Analyse the distinctive aspects of the oral testimonies to understand the history of the partition of British India.

                                                                              OR

Examine various events that led to the partition of British India.

The distinctive aspects:
i. Oral testimonies help to understand the trials and tribulations of ordinary people during partition.

ii. Official or government documents provide only political aspects

iii. Partition was viewed as a time of suffering, challenge and unexpected alterations in the lives of people.

iv. Oral accounts help us to grasp experiences and memories in detail.

v. They give a description of the experiences of women and even children

vi. It enables historians to write richly textured, vivid accounts of what happened to people at the time of partition.

vii. It allows historians to broaden the boundaries of their discipline. It shows the lived experiences of the poor and the powerless.

viii. It also succeeds in exploring the experiences of those men and women whose existence till now has been ignored.

OR

Events that led to the Partition:

i. Certain policies of the British encouraged communal divisions. Separate electorates for Muslims given by the British in 1909.

ii. Encouragement to formation of Muslim League.

iii. Govt. of India Act 1919 expanded communal electorates.

iv. Communal Developments from the 1920s

v. Tabligh and Shuddhi movements caused conflicts

vi. Cow protection movement, music before mosque.

vii. In 1940, in the Lahore session, the Muslim League place their demand for autonomous province with Muslim majority.

viii. 1937 elections/ results of the subsequent refusal of Congress to form a coalition government with Muslim League.