Historical Background of Indian Constitution - Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Only 1, 2 and 3

Explanation:
In 1765, the East India Company, which till now had purely trading functions obtained the ‘Diwani’ (i.e., rights over revenue and civil justice) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

• Regulating Act of 1773 is of great constitutional importance as it was the first step taken by the British Government to control and regulate the affairs of the East India Company in India.
• Also, it recognized, the political and administrative functions of the Company.
• And it laid the foundations of central administration in India.

Features of the Act are -

1. It designated the Governor of Bengal as the ‘Governor-General of Bengal’. First Governor-General was Lord Warren Hastings.
2. It created an Executive Council of four members to assist him.
3. It made the governors of Bombay and Madras presidencies subordinate to the Governor General of Bengal (earlier the 3 presidencies were independent of one another).
4. It provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774) having one chief justice and three other judges.
5. It prohibited any private trade or accepting presents or bribes from the ‘natives’ for the servants of the Company.
6. The Court of Directors (governing body of the Company) were to report on its revenue, civil, and military affairs in India to the British Government, thus strengthening the control of the British Government over the Company.


• Later ‘Amending Act of 1781’ or the ‘Act of Settlement’ was passed by British Parliament to correct defects in 1773 Act.
• Pitts India Act (introduced by British PM William Pitt) was passed in 1784.
  
  Its features were -
  
  1. It distinguished between the commercial and political functions of the Company.
  2. It allowed the Court of Directors to manage the commercial affairs
  3. It created a new body,‘Board of Control’ to manage the political affairs.
  4. Thus, establishing a system of double government.
  5. Board of Control was to supervise and direct all operations of the civil and military government or revenues of the British possessions in India.
  
  
• Significance of the Act is that, first, the Company’s territories in India were for the first time called the ‘British possessions in India’; and second, the British Government was given the complete control over Company’s affairs and its administration in India.

ANSWER: 1, 2

Explanation:
The first cabinet was as follows -

Jawaharlal Nehru	Prime Minister; External Affairs & Commonwealth Relations; Scientific Research
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	Home, Information & Broadcasting; States
Dr. Rajendra Prasad	Food & Agriculture
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad	Education
Dr. John Mathai	Railways & Transport
R.K. Shanmugham Chetty	Finance
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar	Law
Jagjivan Ram	Labor
Sardar Baldev Singh	Defense
Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur	Health
C.H. Bhabha	Commerce
Rafi Ahmed Kidwa	Communication
Dr. Shyam Prasad Mukherji	Industries & Supplies
V.N. Gadgil	Works, Mines & Power

ANSWER: 1, 2 and 3

Explanation:
The Act was 2nd milestone towards a completely responsible government in India. It was a lengthy and detailed. It has 321 Sections and 10 Schedules.

The features of the Act were -

• It provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units.
• The Act divided the powers between the Centre and Units by three lists—Federal List (for Centre, with 59 items), Provincial List (for provinces, with 54 items) and the Concurrent List (for both, with 36 items).
• Residuary powers were given to the Viceroy.
• But the federation never came into being as the princely states didn’t join it.
• It introduced ‘provincial autonomy’ instead of dyarchy in the provinces.
• The provinces were now autonomous units of administration in their own fixed spheres.
• It introduced responsible governments in provinces, i.e. the governor was required to act with the advice of ministers responsible to the provincial legislature.
• This came into effect in 1937 and was discontinued in 1939.
• It provided for dyarchy at the Centre.
• Thus, the federal subjects were divided into reserved subjects and transferred subjects. But, this provision did not come into operation at all.
• It introduced bicameralism in six out of eleven provinces - Bengal,Bombay, Madras, Bihar, Assam and the United Provinces.
• There was a legislative council (upper house) and a legislative assembly (lower house). However, many restrictions were placed on them.
• It also provided separate electorates for depressed classes (scheduled castes), women and labor (workers).
• It abolished the Council of India, established by the Government of India Act of 1858. The secretary of state for India was provided with a team of advisors.
• It extended franchise. About 10 per cent of the total population got the voting right.
• It provided for the establishment of a Reserve Bank of India to control the currency and credit of the country.
• It provided for the establishment of a Federal Public Service Commission, Provincial Public Service Commission and Joint Public Service Commission for two or more provinces.
• It provided for the establishment of a Federal Court, which was set up in 1937.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:

• In November 1927, itself (i.e., 2 years before the schedule), the British Government announced the appointment of a 7-member statutory commission under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon.
• It was to report on the condition of India under its new Constitution.
• All the members of the commission were British. This led to its boycott by all the parties.
• The commission submitted its report in 1930.

