Question

Which of the acts introduced the ‘Principle of Constitutional Autocracy’?
A) The Indian Councils Act of 1909
B) The Government of India Act of 1919
C) The Government of India Act of 1935
D) The Indian Independence Act of 1947

Answer 1

Hint: The governance system in which absolute power over a state is vested in the hands of a single person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal prudence nor regularized mechanisms of popular control is called Autocracy.

Complete answer:
The Government of India Act, 1935, is the longest act made before the year 1947. It has 32 sections, 14 parts and 10 schedules. Any Indian legislature cannot modify this act in one of the rigid acts in the constitution. In 1935, the British Government passed this act which came into effect in 1937. It was led by Lord Linlithgow.

It was also the act that brought Constitutional Autocracy to India. Autocracy refers to the governance system in which one person holds the absolute power of a state, but in a constitutional autocracy (according to the GoI Act 1935, the constitution provided absolute power over all provinces to the Governors and Governors-General who worked on behalf of the crown.

This act was an important step towards granting "dominion status" to India, but it failed in several respects. Its most important provisions extended fiscal autonomy to the provinces, abolished the diarchy at the provincial level, and allowed Indian ministers to occupy important departments previously reserved for the British.

The India Act of 1935 expanded the diarchy to include the central government of India. The law allowed greater participation from Indians at the highest levels of government, but the law made certain official members ``immovable" and only accountable to the British Parliament. Another important feature of the 1935 Act was the proposal for a federation of British and princely India. The drafters of the law provided for an elected state council and a federal assembly. But that part of the story never took place. For most princes, it had too many "democratic" features and remained a paper plan. More indigenous people than ever participated at the local, regional and national levels of government.

Thus, the correct option is C. The Government of India Act of 1935 introduced the ‘Principle of Constitutional Autocracy’.

Note: In the Government of India act 1935, the introduction of an advisory body took place after the abolition of the Indian Council. It also introduced the separation of Burma from India. There will be the supremacy of the British parliament.