A New Way in India
Mr. Rajagopalachari, who to his credit never wearies in his search for a solution of the Indian constitutional problem, has now launched in a booklet entitled Reconciliation, Why and How, a simple proposal for the restoration of the eleven Provincial Governments created by the Government of India Act of 1935 (fresill elections being held if thought desirable) and for the appointment by each Government of one representative to sit on the Viceroy's Council. Interest is added to this suggestion by an article which appears on another page of this issue, from the pen of an experienced Englishman in India, who, though he wrote before the appearance of Mr. Rajagopalachari's booklet, puts forward virtually the same proposals as the former Premier of Madras, though he would find room, as Mr. Rajagopala- chari apparently does not, at the centr,. for representatives of the States as well ; under the Reconciliation scheme, however, pro- vision is made for a small number of co-options. This comes near to being a revival of the 1935 constitution, a well-considered and promising plan, but with the important difference that the Central Government should be created by direct delegation from the Provinces, not as the result of direct election. One obvious pre- condition is the reconstitution of the Provincial Governments and the decision of their members to work them as effectively as provincial government is working today in, say, the Punjab. There is, unfor- tunately, little prospect that proposals of this kind would satisfy the controversialists of Congress and the Moslem League, but the ques- tion put in the article referred to, whether there is any hope in, or justification for, negotiation with these unconstitutional bodies, deserves consideration.
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