Morley-Minto Reforms Textbook

Minto-Morley reforms 1909
Morley-Minto Reforms was another name for the Indian Council Act of 1909, 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, traders, 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.
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 national independence 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 session in the year 1909 welcomed these reforms but strongly
opposed 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 establishment 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 at 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:

a.) 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.
b.) It retained official majority in the Central Legislative Council but allowed the provincial legislative councils
to have non-official majority.
c.) 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.
d.) 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.
e.) It introduced a system for communal representation of 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.
f.) It also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chambers of commerce,
universities and zamindars.
Indian Council Act of 1909 was enacted to placate the moderates and disseminate the Muslims from National
Movement by granting them a separate electorate.

Morley-Minto Reforms Textbook

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Morley-Minto Reforms Textbook

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Minto-Morley reforms 1909

Features of the Act:

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