Previous Year Question
With reference to the proposals of Cripps Mission, consider the following statements :
The Constituent Assembly would have members nominated by the Provincial Assemblies as well as the Princely States.
Any Province, which is not prepared to accept the new Constitution would have the right to sign a separate agreement with Britain regarding its future status.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
Statement 1 is incorrect. Under the Cripps proposals, all members of the constitution-making body were not to be nominated. For British Indian provinces, after the provincial elections following the war, the entire membership of the lower houses of the Provincial Legislatures was to act as an electoral college and elect members of the constitution-making body through proportional representation. In contrast, the Indian States were to appoint/nominate their representatives. Therefore, the assertion that members would be “nominated” by both the Provincial Assemblies and the Princely States is incorrect. The original text of the Cripps proposals makes this distinction explicit.
Statement 2 is correct. The Cripps proposals gave a British Indian province the right not to accept the new Constitution. Such a province could retain its existing constitutional position and, if it desired, the British Government was prepared to agree upon a separate constitutional arrangement giving it the same full status as the proposed Indian Union. Thus, this was not merely a technical provision concerning constitution-making; it created a real possibility for a province to remain outside the future Indian Union.
Another important fact is that the Cripps proposals envisaged a new Indian Union with Dominion Status after the war and a constitution-making body, while during the ongoing war control and direction of Defence were to remain with the British Government. Thus, the scheme did not provide for an immediate transfer of full power.