Government of India Act 1919- Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms - PSCprep-The biggest community of UPSC/PCS Aspirants

Government of India Act of 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms)

On August 20, 1917, the British Government declared, for the first time, 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. This Act is also known as Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Montagu was the Secretary of State for India and Lord Chelmsford was the Viceroy of India). Montagu had earlier as part of the “Montagu declaration” presented in the British Parliament advocated for increasing association of Indians in every branch of administration. He also wanted gradual development of self governing institutions with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British empire.

It demarcated the central and provincial subjects. The central and provincial legislatures were authorized to make laws on their respective list of subjects. However, the structure of government continued to be centralized and unitary.
It further divided the provincial subjects into two parts—transferred and reserved. The transferred subjects were to be administered by the governor with the aid of ministers responsible to the legislative Council. The reserved subjects, on the other hand, were to be administered by the governor and his executive council without being responsible to the legislative Council. This dual scheme of governance was known as ‘dyarchy’. While subjects such as Land revenue administration, famine relief, irrigation, administration of justice, law and order, newspapers, borrowing, forests etc. were kept in reserved list; the subjects such as education, public health & sanitation, public works, agriculture, fisheries, religious endowments, local self- governments, medical services etc. were kept in transferred list. In other words, the subjects which were considered of key importance for the welfare of the masses and for maintaining peace and order in the state were classified as reserved, while subjects in which there was more local interest were treated as transferred. In case of failure of constitutional machinery in the province the governor could take over the administration of “transferred” subjects also.

It introduced, for the first time, bicameralism and direct elections in the country. Thus, the Indian Legislative Council was replaced by a bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly). The majority of members of both the Houses were chosen by direct election. 70% of the members of provincial councils were to be elected. Women were also given the right to vote.
It required that the three of the six members of the Viceroy’s executive Council (other than the commander-in-chief) were to be Indian.
It extended the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans.
It granted franchise to a limited number of people on the basis of property, tax or education.
It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and transferred to him some of the functions hitherto performed by the Secretary of State for India.
It provided for the establishment of a public service commission. Hence, a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for recruiting civil servants.
It separated, for the first time, provincial budgets from the Central budget and authorized the provincial legislatures to enact their budgets.
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.

Demerits

(i) Franchise was very limited.

(ii) At the centre, the legislature had no control over the governor-general and his executive council.

(iii) Division of subjects was not satisfactory at the centre.

(iv) Allocation of seats for Central Legislature to provinces was based on ‘importance’ of provinces for instance, Punjab’s military importance and Bombay’s commercial importance.

(v) At the level of provinces, division of subjects and parallel administration of two parts was irrational and hence unworkable.

(vi) The provincial ministers had no control over finances and over the bureaucrats, leading to constant friction between the two. Ministers were often not consulted on important matters too; in fact, they could be overruled by the governor on any matter that the latter considered special.

On the home government (in Britain) front, the Government of India Act, 1919 made an important change the secretary of state was henceforth to be paid out of the British exchequer.

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