Cripps Mission

The Cripps Mission came to India in 1942 headed by Sir Stafford Cripps, a socialist member of the war cabinet, to negotiate with Indian leaders on behalf of the British government. When the entire world was at midst of Second World War, the British government in India declared the participation of India in the war in favour of Allied Powers. This was done without consulting the Indian political leaders or the elected representatives of the parties. This provoked the crowd who reacted to this injustice where it was the Indians who were to lay their lives for a war out of which they themselves would hardly win anything. As a result the mission on its arrival was received with a huge countrywide protest resulting into a complete failure.

Government of India Act of 1935

The round table conferences of the early 1930's as well as a White Paper published in 1933 formed the basis for what would become the Government of India Act of 1935. The important clauses of the act were:

Simon Commission

The Indian Statutory Commission was a group of seven British Members of Parliament that had been dispatched to India in 1927 to study constitutional reform. The Commission was named Simon Commission, following the name of the chairperson of the Commission Sir John Simon.

Government of India act of 1919

This was the next major revision of the administration policy of the British in India. The earlier Morley-Minto reforms had failed to satisfy the aspirations of the nationalists and hence a report was tabled called the Montague-Chelmsford report which eventually became the Government of India act of 1919. The British aimed to subdue nationalist feelings by involving Indians more in the administration.

Government of India Act, 1915

This act was passed to consolidate the provisions of the proceeding Government of India Acts.

Indian Council Act 1909 or Morley – Minto Reforms

• Morley was the Secretary of State, while Minto was the Indian Viceroy.
• Legislative Councils, both at the Centre and in the Provinces, were expanded.
• With regard to Central Government, an Indian member was taken in the Executive Council of the Governor General.

Indian Councils Act 1892

Two improvements in both the Central and the Provincial Legislative Councils were suggested to the following :

• Though the majority of the official members was retained, the Non – Official members were to be nominated by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Provincial Legislative Councils ( The Non – Official members of the Provincial Councils were to be nominated by certain local bodies such as Universities, District Boards, Municipalities]. Indian leaders like G.K.Gokhale, Ashutosh Mukherjee, Ras Bihari Ghosh and S.N.Banerjee found their way in the Legislative Council.

Indian Councils Act of 1861

• For the first time the Act introduces the representative institutions in India. It enabled the Governor- General to associate representatives of the Indian people with the work of legislation by nominating them to his expanded council.

Government of India Act, 1858

The first war of Indian Independence in 1857 brought the career of East India Company to an end. In 1858, the Government of India was placed directly under the crown through the Secretary of State for India and all the matters were to be seen by him. This Act had three parts:

The Charter Act of 1853

• Laid foundation of Parliamentary system of Government, the executive and legislative separated. Legislative Assembly functioned in the model of British Parliament.
• Renewed the term of East India Company for an indefinite period;