RAS question
The Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) included which key provision?
Correct answer: (D) Partition of India and creation of two independent dominions with power transfer on 15 August 1947.
The Mountbatten Plan provided for the partition of British India into India and Pakistan and the transfer of power to two independent dominions on 15 August 1947.
Explanation
The key provision was partition, not a last attempt at a united constitutional settlement. The Mountbatten Plan of 3 June 1947 announced the division of British India into India and Pakistan, with power to be transferred to both dominions on 15 August 1947 through the Indian Independence Act, 1947. NCERT records that Lord Mountbatten recommended the partition of Punjab and Bengal, and that Britain’s Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act with a midnight 14-15 August 1947 deadline for the dominions of India. This is why option D captures both essential elements tested here: partition and the fixed transfer of power deadline.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) A united federal India was not the provision tested here, since the plan moved towards partition rather than preserving British India as one federation.
- (B) Power was not to be transferred only to Congress; transfer was to both dominions created by partition.
- (C) British rule was not to continue until 1950, because the transfer deadline was 15 August 1947.
Concept
This tests the final phase of British withdrawal and the constitutional route from the Mountbatten Plan to the Indian Independence Act. RAS repeats this area because it links high politics, partition, and the exact transfer-of-power chronology.