The federal system proposed under the Government of India Act, 1935 was

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

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.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Not the Act's own name for the scheme — a plausible-sounding but invented alternative; the statute itself uses 'All India Federation.'  (c) Not a term the 1935 Act uses at all; it echoes later political rhetoric, not the statute's federal design.  (d) 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.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2021 Q36 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2021 Q36 — History PYQ with Answer