The plan of Sir Stafford Cripps envisaged that after the Second World War

[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2016 Prelims]

(a) India should be granted complete independence.

(b) India should be partitioned into two before granting independence.

(c) India should be made a republic with the condition that she will join the Commonwealth.

(d) India should be given Dominion status.

Answer: (d)

Explanation:

• To secure India’s support in World War II, the British Government sent the Cripps Mission to India in 1942, which proposed several measures such as granting Dominion status to India after the war and forming a constitutional body for India after the war.
• The constitution would only be acceptable to the British Government if certain provinces did not want to join the Union of India, and those that did not want to accept it could sign a separate agreement with the British.
• However, Mahatma Gandhi referred to the Cripps Mission’s proposal of Dominion Status after the war as a “post-dated cheque drawn on a failing bank.”

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.