It recommended -

1. abolition of dyarchy,
2. extension of responsible government in the provinces,
3. establishment of a federation of British India and princely states,
4. continuation of communal electorate, etc.


• The British Government convened 3 round table conferences of the representatives of the British Government, British India and Indian princely states to consider the proposals of the commission.
• Based on these discussions, a ‘White Paper on Constitutional Reforms’ was prepared.
• It was submitted for consideration of the Joint Select Committee of the British Parliament.
• The recommendations of this committee were incorporated(with certain changes) in the next Government of India Act , 1935.
• In August 1932, Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, announced the Communal Award which was a scheme of representation of the minorities.
• The award continued separate electorates for the Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans.
• It also extended it to the depressed classes (scheduled castes).
• Gandhiji was distressed over this and undertook fast unto death in Yeravada Jail (Poona) to force the award to be modified.
• To break the fast, there was ‘Poona Pact’ between leaders of the Congress and the depressed classes.
• The Pact kept the Hindu joint electorate and gave reserved seats to the depressed classes.

ANSWER: Both 1 and 2

Explanation:
1909 Act is also known as Morley-Minto Reforms (Lord Morley was the then Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto was the then Viceroy of India). It was to appease the moderates.

1. It increased the size of Central and provincial legislative councils.
2. The number of members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16 to 60.
3. The number of members in the provincial legislative councils was not uniform.
4. It retained official majority in the Central Legislative Council (majority of British officials)
5. However, it allowed the provincial legislative councils to have non-official majority.
6. It enlarged the deliberative functions (right to discuss and ask questions) of the legislative councils at both the levels.
7. For example, members could move resolutions on the budget, ask supplementary questions, etc.
8. For the first time, it provided for the association of Indians with the executive Councils of the Viceroy and Governors.
9. Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council. He was appointed as the law member.
10. It introduced ‘separate electorate’, a system of communal representation for Muslims.
11. Under this, the Muslim members were to be elected only by Muslim voters.
12. Thus, the Act ‘legalized communalism’ and Lord Minto came to be known as the Father of Communal Electorate.
13. It also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chambers of commerce, universities and zamindars.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• On August 20, 1917, for the first time, the British Government declared, that its objective was the gradual introduction of responsible government in India.
• The Government of India Act of 1919 was thus enacted, which came into force in 1921.
• It is also known as Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms as Montagu was Secretary of State for India and Lord Chelmsford was Viceroy of India.

Features of the Act are -

1. It separated the central and provincial subjects thus relaxing central’s hold over provinces.
2. The central and provincial legislatures could make laws on subjects on their respective list of subjects.
3. But, the structure of government continued to be centralized and unitary.
4. Provincial subjects had two parts - transferred and reserved.
5. The transferred subjects were to be administered by the governor with the aid of ministers responsible to the legislative Council.
6. The reserved subjects were to bead ministered by the governor and his executive council without being responsible to the legislative Council.
7. This was known as ‘dyarchy’ - term derived from the Greek word di-arche which means double rule. However, this experiment failed.
8. It introduced bicameralism and direct elections in the country.
9. Indian Legislative Council was replaced by a bicameral legislature having an Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly).
10. The majority of members of both the Houses were chosen by direct election.
11. It required that the 3 out of 6 members of the Viceroy’s executive Council (other than the commander-in-chief) were to be Indian.
12. It provided separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans as per the principle of communal representation.
13. It granted franchise to a limited number of people based on property, tax or education.
14. It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and transferred to him some of the functions till now performed by the Secretary of State for India.
15. It provided for the establishment of a Public Service Commission. Hence, as per the Lee Commission on Superior Civil Services in India (1923-24) a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for recruiting civil servants.
16. It separated provincial budgets from the Central budget and authorized the provincial legislatures to enact their budgets.
17. It provided for the appointment of a statutory commission to inquire into and report on its working after ten years of its coming into force.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Charter Act of 1833 was the final step towards centralization in British India.

