The major objectives and demands of INC were
Constitutional
Opportunity for participation in the government was one of the major demands of the Indian National Congress. It demanded Indian representation in the government.
Economic
High land revenue was one of the major factors that contributed to the oppression of the peasants. It demanded reduction in the land revenue and protection of peasants against exploitation of the zamindars. The Congress also advocated the imposition of heavy tax on the imported goods for the benefit of swadeshi goods.
Administrative
Higher officials who had responsibility of administration in India were selected through civil services examinations conducted in Britain. This meant that educated Indians who could not afford to go to London had no opportunity to get high administrative jobs. Therefore, Indianisation of services through simultaneous Indian Civil Services Examinations in England and India was a major demand of the Congress.
Judicial
Because of the partial treatment against the Indian political activists by English judges it demanded the complete separation of the Executive and the Judiciary.
Contributions of Early Nationalists (1885-1915)
1) The early nationalists in the INC came from the elite sections of the society. Lawyers, college and university teachers, doctors, journalists and such others represented the Congress. However, they came from different regions of the country and this made INC a truly a national political organisation.
2) These leaders of the INC adopted the constitutional methods of presenting petitions, prayers and memorandums and thereby earned the moniker of "Moderates".
3) It was also the time some sort of an understanding about colonialism was evolving in India There was no ready-made anti-colonial understanding available for reference in the late nineteenth century when the INC was formed.
4) It was the early nationalists who helped the formulation of the idea of we as a nation. The were developing the indigenous anti-colonial ideology and a strategy on their own which helped future mass leaders like M. K Gandhi.
5) From the late 1890s there were growing differences within the INC Leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai were advocating radical appro ache instead of merely writing petitions, prayers and memorandums.
6) These advocates of radical methods came to be called the "extremists" as against those who were identified as moderates. Their objective became clear in 1897 when Tilak raised the clarion call "Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it".
7) Tilak and his militant followers were now requesting Swaraj -instead of economic or administrative reforms that the moderates were requesting through their petitions and prayers.
8) Though they criticised each other, it would be wrong to place them in the opposing poles. Both moderates and militants, with their own methods, were significant elements of the larger Indian nationalist movement.
9) In fact, they contributed towards the making of the swadeshi movement. The partition of Bengal in 1905, by the colonial government, which you will be studying in the next lesson, was vehemently opposed by the Indians.
10) The swadeshi movement of 1905, directly opposed the British rule and encouraged the ideas of swadeshi enterprise, national education, self-help and use of Indian languages.
11) The method of mass mobilisation and boycott of British goods and institutions suggested by the radicals was also accepted by the Moderates.

1) Indian national movement dates its birth from the 1857 uprising. The outrages committed by the British army after putting down the revolt remained "un-avenged".
2) Even the court-martial law and formalities were not observed Officers who sat on the court martial swore that they would hang their prisoners, guilty or innocent and, if any dared to raise his voice against such indiscriminate vengeance, he was silenced by his angry colleagues.
3) Persons condemned to death after the mockery of a trial were often tortured by soldiers before their execution, while the officers looked on approvingly.
4) It is worth recalling what Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay Presidency, wrote to Sir John Lawrence, future Viceroy of India (1864) about the British siege of Delhi during June- September, 1857'. A wholesale vengeance is being taken without distinction of friend or foe. As regards the looting, we have indeed surpassed Nadirshah.'
Racial Discrimination
1) The English followed a policy of racial discrimination.
2) The systematic exclusion of the Indians from higher official positions came to be looked upon as an anti-Indian policy measure and the resultant discontent of the Indian upper classes led the Indians to revolt against the British rule.
3) When civil service examinations were introduced the age limit was fixed at twenty one. When Indians were making it, with a view to debarring the Indians from entering the civil services, the age limit was reduced to nineteen.
4) Similarly, despite requests from Indian educated middle class to hold the civil service examinations simultaneously in India, the Imperial government refused to concede the request.

1) The British destroyed the traditional basis of Indian land system. In the pre-British days, the land revenue was realised by sharing the actual crop with the cultivators.
2)  The British fixed the land revenue in cash without any regard to various contingencies, such as failure of crops, fall in prices and droughts or floods. Moreover, the practice of sale in settlement of debt encouraged money lenders to advance money to landholders and resorting to every kind of trickery to rob them of their property.
3) There were also two other major implications of the new land settlements introduced by the East India Company. They institutionalised the commodification of land and commercialisation of agriculture in India.
4) As mentioned earlier, there was no private property in land in pre-British era Now, land became a commodity that could be transferred either by way of buying and selling or by way of the administration taking over land from holders, in lieu of default on payment of tax/rent.
5) Land taken over in such cases was auctioned off to another bidder. This created a new class of absentee landlords who lived in the cities and extracted revenue from the lands without actually living on the lands.
6) In the traditional agricultural set-up, the villagers produced largely for their consumption among themselves. After the new land settlements, agricultural produce was predominantly for the market.
7) The commodification of land and commercialisation of agriculture did not improve the lives and conditions of the peasants. Instead, this created discontent among the peasantry and made them restive. These peasants later on turned against the imperialists and their collaborators.
Laissez Faire Policy and De-industrialization: Impact on Indian Artisans
1) The policy of the Company in the wake of industrial Revolution in England resulted in the de-industrialization of India This continued until the beginning of the World War 1. The British Government pursued a policy of free trade or laissez faire.
2) Raw materials like cotton, jute and silks from India were taken to Britain. The finished products made from those raw materials were then transported back to the Indian markets.
3) Mass production with the help of technological advancement enabled them to flood the Indian market with their goods. It was available at a comparatively cheaper price than the Indian handloom cloth.
4) Prior to the arrival of the British, India was known for its handloom products and handicrafts. It commanded a good world market.
5) However, as a result of the colonia policy, gradually Indian hand loom products and handicrafts lost there market, domestic as well as international. Import of English articles into India threw the weavers, the cotton dressers, the carpenters, the blacksmiths and the shoemakers out of employment.
6) India became a procurement area for the raw material and the farmers were forced to produce industrial crops like indigo and other cash crops like cotton for use in British factories. Due to this shift, subsistence agriculture, which was the mainstay for several hundred years, suffered leading to food scarcity.

1) The colonial government aided the spread of modem education in India for a different reason than educating and empowering the Indians.
2) To administer a large colony like India, the British needed a large number of personnel to work for them. It was impossible for the British to import the educated lot, needed in such large numbers, from Britain.
3) With this aim, the English Education Act was passed by the Council of India in 1835. T.B. Macaulay drafted this system of education introduced in India
4) Consequently, the colonial administration started schools, colleges and universities, imparting English and modem education, in India
5) Universities were established in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta in 1857.
6) The colonial government expected this section of educated Indians to be loyal to the British and act as the pillars of the British Raj.
7) The British created an educated Indian middle class for their own ends but sneered at it as the Babu class.
8) That every class, however, became the progressive intelligentsia of India and played a leading role in mobilising the people for the liberation of the country.
9) The economic and administrative transformation on the one side and the growth of Western education on the other gave the space for the growth of new social classes.
10)  From within these social classes, a modem Indian intelligentsia emerged
11) The "neo-social classes" created by the British Raj, which included the Indian trading and business communities, landlords, money lenders, English-educated Indians employed in imperial subordinate services, lawyers and doctors, initially adopted a positive approach towards the colonial administration.
12)  However, soon they realised that their interests would be better served only in independent India
13)  People of the said social classes began to play a prominent role in promoting patriotism amongst the people.
14) The consciousness of these classes found articulation in a number of associations prior to the founding of the Indian National Congress at the national level.