Political integration of India Political integration of India At the time of Indian independence in 1947, India was divided into two sets of territories, one under direct British rule, and the other under the suzerainty of the British Crown, with control over their internal affairs remaining in the hands of their hereditary rulers. The latter included 554 princely states, having different types of revenue sharing arrangements with the British, often depending on their size, population and local conditions. In addition, there were several colonial enclaves controlled by France and Portugal. The political integration of these territories into India was a declared objective of the
The Independent (India) The Independent (India) The Independent was an Allahabad based newspaper begun by Motilal Nehru in 1919. The paper closed down under British repression two years later. "The Independent" was started on February 9, 1919 with the primary aim of countering the moderate political line adopted by the then leading Allahabad daily "The Leader". Motilal Nehru was assisted in the paper's establishment by B G Horniman and Syed Hussain who became the "Independent"s editor. The paper's purpose according to Motilal was 'to wage war against autocracy' and to 'think aloud for India', but from the very beginning the paper suffered from