India : Looking Forward
By. SIR STANLEY REEE!
ON August 2nd the great and complicated measure which 'embodies the new constitution for the governance of India became law. ' It is now for India and Great Britain to make it an instrument for peace and proSperity. At this opportune moment two competent lawyers, Mr: J. P. Eddy; an ex-judge `a the High Court of Madras, and Mr. F. II. Lawton, with the co-operation of a third judge of Indian experience, Mr. A. G. Piillan, have produced an admirable little Volurrie* describing the purpose' and scope of the Act; with appendices covering ancillary Matters,' such as the proposed Instrument of Instructions to Viceroys and Governors, and 'a skeleton Instrument of Accession for the ineorporatiOn of Indian States in the federal system. The Act itself consists of 478 sections and 16 schedules. It is complicated by many l'epetitiblis in order to cover the separation of Burma. Wisely the authors have taken for their examination only the 321 sections and 10 schedules which relate to British India and the Indian States. These in,themsplyes are so,intricate that it is safe to assume no one not actually engaged in the task of preparing the 'Act fully understands them. However, with this guide there is no excuse for ignorance ; the constitution is so fully examined and lucidly explained that all who wish to know what has been attempted and done can satisfy their appetite for knowledge. • . Looking back on the eight crowded years of gestation, we find one steel thread running through this heroic measure. Ever since the Simon Commission rediscovered the pregnant passage in the Montagu-Chelmsford Report which visualised an all-Indian federation as the ultimate goal of British policy, and the .Princes accepted the federal system at the first iiRound Table Conference, the main principles of the con- stitution have remained unshaken Lind unimpaired—the unity ..of India through federation ; the responsibility with safeguards of the Federal Government ; and the autonomy of the Provinces. These principles emerge inexorably from the ,facts of politics and geography. India is geographically one ; 'hitherto it has been politically. divided into British India and the States ; the two will, we trust, be indissolubly _associated for common purposes.- Those who lightly talked of Provincial Autonomy without changes at the centre can have had no real knowledge of India. Already, even with the ,partial autonomy of the Act of 1919, the fissiparous forces .always strong in India, threatening the measure of unity ,hrought by the British ,connexion,have become dangerous. To have, increased,. the _power of the Provinces, without strengthening the Centre, might well have induced. the alkanisation of the land. Those again who were ready to apeept Provincial A,utnnorny ,without. a ineasure of responsi- bility at the Centre, .cannot _have, followed., revealing the events. The last session of the IMPetia/ Legialature Weakness of an irremovable 'Government confronted by an plected ASsernbly, called insistently for refOrm.. - ' We had ci,ther , to ' o for w:i rit ()I. back'i the, econd alternative Was inconceivable and lie\ cr seriously .propoied. Yet, again, any real progress in i he eow;titutional groWth of India which left the Indian States untoeched, ' and without an effeCtive share in the administration, must have been fatal to the States theme/yes anf.db,structivia fd. the contribution they have to make to ill Vetter government of India.
The structural cliiinges made iii the Scheme Which emerged from the Hound Table Conferences are few. Whilst we regret the long delays whkli damped enthusiasm., and chilled hope, they have resulted in ail, infinitely better.,Act. No one *' India's Nevi Constitution': 'A Snrv,ey of the Government of India Act of 1935. By J. P. E5,1qy'fatid F',1. Liiitton.
' (Macmillan. 6s.) can read the pages of this vade mecum without being conscious of the infinite care, based on parliamentary ,experience, with which each section has been drafted. These structural changes' are on the whole good. The insistence on a secondary electorate .for the Federal Assembly by the Joint Select Conimittee was a step in the right direction, and though it may be argued that direct eledtion for the Council of State is an anomaly, it is an improvement on the complex system which emerged from the committee stage. I was surprised on a recent visit''to India to note the growing support for Second Chambers. in the'great Provinces provided they were small revising chambers, and , where established they will add an clement of stability to the legislatures. Seeing the purpose it is designed to serVe, Parliament can look upon its work and find it gOod. What are the' prespects ? The first elections for the Provincial Legislatures are expected to be held towards the end of 1986, and Provincial. Autonomy should be fully estab- lished in 1037. We must wait and see how the greatly enlarged electorate will function ; my own view is that the outward signs of change will be few, looking to the large measure cf ' self-government the Provinces already enjoy. The greatest security against the ; of the electorate, is the system of . representatiOP established by , the Communal Award, and though the nice balance of that adjustment . disturbed by the Poona Pact, my own belief is, that a sense of safety, arising out of political PoWer is the only solvent last few weeks But-the therett the a.inevitables beenLt of the communal difficulties. The Princes have wavered ; their weakness is a lack of has. happened, and in the st in federaticalle7i,nd.iine,ariyreaadliisiaotjo,ini strong revival of faith, that the best interests of the ;States to the Pederation,, without prolonging the transition period. If the big States lead„the others will inevitably follow, A wise man said that the essentials of Indian Government are first a hearing and then a decision. , The hearing has been long ; the decision is liberal. Already the leaven of the accomplished, fact is ,worlcing. Whatever intransigents may say, the best brains in the Congress will strive, for election and if invited will accept office. Through these. means India •will be kept within,. the orbit of a „faith in consti- tutionalism. That the Constitution amuses enthusiasm . is not true ; but it commands a growing measure of acceptance. Disappointment ,centres .on the absence of effective growth aswsuirllarneace realise of drat Dominion status. tumatterss. A s from within ; the multitude of safeguards ; 'and in the omission of a definite experience is gained, India is the form of government,- not the exterior status which will come of its own volition ; that transitoriness is a bane ; and that the safeguards which are not necessary will be forgotten, whilst those which are useful will be a protection to Indians themselves. We Often talk . as if peace and security were only a British interest ; where oneEnglishman suffers from disorder a thotiland Indians are made miserable, as they learnt in the militant days of non-cooperation. . The con- stitution is launched in far more favourable conditions than seemed possible a year or two ago. Credit has markedly iinProVed ; the economic situation is a little better. All classes are weary of barren strife and are anxious to get on With the task they are in. In Lord Zetland and Lord Linlithgow there are helmsmen who command unstinted COnlidenee. To suppose that there will be no difficulties is absurd. The governance of India never was easy and never will be, .whoes.oer' holds the reins. But we have king pondered the • path' at our feet ; it is for us to look straight on. '
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