In this article, we discuss the Government of India Act 1919. It is also known as Montague Chelmsford Reforms.
Now you must be thinking that why it is called Montagu Clemsford Reforms because Clamsford was the Viceroy of India at that time and the Secretary of State was Montague.
Background of Government of India Act 1919:
The First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918 and during this time the Indian people supported Britishers in a full way.
The Indians were helping the Britishers by thinking that when the World War would end, then the Britishers would accept their demands.
But it was not clear what the demands of India would be and it decided in 1916 when there was a joint session of the Indian National Congress and Muslim League.
In 1917, the new Secretary of State Montagu in the British Parliament gave a declaration which we also call the August Declaration.
In this declaration, he said that we will work in this direction that a government elected by the people of India should be formed in India.
In 1919 the Government of India Act 1919 was enacted and it was said that India would still remain an integral part of the British Government.
Administration in Montague Chelmsford Reforms:
In the Government of India Act 1909, the Viceroy had the power to pass ordinances. In this, there was an executive council of the Viceroy and his 6 people, in which there was an Indian.
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Now it has been changed that 3 Indians were kept instead of one in the Executive Council.
Control of Government in Montague Chelmsford Reforms:
The entire control of India was with the Secretary of State who lived in Britain and the Viceroy of India reported to him.
Before the implementation of this Act, it was said in the Lucknow Pact that the salary of the Secretary of State should not be given from the fund of India.
In response to this, the British had said that the Secretary of State works in two ways. First, he does the political and administrative work and secondly, he also does the agency work which an agency should do. That is why we are giving salary from the fund of India.
Then the Britishers made a separate office in London to do agency work, which was called the High Commission of India.
It also said that the salary of the Secretary of State would be paid from British funds, but the salary of the High Commission of India would be paid from Indian funds.
Provincial Legislature in Montague Chelmsford Reforms:
Earlier there was a total of 7 provinces like United Provinces, Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Assam, Burma, and Punjab.
In this act, 2 more provinces were added which were Bihar and Orrisa, and Central Provinces.
Four members were made ministers out of the selected members in the additional members.
In the Act of 1919, the dual government was added at the provincial level.
Central Legislature in Montague Chelmsford Reform:
In the Act of 1909, the Viceroy and with him he had a council of 6 people. Apart from this, there used to be additional members whose number used to be 16 to 60. From the very beginning, their number was kept only 60.
In the additional members, some people were official and some people were non-official. Official members were those people who worked in the British Civil Services or the military.
The Viceroy used to nominate the officials whose number was 28. There used to be 32 non-official members and they used to come from 4 places.
The Viceroy used to nominate 5 people. 13 people used to come from the special electorate. 12 people used to elect from provincial assemblies and 2 people used to come to the Chamber of Commerce of Calcutta and Bombay.
It was said in the Lucknow Pact that additional members are less, it should be increased to 150.
Of which at least 75 should be Indians and a third of these 75 should be Muslims. Muslim people should give a separate electorate on one-third i.e. 25 seats.
In this act, the Central Legislature was divided into two houses. Legislative Assembly and Council of State.
The Legislative Assembly was called the Lower House and the Council of State was called the Upper House.
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The number of members of the Legislative Assembly was kept at 145 and the number of members of the Council of State was kept at 60.
In the Lucknow Pact, the term of the members was demanded to increase by 5 years. In this act, the term of the members of the Council of State was made 5 years and the term of the members of the Legislative Assembly was kept only for 3 years.
In the Legislative Assembly, some members come from nominations and some from elections.
In Legislative Assembly, 104 members have come from nominations and 41 members have come from elections.
In the Council of state, 33 members have come from elections and 27 members have comes from nominations.
In the Nominated Member of the Legislative Assembly and Council of state, some members are officials and some are non-officials.
In the Nominated Members of Legislative Assembly, official members are 26 and non-officials are 15. Elected member of Legislative Assembly comes from different constituencies.
In the Nominated Members of Council of state, official members are 17 and non-officials are 10. Elected members of the Council of state come from different places.
For any bill to be passed, it had to be passed by both houses. If one of the two Houses does not pass the bill, then joint sitting, joint conference, and the joint committee will be held to resolve such cases.
It was also said in this act that a commission would be appointed after 10 years to study the extent of the changes made in this act.
The Public Service Commission was also added to this act.
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