ALL INDIA FEDERATION

Stratford Evening Post, Volume III, Issue 209, 23 November 1934, Page 5

ALL INDIA FEDERATION

I JOINT COMMITTEE'S ! PLAN | Parliamentary Government | Recommended I LONG DOCUMENT I ! I ! SEPARATE ASSEMBLIES i i j I British Wireless. Rugby, Nov; 21. | The final stage of the process of con- ; sultation and inquiry which has extendi ed over six years was reached _, with the I publication of the report of the Parlia- : mentary Joint Committee on Indian Con- | st.itutional Reform. It now remains for i the Government and Parliament to cor--I sider the report and for a' Bill to be j presented to Parliament. I The Joint Committee's report is con- ; tained in a volume of 427 pages, and with | it is published a volume of 655 pages | reporting the proceedings of the commiti tee and indicating the views of indi- ! vidual members and the final voting on ' the report. A further volume of records I will be published later. j The Joint Committee's report advocates i that an all-India federation built up of j self-governing units should be substi- | tuted for the present centralised government. Eleven British-Indian provinces, j two of them now provinces, would be I linked in-, a federal system with the | Indian states, which would enter' the I federation by a voluntary act of their i rulers.

No change is contemplated in the internal regime of states, nor in the relationship between their rulers and the Crown outside the federal sphere, but it is proposed that the provinces should manage their own affairs to a greater extent than at present. The great majority of departments of government, which affect individuals from day to day, among them law and order, as well as certain items of revenue, for example, land taxes, would be the business of the provinces.

The federation would deal with matters such as currency tariffs, which concern India as a whole. Two questions of great importance, however —defence and foreign relations—would remain the direct responsibility of the GovernorGeneral, as they are at present. Upper and Lower Houses

Each of the provinces \yeuiu nave.an .lelebtfjij,legislative assembly chosen, by .a' : sirectV:vdt'e' bf\the*' which foamount- to-about 14- per and; in five prd-' yfinees^there. would be an r Upppr. as well ;&S''a The federation, itself art Upper arid a Lower House 'pbmbose'cT of-mfrrnbers indirectly elected ; by' -■'the' .'..provinces. - and representatives 'by the states. 'ln all assem,.blies,'rfederal" and provincial, a quota of .Stmts' ;'wpulpl Dfi' ensured' the" various ''minorities.'.' '* .'•'•■•' ■ . ■

i'"'i;Thp report \fur.ther. recommends that \tJxe': Governor-General- and Governors, .■vtfho will be the heads of the federal .government and provincial governments should be guided by the "jidvice. of their Ministers so'long as' they ;iare satisfied tha.t .to.do, sq- does, not con'.flic't with certain, special responsibilities imposed on them under' the' constitution. .These- special responsibilities include such duties as the prevention of a grave menace to peace and tranquility, the safeguarding of financial stability and, in the case of the Governor-General, the safeguarding of financial stability and credit.

The committee devotes special attention to the problem of terrorism, and makes new recommendations on the subject. The general political effect of the committee's proposals would thus be that in the provinces, and with certain reservations at the federal centre, there would be a system of parliamentary government, except when circumstances called for the exercise of the over-riding powers of the ■ Governor-General or the Governor.

The report discusses in some detail a number of important questions which arise from the constitutional proposals. They advocate that the recruitment in Britain for the Indian civil and police services should continue, and that service rights should be preserved. Steps are proposed to protect the discipline of the police and the independence of the judiciary from the osfects of political influences. Fiscal Freedom The safeguards introduced against the fiscal freedom of India are being used deliberately to damage British trade with India by means of penal tariffs, the report states. Finally the report recommends that Burma should be separated from India and itself receive a similar constitution.

In some important respects the proposals of the White Paper are modified or supplemented in the recommendations of the joint committee. In relation to law and order additional recommendations provide firstly that the consent of the Governor, given in his discretion, should be required to any legislation affecting the police acts and to any rules made thereunder affecting organisation cr discipline of the police; secondly records of the intelligence department "relating to terrorism should not be disclosed outside the police force except to such .public officers as the Governor may direct; thirdly for the purpose of combating terrorism the Governor should have the power to take under his control any branch of the Government which it is necessary to use for the purpose.

Among several other modifications recommended by the joint committee are provisions that the Governor-General should have a special responsibility to prevent the imposition of penal tariffs on gcods imported from the United Kingdom, that the Legislatures in India

should after 10 years have the constitutional right to prevent addresses for the consideration of His Majesty's Government and Parliament recommending amendment of the constitution on certain specified matters, such as the composition of the Legislatures and the franchise, and that the separation of Burma from India should be accompanied by a trade agreement between the two countries, to lie binding for a specified time.

"PURE EYEWASH"

Newspapers Criticise Report on India ' DIVIDED VIEWS London. Nov. 21. "The safeguards are pure eyewash," says the Daily Mail in commenting on

the report on Indian constitutional reform. ' "India will be handed over to the control of men thoroughly hostile to Britain. It is most important for the future safety cf our countrymen in India that the maintenance and direction cf the police should remain in British hands." "The report is at least a vast step towards self-government and India would be wise to accept it and give it a fantrial," says the News-Chronicle. "The report is too large and too serious to admit of hasty conclusions," says the Times. "Dissentient views revealed two groups cf approximately equal strength opposed to the majority. Five Conservatives thought the report too hasty and far-reaching and four Socialists deplored the caution, the checks and the safeguards. The dissentients cancel cut each other." "Considered judgment must come later, but the first impression is that the report has attracted an immense weight of authority. The main principles of the Government's draft scheme have withstood a peculiarly searching test. Whet matters for the moment is that neither •India nor the people of Britain should be led away by any false version of the document." "The proposals for a federation of all India are not merely left unshaken," says the Manchester Guardian. "Their tightness and necessity are positively confirmed."

The Daily Express says the White Paper is now waste paper. The frame cf the structure which the White Paper planned remains, but the new report suggests that its own proposals would vest the control of the lower house in British and not Indian hands. Indians with one voice would reject the report. Tire Daily Herald says a great opportunity has been missed. The proposals of the committee were shot through with timidity and distrust instead of wise generosity. The test of the proposals had been how little they needed to concede Li order to avoid trouble. INDIAN OPINION HOSTILE TO REPORT Press Association— Copyright Delhi. Nov. 21. Indian opinion censures the failure of iho committee to adepi the Indian ideal of Dominion status