Control of India

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1006, 24 June 1930, Page 9

Control of India

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

Commission’s Report

SOLUTION FOR TANGLED PROBLEM

WIDE constitutional changes in,tlic Government of India are n recommended in the Simon Commission’s report, the second volume of which has just been published. For the satisfactory control of India as a whole. Federated Stales are suggested, while boundary alterations and changes in the voting of the people are advanced by the commissioners as factors in the settlement of tlie country’s problems.

British Official Wireless Reed. 12.5 p.m. RUGBY, Monday. The second volume of the Indian Statutory Commission’s report has been issued for publication. It contains recommendations for a new constitutional scheme in India. In all their main proposals the commissioners are unanimous and the recommendations iDrovide for an elaborate and detailed scheme covering the whole field of the vast constitutional problem of India. The central feature of the scheme is the reorganisation of the constitution of British India on a federal basis and in such a way that the individual Indian States or groups of States may enter when they wish. The existing provinces, excluding Burma, should be the basis of the federal structure. They should be given a maximum measure of autonomy. This involves the abolition of the dyarchy. Important-modifications in the form and functions of the provincial executives and legislatures are recommended. The Commission lias not found it possible to make a unanimous recommendation on the desirability or otherwise of establishing second chambers in the provinces. Part 1 of the report is devoted to a statement of general principles of the proposals. The first principle laid down is that the constitution should, as far as possible, contain within itself provision for its own development. WHERE PROVINCES DIFFER The Government of India Act provided for an inquiry upon the working of the reformed constitution after ten years, but the Commission says this method is quite foreign to the spirit of constitutional development as understood and applied elsewhere in the Empire. Those who have to -work the temporary constitution tend inevitably to fix their minds on the future instead of the present. Tlie inelasticity of the limited and temporary scheme lias been a great disadvantage in so large a country as India, where ■ province differs so much from province. “While we think it possible in tlie provincial sphere to make very full provision in the constitution for growth and development without the necessity of seeking new powers from the British Parliament,” the report says, “and while we desire to give scope for this same principle of growth at the centre, there are circumstances in the latter case which limit the extent to which this can be done now. “The ultimate form of the Central Government depends on a number of factors which cannot be fully known at present.” ULTIMATE POLICY A consideration pf wliat should be the ultimate goal of British policy in India in pursuance of the declaration of August 20, 1917, leads the commission to lay down the second principle that any constitutional changes now recommended for British India must have regard to future development, when India as a whole and not merely British India, will take her place among the constituent States of the Commonwealth of Nutic:u uuKcd under the Crown. There are practical as well as theoretical reasons for so planning the structure of the Indian Government that the transition to a truly all-In-dian policy can be made as soon as the time is rife. The Commissioners point out it is India, and not British India, which is a member of the League of Nations, and after describing the geographical, political and economic unity of India, they say that on close examination it will be found that there are few subjects which should form the field of activity of the Central Government in India, which do not in fact interest also the Indian States. VITAL QUESTIONS The outstanding example is defence. Other illustrations are tariffs and communications and social matters, such as the prevention of the spread of epidemics. Moreover, the unity imposed upon India by the external forces of Great Britain is today reinforced by an increasing sense of Indian nationality. It has only been the existence of British rule in India that has rendered such a development possible. The Government has been growing steadily for the last 50 years and with greatly accelerated pace in the. last decade. “Whatever may be its shortcomings and however distasteful some of its manifestations,” the commissioners continue, “it appears to be the one force in Indian society today that may perhaps contain within itself power to overcome the deep and dangerous cleavages that threaten its peace: but it is absolutely clear the Indian States cannot be compelled to come into any closer relationship with British India. “Indian rulers are naturally proud of their historic position, and their rights have been repeated!}' acknowledged. DESIRES CF SECURITY “At the same time they recognise more and more the need for adjusting their future relationship to the rest of India.” The commissioners believe they will only be ready to come into the larger whole when they can see that their rights and position will be safeguarded. If the principle they have laid down

