द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

300 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE available, it appears that the Congress Socialist Party has offered a platform not only to those who are Socialists by conviction, but also to those who are dissatisfied with the Congress policy of council-entry. It is unfortunate that the opposition to council-entry came from the Socialist Party, because there is nothing anti-Socialist in fighting within the Legislatures, if such a policy is otherwise deemed expedient. But it may be that the Socialist Party, representing some of the radical forces in the Congress, instinctively felt called upon to oppose a party that had rallied all the moderate elements. And there is no doubt that those who have taken a leading part in the Swarajist revival of 1934, are of a different calibre from that militant group which formed the backbone of the Swaraj Party in 1923. It is interesting to note here that as in 1928, the erstwhile Swarajists and 'No-Changers' made common cause against the Independence-wallahs—so also in 1934, these two groups seem to have closed up their ranks against the common enemy. Though the Congress Socialist Party has, in some respects, been harking back to the ideas and shibboleths that were popular forty or fifty years ago, it does stand for a radical tendency in the Nationalist movement and the formation of such a party is a very hopeful feature of the times. The latest reports go to show that the organisation of the party is making headway in most of the provinces and in the recent elections to the Bombay Congress Committee, the Socialists claimed to have captured half the seats. In spite of the menace of the Socialists, the official bloc in the Congress have not been a happy family. At the meetings of the Working Committee held at Bombay and Benares, after the Patna meeting in May, differences appeared over the attitude that should be adopted towards the so-called 'Com- munal Award' of the British Government. Pandit M. M. Malaviya and Mr. M. S. Aney held that the Communal Award, like the White Paper, should be strongly condemned. The rest of the Working Committee under the influence of the Moslem members, maintained that the Congress should 'neither accept nor reject' the Communal Award, though they admitted that the Award was thoroughly obnoxious.

DEFEAT AND SURRENDER 301 Why the Moslem leaders in the Congress have taken up this attitude, it is difficult to say—especially when one remembers that after the Karachi Congress, it was they, who by their firm attitude, prevented the Mahatma from yielding to the demand of the communalist Moslems for separate electorate. Whatever the reason may be, the fact remains that to-day they are holding a pistol at the Working Committee—and because of their insistence, the Committee has been forced to take up this ridiculous attitude of neither accepting nor rejecting the Award. The argument ordinarily urged in favour of not rejecting the Award is a twofold one. Firstly, the Congress should represent all parties in the country, including the Communalist Moslems, and secondly, that until the parties arrive at an agreed solution, the present solution should stand. Both the arguments are fallacious. The Congress does not represent all the parties in the land—for instance, it certainly does not represent the loyalists, whether Hindus or Moslems. Secondly, it is the rejection of a bad solution that will force us to arrive at a good solution. Like the White Paper, the Communal Award should be straight away rejected—no matter whether an alternative solution is immediately available or not. Moreover, this ‘all parties’ idea is a false and dangerous idea. The party that is fighting for freedom is the party that is solely responsible for producing the Constitution. And so far as the Communal question is concerned, the Congress solution is already there. Be that as it may, in the present circumstances one is reluctantly driven to the conclusion that the Nationalist Moslems have been gradually—may be unconsciously—coming into line with their Communalist co-religionists. All attempts at a compromise having failed, Pandit Malaviya and Mr. Aney resigned from the Congress Working Committee and the Parliamentary Board and proceeded to form a separate party—under the name of the Congress Nationalist Party— with the object of fighting the Communal Award and the White Paper. This Party held an All-India Conference in Calcutta on August 19th, under the Presidentship of Pandit M. M. Malaviya—the Chairman of the Reception Com- mittee being Sir P. C. Roy, the well-known chemist and

