MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 36 of 100

Correct — A, All India Federation. The Government of India Act, 1935 proposed to unite the eleven Governors' Provinces of British India with the princely states that chose to accede into a single 'All India Federation', governed by a bicameral federal legislature and a Federal, Provincial and Concurrent division of subjects. The federal centre never actually came into being — too few princely states acceded — but the Act's provincial part (provincial autonomy) did take effect in 1937.

• (b)Federation of India — Not the Act's own name for the scheme — a plausible-sounding but invented alternative; the statute itself uses 'All India Federation.'
• (c)United India — Not a term the 1935 Act uses at all; it echoes later political rhetoric, not the statute's federal design.
• (d)Indian Confederation — Wrong in kind, not just name — the 1935 scheme was a federation with a constitutionally defined division of powers, not a looser confederation of sovereign units.

The Government of India Act, 1935 was the longest and most detailed British Indian statute, and the direct structural template for India's own 1950 Constitution. Its Part II proposed an 'All India Federation' joining the provinces of British India with any princely states that chose to accede — but accession required states covering at least half the princely population/seats, a threshold that was never reached, so the federal centre the Act describes was never actually established.

The trap is assuming 'federation' and 'provincial autonomy' both took effect together. Only provincial autonomy commenced (1937, with elected provincial ministries); the All India Federation at the centre stayed on paper.

• Government of India Act, 1935 — proposed an 'All India Federation' of British Indian provinces + acceding princely states
• The federal (centre) part never came into force; provincial autonomy did, from 1937
• The Act also created a Federal Court (1937) and ended dyarchy in the provinces (introducing a form of it at the centre instead)
• Widely called the 'skeleton' of the 1950 Constitution — much of its structure and even language carried over

• Assuming the All India Federation actually functioned — it never came into force
• Confusing the 1935 Act's provincial-level dyarchy-abolition with the 1919 Act's dyarchy-introduction

Usually a direct fact/name question, or a 'consider the statements' question testing which features of the 1935 Act are true (provincial autonomy, Federal Court, All India Federation, residuary powers to the Governor-General).

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Government of India Act, 1935 introduced provincial autonomy with effect from:

  • (a)1935
  • (b)1937
  • (c)1919
  • (d)1947

  Answer(b) 1937 — provincial autonomy began with elections and Congress ministries in 1937, though the Act was passed in 1935.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Government of India Act, 1935, residuary powers (subjects not listed in any of the three lists) were vested in the:

  • (a)Federal Legislature
  • (b)Governor-General
  • (c)Provincial Legislatures
  • (d)Provincial Governors

  Answer(b) Governor-General — he could delegate residuary law-making to the federal or a provincial legislature by public notification, but the residuary power itself sat with him.