Features of the Act were -

1. It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of India, vesting in him all civil and military powers.
2. Thus, the act created, for the first time, a Government of India having authority over the entire territorial area possessed by the British in India.
3. Lord William Bentick was the first governor-general of India.
4. It deprived the governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers.
5. The Governor-General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India.
6. The laws made under the previous acts were called as Regulations while laws made under this act were called as Acts.
7. East India Company ended as a commercial body and became a purely administrative body by this act.
8. Act said that the company’s territories in India were held by it in trust for His Majesty, His heirs and successors’.
9. The Charter Act of 1833 attempted to introduce open competition for selection of civil servants.
10. It also stated that the Indians should not be debarred from holding any place, office and employment under the Company.
11. But, this provision was negated after opposition from the Court of Directors.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Charter Act of 1853 was the last of the series of Charter Acts passed by the British Parliament between 1793 and 1853 and it was a significant constitutional landmark.
• Governor-General of Bengal was made the Governor-General of India by Charter Act of 1833.

Features of the 1853 Act were -

1. For the first time, it separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s council.
2. It added six new members called legislative councilors to the council.
3. Thus, it established a separate Governor-General’s legislative council which came to be known as the Indian (Central) Legislative Council.
4. This legislative wing of the council functioned as a mini-Parliament, adopting the same procedures as the British Parliament.
5. Thus, legislation, for the first time, was treated as a special function of the government, requiring special machinery and special process.
6. It introduced an open competition system of selection and recruitment of civil servants.
7. The covenanted civil service was thus thrown open to the Indians also.
8. Thus, the Macaulay Committee (Committee on the Indian Civil Service) was appointed in 1854.
9. It extended the Company’s rule and allowed it to retain the possession of Indian territories on trust for the British Crown. But, it did not specify any specific period, unlike the previous Charters.
10. This meant that the Company’s rule could be terminated at any time the Parliament liked.
11. For the first time, it introduced local representation in the Indian (Central) Legislative Council.
12. 4 out of 6 new members were appointed by the local (provincial) governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and Agra.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:

• This important Act was enacted in the wake of the Revolt of 1857 - also known as the First War of Independence or the ‘sepoy mutiny’.
• The act is known as the Act for the Good Government of India.
• It abolished the East India Company, and transferred the powers of government, territories and revenues to the British Crown.

Features of the Act were -

1. It provided that India was now to be governed by, and in the name of, Her Majesty.
2. Governor-General of India would now be Viceroy of India.
3. Viceroy was the direct representative of the British Crown in India.
4. Lord Canning became the first Viceroy of India.
5. It abolished the Board of Control and Court of Directors thus ending the system of double government.
6. It created a new office, Secretary of State for India, having complete authority and control over Indian administration.
7. The secretary of state was a member of the British cabinet and was responsible ultimately to the British Parliament.
8. It established a 15-member Council of India to assist the secretary of state for India.
9. The Council was an advisory body with secretary of state as chairman of the council.
10. It formed the secretary of state-in-council as a body corporate which is capable of suing and being sued in India and in England.

• The Act of 1858 was, however, largely confined to the improvement of the administrative machinery by which the Indian Government was to be supervised and controlled in England.
• It did not alter in any substantial way the system of government that prevailed in India.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 4

Explanation:

• After the revolt of 1857, the British Government felt the necessity of seeking the co-operation of the Indians in the administration of India.
• For this, three acts were enacted by the British Parliament in 1861, 1892 and 1909.
• System of Budget in British India was introduced in 1860.
• The Indian Councils Act of 1861 is a significant landmark in the constitutional and political history of India.

Features of the Act of 1861 were

1. It started associating Indians with the law-making process, thus making a beginning of representative institutions. It provided that the viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official members of his expanded council.
2. In 1862, Lord Canning, the then viceroy, nominated three Indians to his legislative council—the Raja of Benaras, the Maharaja of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao.
3. It restored the legislative powers to the Bombay and Madras Presidencies thus initiating the process of decentralization opposed to the centralising tendency that started from the Regulating Act of 1773 and reaching its peak under the Charter Act of 1833.
4. This devolution resulted in the grant of almost complete internal autonomy to the provinces in 1937.
5. It also provided for the establishment of new legislative councils for Bengal, North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and Punjab, which were established in 1862, 1866 and 1897, respectively.
6. Viceroy could make rules and orders for the more convenient transaction of business in the council.
7. It recognized the ‘portfolio’ system, introduced by Lord Canning in 1859.
8. Under this, a member of the Viceroy’s council was made in-charge of one or more departments of the government and was authorized to issue final orders on behalf of the council on matters of his department(s).
9. Viceroy could now issue ordinances, which were valid for 6 months, without the concurrence of the legislative council, during an emergency.