302 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE philanthropist. The Conference was a successful one and it was evident that public opinion in Bengal—especially of the Hindu community—was behind the Party. Bengal Hindus have been suffering from a just grievance because the Communal Award has allotted them only 80 seats out of 250 in the new Legislature, while Moslems have been given 119 seats.¹ To add to this, the Poona Agreement concluded at the time of the Mahatma's fast, has allotted 30 seats to the depressed classes, out of these 80 seats, as against the pro- vision for 10 in the Communal Award, though the depressed classes issue hardly exists in Bengal. Bengal Hindus² have therefore been greatly offended by the decision of the Work- ing Committee not to reject the Communal Award. It is difficult to say at this stage what will be the result of the elections. It may, however, be a safe forecast to say that the majority of the elected seats for Hindus will be captured by the official Congress Party. But though the Congress Nationalist Party will have a smaller number of seats, they will have the solid support of the Hindu community in their propaganda as also in their work in the Assembly. In non- communal matters, the two Congress groups will be found in the same lobby. So far as the Nationalist Moslems are concerned, they hope to capture a fair percentage of the seats. The last meeting of the Congress Working Committee and of the Congress Parliamentary Board was held at Wardha (Central Provinces) on September 8th, 9th and 10th. An eleventh-hour attempt was made to bring about a com- promise between the two Congress groups, but the effort failed. At this meeting it transpired that the Mahatma had been thinking seriously of retiring from active politics. It was first surmised that the split among the Congress leaders over the Communal Award had upset him seriously. But one of his trusted lieutenants, Mr. Rajagopalachariar of Madras, issued a statement on September 7th, saying: 'The cause of ¹ Under the existing Constitution, Hindus have 60 per cent. of the elected seats in the Bengal Legislative Council. This is in accordance with the Lucknow Pact of 1916—the agreement arrived at between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Moslem League. ² This is also the case with the Punjab Hindus. Many of the Hindu constituencies in Bengal and Punjab have therefore returned members of the Congress Nationalist Party to the Assembly.

DEFEAT AND SURRENDER 303 the rumour that Gandhiji is giving up the leadership of the Congress is to be traced to the fact that Gandhiji has been thinking of introducing reforms in the Constitution of the Congress in order to make it more definitely purged of all forms of violence. . . . If the Congress does not adopt his reforms, he may even be prepared after the ensuing Congress session to start an independent organisation to have a body of strictly non-violent workers.' About ten days later, the Mahatma himself issued a statement confirming the rumour that `he had the intention of retiring, but saying that at the request of friends, he had postponed his decision until after the session of the Congress at Bombay. He referred to corruption in the ranks of the Congress and declared that he ' proposed to move the following three amendments to the constitution of the Congress:

1. Replacing the words 'legitimate and peaceful' by 'truthful and non-violent' means to achieve the aims of the Congress.
2. Replacing the four-anna (anna is one-sixteenth of a rupee; Rs. 13½ = £1 approximately) franchise¹ by the delivery by every member to the Congress Depot of 8,000 feet of well-tested even yarn of not less than fifteen counts spun by himself.
3. No one to be entitled to vote in a Congress election unless he has been on the Congress register for six months and has been a habitual wearer of Khaddar only during the same period. The Mahatma concluded by saying that he apprehended that his suggestions would not be acceptable to the majority, but there was room for compromise, and if they wanted him as leader, they would have to give due consideration to his proposals. The annual session of the Indian National Congress is to be held at Bombay on October 26th, 27th and 28th, 1934, and the elections to the Indian Legislative Assembly under the ¹ According to the present constitution of the Congress, every member has to pay a minimum annual subscription of four annas. The Mahatma's idea is to make spinning obligatory on the members instead of merely paying a subscription.

304 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE existing Constitution are due in November. The withdrawal of the Congress Party from the Assembly in January 1930, made it possible for the Government to get the Ottawa Agreement ratified by the Assembly for three years and to have the Ordinances for suppressing the civil-disobedience movement placed on the Statute Book. The presence of Congressmen in the Assembly once again will cause embar- rassment to the Government, but the Government will then have no law-breaking campaign in the country to keep them pre-occupied. So far as the ensuing Congress session is concerned, a lively fight is expected on two issues. Firstly, the Congress Nationalist Party will appeal to the All-India Congress Committee and to the plenary session of the Con- gress to reject the Communal Award. Secondly, the Congress Socialist Party will press for the adoption of a Socialist programme. Both these attempts are sure to be defeated. On both these questions the Mahatma will get the support of the majority of his erstwhile opponents—the Swarajists. If they were to oppose him to a man, then he would run the risk of being defeated on either of the above two issues. But by sponsoring their proposal of entering the Legislatures, the Mahatma has won the majority of them over to his side and has thereby ensured his position within the Congress. The present intention of the Mahatma to retire¹ from active politics and strengthen his own Satyagrahi organisation, or in the alternative to alter the Congress constitution accord- ing to his own ideas, will not come as a surprise to those who know him well. It is reminiscent of his attitude after his release from prison in 1924 and at the Belgaum Congress that year, when he left the field to his opponents, allowing them to stew in their own juice. The ultimate challenge to his leader- ship will, however, arise from the side of the Congress Socialist Party but not from that of the Congress Nationalist Party.² ¹ After the above was written, the Mahatma announced his retirement to the plenary session of the Congress which met in Bombay on October 26th, 1934. This so-called retirement has been referred to in Chapter XVIII. ² A message from India dated the 1st October, 1934, said that a Con- ference of the Congress Socialist Party was recently held at Benares. It was decided not to assist in the election campaign of the Congress nor to accept office in any Congress organisation which did not carry out the economic policy of the Party. Both the official Congress Party and the Congress Nationalist Party were condemned by the Socialist Party.

