–19 and 1920–21, and an influenza epidemic followed. Millions died.
The idea of Satyagraha
Gandhiji returned to India from South Africa in January 1915. Satyagraha means insisting on truth. If the cause is true and the fight is against injustice, physical force is not needed. The satyagrahi wins by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor, through non-violence.
Early Satyagraha movements:
- Champaran, Bihar (1917): against the oppressive plantation system for indigo farmers.
- Kheda, Gujarat (1917): for peasants who could not pay revenue because of crop failure and plague.
- Ahmedabad (1918): for cotton mill workers.
Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh
The Rowlatt Act (1919) gave the government huge powers to repress political activity and to detain political prisoners without trial for two years. Gandhiji called for a nationwide satyagraha against it, starting with a hartal on 6 April 1919.
On 13 April 1919, a crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. Some came to protest, others to attend the Baisakhi fair. General Dyer blocked the exits and ordered his soldiers to fire, killing hundreds. There were strikes and clashes across north India afterwards. Gandhiji called off the Rowlatt Satyagraha as violence spread.
The Khilafat issue and Non-Cooperation
After the First World War, the Ottoman emperor (the Khalifa) was defeated, and a harsh treaty was expected. A Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919, led by the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. Gandhiji saw this as a chance to bring Hindus and Muslims together.
In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhiji said British rule survived in India only because Indians cooperated. If Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse. The Congress accepted the programme of non-cooperation at Calcutta in September 1920 and adopted it at Nagpur in December 1920.
The movement was to unfold in stages: surrender of titles, boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools and foreign goods.
Differing strands within the movement
In the towns
Students left government schools, teachers resigned and lawyers gave up practice. Foreign cloth was boycotted and burnt in huge bonfires. Imports of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922. The movement slowed down because khadi was more expensive than mill cloth, and alternative Indian institutions were slow to come up.
Rebellion in the countryside (Awadh)
Peasants led by Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi, rose against talukdars and landlords who demanded high rents. They organised nai-dhobi bandhs (stopping services of barbers and washermen to landlords). The Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up in October 1920 by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and others.
Tribal peasants (Gudem Hills, Andhra Pradesh)
The British had closed forests to tribals, stopping grazing and collection of fuelwood and fruit. Alluri Sitarama Raju led a guerrilla struggle in the early 1920s. He was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement but believed in the use of force. He was captured and executed in 1924.
Swaraj in the plantations (Assam)
Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not allowed to leave the tea gardens without permission. When they heard of the movement, thousands left the plantations to go home, believing that Gandhi Raj was coming.
Towards Civil Disobedience
In February 1922, a peaceful demonstration at Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur) turned violent and a police station was set on fire. Gandhiji withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement.
- Swaraj Party: C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed it within the Congress to contest council elections.
- Simon Commission (1928): it had no Indian member, so it was greeted with the slogan “Go back, Simon”.
- Lahore Congress (December 1929): under Jawaharlal Nehru, it formalised the demand for Purna Swaraj (complete independence). 26 January 1930 was celebrated as Independence Day.
The Salt March and Civil Disobedience
On 31 January 1930, Gandhiji sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin with eleven demands. The most important was the abolition of the salt tax, because salt was used by rich and poor alike.
When the demands were not met, Gandhiji began the Salt March on 12 March 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram with 78 volunteers. They walked 240 miles in 24 days to Dandi, where on 6 April 1930 Gandhiji broke the law by making salt from sea water. This began the Civil Disobedience Movement. Unlike non-cooperation, people were now asked to break colonial laws.
- Foreign cloth was boycotted, liquor shops were picketed, peasants refused to pay revenue and forest laws were broken.
- Abdul Ghaffar Khan was arrested in April 1930, and Gandhiji himself was arrested a month later.
- In March 1931, Gandhiji signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London (December 1931). The talks broke down and he returned disappointed. The movement was relaunched but lost momentum by 1934.
