What were the main features of the Government of India Act of 1935?

Answer 1

After the failure of the Third Round Table Conference, the British government gave the Joint Select Committee the task of formulating the new Act for India. The Committee comprised of 16 members each from the House of Commons and House of Lords, 20 representatives from British India and seven from the princely states. Lord Linlithgow was appointed as the president of the Committee. After a year and a half of deliberations, the Committee finally came out with a draft Bill on February 5, 1935. The Bill was discussed in the House of Commons for 43 days and in the House of Lords for 13 days and finally, after being signed by the King, was enforced as the Government of India Act, 1935, in July 1935.

The main features of the Act of 1935 were:

1. A Federation of India was promised for, comprising both provinces and states. The provisions of the Act establishing the federal central government were not to go into operation until a specified number of rulers of states had signed Instruments of Accession. Since, this did not happen, the central government continued to function in accordance with the 1919 Act and only the part of the 1935 Act dealing with the provincial governments went into operation.

2. The Governor General remained the head of the central administration and enjoyed wide powers concerning administration, legislation and finance.

3. No finance bill could be placed in the Central Legislature without the consent of the Governor General.

4. The Federal Legislature was to consist of two houses, the Council of State (Upper House) and the Federal Assembly (Lower House).

5. The Council of State was to consist of 260 members, out of whom 156 were to be elected from the British India and 104 to be nominated by the rulers of princely states.

6. The Federal Assembly was to consist of 375 members; out of which 250 were to be elected by the Legislative Assemblies of the British Indian provinces while 125 were to be nominated by the rulers of princely states.

7. The Central Legislature had the right to pass any bill, but the bill required the approval of the Governor General before it became Law. On the other hand Governor General had the power to frame ordinances.

8. The Indian Council was abolished. In its place, few advisers were nominated to help the Secretary of State for India.

9. The Secretary of State was not expected to interfere in matters that the Governor dealt with, with the help of Indian Ministers.

10. The provinces were given autonomy with respect to subjects delegated to them.

11. Diarchy, which had been established in the provinces by the Act of 1919, was to be established at the Center. However it came to an end in the provinces.

12. Two new provinces Sindh and Orissa were created.

13. Reforms were introduced in N. W. F. P. as were in the other provinces.

14. Separate electorates were continued as before.

15. One-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature was guaranteed.

16. Autonomous provincial governments in 11 provinces, under ministries responsible to legislatures, would be setup.

17. Burma and Aden were separated from India.

18. The Federal Court was established in the Center.

19. The Reserve Bank of India was established.

Both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League opposed the Act, but participated in the provincial elections of winter 1936-37, conducted under stipulations of the Act. At the time of independence, the two dominions of India and Pakistan accepted the Act of 1935, with few amendments, as their provisional constitution.

Answer 2

With the 3rd Round Table Conference of 1932 in Londonending without any INC* Leaders representing the talks, the Conservative led majority govt in it's discussions led to the framing of the Govt of India Act of 1935. Though it was passed in the British Parliament it was an important document that laid down the formation of an All India Federation and a new system for governing provinces based on their autonomy. The act divided the governing body into 2 parts, the bicameral federal legislature and the princely states, in which the latter were to be used to check the nationalistic agenda. This Act thus ended the diarchy i.e. the power to rule being vested on 2 rulers/authorities as laid down earlier by the Govt of India Act of 1919.

Though this Act left the Congress dissatisfied as it couldn't justify the aspirations of the Indian political and economic freedom since most of this Act's power lay with the Britishers that included Defense and Foreign Affairs. Only 14% of the total population in British India were allowed to vote with no real power given to the Princely states. Also the appointment of the Governor-Gen and the Governors lay with the British govt.

Some of The Act's salient features were the three-fold distribution of power through 3 Lists i.e. the Union, State, and Concurrent. It determined the extent of power of the Federation and the units which made the Federal supreme. The Federation shall have the power to subjects in both the concurrent and the state lists and the supremacy of the Federation was based on the principal situations of practical importance.

In 1947, a relatively few amendments in the Act of 1935 made it the functioning interim constitutions of India and Pakistan and later to be edited by the drafting committee while framing the Constitution of India.

*INC-Indian National Congress.

Answer 3

1o provinces. 11 provinces.9 provinces.non of these