Highlights of government of india act, 1935?
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The Government of India Act,1935 was originally passed in August 1935 (25 & 26 Geo. 5 c. 42), and is said to be the longest Act (British) of Parliament ever enacted by that time. Because of its length, the Act was retroactively split by the Government of India Act, 1935 (Re-printed) (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8 c. 1) into two separate Acts:
The Government of India Act, 1935 (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8 c. 2), having 321 sections and 10 schedules.The Government of Burma Act, 1935 (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8 c. 3), having 159 sections and 6 schedules.References in the literature on Indian political and constitutional history are usually to the shortened Government of India Act, 1935 (i.e. 26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8 c. 2), rather than to the text of the Act as originally enacted.Indians had increasingly been demanding a greater role in the government of their country since the late 19th century. The Indian contribution to the British war effort during the First World War meant that even the more conservative elements in the British political establishment felt the necessity of constitutional change, resulting in the Government of India Act, 1919. That Act introduced a novel system of government known as provincial "diarchy", i.e., certain areas of government (such as education) were placed in the hands of ministers responsible to the provinces even for those areas over which they had gained nominal control, the "purse strings" were still in the hands of British officialdom.
The intention had been that a review of India's constitutional arrangements and those princely states that were willing to accede to it. However, the division between Congress and Muslim representatives proved to be a major factor in preventing agreement as too much of the important detail of how federation would work in practice.
Against this practice, the new Conservative-dominated National Government in London decided to go ahead with drafting its own proposals (white paper). A joint parliamentary select committee, chaired by Lord Linlithgow, reviewed the white paper proposals at great length. On the basis of this white paper, the Government of India Bill was framed. At the committee stage and later, to appease the diehards, the "safeguards" were strengthened, and indirect elections were reinstated for the Central Legislative Assembly (the central legislature's lower house). The bill was proposed on April 1931 but bill duly passed into law in August 1935.
As a result of this process, although the Government of India Act, 1935 was intended to go some way towards meeting Indian demands, both the detail of the bill and the lack of Indian involvement in drafting its contents meant that the Act met with a lukewarm response at best in India, while still proving too radical for a significant element in Britain.