DEFEAT AND SURRENDER 305 During the period of 1933-34 while the Congress proceeded from step to step in the direction of surrender, the Govern- ment was able to strengthen its position in other directions as well. In January 1933, judgment was finally delivered in the long-drawn Meerut Conspiracy Case, and out of thirty-one accused, twenty-seven were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. About this time the leader of the Chittagong revolutionaries, Mr. Surjya Sen, who had successfully evaded arrest for three years, was captured, and after a trial before a special tribunal, was hanged together with another comrade. In February and March, there was trouble with some of the independent frontier tribes. But with the assistance of the friendly Afghan Government of King Nadir Shah and with the help of aerial bombing, the Government were able to cope successfully with the menace. After the publication of the White Paper in March, the Assembly passed the following resolution moved by Sir Abdur Rahim, the leader of the opposition: 'Unless the proposals for constitutional reform are substantially amended in the direction of conceding greater responsibility and freedom of action to the people's representatives in the central and provincial spheres of government, it will not be possible to ensure peace, content- ment and progress of the country.' The Government, it is hardly necessary to add, had no need to feel embarrassed at this milk-and-water resolution. There was some amount of public agitation over the ill- treatment of political prisoners. For instance, in the Nasik Jail on October 27th, 1932, Mr. Amritlal Morarji, a political prisoner who had been given bar-fetters, was taken to a cell, beaten by five jail-officials with batons and lifted up and dashed down till he became unconscious. There was intense indignation, when the news saw the light of day and Govern- ment had to order the prosecution of the jail-officials respon- sible for the incident. Likewise, in the Amraoti Jail in the Central Provinces some political prisoners had been severely assaulted on April 22nd, 1932. Agitation and inquiry went on for about a year. Ultimately, on March 1st, 1933, the U

306 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE Government issued a white-washing report, which, however, admitted the use of physical force on the occasion and pro- mised a modification of the rules applying to civil-disobedience prisoners. Following the publication of the White Paper in March 1933, early in April, the British Parliament appointed a Joint Select Committee consisting of sixteen members from each House. There were debates in both Houses on the occasion. In the House of Commons, the Opposition was led by Mr. Winston Churchill and Sir Henry Page-Croft and in the Lords by Lord Lloyd and Lord Halsbury. The Committee on April 12th, elected Lord Linlithgow as Chairman and approved of a list of 'assessors' from India who would sit with them, but would not be entitled to vote on any issue nor submit any report to Parliament. The sittings of the Joint Select Committee, with the collaboration of the Indian assessors, commenced on May 10th, and continued for an unusually long period. The Secretary of State for India took the unusual step of appearing as a witness with a view to acquainting the Committee and the Indian assessors with the intentions of Government. His examination lasted several weeks and he answered about 16,000 questions. In view of the agitation against constitutional advance in India carried on by the diehards in England led by Mr. Winston Churchill since 1929, and especially since the publication of the White Paper, in March 1933, it is likely that the Joint Parliamentary Committee will further whittle down the provisions of the White Paper.¹ The report of the Committee is expected to be out in November 1934. During the year 1933, the country suffered a serious loss through the death of two of her worthiest sons. Mr. J. M. Sengupta, who had been the Mayor of Calcutta for five years and had been a member of the Congress Working Committee since 1925, suddenly died of apoplexy on July 26th, while he was in internment in Ranchi under Regulation III of 1818. On October 22nd, Mr. Vithalbhai J. Patel, ¹ Since the above was written, the Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee has been published and the apprehensions of the writer have proved to be true.

