Charter Act of 1813

1. It abolished the trade monopoly of the company in India. But allowed trade in tea and trade with China.

2. It asserted the sovereignty of the British Crown over the Company’s territories in India.

3. It allowed the Christian missionaries to enlightening the people.

4. It provided for the spread of western education.

5. It authorised the Local Governments in India to impose taxes on persons. They could also punish the persons for not paying taxes.

Charter Act of 1833

1. The last step towards centralisation in British India.

2. The Governor-General of Bengal became the Governor-General of India
with all civil and military powers.

3. Lord William Bentick was the first governor-general of India.

4. It deprived the governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers.

5. The Governor-General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India.

6. It ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial body (became a purely administrative body).

7. The Charter Act of 1833 attempted to introduce a system of open competition for selection of civil servants.

Charter Act of 1853

1. It separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s council.

2. It provided for addition of six new members called legislative councillors to the council.

3. It established a separate Governor-General’s legislative council (also known as the Indian (Central Legislative Council – mini-Parliament).

4. It introduced an open competition system of selection and recruitment of civil servants.

5. The Macaulay Committee (the Committee on the Indian Civil Service) was appointed in 1854.

6. It extended the Company’s rule and allowed it to retain the possession of Indian territories on trust for the British Crown.

7. It introduced local representation in the Indian (Central) Legislative Council. Of the six new legislative members of the governor general’s council, four members were appointed by the local (provincial) governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and Agra.

Features of the Act

1. It changed the designation of the Governor – General of India to that of Viceroy of India. Lord Canning thus became the first Viceroy of India and was the direct representative of the British Crown in India.

2. It ended the system of double government by abolishing the Board of Control and Court of Directors.

3. It created a new office, Secretary of State for India (member of the British cabinet) vested with complete authority and control over Indian administration.

4. The secretary of state was a and was responsible ultimately to the British Parliament.

5. It established a 15-member Council of India to assist the secretary of state for India.

6. The council was an advisory body. The secretary of state was made the chairman of the council.

Indian Councils Act of 1861

1. As per this act, the viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official members of his council.

2. In 1862, Lord Canning nominated three Indians (the Raja of Benaras, the Maharaja of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao).

3. It initiated the decentralisation process.The legislative powers to the Bombay and Madras Presidencies were restored. (centralising tendency started from the Regulating Act of 1773 and reached its climax under the Charter Act of 1833).

4. New legislative councils for Bengal (1862), North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP – 1866) and Punjab (1897) were establishd.

5. It empowered the Viceroy to make rules and orders for the more convenient transaction of business in the council.

6. It gave a recognition to the ‘portfolio’ system. (introduced by Lord Canning in 1859).

7. As per the act, the Viceroy can issue ordinances (Valid for 6 months), without the concurrence of the legislative council, during an emergency.

Indian Councils Act of 1892

1. It increased the number of additional (non-official) members in the Central and provincial legislative councils, but maintained the official majority in them.

2. It increased the functions of legislative councils

3. It allowed to discuss the budget and addressing questions to the executive.

4. The act made a limited and indirect provision for the use of election in filling up some of the non-official seats both in the Central and provincial legislative councils. (nomination made on the recommendation of certain bodies).

5. The word “election” was not used in the act.

Indian Councils Act of 1909

Also known as Morley-Minto Reforms (Lord Morley – Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto – Viceroy of India).

The Features of this Act:

1. It increased the size of the legislative councils, both Central and provincial. (Central legislative council – 16 to 60, provincial legislative councils was not uniform).

2. Official majority in the Central legislative council was maintained, but allowed the provincial legislative councils to have nonofficial majority.

3. It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both the levels. (members were allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on the budget).

4. It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians with the executive councils of the Viceroy and Governors.(Satyendra Prasad Sinha the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s executive council – the Law Member).

5. It introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims (concept of ‘separate electorate’).

6. As per this act, 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.

7. It also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chambers of commerce, universities and zamindars.

Government of India Act of 1919

1. Also known as Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Montagu – the Secretary of State for India, Lord Chelmsford – the Viceroy of India).

2. As per August 20, 1917 declaration (the gradual introduction of responsible Government in India), the Government of India Act of 1919 was thus enacted, which came into force in 1921.

The Features of this Act:

1. It relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and separating the central and provincial subjects.

2. The central and provincial legislatures were authorised to make laws on their respective list of subjects. But, the structure of government continued to be centralised and unitary.

3. It divided the provincial subjects into two parts– transferred and reserved.

4. The transferred subjects were to be administered by the Governor with the aid of Ministers responsible to the legislative council.

