Muhammad Shafi

S2021054014
BBIS Student

All Constitutional efforts from 1919 to 1940

Mont ford reforms

The Bill was introduced in India in 1919 and became Act of 1919. This Act,
commonly known as Montague-Chelmsford Reforms.

 The Council of the Secretary of State was to comprise of eight to

twelve people. Three of them should be Indian, and at least half of
them should have spent at least ten years in India.
 The Central Legislature was to consist of two houses, Upper House
(Council of the State), and the Lower House (Legislative Assembly).
Council of the State was to consist of 60 members, out of them 35
members would be elected and rest of them would be nominated by
the Governor General. The Legislative Assembly was to consist of
144 members, out of them 103 were to be elected and 41 to be
nominated by the Governor General. The duration of the Upper
House was five and of the Lower House was three years.
 Powers were divided between the center and the provinces. The
important subjects were vested with the center and unimportant
remained with provinces. The important central subjects were
defense, foreign affairs, custom, and relations with Indian states,
currency and railway. On the contrary, unworthy provincial subjects
were local self-government, public health, education etc.
 The salary of the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs should be paid
from British exchequer; previously, his salary was paid by Indian
treasury.
 The system of ‘Diarchy’ or a kind of double government in the
Provinces was introduced. Provincial subjects were divided into two
categories “Transferred and Reserved.” Transferred subjects which
were public health, education, local self-government, and agriculture
were under the control of Minister; likewise all transferred subjects
were unimportant. Reserved subjects included administration, police,
land revenue etc. which were under the control of Governor with the
help of his secretaries. It was indirect control over transferred
department by reserved department. Hence, Governor was the head
of transferred and reserved subjects.
Muhammad Shafi
S2021054014
BBIS Student

Meanwhile, the World War I had started and Indians despite their
grievances and discontentment with the British joined the war with over
one million soldiers with the hope that after the war British would be
obliged to concede to self rule in recognition of their loyal services.
However, as the war dragged on, Indians became disillusioned as the
British did not make any promises regarding self government. Thus
Indians pressed for immediate reforms and it was felt that a civil
disobedience movement might be launched jointly by congress and
Muslim league to compel the British to accelerate the reforms. 

Simon commission

The Commission never stopped his work although people were opposing it.
And at last on April, 1929 after the tour of India they went back and finally
presented their report.

There were following recommendations on Commissions report:

1. The Diarchy system in the provinces should be abolished and all the
portfolios should be handed over to the provincial ministers.
2. The power of the central government and the provincial governors
should be reduced.
3. Federal system of government should be introduced in India.
4. The right to vote should be extended to more people.
5. An expert committee should be constituted regarding the separation
of Sindh from Bombay. The separation of Sindh was not granted in
principal. First there would have to be a close and detailed enquiry
into the financial consequences which would follow such a step.
6. The demand of the frontier for equal status was also neglected. “The
inherent right of a man to smoke a cigarette”, said the report “must
necessarily be curtailed if he lived in a powered magazine.”
The report was not acceptable for Muslims, Hindus and also for the elected
members of the Indian legislative assembly.