DEFEAT AND SURRENDER 307 former President of the Indian Assembly, and one of the outstanding leaders of the Congress, died of heart trouble in a Swiss clinic near Geneva. In accordance with his last wishes his mortal remains were brought to Bombay for crema- tion, where they were received by a procession of 200,000 people. He left all his assets (more than Rs. 100,000) for national work. Towards the end of 1933, the second Burma Round Table Conference was held in London. The first Conference had been held in November 1931, and the representatives from Burma were not therefore invited to the second and third session of the Indian Round Table Conference. As the composition of the first Burma Round Table Conference had been strongly criticised on the ground that the anti-separa- tionists had been poorly represented, the Government had agreed to a General Election in Burma on the issue of separa- tion from India. This election held in November 1932, gave a majority to the anti-separationists but taking advantage of the fact that the Burma Legislative Council did not vote for unconditional federation with India, the Government pro- ceeded with their pet scheme of separation from India. The second Burma Round Table Conference was therefore called in 1933 and the anti-separationists, though in a majority in Burma, were given less seats than the separationists. It is now certain that Burma will be separated from India¹ and will be given a bi-cameral legislature for dealing with both 'pro- vincial' and 'central' subjects. In December, important conferences were held as usual. The Liberal Federation met at Madras with Mr. J. N. Basu in the chair and condemned the White Paper. The All- India's Women Conference had a successful session in Cal- cutta and great enthusiasm was evinced by women represen- tatives from all parts of India in the matter of educational and social reform as well as in the matter of representation in International Committees in Geneva. The Trade Union Congress met at Cawnpore and among the resolutions passed ¹ The Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee published on November 22nd, 1934, has provided 'for the separation of Burma from India.

308 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE was one dealing with the grievances of the textile workers in Bombay Presidency and the necessity of a general strike of textile workers for enforcing their demands. Following this decision, in the early part of 1934, a strike of textile workers was declared in Bombay. There was enthusiastic response to the strike-call in Bombay and there were sympathetic strikes in other parts of the country as well. To break the strike, the bogey of Communism was raised once again and on that pretext, a large number of influential labour leaders in Bombay were thrown into prison. Following Bombay, other provinces like Punjab also saw the spectre of Communism stalking over the land and the Kirti (Workers), Kishan (Peasant) Party of Punjab was therefore declared illegal as being a Communist body. While strengthening the grip over the radical wing of the Worker's movement, the Government also took further measures in Bengal to crush the terrorist campaign of the revolutionaries. While the year before, mere attempt to murder had been made punishable with death, in 1934, possession of arms, explosives, etc., was similarly made punishable with death. The recent attempt to assassinate the Governor of Bengal, Sir John Anderson, which is reminiscent of a similar attempt made two years ago¹ —shows, however, that the terrorist campaign is unfortunately not dead as yet—though public opinion has been expressing itself more and more against it. The favourable situation created for the British Govern- ment through the surrender of the Congress and the official policy of ruthless repression, was utilised for promoting the trade interests of Great Britain in India. Reference has already been made to the ratification of the Ottawa Agree- ment, whereby the principle of Empire Preference was forced on India, in spite of her opposition and to her detriment. During the period under consideration, two other measures were adopted in connection with the textile trade of India ¹ In February 1932, a young woman graduate, Miss Bina Das, attempted to shoot the Governor of Bengal, Sir Stanley Jackson, at the convocation of the University of Calcutta. The Governor had a providential escape and Miss Das was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. The latest news is to the effect that some of the would-be assassins of Sir John Anderson have been sentenced to death.

DEFEAT AND SURRENDER 309 —the Indo-Japanese Agreement and the Indo-British Agree- ment. In spite of all the specious arguments urged in favour of the two Agreements, Indian public opinion regards the first agreement as a conspiracy between British and Japanese industrialists to exploit the Indian market and the second agreement as an unholy alliance between the British capitalists and a section of the Indian capitalists to get the most out of the poor Indian consumer. Till the Nationalist Party is once again installed inside the Legislatures, it will not be possible to undo the harm done to India by these two measures. The elections to the Indian Legislative Assembly are at present (November, 1934) in progress. During 1935, public attention in India will be directed towards the tactics of the Congress Party in the Assembly. It is extremely unlikely that there will be any startling developments between now and the inauguration of the new constitutional reforms.

