Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET Dec 2014 Political Science
In which of the following Acts, the provincial subjects were divided into transferred and reserved subjects?
AIndian Councils Act, 1892
BIndian Councils Act, 1909
CMontague-Chelmsford Reforms Act, 1919 ✓ Correct
DGovernment of India Act, 1935
Correct answer: (C) Montague-Chelmsford Reforms Act, 1919 — The Government of India Act 1919, the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms, is the Act that split provincial subjects into transferred and reserved categories, the scheme known as dyarchy or dual government…
Explanation
★The Government of India Act 1919, the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms, is the Act that split provincial subjects into transferred and reserved categories, the scheme known as dyarchy or dual government in the provinces.
★It is named after Edwin Montagu, the Secretary of State for India, and Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy, who jointly authored the report behind it.
★It gave legal form to the British declaration of August 1917 that the aim was the gradual development of responsible government in India as an integral part of the Empire.
★The Act was passed in 1919 and came into force in 1921.
★Reserved subjects, namely finance, law and order, and the army, stayed with the Governor and his executive council, which was not answerable to the legislature.
★Transferred subjects, namely education, public health, agriculture, and local self government, went to the Governor acting through Indian ministers responsible to the legislative council.
★It introduced bicameralism at the Centre and direct elections in India for the first time.
★It required that three of the six members of the Viceroy's Executive Council, other than the Commander in Chief, be Indians.
★It extended separate electorates to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo Indians, and Europeans, widening the communal representation principle begun in 1909.
★It granted the franchise to a limited population on the basis of property, tax, or education.
★It separated provincial budgets from the central budget and let provincial legislatures pass their own budgets.
★It created the office of High Commissioner for India in London and provided for a public service commission, leading to the Central Public Service Commission in 1926.
★It also provided for a statutory commission to review its working after ten years, the body that later took shape as the Simon Commission.
★The Indian Councils Act 1892 only enlarged the councils and allowed a limited, indirect electoral principle, with no transferred reserved division.
★The Indian Councils Act 1909, the Morley Minto Reforms, is identified with the separate electorate for Muslims, not dyarchy; under it Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian on the Viceroy's executive council.
★The Government of India Act 1935 abolished provincial dyarchy and brought in provincial autonomy, proposing dyarchy at the Centre instead, so it ended the 1919 provincial scheme rather than starting it.
★For NET, fix the ladder: Morley Minto 1909 (separate electorates), then Montagu Chelmsford 1919 (provincial dyarchy, bicameralism, direct elections), then the Simon Commission 1927, then the Government of India Act 1935 (provincial autonomy).
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