How participants saw the movement
| Group | What swaraj meant to them |
|---|---|
| Rich peasants (Patidars of Gujarat, Jats of UP) | Relief from high revenue demands during the depression. Disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931. |
| Poor peasants | Remission of rent to landlords. Often joined radical movements led by socialists and communists. |
| Business classes | Protection against imports and a rupee-sterling exchange rate that would help Indian industry. Formed FICCI in 1927 (Purshottamdas Thakurdas, G.D. Birla). |
| Industrial workers | Better wages and working conditions. Joined only in some areas, like the Nagpur region. |
| Women | Took part in large numbers in protest marches, salt making and picketing, though the Congress was slow to give them positions of authority. |
| Dalits (“depressed classes”) | Demanded reserved seats and separate electorates. Dr B.R. Ambedkar formed the Depressed Classes Association in 1930. The Poona Pact (September 1932) gave reserved seats, voted by the general electorate. |
| Muslims | Many felt alienated after the decline of Non-Cooperation-Khilafat and rising communal clashes. Talks between the Congress and the Muslim League on separate electorates failed. |
The sense of collective belonging
- Bharat Mata: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote “Vande Mataram” in the 1870s. Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata.
- Folklore: Rabindranath Tagore collected ballads, nursery rhymes and myths. Natesa Sastri published The Folklore of Southern India.
- Flags: a tricolour (red, green and yellow) was designed during the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal. By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag, a tricolour (red, green and white) with a spinning wheel in the centre.
- Reinterpretation of history: Indian writers wrote about India’s glorious past to counter the British idea that Indians were backward.
Timeline for quick revision
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1915 | Gandhiji returns from South Africa |
| 1917 | Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha |
| 1918 | Ahmedabad mill workers’ Satyagraha |
| 1919 | Rowlatt Act; Jallianwala Bagh (13 April); Khilafat Committee |
| 1920 | Non-Cooperation adopted (Calcutta, Nagpur) |
| 1922 | Chauri Chaura; Non-Cooperation withdrawn |
| 1928 | Simon Commission arrives |
| 1929 | Lahore Congress: Purna Swaraj |
| 1930 | Salt March (12 March–6 April); Civil Disobedience begins |
| 1931 | Gandhi-Irwin Pact; Second Round Table Conference |
| 1932 | Poona Pact |
Important questions
- Why did Gandhiji decide to launch a nationwide Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act? (3 marks)
- Why did the Non-Cooperation Movement gradually slow down in the cities? (3 marks)
- Why was salt chosen as a symbol of protest? Describe the Salt March. (5 marks)
- How did different social groups understand the idea of swaraj during Civil Disobedience? (5 marks)
- Why did the Dalits and Muslims remain lukewarm towards the Civil Disobedience Movement? (3 marks)
- How did cultural processes help create a sense of collective belonging? (5 marks)
Stuck on any of these? Type the question in the DoubtPay study space, choose Social Studies and Classes 9–10, and get a point-wise answer with the keywords examiners look for. You can also ask for flashcards of all the dates in one credit. Packs from ₹9, no subscription.
FAQs
What is the difference between Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience?
In Non-Cooperation (1920–22), people refused to cooperate with the British: they boycotted schools, courts, councils and foreign goods. In Civil Disobedience (1930–34), people went further and deliberately broke colonial laws, like the salt law and forest laws.
Why did Gandhiji withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement?
He withdrew it in February 1922 after the violence at Chauri Chaura. He felt the movement was turning violent and satyagrahis needed proper training before mass struggles.
How can I remember so many dates?
Revise the timeline table daily for a week and link each date to a cause and effect. For example, Rowlatt Act (1919) → Jallianwala Bagh (1919) → Non-Cooperation (1920). Read Rise of Nationalism in Europe alongside this chapter, since questions often compare the two.
More Class 10 Social Science notes
- Rise of Nationalism in Europe Class 10 Notes
- The Making of a Global World Class 10 Notes
- The Age of Industrialisation Class 10 Notes
- Print Culture and the Modern World Class 10 Notes
- Power Sharing Class 10 Notes
- Class 10 Daily Study Plan: A Simple Timetable You Can Actually Follow
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