CHAPTER XV THE WHITE PAPER AND THE COMMUNAL AWARD¹ THE proposals contained in the White Paper issued in March, 1933, represented the tentative conclusions arrived at by the British Government after three sessions of the Round Table Conference. According to this scheme, India is no longer to be divided into British India ruled directly by the British Government, and the Indian States ruled by Indian Princes, or Rulers or Maharajahs under the suzerainty of the British Crown. India is to be a federation composed of the provinces of British India, eleven in number including Sindh and Orissa, and such of the Indian States as would voluntarily join the Federation. Those Rulers who signify their desire to join the Federation will have to execute a formal Instrument of Accession transferring to the British Crown for the pur- poses of the Federation their powers and jurisdiction in respect of those matters which they are willing to recognise as Federal matters. The powers and jurisdiction so trans- ferred will be exercised by the appropriate Federal organs created by the new Constitution Act. The Federation will be brought into existence by the issue of a Proclamation by His Majesty, the King-Emperor, but the proclamation will not be issued until: I. His Majesty has received intimation that the Rulers of States representing not less than half the aggregate population of the Indian States and entitled to not less than half the seats to be allotted to the States in the Federal Upper Chamber have signified their desire to accede to the Federation. and ¹ This chapter gives only a rough idea of the provisions of the White Paper and the Communal Award. For further details which are uninter- esting to the general reader, one should refer to—Proposals for Indian Constitutional Reform 1933. printed and published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, Adastral House, Kingsway London, W.C.2. Price 2s. nett. 310

THE WHITE PAPER 311 2. Both Houses of the British Parliament have presented an address to His Majesty praying that such a Pro- clamation may be issued. It is further provided that before the first Federal Ministry comes into being, a Federal Reserve Bank,¹ free from political influence, will have been set up by Indian legislation and be already successfully operating. The White Paper also states, that ‘it is probable that it will be found convenient or even necessary that the new Provincial Government should be brought into being in advance of the changes in the Central Government and the entry of the States.’ It is therefore clear that the inaugura- tion of the Federation may be indefinitely postponed even after the new Constitution Act is passed by the British Parliament. The idea of bringing in the Princes into the constitutional machinery is to provide a Conservative element in the Federal Legislature which will counteract the radical forces in British India. With this object in view, while the representatives from British India in the Federal Legislature will be returned through a director (or indirect) election² with the help of a popular franchise, however restricted, the representatives from the States will be nominated by the Indian Rulers. The subjects of the Indian States comprising about one-fourth of the total population of India³ will have no representation what- soever in the Federal Parliament. The support of the Indian Rulers (or their nominees) to the British Government in the working of the Federal Constitution will be secured because the British Government in its turn undertakes not to interfere in the internal autocratic administration of the Indian States. Thus, if the Federation is ultimately set up according to the White Paper proposal, the Princes will retain their sovereignty ¹ The Reserve Bank Bill has been already passed by the Indian Legis- lative Assembly. ² The White Paper recommended direct election in the case of the Federal Assembly (Lower House) and indirect election in the case of the Council of State (Upper House). The Joint Parliamentary Committee, however, have recommended indirect election in both cases. ³ In the 1931 Census, the total population of India including Burma is about 352 millions. British India excluding Burma has a population of about 257 millions. The total population of the Indian states is about 81 millions.

