Indian Councils Act 1909

Indian Councils  Act 1909

The Indian Councils  Act 1909 is commonly known, as the Morely-Minto Reforms. It was an Act   of   the   Parliament   of   the   United   Kingdom   that   brought   about   a   limited   increase   in   the involvement of Indians in the governance of British India.
John Morley , the then Secretary of State for  India, and the Governor general of India  Minto believed   that   cracking   down   on   terrorism   in   Bengal   was  necessary   but   not   sufficient   for   restoring
stability to the British Raj after Lord Curzon’s partitioning of Bengal. They believed that a dramatic step   was   required   to   put   heart   into   loyal   elements   of   the   Indian   upper   classes   and   the   growing
westernized section of the population.
The  Act of 1909 was important for the following reasons.
• It   effectively   allowed  the   election  of   Indians  to  the   various  legislative   councils   in  India   for
the first. Previously some Indians had been appointed to legislative councils.The majorities of   the   councils   remained   British   government   appointments.   Moreover,   the   electorate   was limited to specific classes of Indian nations.
• The   system   of   election   introduced   by   the   Act   provided   for   separate   representation   for
Muslim   Community .   It   sowed   the   seeds   of   separation   which   led   to   the   partition   of   the
country . The  Act provides that
a) Indian   Muslims   be   allotted   reserved   seats   in   the   Municipal   and   District   Board,   in   the
Provincial Councils and in the Imperial Legislature;
• the   number   of   reserved   seats   be   in   excess   of   their   relative   population   (25   percent   of   the
Indian population);and
• only Muslims should vote for candidates for Muslim seats(separate electorates)
•  The number of the members of the Legislative Council at the center was increased from 16 to 60
• The  number  of   the   members  of   the  Provincial   Legislatives   was  also  increased.   It   was  fixed
as  50  in  the   provinces   of   Bengal,   Madras  and   Bombay ,   and  for  the   rest   of   the   provinces   it was 30.
• Two Indians were nominated to the Council of the Secretary of State for Indian  Affairs.
• The   Governor   General   was   empowered   to   nominate   one   Indian   member   to   his   Executive
Council.
• The members of the Legislative Councils were permitted to discuss the budgets, suggest the
amendments   and   even   to   vote   on   them;   excluding   those   items  that   were   included   as   non vote   items.   They   were   also   entitled   to   ask   supplementary   questions   during   the   legislative
proceedings.