Question

Assertion:
Provincial autonomy was introduced in the Government of India Act, 1935.
Reason:
The Act itself made a clear-cut division of powers between the Centre and the Provinces.

A.Both A and R is true and R is the correct explanation of A
B.Both A and R is true but R is not a correct explanation of A
C.A is true but R is false
D.A is false but R is true

Answer 1

Hint:In August 1935, British Parliament passed the Government of India Act of 1935. This was the longest act ever passed by the British parliament and was later divided into two parts, with 321 sections and 10 schedules. Indeed, the Government of India Act of 1935 and the Government of Burma Act of 1935.

Complete answer:
Provincial control was the most striking characteristic of the Statute. With the abolition of the Dyarchy in the provinces, the whole provincial government was entrusted to the responsible ministers, who were governed and dismissed by the provincial legislatures. Provincial autonomy is two things. In the first place, the provincial governments were solely accountable to the provincial legislatures and in the second place, the provinces were free from outside influence and intervention in a significant range of matters. In the provincial domain, therefore, the Act of 1935 rendered a profound departure from the Act of 1919.

The Act distributed the powers between the Center and the provinces on the basis of three lists – the Federal List (for the Center, with 59 items), the provincial List (for the Provinces, with 54 items) and the Concurrent List (for both, with 36 items). Residual powers have been granted to the Viceroy. The degree of autonomy implemented at the provincial level was subject to substantial limitations: the provincial governors maintained significant reserve authority, and the British authorities still retained the ability to terminate responsible governance.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: Dyarchy was adopted as a political amendment by Edwin Samuel Montagu (Secretary of State for India, 1917–22) and Lord Chelmsford (Viceroy of India, 1916–21). The theory of dyarchy was to split the executive branch of each provincial government into authoritarian and popularly accountable parts.