312 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE over their internal affairs and will have a further hand in working the Federal machinery. There will be no provision in the new Constitution for a democratic or popular or con- stitutional government in the Indian States. Moreover, the Indian States will enjoy special concessions or exemptions in the matter of Federal taxation and in the Federal Legislature they will have representation far in excess of their population. In spite of these baits thrown out by the British Government, many of the Indian rulers are fighting shy of the constitutional innovation. According to the White Paper, the offices of the Viceroy and the Governor-General will be separated, though the two offices will be held by the same person. The Governor- General will be the executive head of the Federation and will have the supreme command of the military, naval and air forces of India as well, while the Viceroy will be the represen- tative of the British Crown and will exercise the powers of the Crown in relation to the Indian States and all other matters outside the scope of the Federal Constitution. The Governor- General will himself direct and control the administration of certain Reserved Departments—namely, Defence, External Affairs and Ecclesiastical Affairs. In this administration he will be assisted by not more than three Counsellors, who will be appointed by himself and will be ex-officio members of both the Legislatures, without the right to vote. For the purpose of aiding and advising the Governor-General in the exercise of other powers, there will be a Council of Ministers. The Ministers will be appointed by the Governor-General, will hold office during his pleasure and must be members of one or other Chamber of the Federal Legislature. The Counsellors will be responsible to the Governor-General alone—but the Ministers will be responsible to the Legis- lature, subject to such control as the Governor-General will exercise over their departments. In regard to administration, the Governor-General will make, in his discretion, any rules which he regards as requisite to regulate the disposal of Government business and the procedure to be observed in its conduct. He will also be empowered in his discretion to appoint a Financial Adviser to assist him in his special

THE WHITE PAPER 313 responsibility for financial matters. The salary of the Financial Adviser will be fixed by the Governor-General and will not be subject to the vote of the Legislature, nor will he be responsible to the Legislature. Apart from his exclusive responsibility for the reserved departments, the Governor-General will be declared to have a 'special responsibility' in respect of the following matters: (a) The prevention of any grave menace to the peace and tranquillity of India or any part thereof. (b) The safeguarding of the financial stability and credit of the Federation. (c) The safeguarding of the legitimate interests of minorities. (d) The securing to the members of the public services of any rights provided for them by the Constitution Act and the safeguarding of their legitimate interests. (e) The prevention to commercial discrimination. (f) The protection of the rights of any Indian State. (g) Any matter which affects the administration of any department under the direction and control of the Governor-General. It will be for the Governor-General to determine in his discretion whether any of the 'special responsibilities' here described are involved by any given circumstances. In the Instrument of Instructions which will be issued to the Governor-General by the King-Emperor, it will be provided that in the administration of the departments under the direction and control of the Governor-General on his own responsibility and of matters committed to his discretion —he will be under the control of the Secretary of State for India. Though in other matters the Governor-General should ordinarily be guided by the advice of his Ministers, he may not accept their advice if it is considered by him as inconsistent with the fulfilment of a special responsibility entrusted to him by law and in such a case the Governor- General may take such action as he will judge requisite, subject to the directions of the Secretary of State for India. It will

314 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE be clear that in such matters the responsibility of the Ministers to the Legislature is non-existent. The Governor-General will have the power to make and promulgate Ordinances for a period of six months and renew them for a second period if at any time he is satisfied that it is necessary for the requirements of the reserved departments or any of his 'special responsibilities.' He will also have the power of making and promulgating Ordinances for the good Government of British India or any part thereof, if at a time, when the Federal Legislature is not in session, his Ministers are satisfied that an emergency exists. Both kinds of Ordinances while in operation will have the force and effect of Acts of the Legislature. Further, in the event of a breakdown of the Constitution, the Governor-General will be empowered at his discretion, by Proclamation, to assume to himself all such powers vested by law in any federal authority as appear to him to be necessary for the purpose of securing that the Government of the Federation shall be carried on effectively. The Federal Legislature will consist of two Chambers to be styled the Council of State (Upper House) and the House of Assembly (Lower House). Each Council of State will continue for seven years and each House of Assembly for five years, unless sooner dissolved. The Council of State will consist of no more than 260 members, of whom 150 will be elected from British India, not more than 100 will be appointed by the Rulers of the Indian States and not more than ten will be nominated by the Governor-General in his discretion. Out of 150 British Indian seats, 136 will be filled by election by means of the single transferable vote by the members of the Provincial Legislatures, the bigger provinces being entitled to 18 seats and the smaller to 5 seats each. Out of the remain- ing 14, Europeans, Indian Christians and Anglo Indians will be entitled to 7, 2 and 1 seats respectively—while Coorg, Ajmer, Delhi and Beluchistan will be entitled to one seat each. One-third of the British-Indian seats in the Council of State will be reserved for the Moslem community, though their population is approximately only one-fourth of the entire population of British India. The House of Assembly will

