Government of India Act 1935

Topic: Framing the Indian Constitution · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Framing the Constitution"

Meaning

The Government of India Act 1935 was a law passed by the British Parliament. It gave the provinces provincial autonomy, which means they could largely run themselves. Under it, provincial ministers became almost entirely answerable to elected provincial legislatures. But only 10-15 per cent of adults could vote, and British-appointed Governors still stood above these legislatures. The Act also proposed an all-India federation of British provinces and princely states, but that federation was never set up.

It matters because it was the last and widest of the colonial reform Acts. Many parts of the Constitution's machinery came from it. The NCERT argues, however, that the Constituent Assembly of 1946 was a clean break from it, not the next step after it.

Explanation

Background: a series of colonial Acts

• The British let Indians into government slowly, through three Acts: 1909, 1919 and 1935.
• Each Act gave a little more share in power:
• 1919: the provincial executive (the ministers who run the government) was made partly responsible to provincial legislatures.

• 1935: the provincial executive was made almost entirely responsible to provincial legislatures.

• The 1935 Act was the furthest the colonial state went before independence.

Main features

• Provincial autonomy:
• Ministries in the provinces were formed from the elected legislature.
• They were answerable to that legislature for most subjects.

• This ended dyarchy (the 1919 system in which power in each province was split between elected ministers and officials) in the provinces.

• Narrow franchise (the right to vote):

• Only 10-15 per cent of adults could vote.

• Voting depended mostly on property, education and similar conditions, so the great majority of Indians had no vote.

• Governors on top:

• Provincial legislatures stayed answerable to British-appointed Governors.

• So real, final power still lay with the colonial state.

• Proposed all-India federation:

• The Act planned to join British provinces and princely states in one federation.
• This part never came into force, mainly because enough princely states did not agree to join.

How it worked: the 1937 ministries

• Elections to the provincial legislatures under this Act were held in 1937.
• Congress formed ministries in 8 of the 11 provinces.
• This gave Indian leaders real experience of running provincial governments and legislatures.
• But they worked inside rules written in Britain, under Governors appointed by Britain.

Results: continuity or rupture?

• The continuity view:
• The 1935 Act trained Indians in parliamentary work.

• It supplied much of the Constitution's later structure, such as the federal division between Centre and provinces.

• The NCERT view: 1946 was a rupture (a clean break):

• The 1935 Act was enacted by the colonial government, not by Indians.
• It covered only 10-15 per cent of adults.
• It kept Governors above elected legislatures.
• The Constituent Assembly, by contrast, was Indians writing rules for themselves, with the goal of universal adult franchise (a vote for every adult).

Time, place and evidence

• Period: late colonial India. The Act was passed in 1935, and the provincial part worked from the 1937 elections onwards.
• Where it applied: across British India's 11 provinces. The planned federation would also have covered the princely states.
• Who made it: the British Parliament, which means it came from the colonial power and not from an Indian body.
• Key Indian actors: the Congress, which formed ministries in 8 of the 11 provinces in 1937.
• Link to the Constitution:
• The Constituent Assembly was constituted on 6 December 1946 and held its first sitting on 9 December 1946 in the Constitution Hall, New Delhi, now the Central Hall of Parliament House [4].
• Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution on 13 December 1946. It aimed at an "Independent Sovereign Republic", far beyond the 1935 Act [2][3].

• In the debates, the Communist member Somnath Lahiri said the Assembly itself worked "under the shadow of British guns". This shows how strongly Indians still felt British control in 1946-47.

• How we know:

• The text of the Act itself.
• The NCERT Class 12 chapter "Framing the Constitution".
• The Constituent Assembly Debates, the official record of what members said [3].

Don't confuse with

• Government of India Act 1919: It made the provincial executive only partly responsible to legislatures, through dyarchy. The 1935 Act made it almost entirely responsible and gave provincial autonomy.
• Act of 1909: This was the earliest of the three Acts. It only widened Indian entry into legislative councils and did not create responsible provincial ministries.
• Objectives Resolution (1946): It was moved by Nehru in the Constituent Assembly, an Indian body, and aimed at a sovereign republic [2]. The 1935 Act was made by the British Parliament for a colonial India.
• The proposed federation vs provincial autonomy: Only provincial autonomy actually worked, from 1937. The all-India federation stayed on paper.

Prelims Hooks

• Under the Government of India Act 1935, only about 10-15 per cent of adults could vote.
• 1937 elections: Congress ministries formed in 8 of the 11 provinces.
• 1919 Act: executive partly responsible. 1935 Act: executive almost entirely responsible to provincial legislatures.
• Chronological order: Act of 1909 → Act of 1919 → Act of 1935 → Constituent Assembly first sitting (9 December 1946) [4].
• Trap: the Act's all-India federation never came into force. Only provincial autonomy was put into practice.
• Trap: even under the 1935 Act, legislatures remained answerable to British-appointed Governors, so it was not full self-rule.

Mains Points

• Continuity vs rupture.
• Continuity: the 1935 Act trained Indians in running parliaments and governments and gave the Constitution much of its structure.
• Rupture (NCERT): the Act was granted from above, covered only 10-15 per cent of adults and kept Governors on top. The Constituent Assembly drew its authority from the people and aimed at universal adult franchise.

• A good answer presents both views and then judges between them.

• Participation without power.

• The 1937 Congress ministries in 8 of 11 provinces show real Indian participation in government.
• But the narrow franchise and the Governors' overriding position show the limits of colonial reform.

• This explains why Nehru's Objectives Resolution asked for an "Independent Sovereign Republic", not a wider version of the 1935 Act [2].

• Legitimacy of the Constituent Assembly.

• Lahiri argued that a body born under colonial rule could not speak freely.
• Nehru replied that "governments are, in fact, the expression of the will of the people."
• The 1935 Act's narrow electorate is the background to this debate.

Related concepts

• Objectives Resolution
• Somnath Lahiri
• Indian Councils Act 1909
• Edwin Montagu
• Government of India Act 1919
• Dyarchy
• Federal Court of India
• Jyotiba Phule
• Swami Vivekananda

Read more

• The Objectives Resolution and the vision of the Constitution