Evolution in India The new epoch in India opened on
Thursday and the threat of the Congress Party to "end the Constitution" may be received with equanimity, though refusal to accept office in the six provinces in which Congress holds a majority has undeniably, frustrated the hopes of those friends of India who looked to the institution of provincial autonomy on April 1st as the most notable step yet taken towards the ultimate goal of complete self-government. The appointed day found only one province without a government, and in that, the United Provinces, an administration was in process of formation. In five provinces, and in Burma, the machinery worked smoothly as intended. In the other six, where the Governors, while promising full co-operation with any Ministry, could not, in the face of the declared intention of Congress to end the constitution, pledge them- selves in no case to use their special powers, non-Congress minority Ministries have been formed. Where the precise breaking-point is to come can only be decided when the meaning of the vague and ambiguous formula framed by Mr. Gandhi has been elucidated. That the Governors would not interfere with the day-to-day constitutional activities of Ministers goes without saying. But Ministers determined to "end the constitution," or effect its break- down, are quite capable of finding constitutional ways of doing it. It is as provision against that contingency that the Governors have been armed with special powers.