THE WHITE PAPER 315 consist of not more than 375 members of whom 250 will be elected from British India and not more than 125¹ will be appointed by the Rulers of Indian States. The number earmarked for British India will be allocated to the several communities and interests as follows: Depressed Classes (Hindus), 19; Sikh, 6; Moslem, 82; Indian Christian, 8; Anglo-Indian, 4: European, 8; Women, 9; Commerce and Industry, 11 (of whom approximately 6 will be Europeans²); Landholders, 7; Labour, 10; General (Hindus and others), 105. The Depressed Classes seats will be filled up in the manner prescribed in the Poona Pact adopted after the fast of Mahatma Gandhi in September 1932. Bills will be introduced in either Chamber, but Money Bills and Votes of Supply will be initiated only in the Assembly. No Bill will become law until it has been agreed to by both Chambers and has been assented to by the Governor-General, or in the case of a Reserved Bill until His Majesty in Council has signified his assent. Any Act assented to by the Governor-General will within twelve months be subject to disallowance by His Majesty in Council. The Governor-General will, however, have the power to enact at his discretion as a Governor-General's Act any Bill which is not passed by the Chambers within a specified date in spite of a message from the Governor-General that that Bill should become law by that date. A Governor-General's Act will have the same force and effect as an Act of the Legislature. The Governor-General will be further empowered in his discretion, in any case in which he considers that a Bill introduced or proposed for introduction or any clause thereof or any amendment to a Bill moved or proposed, would affect the discharge of his responsibility, to direct that the said Bill, Clause or Amendment shall not be further pro- ceeded with. It will thus be seen that the Governor-General has been vested with extraordinarily wide powers in the matter of modifying any legislation under consideration, ¹ With a population less than one-fourth of India, the Indian States will have 33⅓ per cent. of the seats in the assembly and more than 38 per cent. of the seats in the Council of State. ² The European population in India is 168,134 out of a population of about 352 millions. Nevertheless, they are to have 14 seats in the Assembly and 7 seats in the Council of State.

316 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE withholding legislation completely and enacting fresh legis- lation. Such powers he does not possess even to-day. The White Paper further says: 'Apart from the Reserved Departments and the 'special responsibilities' of the Governor- General outside the sphere of those departments, there is a third category of matters in which the Governor-General will not be under any constitutional obligation to seek or having sought, to be guided by ministerial advice. For this purpose certain specified powers will be conferred by the Constitution on the Governor-General and will be expressed as being exercisable 'at his discretion.' In this category of 'dis- cretionary powers' . . . His Majesty's Government anticipate that the following matters will be included: (a) The power to dissolve, prorogue and summon the Legislature. (b) The power to assent to, or withhold assent from Bills or to reserve them for signification of His Majesty's pleasure. (c) The grant of previous sanction to the introduction of certain classes of Legislative measures. (d) The power to summon forthwith a joint session of the Legislature in cases of emergency where postponement till the expiration of the period to be prescribed by the Constitution Act might have serious consequences. With regard to Legislative procedure the Governor- General will be empowered to make rules: (a) Regulating the procedure of and the conduct of business in the Chamber in relation to matters arising out of, or affecting, the Administration of the Reserved Departments or any other special responsibilities with which he is charged. (b) Prohibiting, save with the prior consent of the Governor-General given at his discretion, the dis- cussion of or the asking of questions on:

1. Matters connected with any Indian State other than matters accepted by the Ruler of the State in his Instrument of Accession as being Federal subjects, or
2. Any action of the Governor-General taken in his discretion in his relationship with a Governor.

THE WHITE PAPER : 317 3. Any matter affecting relations between His Majesty or the Governor-General and any foreign Prince or State. In the event of conflict between a rule so made by the Governor-General and any rule made by the Chamber, the former will prevail and the latter will, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. From the above it will be clear that in order to nullify the effect of ‘responsibility of the executive to the Legislature’ —not only have numerous reservations been made in the matter of responsibility, but the powers of the Legislature have been severely curtailed. The net result is that the Federal Legislature will be more helpless than the Indian Legislature of to-day and the Governor-General of the future will be more powerful than the Governor-General of to-day. The Governor-General will cause a statement of the estimated revenue and expenditure of the Federation, together with a statement of all proposals for the appropriation of those revenues, to be laid, in respect of every financial year, before both Chambers of the Legislature. Proposals for appropriation of revenues will not be submitted to the vote of either Chamber of the Legislature if they relate to heads of expenditure like—Interests, Sinking Fund Charges, Expenditure fixed by the Constitution Act, etc., salary and allowances of the Governor-General, of Ministers, of Coun- sellors, of the Financial Adviser, etc., expenditure required for the Reserved Departments, etc., salaries and pensions of the Judges of the Federal or Supreme Court, etc., salaries and pensions payable to, or to the departments of, certain members of the Public Services, etc.¹ The statement of proposals for appropriation will specify those additional proposals whether votable or non-votable, which the Governor- General regards as necessary for the discharge of any of his special responsibilities. The proposals for the appropriation ¹ In the light of legislative experience, the expectation or rather ap- prehension is that the non-votable items will cover about 80 per cent. of the total expenditure. The White Paper provides that the Governor-General will decide which item is non-votable as falling under one of these heads.

