Q. The Government of India Act of 1919 clearly defined

  • the separation of power between the judiciary and the legislature
  • the jurisdiction of the central and provincial governments
  • the powers of the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy
  • None of the above

Answer: (b) the jurisdiction of the central and provincial governments

Notes:
  • The British Government declared for the first time on August 20, 1917, that its objective was the gradual introduction of responsible Government in India.
  • Features:
    • It relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and separating the central and provincial subjects.
    • The central and provincial legislatures were authorized to make laws on their respective list of subjects.
    • The structure of the government continued to be centralized and unitary.
    • It further divided the provincial subjects into two parts– transferred and reserved.
    • The transferred subjects were to be administered by the Governor with the aid of Ministers responsible to the legislative council.
    • The reserved subjects were to be administered by the Governor and his executive council without being responsible to the legislative council.
    • This dual scheme of governance was known as ‘dyarchy’–a term derived from the Greek word diarche which means the double rule.
    • It introduced, for the first time, bicameralism and direct elections in the country. The Indian legislative council was replaced by a bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly).
    • The majority of members of both the Houses were chosen by direct election. It granted franchises to a limited number of people based on property, tax, or education.
    • It required that the three of the six members of the Viceroy’s Executive Council (other than the Commander-in-Chief) were to be Indian.
    • It extended the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, and Europeans.
    • It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and transferred to him some of the functions hitherto performed by the Secretary of State for India.
    • It provided for the establishment of a public service commission. Hence, a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for recruiting civil servants.
    • It separated, for the first time, provincial budgets from the Central budget and authorized the provincial legislatures to enact their budgets.
    • It provided for the appointment of a statutory commission to inquire into and report on its working after ten years of its coming into force.