What was the purpose of Government of India Act of 1935?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → To give legal recognition to the schedule of ‘castes’ and ‘tribes’.
Option (1) To classify “Other Backward Classes” as a constitutional category. — Incorrect. The Act dealt with the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, not the OBCs.
Option (2) To promote research on the social hierarchy of castes. — Incorrect. It was a legal step, not a programme of research.
Option (3) To ensure caste identities become more fluid. — Incorrect. It recorded castes and tribes in lists; it did not change caste identities.
Option (4) To give legal recognition to the schedule of ‘castes’ and ‘tribes’. — Correct. As part of its efforts for the ‘depressed classes’, the colonial administration passed the Government of India Act of 1935, which gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state. The terms Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes came from these schedules.
NCERT (2025-26): “Colonialism and Caste … The administration also took an interest in the welfare of downtrodden castes, referred to as the ‘depressed classes’ at that time. It was as part of these efforts that the Government of India Act of 1935 was passed which gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state. This is how the terms ‘Scheduled Tribes’ and the ‘Scheduled Castes’ came into being.…” |