RAS question
Lord Mountbatten announced the Partition Plan (3 June Plan) in:
Correct answer: (D) 3 June 1947.
Lord Mountbatten announced the Partition Plan, also known as the 3 June Plan, on 3 June 1947.
Explanation
Lord Mountbatten announced the Partition Plan on 3 June 1947. The plan proposed the partition of India into India and Pakistan, with dominion status for both. The National Archives supports the date and the core meaning of the announcement: in February 1947 Mountbatten was sent to oversee Britain’s withdrawal, and on 3 June 1947 he announced, with Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, that Britain would transfer power to two new governments, India and Pakistan. That is why the date is not merely a label; it marks the public announcement of the political decision to divide British India and transfer authority to the two successor governments.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 15 August 1947 was Independence Day, whereas the Partition Plan had already been announced on 3 June 1947.
- (B) 3 June is the right day and month, but 1946 is the wrong year because the announcement was made in 1947.
- (C) 14 August 1947 relates to Pakistan’s independence, not to Mountbatten’s announcement of the Partition Plan.
Concept
This tests the chronology of the transfer of power and partition in late colonial India. RAS often asks such dates because they anchor larger themes: British withdrawal, the creation of India and Pakistan, and the constitutional end of colonial rule.