Read the passage and answer the questions:
Vision of the Constitution
The Constituent Assembly was expected to express the aspirations of those who had participated in the movement for independence. Democracy, equality and justice were ideals that had become intimately associated with social struggles in India since the nineteenth century. When the social reformers in the nineteenth century opposed child marriage and demanded that widows be allowed to remarry, they were pleading for social justice. When Swami Vivekananda campaigned for a reform of Hinduism, he wanted religions to become more just. When Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra pointed to the suffering of the depressed castes, organised workers and peasants, they were demanding economic and social justice. The national movement against a government that was seen as oppressive and illegitimate was inevitably a struggle for democracy and justice. In fact, as the demand for representation grew, the British had been forced to introduce a series of constitutional reforms. A number of Acts were passed, gradually enlarging the space for Indian participation in provincial governments. The executive was made partly responsible to the provincial legislature in 1919, and almost entirely so under the Government of India Act of 1935. When elections were held in 1937, under the 1935 Act, the Congress came to power in eight provinces. While the earlier constitutional experiments were in response to the growing demand for a representative government, the Acts were not directly debated and formulated by Indians. They were enacted by the colonial government. The electorate that elected the provincial bodies had expanded over the years, but even in 1935 it remained limited to no more than 10 to 15 per cent of the adult population: there was no universal adult franchise. The legislatures elected under the 1935 Act operated within the framework of colonial rule, and were responsible to the Governor appointed by the British. The vision was trying to outline on 13 December 1946 was of the Constitution of an independent, sovereign Republic of India.
Who was the author of the Reforms of 1919 which allowed some form of representation in provincial legislative assemblies?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Edwin Montague
The reforms of 1919 are known as the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms, after Edwin Montague, the British minister for India, and Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy. They allowed some form of representation in the provincial legislative assemblies. The passage mentions the step taken in 1919, when the executive was made partly responsible to the provincial legislature.
Note: This passage is taken from the NCERT chapter ‘Framing the Constitution’, almost word for word. Go through the photographs and their captions as carefully as the text; this question comes from one of them.
NCERT (2025-26): “2.1 The will of the people … In fact, as the demand for representation grew, the British had been forced to introduce a series of constitutional reforms. A number of Acts were passed (1909, 1919 and 1935), gradually enlarging the space for Indian participation in provincial governments. The executive was made partly responsible to the provincial legislature in 1919, and almost entirely so under the Government of India Act of 1935.…”
Fig. 12.7 Edwin Montague (left) was the author of the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 which allowed some form of representation in provincial legislative assemblies. |