5. The reserved subjects were administered by the Governor and his executive council without being responsible to the legislative council.

6. This dual scheme of governance was known as ‘dyarchy’ (Greek word diarche – double rule), largely unsuccessful.

7. It introduced bicameralism and direct elections in the country.

8. Thus, the Indian legislative council was replaced by a bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly). The majority of members of both the Houses were chosen by direct election.

9. The three of the six members of the Viceroy’s executive Council (other than the Commander-in-Chief) were Indian.

10. The principle of communal representation was extended by providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans.

11. It granted franchise on the basis of property, tax or education to the limited people.

12. It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and transferred to him some of the functions (performed by the Secretary of State for India).

13. It provided for the establishment of a public service commission. (Central Public Service Commission – 1926 for recruiting civil servants).

14. It separated provincial budgets from the Central budget and authorised the provincial legislatures to enact their budgets.

15. It provided for the appointment of a statutory commission to inquire into and report on its working after ten years of its coming into force.

Simon Commission

1. In November 1927 the British Government announced the appointment of a commission.

2. It was a seven-member statutory.

3. The chairman was Sir John Simon to report on the condition of India under its new Constitution.

4. All the members of the commission were British and hence, all the parties boycotted the commission.

5. The report was submitted in 1930.

6. Recommended the abolition of dyarchy, extension of responsible Government in the provinces, establishment of a federation of British India and princely states, continuation of communal electorate and so on.

7. To consider the proposals of the commission, the British Government convened three round table conferences of the representatives of the British Government, British India and Indian princely states.

8. Finally a ‘White Paper on Consitutional Reforms’ was prepared and submitted to the British Parliament. The recommendations of this committee were incorporated (with certain changes) in the next Government of India Act of 1935.

Communal Award

1. In August 1932 the British Prime Minister (Ramsay MacDonald) announced a scheme of representation of the minorities (Communal Award).

2. It extended the scheme of representation to the depressed classes (Scheduled Castes).

3. Gandhiji opposed the principle of communal representation to the depressed classes and undertook fast unto death in Yerawada Jail (Poona) to get the award modified.

4. Finally, there was an agreement between the leaders of the Congress and the depressed classes (Poona Pact) and reserved seats to the depressed classes.

Government of India Act of 1935

1. The Act marked a second milestone towards a completely responsible government in India.

2. It was a lengthy and detailed document having 321 Sections and 10 Schedules.

The Features of this Act:

1. It established an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units.

2. It 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).

3. Residuary powers were given to the Viceroy. But the federation never came into being as the princely states did not join it.

4. It abolished dyarchy in the provinces and introduced ‘provincial autonomy’ in its place and introduced responsible Governments in provinces, that is, the Governor was required to act with the advice of ministers responsible to the provincial legislature. This came into effect in 1937 and was discontinued in 1939.

5. It provided for the adoption of dyarchy at the Centre. The federal subjects were divided into reserved subjects and transferred subjects. But, this provision of the Act did not come into operation at all.

6. 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).

7. It further extended the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for depressed classes (Scheduled Castes), women and labour (workers).

8. It abolished the Council of India, established by the Government of India Act of 1858.

9. It extended franchise. About 10 per cent of the total population got the voting right.

10. A Reserve Bank of India was established.

11. A Federal Public Service Commission and a Provincial Public Service Commission and Joint Public Service Commission for two or more provinces were established.

12. A Federal Court was established in 1937.

Indian Independence Act of 1947

1. On February 20, 1947, the British Prime Minister Clement Atlee declared that the British rule in India would end by June 30,1948.

2. This announcement was followed by the agitation by the Muslim League demanding partition of the country.

3. On June 3, 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, put forth the partition plan, known as the Mountbatten Plan.

4. The plan was accepted by the Congress and the Muslim League. Immediate effect was given to the plan by enacting the Indian Independence Act9 (1947).

The Features of this Act:

1. India became an independent and sovereign state from August 15, 1947.

2. Creation of two independent dominions of India and Pakistan with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.

3. It abolished the office of Viceroy and a governor general was appointed by the British King.

4. It proclaimed the lapse of British paramountcy over the Indian princely states and tribal areas.

5. It granted freedom to the Indian princely states either to join the Dominion of India or Dominion of Pakistan or to remain independent.

6. Lord Mountbatten became the first Governor General of the new Dominion of India.

7. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of independent India. The Constituent Assembly of India formed in 1946 became the Parliament of the Indian Dominion.