is valid, it inevitably follows that the ultimate constitution of India must be federal, for it is only in a federal constitution that units differing so widely in constitution as the provinces and the States can be bre-’ght together. While retaining internal autonomy, it might be possible to visualise the future of a federation in India as bringing into the relationship of two separate federations one comprised of the elements which make up British India and the other of the India States. QUESTIONS FOR CONFERENCE The evidence from the rulers of the Indian States has not yet been received, however, and this is recognised as one of the matters which maybe discussed when the proposed conference takes place. Whatever may be the ultimate decision, tlie commission believes a reorganisation of British India on the federal basis will prepare the way for it. Apart altogether from any such question, there are very strong reasons for a reconstruction of the Indian Constitution on the federal basis, and the commissioners state it is only in a federal structure that sufficient elasticity can be obtained for a union of the elements of diverse internal constitutions and of communities at very different stages of development and culture. By reason of their geographical situation and of their ethnological composition, certain areas in India have not been brought under the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. As to units of the federation in British India the Commissioners do not regard the provinces as In any way ideal areas for self-government, and they recommend reviewing and resettling the boundaries a.s early as possible, but while the provinces exist they form the basis on which the Federal structure must be built. BURMA EXCLUDED Besides the Governors’ provinces there are those areas to which reforms have not yet been allowed and these will find their place in the Federation. The Commissioners, however, think that Burma, which is today an integral part of British India, should be definitely excluded from the new policy. Its inclusion in India is an historical accident and when an endeavour is being made to lay down broad lines of advance toward the ultimate goal, opportunity should be taken to break .a union which does not rest on common interests. The development scheme recommended by the Commissioners aims at the Federal structure. It is proposed that in future the progr of these great areas should be ent: • d to a unitary Government which is responsible to legislatures elected on an extended franchise. FOWERS OF VOTERS The scope of the suggested changes is explained in Part Two of the report. Larger Legislative Councils, with from 200 to 250 members in the more important provinces, are proposed. In the absence of an agreed MoslemHindu solution, a continuance of the separate communal electorates is assumed. Some reservation of seats for the depressed classes is recommended. This part of the report discusses the methods for facilitating the inclusion of women in the Provincial Councils, and of ensuring that representation of the great landowners shall be as great as -that now guaranteed to them. It is proposed that machinery should be established whereby the Provincial Legislatures, under proper safeguards, should have power to modify their exact structure. The franchise plan involves increasing the number of voters from existing 2.8 per cent, of the population to 10 per cent., which would represent 2u per cent, of the adult population. The Commissioners also desire to increase the present ratio of women to men voters. Within the general plan there will be scope for variation according to provincial needs and circumstances, and the Commissioners emphasise that the change involved is very great and far-reaching. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT It has been necessary to combine the new plan in the provincial sphere of restriction and qualifications under which the full force of majority rule is limited by the power of intervention vested in the Governor for such phi-poses as the protection of minorities and the preservation of order. In so intervening, the Governor will be acting under the superintendence of the Governor-General, for it is on the strength of the central administration that the peace and safety of India ultimately depend. The commissioners do not think, however, that the British Parliamentary system, with an executive representing a single party and depending from day to day on the vote of the majority of directly elected representatives, is likely to be a model, according to which a responsible Government at the centre for India will be evolved. What is needed is a central organ ■which can at once take up the work of Britsh India so far as this does not devolve on the provinces, but which at the same time is capable of expansion into a body representative of all India in the wider sense. The only means which are practicable in securing the end of a federation involve a substantial change in the present constitution of the central legislature. “It appears to us,” the commissioners say, “that this body must be composed henceforward on a strictly federal basis. It should be the units of ultimate federation rather than popular constituencies that should be represented in it.’-’ In Part Four of the report these

modifications in the Central Legis- ! lature are fully dealt with. Briefly, it is proposed that a Fede- i ral Assembly, with a fixed life of five years, should supersede the Legislative Assembly, that members should be mainly chosen by provincial councils, that the number of members (now 145) be extended to from 250 to 2SO, representing approximately one member for every million inhabitants; that there should be an official element comprising members of the Governor-General's Council, and not more than 12 other nominated officials. The commissioners further propose that the Council of State should continue its existing functions, and that the existing legislative and financial powers of the two Chambers should remain, but that additional functions be performed by the Assembly in tho sphere of finance. The range of duties of the Central Legislature will probably vary as the constitution develops. “While the immediate changes are not great, there are future possibilities which may be far-reaching,” the report adds. POWERS OF GOVERNOR. Discussing the Central Executive, the report says that dyarchy at the centre is quite impossible. Unity in a Central Executive must be preserved at all costs. The GovernorGeneral must continue, not only as the representative of the KingEmperor in all formal and ceremonial matters, but as the active head of the Government, with responsibility for selecting and appointing members of his Cabinet.. The Commander-in-Chief should not be a member. The British Parliament cannot now surrender all responsibility for future modifications in the structure of the central government of India, but the Commissioners desire to secure a rigidity of the statutory structure, allowing the Indian constitution room to grow and develop. Experience shows that federation has generally come about some time after the federating units have become politically self-controlled. India, which presents so many complications on other grounds, is also unique in this: That the Central Government is being involved at the same time as the provinces are growing to their full stature. TOWARD SAFE GOVERNMENT The last principle which the Commission lays down is the paramount necessity of securing that throughout the period during which India is progressing on the road to complete selfgovernment there must be full provision made for the maintenance and efficiency of fundamentals of government. There are grave dangers in the situation of India that must be provided for, and the report says it is an absolute condition for the development of self-government in India that the gateway of the north-west should be safely held. The army of India must be strong enough for its task. For many years the presence of British troops and British officers in Indian regiments will be essential. The danger of disorder in India is ever present. There are inflammable elements in the population, and jealousy and ill-feeling between important communities, which from time to time cause riots and disturbances. The problem involved in the internal security is not, however, a matter only of the preservation of law and order. The very existence of the population depends on the efficiency of the administrative machine.