COMMUNAL AWARD was an official statement of British government policy in respect of the composition of provincial legislatures as a further step in the transfer of responsibility to the Indian people. The Secretary of State for India presented the terms of the Award to Parliament as command paper 4147, and they were published on 16 August 1932 under the title Communal Decision. The terms of the Award defined the methods of selection and the relative strength of representation of various "communities" in the legislatures as they were expected to be formed under provisions of a new constitution for a federation of Princely Indian states and British Indian provinces, which was being devised at the time and which was given final shape later in the Government of India Act of 1935.In effect, the Award was a political settlement worked out for the people of British India by officials in London.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS OF 1919: SIKH DEPUTATION TO ENGLAND. In August 1917, the Secretary of State for India, Edwin Samuel Montagu, made the declaration that the aim of British policy was the introduction of responsible government in India. When Montagu visited India that autumn, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, ruler of Patiala, met him on behalf of the Sikhs. A deputation of the Sikh leaders also waited upon the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, on 22 November 1917 and pressed their claim to one-third representation in the Punjab, especially in view of their services in World War I. The Montagu Chelmsford report published in July 1918 proposed to extend to the Sikhs the system adopted in the case of Muslims in provinces where they were in a minority.
Explore the impact of Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms on Sikh representation in India's legislative bodies. Discover key historical insights and developments.
Explore the history of Shiromani Khalsa Diwan, a pivotal Sikh sociopolitical organization known for safeguarding Sikh interests in the Northwest Frontier Province.