ANSWER: Both 1 and 2

Explanation:
Features of the India Council’s Act of 1892 were -

• It increased the number of non-official members in the Central and provincial legislative councils, but maintained the official majority in them.
• It increased the functions of legislative councils.
• It gave them the power of discussing the budget and asking questions to the executive.

It provided for the nomination of some non-official members of the -

1. Central Legislative Council by the viceroy on the recommendation of the provincial legislative councils and the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, and
2. Of the Provincial legislative councils by the Governors on the recommendation of the district boards, municipalities, universities, trade associations, zamindars and chambers.

• The act made a limited and indirect provision for the use of election in filling up some of the non-official seats both in the Central and provincial legislative councils.
• The word “election” was, however, not used in the act. The process was described as nomination made on the recommendation of certain bodies.

ANSWER: Only 1, 3 and 4

Explanation:
Features of the Act were -

• It ended the British rule in India and declared India as an independent and sovereign state from August 15, 1947.
• It provided for the partition of India and creation of two independent dominions of India and Pakistan with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.
• It abolished the office of viceroy and provided, for each dominion, a governor-general, who was to be appointed by the British King on the advice of the dominion cabinet.
• His Majesty’s Government in Britain was to have no responsibility with respect to the Government of India or Pakistan.
• The Constituent Assemblies of the two dominions could frame and adopt any constitution for themselves and repeal any act of the British Parliament, including the Independence act itself.
• It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of both the dominions to legislate for their respective territories till the new constitutions were drafted and enforced.
• No Act of the British Parliament passed after August 15, 1947 was to extend to either of the new dominions unless, it was extended by a law made by legislature of the dominion.
• It abolished the office of the secretary of state for India and transferred his functions to the secretary of state for Commonwealth Affairs.
• It proclaimed the lapse of British paramountcy over the Indian princely states and treaty relations with tribal areas from August 15,1947.
• It granted freedom to the Indian princely states either to join the Dominion of India or Dominion of Pakistan or to remain independent.
• It provided for the governance of each of the dominions and the provinces by the Government of India Act of 1935, till the new Constitutions were framed. The dominions could make modifications in the Act.
• British Monarch could not veto bills or ask for reservation of certain bills for his approval.
• But, the Governor-General can assent to any bill in the name of His Majesty.
• Governor-General of India and the provincial governors were termed as constitutional (nominal) heads of the states. They were to act on the advice of the respective council of ministers in all matters.
• It dropped the title of Emperor of India from the royal titles of the king of England.
• It discontinued the appointment to civil services and reservation of posts by the secretary of state for India.
• The members of the civil services appointed before August 15, 1947 would continue to enjoy all benefits that they were entitled to till that time.

ANSWER: Lord Mountbatten

Explanation:

• On February 20, 1947, the British Prime Minister Clement Atlee declared that the British rule in India would end by June 30, 1948; after which the power would be transferred to responsible Indian hands.
• But Muslim League demanded partition of the country.
• On June 3, 1947, the British Government made it clear that any Constitution framed by the Constituent Assembly of India (formed in 1946) cannot apply to those parts of the country which were unwilling to accept it.
• On June 3, 1947 Lord Mountbatten, the viceroy of India, suggested the partition plan, known as the Mountbatten Plan.
• The plan was accepted by the Congress and the Muslim League.
• Indian Independence Act (1947) gave effect to the Mountbatten Plan.
• At the stroke of midnight of 14–15 August, 1947, the power was transferred to the two new independent Dominions of India and Pakistan.
• Lord Mountbatten became the first governor-general of the new Dominion of India.
• He swore in Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of independent India.
• The Constituent Assembly of India, which was formed in 1946 became the Parliament of the Indian Dominion.
• The boundaries between the two Dominions were determined by a Boundary Commission headed by Radcliff.
• Pakistan included the provinces of West Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, East Bengal, North-Western Frontier Province and the district of Sylhet in Assam.
• The referendum in the North-Western Frontier Province and Sylhet was in favor of Pakistan.