Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Government of India Act 1919)
February 12th, 2008 | by Raja Ghias |Edwin Montagu, the secretary of State for India, visited India from November 1917 to April 1918 and, in cooperation with the viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, held discussion with Indian leaders of all opinions. The result of these conversation and the Viceroy-Secretary of State deliberations was the Montagu Chelmsford Report, which was published on 8 July 1918. The proposals of the Report were supported by all the members of the Council of the Secretary of State of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, and were welcomed by the non-official members of the Imperial Legislative Council, but were severely criticized by the Muslim League and the Congress. The report’s plan was so far removed from that of the Congress League scheme that no attempt was made to arrange a compromise, and the official recommendation were drafted into a Government of India Bill, which passed through Parliament in November 1919 and received the Royal Assent on 23 December. The main features of the Act were:
1.The Act gave separate representation to the Muslims and also extended it to one other minority, the Sikhs.
2.At the center, the Central Legislative Council (which in 1918 was a small body of 678, of whom 35 were officials and 5 nominated non-officials) was to be replaced by a bicameral legislature: the Council State and the Indian Legislative Assembly. In both a great majority of members would be elected.
3.In the provincial field, Act erected the system of ‘Dyarchy’, i.e. a division of powers between the responsible ministers and the irresponsible Executive Councilors.
4.The provincial Legislature were enlarged and 70 percent seats were ensured for elected representation.
5.Franchise was extended by lowering the property qualification.
6.Universities, Landholders, industries and commerce received representation as constituencies.
7.Law and order, and Land Revenue departments were kept reserved for the British administration. While departments of education, agriculture, public health and local government were transferred to India ministers.
8.Under this Act of 1919 a statutory commission was also to be appointed after 10 years to examine the working of the system and to advice for the future of the Indian Constitution.
The principle under lying the new and unusual system of Dyarchy in the Act of 1919 was to train Indian politicians in representative government before trusting them with powers in all fields. For this reason some subjects were made popular and given into the charge of popularly selected ministers who were responsible to the provincial legislatures. And some subjects were reserved to the Governor, who administrated them through appointed executive councilors who were not accountable to the provincial assemblies.
But the scheme under the act was not entirely successful. Government at the center remained under the control of the British officials, responsible to the British Government. The important departments in the provinces also remained under the British officials, known as Executive Councilors, responsible to the British Governors and through them to the Governor General.
In the elections held in 1920 under the new Act, the Congress took no part. In 1923, however, the Congress decided to contest the next elections, not wit a view to working the constitution but to destroying it from within. The Muslims, on the other hand, did not disapprove the Act of 1919 through they were not completely satisfied with it.
