The Government of India Act 1935 was an Act passed by the British Parliament that originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest Act that the British Parliament ever enacted until the Greater London Authority Act 1999 surpassed it. Because of its length, the Act was retroactively split by the Government of India Act, 1935 into two separate Acts:
The Government of India Act 1935, having 321 sections and 10 schedules. The Government of Burma Act 1935, having 159 sections and 6 schedules.
The Act led to:
Separation of Burma from British India, effective from 1 April 1937. Establishment of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Establishment of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), a Provincial Public Service Commission (PPSC) in each province, and the JPSC. Creation of the Federal Court in 1937. Bicameralism in six provinces (Bombay, Madras, Bengal, Bihar, Assam and United Provinces) out of 11 provinces.
Overview
The most significant aspects of the Act were:
The grant of a large measure of autonomy to the provinces of India (ending the system of diarchy introduced by the Government of India Act 1919) Provision for the establishment of a "Federation of India", to be made up of both British India and some or all of the "princely states" The introduction of direct elections, thus increasing the franchise from five million to thirty-five million people A partial reorganization of the provinces: Sindh was separated from Bombay Bihar and Orissa was split into separate provinces of Bihar and Orissa Burma was completely separated from India Aden was also detached from India, and established as a separate Crown colony Membership of the provincial assemblies was altered to include any number of elected Indian representatives, who were now able to form majorities and be appointed to form governments The establishment of a Federal Court
However, the degree of autonomy introduced at the provincial level was subject to important limitations: the provincial governors retained important reserve powers, and the British authorities also retained a right to suspend responsible government.
The parts of the Act intended to establish the Federation of India never came into operation, due to opposition from rulers of the princely states. The remaining parts of the Act came into force in 1937, when the first elections under the act were also held.
The features of this act were as follows; 1-it provided for the establishment of an all-Indian Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units. The act divided the powers between centre and units in terms of three lists: federal list, the provincial list and the concurrent list.
Background
Indians had increasingly been demanding a greater role in the government of their country since the late 19th century. The Indian contribution to the British war effort during the First World War meant that even the more conservative elements in the British political establishment felt the necessity of constitutional change, resulting in the Government of India Act 1919. That Act introduced a novel system of government known as provincial "diarchy", i.e., certain areas of government (such as education) were placed in the hands of ministers responsible to the provincial legislature, while others (such as public order and finance) were retained in the hands of officials responsible to the British-appointed provincial governor. While the Act was a reflection of the demand for a greater role in government by Indians, it was also very much a reflection of British fears about what that role might mean in practice for India (and of course for British interests there).
The experiment with dyarchy proved unsatisfactory. A particular frustration for Indian politicians was that even for those areas over which they had gained nominal control, the "purse strings" were still in the hands of British officialdom.
The intention had been that a review of India's constitutional arrangements would be held ten years on from the 1919 Act. In the event, the review was conducted ahead of time by the Simon Commission, whose report proposed the scrapping of diarchy, and the introduction of a much larger degree of responsible government in the provinces. This proposal was controversial in Britain, demonstrating the rapidly widening gulf between British and Indian opinions as to the desirability, extent, and speed of progress towards, the promised system of self-government contained in the 1919 Act's preamble.