Act 1919 and Act 1935 (in Hindi)

Lesson 6 of 8 • 28 upvotes • 10:06mins

R K Shukla

has the Montague- Chelmsford Reforms as Montague was the Secretary of state for India and lord Chelmsford was the Viceroy of India. It was in line with the declaration of British Government on 20th August 1917 that its objective was the gradual introduction of responsible Government in India.act introduced system of diarchy, a term derived from the Greek word di-arche, which means double rule, in the provinces. It was considered to be a substantial step towards transfer of power to the Indians. The provincial subjects of administration were to be divided into two categories namely transferred and reserved. The transferred subjects were to be administration by the governor with the help of ministers responsible to the Legislative Council. Whereas, the Governor and the Executive Council were to administer the reserved subjects without having any responsibility towards the legislature. However, this experiment was largely unsuccessful.his act set the Devolution Rules, by which subjects of administration were divided into two categories namely, central and provincial. Central category had subjects of all India importance (like Railways and Finance), while matters relating to the administration of the provinces were classified as provincial.It introduced, for the first time, bicameralism and direct elections in the country. Consequently, the Indian Legislative Council was replaced by a bicameralism legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly). The majority of members of both the house were to be chosen by direct election.The Number of Indians in the Governor General’s executive Council was raised to there in a council of six members (other than the Commander-in-Chief). The Indian members were entrusted with departments such as law, education, labour, health and industries.Communal representation extended to Sikhs, Christians, Anglo-Indians etc. Secretary of stats to be henceforth paid salary out of the British revenue. It provided for a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and transferred to him some of the functions of the Secretary of state for India.Government of India Act 1919 also provided for franchise for those who were educated, paid tax and had property.It made provision for the establishment of a public Service Commission, which came into being in 1928 for the recruitment of civil servants.It separated provincial budgets from the central budget and provincial legislatures were authorised to enact their budgets. . It 1935 act provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units. The Act divided the powers between the Centre and units in terms of three lists—Federal List (for Centre, with 59 items), Provincial List (for provinces, with 54 items) and the Concurrent List (for both, with 36 items). Residuary powers were given to the Viceroy. However, the federation never came into being as the princely states did not join it. 2. It abolished dyarchy in the provinces and introduced ‘provincial autonomy’ in its place. The provinces were allowed to act as autonomous units of administration in their defined spheres. Moreover, the Act introduced responsible governments in provinces, that is, the governor was required to act with the advice of ministers responsible to the provincial legislature. This came into effect in 1937 and was discontinued in 1939. 3. It provided for the adoption of dyarchy at the Centre. Consequently, the federal subjects were divided into reserved subjects and transferred subjects. However, this provision of the Act did not come into operation at all. 4. It introduced bicameralism in six out of eleven provinces. Thus, the legislatures of Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Bihar, Assam and the United Provinces were made bicameral consisting of a legislative council (upper house) and a legislative assembly (lower house). However, many restrictions were placed on them. 5. It further extended the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for depressed classes (scheduled castes), women and labour (workers).