Sunday, 5 January 2014

Q.Describe the main provisions of the Government of India Act, 1919 (Montague-Chelmsford?

Ans.

In August 1917, Montague, the Secretary of State, said in the British Parliament that the policy of the British Government was to increase the share of Indians in every branch of administration. To give this declaration a practical shape, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act 1919. Its important features were as under:
The Central Legislature was to consist of two chambers.
(1) The Council of State

(2) The Legislative Assembly.
Both the Houses were to be elected directly. The Council of State consisted of 60 members. It had 26 members nominated by the Governor-General and 34 elected members. The term of the Council was five years. The Legislative Assembly consisted of 145 members out of which 105 were elected and 40 nominated. The term of the Assembly was three years.
Dyarchy in the Provinces. The Act established in nine provinces the dual system of Government called DYARCHY. According to this system, the provincial subjects were divided into two parts-the Reserved and Transferred. Land revenue, famine relief, irrigation, law and order, control of newspapers etc. were the Reserved Departments to be controlled by the Governor and his Executive Councillors. They were not responsible to the Legislative Council. The Transferred Departments were to be administered by the Governor and the ministers chosen from the elected members of the Provincial Legislative Council. The system of double
government did not work satisfactorily and was abolished in 1937.
The right to vote for the legislatures was restricted. It was given mainly to property holders. 1 The provincial Legislative Councils were reorganised and the number of their members was increased.
The Act of 1909 had given separate representation to Muslims. The Act of 1919 gave separate representation to the Sikhs in the Punjab, the Marathas in the Bombay (Mumbai) Province and non-Brahmans in Madras (Chennai).

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