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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Throw light on the nature of ‘Instrument of Accession’ and ‘Standstill Agreement’ signed by the Princely State with the Indian Union.

  • UPSC 2017
  • Consolidation as a Nation

When British paramountcy over the princely states lapsed on 15 August 1947, nearly 600 states were legally free of all prior obligations, and two purpose-built legal instruments were devised to bring them into the Indian Union.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • The Legal Vacuum That Made Both Instruments Necessary
  • The Standstill Agreement
  • The Instrument of Accession
  • How the Two Instruments Functioned as a Package
  • From Limited Accession to Full Integration

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