Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET July 2016 Political Science
Which of the following statements about the Government of India Act, 1935 are not true?
- I. In six of the provinces, the legislature was bicameral.
- II. The Governor-General had the power to make permanent acts but not ordinances.
- III. The residuary powers of legislation were vested in the Central Legislature.
- IV. Education as a subject was with Central Legislature.
- V. Separate representation was provided only to the Muslim community.
AI, II, III and V
BII, IV and V
CII, III, IV and V ✓ Correct
DI, III, IV and V
Correct answer: (C) II, III, IV and V — The statements that are not true about the Government of India Act 1935 are II, III, IV and V, which is option (3).
Explanation
★The statements that are not true about the Government of India Act 1935 are II, III, IV and V, which is option (3).
★The Government of India Act 1935 was the last constitution made by the British Parliament for India.
★Statement I is true, because the Act did provide for bicameral legislatures in six of the eleven provinces.
★Those six provinces were Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Madras, Assam and the United Provinces.
★Statement II is false, because the Governor General did retain the power to issue ordinances, so the claim that he could not is incorrect.
★Statement III is false, because the residuary powers of legislation were vested in the Governor General, not in the Central Legislature.
★Statement IV is false, because education was a provincial subject under the scheme of provincial autonomy, not a central subject.
★Statement V is false, because separate representation was not provided only to Muslims, since the Act extended separate electorates to other groups as well.
★The 1935 Act extended separate electorates to the depressed classes, women and labour, beyond the Muslims who already had them from 1909.
★The Act provided limited provincial autonomy rather than full independence, and introduced direct elections for the first time.
★It extended voting rights further, including to many women, though the franchise remained limited to about a tenth of the population.
★It abolished provincial dyarchy and proposed an all India federation with dyarchy at the Centre, a federal part that was never enforced.
★It also created a Federal Court, a Reserve Bank of India and a Federal Railway Authority.
★So the only true statement in the list is statement I, about bicameralism in six provinces.
★The trap is to misread the powers of the Governor General over ordinances and residuary subjects, which the Act kept firmly with him.
★For NET, remember that under the 1935 Act the Governor General held the ordinance and residuary powers, education was provincial, and separate electorates went well beyond the Muslims.
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