Who was given the princely portfolio in the National Provisional Government?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. In the Interim Government formed in September 1946 (with Jawaharlal Nehru as Vice-President of the Executive Council), Patel was allotted the Home Affairs and States portfolio — the 'princely' department responsible for negotiating the integration of India's princely states into the Indian Union.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Patel's key civil servant — Secretary of the States Department, who drafted the Instrument of Accession — but he was Patel's administrator, not the Cabinet minister holding the portfolio.  (c) Not a recognised member of the 1946 Interim Government's Cabinet holding this portfolio.  (d) A senior Congress leader active in this period (later Governor-General of India in 1948), but he did not hold the States portfolio.

Concept: The Interim Government (September 1946 - August 1947), formed under the Cabinet Mission Plan, was the transitional Council of Ministers that ran India before independence, with Nehru as Vice-President of the Executive Council. Sardar Patel held Home Affairs and States, making him the point person for integrating princely states into the Union — a task he carried out, with V. P. Menon as his Secretary, mainly through 1947-48 via the Instrument of Accession.

State PCS 2021 Q52 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2021 Q52 — History PYQ with Answer