Test: Indian Polity and Governance- 2 - Class 5 MCQ

Prime minister is the ex-officio Chairman; the committee has a nominated Deputy Chairman, who is given the rank of a full Cabinet Minister. During Modi Government, this Commission has been dissolved and replaced by new body Niti Aayog on first Independence speech given by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and he himself acts as the chairperson of the Niti Aayog.

The Government of India Act of 1935 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 in terms of 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.  The provinces were allowed to act as autonomous units of administration in their defined spheres. Moreover, the Act introduced responsible or parliamentary governments in provinces, that is, the governor was required to act with the advice of ministers responsible to the provincial legislature.

The  Indian Council Act of 1909 or the Morley-Minto Reforms introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept of ‘separate electorate’. Under this, the Muslim members were to be elected only by Muslim voters. Thus, the Act ‘legalised communalism’ and Lord Minto came to be known as the Father of Communal Electorate.

The Government of India act, 1919 relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and separating the central and provincial subjects. The central and provincial legislatures were authorised to make laws on their respective list of subjects. However, the structure of government continued to be centralised and unitary. It provided for the establishment of a public service commission for the first time. Hence, a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for recruiting civil servants. So both statements 1 and 3 are correct.

The Indian Legislature was made bi-cameral for the first time by the Government of India Act, 1919.
The detailed solution is as follows:
Under the Government of India Act, 1919, the Indian Legislature was reformed and made bi-cameral, which means it consisted of two houses - the Council of States (upper house) and the Legislative Assembly (lower house). This act introduced several significant changes in the legislative structure of India.
Key points about the Government of India Act, 1919:
- The Act was also known as the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, named after the then Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, and the Viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford.
- It expanded the legislative powers of the Indian Legislature and allowed for the direct election of members to the Legislative Assembly.
- The Council of States, also known as the Upper House or the Senate, consisted of members who were partially elected and partially nominated.
- The Legislative Assembly, also known as the Lower House, consisted of members who were elected through direct elections.
- This act introduced the concept of separate electorates, which provided reserved seats for Muslims, Sikhs, and other minority communities.
- It also granted limited provincial autonomy, allowing the provinces to have their own legislative councils and ministers responsible to them.
Overall, the Government of India Act, 1919 marked a significant step towards the democratization of the Indian legislative system by making it bi-cameral and providing greater representation to various communities.

The Government of India Act, 1935 provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units. It abolished dyarchy in the provinces and introduced ‘provincial autonomy’ in its place. It introduced bicameralism in six out of eleven provinces. The extension of the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans were introduced by the Government of India Act, 1919.

The Government of India Act of 1935 provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units. It abolished dyarchy in the provinces and introduced ‘provincial autonomy’ in its place. The provinces were allowed to act as autonomous units of administration in their defined spheres. It introduced bicameralism in six out of eleven provinces. Thus, the legislatures of Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Bihar, Assam and the United Provinces were made bicameral consisting of a legislative council (upper house) and a legislative assembly (lower house). So all the 3 statements are correct.

The Government of India Act of 1858 created a new office, Secretary of State for India, vested with complete authority and control over Indian administration. The secretary of state was a member of the British cabinet and was responsible ultimately to the British Parliament. It ended the system of double government by abolishing the Board of Control and Court of Directors.

The government of India Act of 1935 provided for the establishment of a Reserve Bank of India to control the currency and credit of the country. The Act marked a second milestone towards a completely responsible government in India. It was a lengthy and detailed document having 321 Sections and 10 Schedules.

The Regulating Act of 1773 act is of great constitutional importance as

(a) it was the first step taken by the British Government to control and regulate the affairs of the East India Company in India;

(b) it recognised, for the first time, the political and administrative functions of the Company; and

(c) it laid the foundations of central administration in India. It designated the Governor of Bengal as the ‘Governor-General of Bengal’ and created an Executive Council of four members to assist him. The first such Governor-General was Lord Warren Hastings.

The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms 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’—a term derived from the Greek word di-arche which means the double rule. However, this experiment was largely unsuccessful.

The Indian Councils Act of 1861 made a beginning of representative institutions by associating Indians with the law-making process. It thus provided that the viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official members of his expanded council. 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.

The cabinet mission plan of 1946 proposed that there shall be a Union of India which was to be empowered to deal with the defence, foreign affairs and communications. It provided that all the members of the Interim cabinet would be Indians and there would be minimum interference by the Viceroy. It also provided for the formation of the constituent assembly on the democratic principle of population. 

The representatives of each community were to be elected by members of that community in the provincial legislative assembly and voting was to be by the method of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The representatives of princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the princely states. It is thus clear that the Constituent Assembly was to be a partly elected and partly nominated body. Moreover, the members were to be indirectly elected by the members of the provincial assemblies, who themselves were elected on a limited franchise.

Under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, a Constituent Assembly was to be formed of the representatives of the Provincial Assemblies and the Princely states. Each province had to be allotted a total number of seats in proportion to its population. The Constituent Assembly had to comprise 293 Members from the British Provinces and 93 members from the Princely states.