With reference to the transfer of power to India, answer the following :
Explain the Cabinet Mission's proposals regarding the setting up of a Constitution making body.
Explain the Cabinet Mission's proposals regarding the setting up of a Constitution making body.
The Cabinet
Mission's purposes were to hold preparatory discussions with elected
representatives of British India and the Indian states in order to
secure agreement as to the method of framing the constitution, to set up a
constitution body and to set up an Executive Council with the support of the
main Indian parties.
Plan of 16 May
Promulgated
on 16 May 1946, the plan, to create a united dominion of India as a loose
Confederation of provinces, came to be known by the date of its
announcement:
- A united Dominion of India would
be given independence.
- The Muslim-majority provinces
would be grouped, with In Sind, Punjab,Baluchistan and North-West Frontier
Provinceforming one group, and Bengal and Assam would form
another.
- The Hindu-majority provinces in
central and southern India would form another group.
- The central government, stationed
in Delhi, would be empowered to handle nationwide affairs, such as
defense, currency, and diplomacy, and the rest of powers and
responsibility would belong to the provinces, coordinated by groups.
Plan of 16 June
The plan of
16 june 1946 had a united India, in line with Congress and Muslim League
aspirations, but that was where the consensus between the two parties ended
since Congress abhorred the idea of having the groupings of Muslim-majority
provinces and that of Hindu-majority provinces with the intention of balancing
one another at the central legislature. The Muslim League could not accept any
changes to this plan since they wanted to keep the safeguards of British Indian
laws to prevent absolute rule of Hindus over Muslims.
Reaching an
impasse, the British proposed a second plan on 16 June 1946 to arrange for
India to be divided into Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority India that
would later be renamed Pakistan since Congress had vehemently rejected
'parity' at the centre. A list of princely states of India , which would
be permitted to accede to the dominion or attain independence, was also drawn
up.
The Cabinet
Mission arrived in India on 23 March 1946 and in Delhi on 2 April 1946. The
announcement of the Plan on 16 May 1946 had been preceded by the Simla
Conference in the first week of May.
The Cabinet Mission's purposes were to hold preparatory discussions with elected representatives of British India and the Indian states in order to secure agreement as to the method of framing the constitution, to set up a constitution body and to set up an Executive Council with the support of the main Indian parties.
Plan of 16 May
Promulgated on 16 May 1946, the plan, to create a united dominion of India as a loose Confederation of provinces, came to be known by the date of its announcement:
- A united Dominion of India would be given independence.
- The Muslim-majority provinces would be grouped, with In Sind, Punjab,Baluchistan and North-West Frontier Provinceforming one group, and Bengal and Assam would form another.
- The Hindu-majority provinces in central and southern India would form another group.
- The central government, stationed in Delhi, would be empowered to handle nationwide affairs, such as defense, currency, and diplomacy, and the rest of powers and responsibility would belong to the provinces, coordinated by groups.
Plan of 16 June
The plan of 16 june 1946 had a united India, in line with Congress and Muslim League aspirations, but that was where the consensus between the two parties ended since Congress abhorred the idea of having the groupings of Muslim-majority provinces and that of Hindu-majority provinces with the intention of balancing one another at the central legislature. The Muslim League could not accept any changes to this plan since they wanted to keep the safeguards of British Indian laws to prevent absolute rule of Hindus over Muslims.
Reaching an impasse, the British proposed a second plan on 16 June 1946 to arrange for India to be divided into Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority India that would later be renamed Pakistan since Congress had vehemently rejected 'parity' at the centre. A list of princely states of India , which would be permitted to accede to the dominion or attain independence, was also drawn up.
The Cabinet Mission arrived in India on 23 March 1946 and in Delhi on 2 April 1946. The announcement of the Plan on 16 May 1946 had been preceded by the Simla Conference in the first week of May.
