Previous Year Question

The Second Round Table Conference was held in 1931. The
participants failed to reach an agreement on the political representation of India's different communities, particularly the representation of minorities. Official records of the British Parliament in Hansard later noted that prolonged discussions took place on this question during the Second Round Table Conference, but the different communities could not reach an agreement.

Following this failure to reach an agreement, the British Government proceeded to make its own decision. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award in August 1932. British parliamentary records connect the Award with the failure of the Indian communities to arrive at an agreed settlement on representation.

An important chronology is:

1931 → Second Round Table Conference and failure to agree on communal representation
August 1932 → Communal Award announced by Ramsay MacDonald
September 1932 → Poona Pact following an agreement between Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Therefore, the Poona Pact was not the cause of the Communal Award; it came after the Communal Award.