- Congress decided not to participate in the Third-Round Table Conference (November-December 1932). The discussion led to the coming up of the Government Act of India Act of 1935, which was the longest act of British Parliament.
- Principal sources included: Simon Commission report, Nehru report, Round Table Conference (RTC) discussions, White paper and Lothian Committee report.
Main Features Included
- All India Federation: Proposed All India Federation including governor’s provinces, chief commissioners’ provinces and princely states. For the federation to come into being, conditions were put such as states with an allotment of 52 seats in the proposed council of states should agree to join the federation.
- Provisions for federal-level structure:
- Executive: Subjects were divided into reserved and transferred.
- Reserved subjects included: Foreign affairs, tribal affairs etc. were to be administered by the Governor General on the advice of Executive councillors who were not responsible.
- For transferred subjects, the advice of elected ministers was important who was responsible to the legislature. Governor was given discretion in special conditions.
- Legislature: Bicameral legislature to have- a permanent council of states, to be partly directly elected and a lower house with a 5-year term, partly indirectly elected.
- Legislative lists were divided into federal, provincial and concurrent lists.
- Power to move a no-confidence motion against ministers was given only to the lower house.
- Residuary powers were under Governor General.
- Provisions for provincial level: Provincial autonomy replaced dyarchy, were now to derive legal authority directly from the crown and provided with provincial autonomy.
- Executive: Crown authority was represented by the Governor. Governor was also provided with special powers in the case of minorities, law and order, princely states etc. He was also provided with emergency powers.
- Legislature: Separate electorate was to be applied. Direct election to elect members of the legislature. Ministers were to administer all provincial subjects being answerable & responsible to the legislature. It could legislate on provincial and concurrent lists.
- Other Provisions of the act:
- Federal court (established in 1937) with appellate and original jurisdiction, however in certain cases appeals are to be made to the privy council in London.
- The act established Reserve Bank of India (1935).
- Communal and separate electorates were retained and extended to groups such as Anglo-Indians and Indo-Christians.
- Women were given reservations in Provincial and central legislature.
- Enlarged the electorate but due to high property qualifications only 10% of the population was enfranchised.
Evaluation of the Act
- Jawaharlal Nehru described the 1935 act as “a machine with strong brakes and no engine.”
- Provincial Autonomy: Authorities deriving functions directly from the crown were new to the constitutional reforms. This had some familiarity with the dominion constituents.
- However, the act did not mention the dominion status promised during Civil Disobedience Movement. It was a lukewarm attitude towards satisfying Indian demands.
- Fundamental Rights as mentioned in Nehru Report were not given in the act.
- The act was riddled with safeguards which were designed to protect British Interests. For ex: the constitution was made rigid with amendment powers with British Parliament; 80% of budget at the federal legislature was still non-votable.
- Provided for limited responsible government. For ex: emergency powers with Governor-general & governors.
- Scheme of federations was ill-conceived and illogical. The voluntary provision for states to join and the conditions mentioned led the federation to never come into existence. The princes were expected to be reactionary factors and check upon the nationalists.
- Dyarchy at centre was still provided though opposed by the Simon Commission. For ex., Defence, an important department with the lion’s share in the budget was kept on the reserved list.
- Retainment of separate electorates on communal lines and even extension of it to other groups was scandalously unreasonable.
Indian Reaction to the Act
- Congress unanimously rejected the 1935 Act and demanded a constituent assembly, that would be elected based on an adult franchise to frame a constitution for Indians.
- However, groups such as Hindu Mahasabha & National Liberal Foundation declared their support for the act.