318 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE of revenues, other than proposals relating to heads of expen- diture enumerated above and proposals made by the Governor-General in discharge of his special responsibilities, will be submitted to the vote of the Assembly. The Council of State, by a motion duly passed, may require that any demand which is reduced or rejected by the Assembly shall be brought before a joint session of both Chambers for final determination. At the conclusion of the budget proceedings, the Governor-General will authenticate by his signature all appropriations, whether voted or non-votable. In the appropriation so authenticated, the Governor-General will be empowered to include any additional amounts which he regards as necessary for the discharge of any of his special responsibilities—provided that the total amount authenticated under any head is not in excess of the amount originally laid before the Legislature under that head in the statement of pro- posals for appropriation. Thus if any grant is refused by the Legislature, the Governor-General will be empowered to re- store it. The respective legislative fields of the Centre and of the provinces will be defined in terms of the subjects which will be scheduled in the Constitution Act. It is proposed further to include in the provincial list a general power to legislate on any matter of a purely local and private nature in the province. But in order to provide for the possibility that a subject which in its inception of a purely local or private character may subsequently become of All-India interest, it is proposed to make that power subject to a right of the Governor-General in his discretion to sanction general legislation by the Federal Legislature on the same subject-matter. With regard to the position of the Federal Ministers, the White Paper says that 'the number of ministers and the amounts of their respective salaries, will be regulated by Act of the Federal Legislature.’¹ Nevertheless, there is a further provision that the salary and allowances of the Federal Ministers will not be submitted to the vote of either Chamber of the Federal Legislature.² (There are similar provisions with regard to the Provincial Ministers.) ¹ Paragraph 15 of the White Paper Proposals. ² Paragraph 49 of the Proposals.

THE WHITE PAPER 319 With regard to the Federal Judiciary, the White Paper provides for a Federal Court and a Supreme Court. The Federal Court will have an original and an appellate juris- diction and will deal with all disputes involving the inter- pretation of the Constitution Act or any rights or obligations arising thereunder. An appeal will lie to His Majesty in Council from a decision of the Federal Court in any matter involving the interpretation of the Constitution Act. There will also be a Supreme Court for India, which will be a Court of Appeal from High Courts in British India. An appeal from the Supreme Court to His Majesty in Council will be allowed in civil cases only by leave of the Supreme Court. In criminal cases no such appeal will be allowed. After the publication of the White Paper, while giving evidence before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, Sir Samuel Hoare stated that the idea of having a separate Supreme Court might be abandoned and provision might be made enabling the Legislature, if and when it was thought desirable, to extend the jurisdiction of the Federal Court—so as to make it the one final Court of Appeal, subject always to the right of appeal to His Majesty in Council. According to the White Paper, the Chief Justice and the Judges of the Federal Court (as also of the Supreme Court if it comes into being) will be appointed by His Majesty and will hold office during good behaviour. Their salaries, pensions, etc., will be fixed by Order in Council and will not be subject to the vote of the Legislature. After the commencement of the Constitution Act, the present Council of the Secretary of State for India will be dissolved. The Secretary of State will then appoint not less than three and not more than six persons, who will form his Advisory Council. Persons appointed by the Secretary of State to any of the Services before the commencement of the Constitution Act will continue to enjoy all Service rights possessed by them at that date. After the commencement of the Constitution Act, the Secretary of State will continue to make appointments to the Indian Civil Service, the Indian Police and the Ecclesiastical Department and the conditions as to pay and allowances, pensions, discipline and conduct of