Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET Jan 2025 Political Science
Separate representation to the Muslim community was provided by –
AGovernment of India Act-1858
BIndian Council Act – 1892
CIndian Council Act – 1909 ✓ Correct
DIndian Council Act – 1861
Correct answer: (C) Indian Council Act – 1909 — Separate representation for the Muslim community was provided by the Indian Councils Act of 1909, which is option (3).
Explanation
★Separate representation for the Muslim community was provided by the Indian Councils Act of 1909, which is option (3).
★The 1909 Act is also known as the Morley Minto Reforms, after Lord Morley, the Secretary of State, and Lord Minto, the Viceroy.
★Its most distinctive feature was the introduction of a separate electorate for Muslims, the formal beginning of communal representation in India.
★Under a separate electorate, Muslim voters elected Muslim representatives from constituencies reserved for them alone.
★The Act increased the size of the central and provincial legislative councils, raising the central council membership from 16 to 60.
★It enlarged the deliberative functions of the councils, allowing more discussion and resolutions.
★It allowed, for the first time, the association of Indians with the executive councils of the Viceroy and the Governors.
★Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy's executive council under these reforms.
★The option Government of India Act 1858 is wrong, since it transferred power to the Crown and created the Secretary of State, not separate electorates.
★The option Indian Councils Act 1892 is wrong, since it only introduced a limited, indirect electoral principle without communal electorates.
★The option Indian Councils Act 1861 is wrong, since it merely allowed the nomination of Indians as non official members for the first time.
★The separate electorate of 1909 was later extended by the Government of India Act 1919 to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo Indians and Europeans.
★It was further widened by the Communal Award of 1932, which extended separate electorates to the depressed classes as well.
★The principle of separate electorates is often criticised for institutionalising communal divisions in Indian politics.
★For NET, fix the chain of communal representation: separate electorate begun in 1909, extended in 1919, and widened by the Communal Award of 1932.
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