Provisions of Council Act 1909
1. Expansion of the legislature
2. Separate electorates
3. No discussions can be held in legislative council unless it is being held in the
ambit of legislature
ACT OF 1909
Indian Council Act of 1909 | Morley- Minto Reforms: Main Features
Indian Council Act of 1909 is also known as Morley- Monto Reform. It was instituted to
placate the Moderates (Congress) and introduces separate electorates on the basis of
religion. Therefore Lord Minto came to be known as Father of Communal Electorate in
India.
A Morley-Minto Reform was another name of Indian Council Act of 1909, AD which was
named after the secretary of state and the Viceroy. It was instituted to placate the
moderates. According to this act, the membership of the central and provincial
legislative councils was enlarged. However, the number of elected members in these
councils was less than half of their total membership. It may also be remembered that
the elected members were not elected by the people but by landlords, organizations or
traders and industrialists, universities and local bodies. The British also introduced
communal electorates as a part of these reforms. This was meant to create disunity
between Hindus and Muslims. Some seats in the councils were reserved for Muslims to
be elected by Muslim voters.
British Empire
By this the British hoped to cut off Muslims from the nationalist movement by treating
them as apart from the rest of the nation. They told the Muslims that their interests
were separate from those of other Indians. To weaken the nationalist movement, the
British began to consistently follow a policy of promoting communalism in India. The
growth of communalism had serious consequences for the unity of the Indian people
and the struggle for freedom. The congress at its 1909 session welcomed the reforms
but strongly opposed the reforms the creation of separate electorates on the basis of
religion.
The Morley-Minto reforms did not introduce any significant change in the powers of the
councils. They did not mark and advance towards the establishments of a representative
government, much less swaraj. In fact, the Secretary of state frankly declared that he
had absolutely no intention of introducing a Parliamentary form of Government. The
autocratic form of government that had been introduced after the revolt of 1857
remained unchanged even after the Morley-Minto reforms.
The only change was that the government started appointing some Indians of its choice
to certain high positions. Satyendra Prasad Sinha, who later became Lord Sinha, was the
first Indian to be made a member of the Governor-General’s executive council. Later he
was made a governor of a province, the only Indian to occupy such a high office during
the entire period of British rule. In 1911, he was presented in an imperial Darbar that
was held at Delhi at where British king, George V, and his queen were also present. The
Darbar was also attended by Indian princes who displayed their loyalty to the British
crown. Two important announcements were made on the occasion. One was the
annulment of the partition of Bengal which had been affected in 1905. The other was
the shifting of the capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi.
Features of the Act
1. It considerably increased the size of the legislative councils, both Central and
provincial. The number of members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16
to 60. The number of members in the provincial legislative councils was not uniform.
2. It retained official majority in the Central Legislative Council but allowed the
provincial legislative councils to have non-official majority.
3. It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both the levels. For
example, members were allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on
the budget, and so on.
4. It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians with the executive
Councils of the Viceroy and Governors. Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian
to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council. He was appointed as the law member.
5. It introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the
concept of ‘separate electorate’. Under this, the Muslim members were to be elected
only by Muslim voters. Thus, the Act ‘legalised communalism’ and Lord Minto came to
be known as the Father of Communal Electorate.
6. It also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chambers
of commerce, universities and zamindars.
Indian Council Act of 1909, AD was instituted to placate the moderates and
appeasement to the disseminate Muslims from National Movement by granting them
separate electorate.