.
Muhammad Shafi
S2021054014
BBIS Student

Round Table Conference

The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–32 were a series of

conferences to formulate future constitution of India in the light of
suggestions given by the Indian Leaders. In Indian Act 1919, it was said
that new reforms will be introduced in Indian Act 1929. So they started
planning for 1929 Act. In 1927 British Government appointed a commission
to draft coming constitution which is called Simon Commission. There was
no representative of Indians in this Commission that’s why all the parties
decided to boycott of this commission except Shafi League. There was
great resentment among Indians because they were waiting for last ten
years. Congress wanted a clear declaration from British Government that
the main aim of these conferences would be to draft a scheme for
Dominion Status to India. On 19 June, 1930 British Prime Minister Ramsay
MacDonald summoned the Indian Leader to attend these conferences. On
13 March, 1930 Gandhi decided to celebrate Independence Day and
started Civil Disobedience Movement for complete independence of India.
However, Muslim leaders stayed away from the movement because Hindus
were exploiting the Muslim demand for their own rights.  Muhammad Ali
Jinnah had already given a proposal to British Prime Minister to settle down
this issue in London. Gandhi had given ultimatum for the approval of Nehru
Report. In this scenario, when the first Round Table Conference started
M.K Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were in the jail. Muhammad Ali Jauhar
in April 1930 declared, ‘‘The aim of the movement was not to work for
Indian independence but to make Muslims slave of Hindu Maha Sabah’’.  
Along with sixteen British members, there were fifty-seven representatives
from all Indian states and all parties except Indian National Congress.  
Muslim Leaders: Quaid-e-Azam, Sir Agha Khan. After lengthy debate, it
was decided that federal form of government will be established for India.
The Central Executive would be responsible to Federal Legislature.
Provinces will be given autonomy in their own affairs and Sindh will be
considered a separate province with a responsible government. Two sub-
committees were also appointed one will work out the detail of Federal form
of government and the other one will sort out the problems of minorities.
Both communities failed to reach any logical conclusion. On January 19,
Muhammad Shafi
S2021054014
BBIS Student

1931, the first-round table conference was officially finished. Lord Irwin
decided that in the absence of Congress leaders the future of India could
not be decided. On January 25, 1931, M.K Gandhi and his colleagues were
released from jail and Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed. The Second Round
Table Conference, lasted 7 September 1931 to 1st December 1931, made
more controversies for British Government. Maulana Muhammad Ali
Jauhar has died before that conference. To resolve the issues of federal
and minorities, Gandhi appointed himself the member of both committees.
In the absence of other representatives, he remained fail to resolve the
issues. He presented already rejected Nehru Report to resolve the
communal problem. Separate electorate for Untouchables in the award
forced Gandhi to start fast unto death. On August 16, 1932, the British
Government decided to give its famous Communal Award. In this Award,
principle of weight age was applied (Muslim lost majority in Punjab, Sikh
got advantage in Punjab, Europeans got advantage in Bengal because of
principle of weight age). Sindh was awarded the status of separate
province. Finally, Communal Award declared untouchables as a minority in
India and thus the Hindus depressed classes were given a number of
special seats. At that All India Muslim League was divided into two factions,
both expressed their dissatisfaction on that Award. At last Quaid-i-Azam
Mohammad Ali Jinnah decided to accept this award till alternative solution.
The Hindu press considered it against the fundamental principle of
nationalism for India. In the third Round Table Conference, November 17,
1932 to November 24, 1932, the Congress, and Labour Party did not take
part. It was decided to setup a federal legislature in India consisting of
elected representatives of the British India and of the representatives of the
state to be nominated by respective ruler. To sum up, we can say that the
first Conference did not gain success because of the absence of the
Congress, the Hindu representative and the second Conference remained
fail because of the presence of the Congress which even enhanced the
level of hostility between the Hindu and the Muslims and the communal
award proved even final blow to the relations of the two communities of
Indian subcontinent. As result of these conferences British Government
issued a White Paper based on the recommendations which was handed
over to Select Committee. On July 4, 1935 a new constitution of India came
into being which was approved by both of the Houses of the Parliament.
Muhammad Shafi
S2021054014
BBIS Student

