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Durham E-Theses The central legislature in British India: 1921 to 1947 Md. Rashiduzzaman, How to cite: Md. Rashiduzzaman, (1964) The central legislature in British India: 1921 to 1947, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8122/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE IN BRITISH INDIA: 1921 TO 19U7 THESIS PRESENTED FOR THE DEGREE OP PH.D. IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Md. Rashiduzzamaii, = Department of Social Studies, University of Durham. June 196U. i ii PREFACE This work is the outcome of nine academic terms' research in the University of Durham and several libraries in London beginning from October, 1961. The main sources for it have been the official reports of the debates of the Legislative Assembly and the"Council of State and numerous other relevant official- and non-official: **e cords and documents published during the period under review. The other significant sources have been some of the Indian newspapers and periodicals available in London. As it will be seen in the following pages, the main emphasis" of this work has been on the working of the Centra],- Legislature during the inter-war period. There are relatively fewer reference's to the period from 19kQ to 19U7. This is because the main developments m the practices and procedures in the Legislature took place during the inter-war years and the later period was more or less uneventful. By 19U0, the Central Legislature as it stood was out of date and the more important political developments outside over• shadowed it. It is my pleasant duty to make a few grateful acknowledgements. I express my sincere gratitude to Professor W.H. Horris-Jones, University of Durham, under Mi whose scholarly and sympathetic guidance I had the privilege of doing this: work. I would like to thank Dacca University for granting me study leave for doing this research. I am also grateful to the Commonwealth Scholarshij and Fellowship Commission in the U.K. whose financial grants enabled me to live in this country with my family. I found it necessary to interview some of the ex-members of the Central Legislature who are still alive in Britain (the names have been added to the Bibliography) and I am grateful to them for kindly sparing their time to talk to me. I would like to thank particularly Sir Jeremy Raisman, the former Finance Member, Viceroy's Executive Council who kindly read Chapter VIII and made useful suggestions. I am also thankful to the library staffs of the India Office library and the India House library for their co-operation and help. Lastly, I express my gratitude and thanks to my wife for her encouragement and company at all stages. iv LIST OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE 1 FROM 1861 TO 1920 II THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE AND INDIAN POLITICS 2k 1921 TO 1947 III NATURE OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM AND ELECTIONS 57 IV POWERS, PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES IN THE ~" CENTRAL LEGISLATURE, 99 V. THE COMPOSITION AND POLITICAL GROUPING OF THE TWO HOUSES 132 VI INFLUENCE ON ADMINISTRATION 191 VII LEGISLATION WITH SPECIAL INFERENCE TO THE INFLUENCE OF NON-OFFICIAL MEMBERS 227 VIII FINANCIAL PROCEDURE IN THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE 259 IX POLITICAL GRIEVANCES IN THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE 307 X RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO CHAMBERS 3k7 XI CONCLUSION 365 APPENDICES I EXTRACTS FROM THE GOVERNMENT OP INDIA ACT 1919 FOR .REFERENCE 372 II A STATEMENT SHOWING THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF DAYS ON WHICH A$$£MBlsY SAT AND THE DAYS ON WHICH NON OFFICIAL BUSINESS WAS TRANSACTED 385 III TABEE iSHO^IiO THE STRENGTH OP THE MAJOR POLITICAL PASTIES IN THE LEGISLATIVE — A.S&EJ3BLY FROM 1921^TO 19U7^ 33 tV LIST OF DIVISIONS HELD IBf T&E LE&£$LAriVE ASSEMBLY #R0M* 1921 "TO 19kl i 3&9 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 392* LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS L A Deb - L gislatlv Ass mpjy Deb t s C S Deb Coun il of State V bates I L C Imperial Legislative C uz&il M/C R port Montagu Chelm f a R port ' 1 VI LIST OF TABLES (Titles have "been summarised) Page I Recommendations of the electoral size by Franchise Committee (Southborough) 58 (a) II Summary of Legislative Assembly Elections from 1920 to 19U5 59 (a) III Summary of Council of State elections 59 (b) IV Distribution of seats m the Assembly 65 (a) V Distribution of seats m the Council of State 65 (b) VI Detailed analysis of seats filled without contest 75 (a) VII Percentage of electorate who voted m British General Election and Assembly election 80 VIII Comparison in voting in various types of Constituencies 86 (a) IX Provincial votes polled m contested Constituencies 87 (a) X Percentage of voting m different contested Constituencies in the provinces 87 (b) XI Detailed analysis of women voters 92 to XII Number of re-elected members 139 ii] XIII List of title holders lk3 XIV Occupational background of non-official members 11+6 to 1U9 XV Number of Questions in the Assembly 200 (a) XVI Number of Questions m the Council of State 200 (c) XVII Subjects of Resolutions 208 vii LIST OF TABLES. (CONTD) Page XVIII Non-official Resolutions accepted, negatived and withdrawn 2Xk (a) to (d) XIX Classification of Acts passed "by the 239 (&) Central Legislature to (b) XX Percentage of votable expenditures 2€k (a) to (b) XXI Table showing Military expenditures 261+ (c) XXII List of_reductions made in the Budget 273 (a) to (d) XXIII Bills considered by the Joint Committees of the two Houses - 358 (a) Bills amended by the Council of State 362 (a) 1 CHAPTER I DEVELOPMENT OP THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE FROM 1861 TO 1920 The Mutiny of 1857 made the British realise that the great gap "between the ruler and the ruled should "be "bridged for the "better administration and peace in the country. It was felt by some of the British administrators that the association of Indians with the law-making process of the country was essential.^" The Legislative Councils under the Act 1853 had six ' legislative members' but none of them were Indian. It was hardly possible for the Government to know the Indian views on the legislative measures except through indirect sources. To remove this defect, the Indian Councils Act, .1861, enabled the Governor-General to associate the people of the land with the work of legislation. In addition to the ordinary members of the Council, not less than six and not more 1. In 1860, Sir Bertie Frere, a member of the Executive Council, made the following comment: 'The addition of the native element has, I think, become necessary owing to our diminished opportunities of learning through indirect channels what natives think of our measures and how the native community will be affected by them... It is a great evil of the present system that the Government can rarely learn how its measures will be received or how they are likely to affect even its European subjects till criticism takes the form of settled and often bitter opposition.' Quoted in M/C Report, para. 60. 2 than twelve additional members («f whom at least one half should not hold office under Government) oould he appointed "by the Governor-General. The non-offioial additional members were appointed for a two-year term. For the first time in the British period, t\m Indian members were associated with the legislative bodies. It is for this reason that the Indian Councils Act, 1861, is regarded as an important milestone in the constitutional history of India. But as a matter of practice the function of these bodies remained very restricted. Their function was strictly limited to legislation and the members were forbidden to ask questions or criticise executive policy. The Indian members nominated to the Central Legislative Council from 1861 to 1891 were either Indian Princes or big landowners or rich merchants or retired officers. By modern standards of representative instit• utions, they could hardly be called the spokesmen of the Indian people at large. The proceedings of the Council indicate that the Indian members had hardly shown sufficient interest in the debates except on rare occasions. Their speeches were, as a rule, short, read out of the manuscripts prepared before the actual debate. They showed keener interest only in the discussion of the Bills relating to property, taxation and inheritance. Most of the Bills 3 were passed without discussion, and often at a single sitting. The initiative in respect of sending the Bills to the Select Committees or moving amendments to the Bills was also taken mostly "by the official members. The Indian members did not present any opposition to the Government.