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- Sent by Britain’s Prime Minister Clement Atlee in 1946 to find out ways for a negotiated, peaceful transfer of power to India.
- It had three British cabinet members: Penthick Lawrence (Chairman), Secretary of State for India; Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade; and A.V. Alexander, First Lord of Admiralty
Salient points of Cabinet Mission Plan
- Rejection of demand for a full-fledged Pakistan.
- Grouping of the existing Provincial Assemblies into three sections:
- Section 1 (Hindu majority provinces);
- Section 2 (Muslim majority provinces); and
- Section 3 (Muslim majority provinces)
- Three-tier executive and legislature at provincial, section and union levels.
- A Constituent Assembly was to be elected by Provincial Assemblies by proportional representation (Voting in three groups – General, Muslims, and Sikhs). Constituent Assembly would be a 389-member body, with Provincial Assemblies sending 292, Chief Commissioners’ Provinces sending 4, and Princely States sending 93 members.
- A common Centre would control defence, communication and external affairs. A federal structure was envisaged for India.
- Communal questions in the Central Legislature were to be decided by a simple majority of both communities, present and voting.
- Provinces were to have full autonomy and residual powers.
- Princely States were no longer to be under the paramountcy of the British government. They would be free to enter an arrangement with the successor governments or the British government.
- After the first general elections, a province was to be free to come out of a group and after 10 years, a province was to be free to call for a reconsideration of the group or the Union Constitution.
- Meanwhile, an Interim Government was to be formed from the Constituent Assembly.
- The plan was accepted first by League and then by Congress though both had interpreted the proposals differently. Later, in 1946 League withdrew its acceptance retaliating to a statement given by Nehru and gave a call for Direct Action Day on August 16th to achieve Pakistan.
- As a result, a Congress-dominated interim government headed by Nehru was sworn in on September 2nd, 1946. However, Wavell quietly brought the Muslim League into interim government later without giving up” direct action.”
- The interim government period had an enormous upheaval in the communal sentiments and thus sensing trouble Attlee made an announcement on February 20th, 1947, wherein a deadline of June 30, 1948, was fixed for transfer of power. It suggested that power may be transferred to one centre or in some areas to the existing provincial governments. Mountbatten as Viceroy replaced Wavell.