Communal Awards

Under the Act of 1919, after every 10 years new reforms were to be
introduced in India by the Indian British Government and for this purpose a
commission was formed. The commission was called the Simon
Commission that was headed by Sir John Simon. This commission was
failed in its objective. After this Nehru report was formed in 1928 but this
report was rejected by Muslim leaders and Muhammad Ali Jinnah
presented 14 points against this report but these points were not accepted
by Hindus. Under these conditions the constitutional crisis took a serious
shape and to overcome the crisis 3 round table conferences were held in
London from 1930 to 1932. The first and second round table conferences
were failed and it was seemed that it is impossible to resolve the communal
problems so in 1932 the British Government announced its own formula
known as Communal Award. This award retained separate electorate for
Muslims and all other minorities. On the basis of Muslim received more
representation in Muslim minority provinces. The European settlers got this
privilege in Bengal and Assam while Sikhs in Punjab and Hindus in Sind
and in N.W.F.P also enjoyed this privilege. The right of separate electorate
was also given to the Untouchables. The right of separate electorate of the
untouchables under this award was highly criticized by Gandi and he said
that if this right was not taken back then he will die by observing the fast.
The result of this threat was that the Hindu leader D.R Ambedkar
renounced the award for the untouchables.

Government India Act of 1935

The Round Table Conferences could not achieve their objective and thus
failed. However on the suggestions of Round Table Conferences white
paper was issued in 1933 and efforts were started to make the constitution
of India. A committee was setup under the chairmanship of Lord Linlithgow,
the viceroy of India, to consider the recommendations of the white paper.
The report of the committee was published in 1934 that was contained in a
bill of law. The report along with the bill was passed in the British
Parliament. After the Royal assent the Act was enforced in the country as
Government of India Act 1935.   The Government of India Act 1935
Muhammad Shafi
S2021054014
BBIS Student

consisted of two parts. One part was central and the other part was the
provincial. The Act was also contained 14 parts and 10 schedules. The
following were the salient features of the Act:

 The Act proclaimed a bicameral legislature. The one house of the

Assembly was called the Indian Legislature Assembly and the other
house of the Assembly was The Council of State. The Council of
State was the upper house that was a permanent body i.e that it
could not be dissolved like the lower house of the Parliament. One-
third members of the upper house had to retire after every 3 years.
The lower house of the Assembly, the Indian Legislature Assembly,
was not an independent body. The laws passed by the Assembly
could be Veto by Governor-General. The legislature had no control
over the legislature under this Act.
 As regards the Federal Budget it was consisted of two parts. One part
consisted of non-votable part of the budget that was 80 % of the
whole budget. This part of budget could not be discussed or
amended in the legislature. The other part of the budget that
consisted of 20% of the whole budget could be discussed or
amended in the Federal Assembly.
 The provinces were given more authority and powers and for the first
time the provinces were made separate entities.
 The system of Dyarchy was scrapped in the provinces and introduced
in the centure.
 Under the Act there were three lists of subjects. One was federal ,
2nd was provincial and the 3rd was concurrent list.
 The whole country was divided in to 11 provinces.
 The Governor-General in the centre and the Governors in the
provinces were given special rights and privileges. In case of
emergency situation both Governor-General and Governors enjoyed
unlimited powers and their authority could not be challenged in any
institution.
 Under the Act a Federal Court was established. The court was
consisted of Chief Justice and six other judges. After the age of 65
the judges of the Federal court had to vacant the seat however the
any judge of the court could leave his seat before the age of 65. The
court could interpret the constitution and if Governor-General needed
any help regarding the constitution matters the court was bound to
Muhammad Shafi
S2021054014
BBIS Student

give advise but it was totally depended upon him to accept or reject
the advice.
 Under the Act the Secretary of State for India enjoyed the same
powers that the other ministers enjoyed under the Act. The Indian
Council that was created to help him was abolished under the
Government of India Act 1935.
The Act of 1935 failed to win appreciation from various sectors. Both the
Muslim League and the Indian National Congress expressed their
dissatisfaction over the Act. Hindu leader Madam Mohan greatly criticized
this Act and Pandat Jawahar Lal Nehru said on the emergency rights of
Governor-General and Governors that this Act provided that this Act was
like a machine that had strong brakes and no engine. Muslim leader
Muhammad Ali Jinnah said this scheme thoroughly rotten fundamentally
bad and totally unacceptable.