Why did the British not want India's allegiance to be completely dissolved from Britain?

Question

India wasn't given independent status on 15th August, 1947. India & Pakistan were given status of dominions under monarch George VI. Look at the wordings of independence act of India.

An Act to make provision for the setting up in India of two independent Dominion states, to substitute other provisions for certain provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, which apply outside those Dominions, and to provide for other matters consequential on or connected with the setting up of those Dominions.

But in contrast, 170 years ago same British empire didn't give dominion status to America as well rather America was given independent status without any allegiance with Britain either directly or indirectly. Look at the wordings of United States declaration of Independence

the united colonies of America are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

My question is

• Why was India given dominion status instead of complete independent status unlike America?

• Why was Britain reluctant to grant complete independence to India at all? Had something remained yet to be done then?
  
  

Answer 1

Long story short, America had a successful revolution and India didn't.

America

America had the American Revolution and won independence through escalation of protest.

The American Revolution was a colonial revolt that took place between 1765 and 1783. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies won independence from Great Britain, becoming the United States of America. In alliance with France and others it defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War.

India

India was granted dominion status because organisations arranged talks with the then Viceroy of India which then formulated into the Indian Independence Act 1947 to grant said status:

The legislation was formulated by the government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee and the Governor General of India Lord Mountbatten, after representatives of the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League, and the Sikh community came to an agreement with the Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, on what has come to be known as the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan. This plan was the last plan for independence.

Britain still needs trade, soldiers, and resources from its colonies and India was no exception, they played a huge part in the Textile Revolution and if they weren't going out without a fight, From Britain's perspective I'm sure they wouldn't need to be absolved all allegiance.

Indian colonization provided the key ingredients for the textile revolution (also called the Industrial Revolution) in Britain. The two key ingredients are cotton and markets. Cotton was massively imported from India, and with an abundance of coal in the U.K., it was processed to produce mass-manufactured textiles that were then exported back to India (and other places). That is the core of the Industrial Revolution that took the West to economic prosperity (source).

Note: as Sjuan76 points out in the comments, there wasn't dominion status back when the Americans were absolved, it started with the Canadian Confederation in 1867.

Update:

Thanks. Can you answer 2nd part - What are the reasons if possibly inferred, by which Britain was reluctant to grant complete independence?

Britain essentially wanted India to remain apart of the imperial defence and had hoped they would achieve that with self-governance by aligning both armies.

But the British still hoped that a self-governing India would remain part of their system of 'imperial defence'. For this reason, Britain was desperate to keep India (and its army) united. These hopes came to nothing (source).

Further Reading:

• Indian independence movement
• The End of the British Empire in India

Answer 2

The Dominion of India existed as a transitory interim government formed after the formal declaration of Indian independence on 15 August 1947 which lasted until the enforcement of the Indian Constitution on 26 August 1950, which made India a republic ( Republic of India ). Until the adoption of the Constitution, India remained in a state similar to other Dominions such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and even had Lord Mountbatten serve as a Governor-General ( who acted as a representative of the British Crown ). This government allowed the governance of India until the basic shape of the new Independent India in the form of a Constitution and republican institutions could be formed and adopted, as well as allow the integration of the Princely States into India. While the Indian independence movement has a long history, the formal process itself was peaceful.

The United States of America, on the other hand, won its independence through a war ( the Revolutionary War ). Therefore, no transitory government under the British Empire was formed for the purpose of governing America until a Constitution ( the Articles of Confederation in this case, since the American Constitution was adopted later ) was formed, adopted and enforced.

EDIT: Peaceful here refers to vis a vis the overlord ( Britain in both cases ). The dissolution of the British Raj was marred by violence due to the Partition, forced annexation of Junagarh and Hyderabad, as well as the First Indo-Pakistani war fought over Jammu and Kashmir.

Answer 3

Dominion Status means that the Dominion

1. Has the British Monarch as head of state.

2. In a member of the Commonwealth.

3. Has the ability, using its own constitution procedures, to change 1 and/or 2 at any time it wishes.

Generally it was the wish and preference of the British Monarch and the British Government that each colonies should remain a Dominion, whilst recognising the democratic right of the Dominion to decide otherwise.

So the standard procedure is that a colony becomes a Dominion first and then it can decide for itself whether it wishes to change from that status to a Republic within the Commonwealth, or even a Republic outside the Commonwealth.

In the case of India specifically there was also the complication of partition (into India and Pakistan) and the position of the Princely States and Dominion status also provided a framework within which the precise structure of the independent nations could be progressively established.