Previous Year Question

Option (d) is correct. The Montagu-Chelmsford proposals dealt fundamentally with changes in the constitutional and political structure of British Indian government. They were associated with Edwin Montagu, the Secretary of State for India, and Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy of India.

Their immediate background was the Montagu Declaration of 20 August 1917, which announced a policy of progressively developing self-governing institutions and moving towards responsible government in India. Montagu subsequently travelled to India and worked with Chelmsford on a scheme of governmental reforms. Their Montagu-Chelmsford Report appeared in 1918 and became the basis for the Government of India Act, 1919.

One of the central ideas of the proposals was to divide provincial governmental subjects into Reserved and Transferred categories. Montagu himself explained to the British Parliament in 1918 that Ministers would be made responsible for transferred departments, while reserved departments would remain under executive councillors and the Governor's side of the administration. This arrangement subsequently became known as Dyarchy.