Question

UPSC Prelims 2014 Question:

The Radcliffe Committee was appointed to

1. solve the problem of minorities in India
2. given effect to the Independence Bill
3. delimit the boundaries between India and Pakistan
4. enquire into the riots in East Bengal.

Answer (Detailed Solution Below)

Option 3: delimit the boundaries between India and Pakistan

Detailed Solution

Explanation:

Boundary Commission or Radcliffe Committee was created in July 1947 to recommend how the Punjab and Bengal regions of the Indian subcontinent were to be divided between India and Pakistan shortly before each was to become independent from Britain. The commission—appointed by Lord Mountbatten, the final viceroy of British India—consisted of four members from the Indian National Congress and four from the Muslim League and was chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe.
The commission’s mandate was to draw boundaries in the two regions that would keep intact as much as possible the most-cohesive Hindu and Muslim populations within Indian and Pakistani territory, respectively.

Therefore, option (3) is the correct answer.

Subject: History | Partition and Independence

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