INDIAN CONTROL

Southland Times, Issue 24831, 25 August 1942, Page 5

INDIAN CONTROL

SELF-GOVERNMENT IN LARGE MEASURE (8.0.W.) RUGBY, August 23. Although he was emphatic that the formation of a provisional Government in India while the war was in progress was impossible, the Lord Privy Seal, Sir Stafford Cripps, in an article written for The New York Times and also published in London, reiterates the British Government’s promise of selfgovernment for India after the war and points out that a large measure of selfgovernment is already enjoyed. British officials now In India, he states, help the Indian Civil Service ■ to administer the affairs of 389,000,000 people of various races and cultures. British officials and troops were no more numerous than those required to administer and police the Panama Canal Zone. Indians had been steadily taking over the government and not only the administrative services, but also the political direction of all India and the provinces of British India. Since 1937 the franchise in British India had risen from a few millions to 36,000,000. The powers of the provincial governments were comparable to those of an American State or a Canadian province. Four Indian provinces had native Cabinets and Premiers and complete control of internal affairs in their hands. It was only because the Congress Party had withdrawn from the responsibilities of power that control was not now exercised by Indians in all the provinces. VICEROY’S COUNCIL The Indian share in the Central Legislature had steadily increased until the representation was now 11 Indians to four British. It was this Government that decided to take action against the Congress Party and that action, although approved, was not suggested by the British Government. The members of the Viceroy’s Council were drawn from various sections in India. Madhao Shrlhari Aney was a former member of the Congress Working Committee, N. R. Sarkar was Chief Whip of the Home Rule Pary, Sir Hormusji Mody had been president of the Indian Merchants’ Chamber, Dr B. R. Ambedkar was the acknowledged leader of the Depressed Classes, Sir Jogendra Singh was a Sikh land-owner. Sir J. P. Srivastava was a business man and an industrial chemist, Sir Mahomed Usman had been Governor of Madras, Sir Syed Sultan Ahmed was Advocate-General for Bihar and both Sir Firoz Khan Noon, of the Punjab, and Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar, of Madras, had been prominent in politics for many years. These men were ardent nationalists and not mere mouthpieces of Britain. They

were conducting the Government of India according to their convictions of what was in the best interests of the whole country. Two Indians were on their way to take their places in the British War Cabinet and would have a full voice on all questions relating to the conduct of the war as it affected India.