Act 1892 and 1909 Act (in Hindi)

Lesson 5 of 8 • 21 upvotes • 10:29mins

R K Shukla

Indian council act 1862 The Indian Councils Act 1892, dealt exclusively with the powers, functions and compositions of the Legislative Councils ,It increased the number of additional (non-official) members in the central and Provincial Legislative Councils, but maintained the official majority in them.Legislative Council was given power to discuss the budget. Members of Legislative Council were allowed to ask question to the executive.It authorised Viceroy to nominate non-official members in Central Legislative Council on the recommendation of the Provincial legislative Councils and the Bengal Chamber of commerce.Similarly, It authorised governors to nominate non-official members in the Provincial Legislative councils on the recommendation of the District Boards, Municipalities, Universities, Trade Associations, Zamindars and Chambers. Act 1909 This act is also known as Morley-Minto Reforms as Lord Morley was the then Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto was the then Viceroy of India. As per the act of 1909, membership of the Legislative Council at the center increased from 16 to 60. For major Provincial Councils, the number was raised to 50 and for minor provinces it was fixed to 30. The additional members were both nominated and elected. The principal of election was functional representation. This act allowed the provincial Legislative Councils to have non-official majority, however, it retained official majority in the Central Legislative Council.Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council. He was also appointed as the law member because this act for the first time provided for the association of Indians with the Executive Councils of the Viceroy and governors.The Act also increased the number of Executive Councilors in the three major Presidencies Bombay, Madras and Bengal.This Act increased the deliberative functions of the Legislative Councils at both the levels. Now members were allowed to ask supplementary questions, discussions on any matter of general public interest and budget. This Act introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by Providing separate electorate to them. As per this, the Muslim members were to be elected only by Muslim voters. Hence, Lord Minto came to be known as the father of communal Electorate in India.