The Central Legislature in British India, 192147. Mohammad Rashiduzzaman
Chapter XI. Conclusion
Appendix IV. List of Voting Divisions Held in the Legislative Assembly From 1921 to 1947
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Table I. Recommendations of the Electoral Size by the Franchise Committee (Southborough).
Table II. Summary of Legislative Assembly Elections From 1920 to 1945.
Table III. Summary of Council of State Elections From 1920 to 1930.
Table IV. Number of Candidates Who Forfeited Their Deposits.
Table V. Distribution of Seats in the Legislative Assembly.
Table VI. Distribution of Seats in the Council of State.
Table VII. Analysis of Seats Filled Without Contest in the Assembly Elections.
Table VIII. Voting Percentages in British & Assembly Elections.
Table IX. Comparison of Voting in Various Types of Constituencies of the Legislative Assembly.
Table X. Provincial Votes Polled in the Contested Constituencies as a Percentage of Electors Entitled to Vote.
Table XI. Percentage of Voting in Different Contested Constituencies in Various Provinces: 1920–1945.
Table XII. Analysis of Women Voters. ← xi | xii →
Table XIII. Number of Re-elected Members.
Table XIV. List of Title Holders Among the Lawmakers.
Table XV. Occupational Background of the Non-Official Members (Including the Nominated Members).
Table XVI. Questions in the Legislative Assembly, 1921–47.
Table XVII. Questions in the Council of State, 1921–47.
Table XVIII. Classification of Resolutions Passed by the Central Legislature.
Table XIX. Non-Official Resolutions Accepted, Rejected, Withdrawn, and Adjourned in the Legislative Assembly.
Table XX. Classification of the Acts Passed by the Central Legislature.
Table XXI. Percentage of Voted Expenditures to Total Expenditures From 1921 to 1947.
Table XXII. Net Expenditures on the Military Forces From 1921 to 1947.
Table XXIII. Reductions Proposed & Carried and Reductions Restored & Accepted by Government.
Table XXIV. Bills Considered by the Joint Committees of the Two Houses.
Table XXV. Bills (Except the Finance Bills) Amended by the Council of State.
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Dr. Rashiduzzaman has asked me to write a foreword for his book. I have never wholly understood why one author, however new, should need another author to introduce him to the public; this book itself makes the introduction. But I am happy to acknowledge and in slight measure repay a friendship, and have therefore agreed to the request.
The inter-war period of Indian history is one whose importance we are now beginning to appreciate in a new way. So much of what has happened since partition makes full sense only when regarded in the light of the earlier years. The political movements constitute one vital area for re-examination. Another is the working of the quasi-parliaments through which the bureaucracy explored new relations with representative opinion. It is in this latter field that Dr. Rashiduzzaman has worked with success.
How strange a body was this Central Legislature of his study! —in which a government technically and in some measure actually responsible to the Whitehall learnt to “go through the motions” of being responsive to criticisms of the elected members and by “going through the motions” came genuinely in some degree to be really responsive; and in which a movement of hostile protest learnt to act as if it were a “loyal opposition” and through doing so came in part quite close to being one! Both “sides” were thus changed ← xiii | xiv → by the experience; they entered upon the experiment with reservations but they nevertheless came to discover its value. A dialogue that began as something of a pretence perhaps never wholly lost that character, but still some kind of conversation was maintained. In the circumstances that was a notable achievement.
Dr. Rashiduzzaman’s careful study of this fascinating development merits the attention not only of students of Indian political growth but also of all who are interested in the power of institutions to shape human outlook and behaviour.
W. H. Morris-Jones,
Professor of Political Theory
and Institutions in the
University of Durham.
12th May, 1965.
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Unfolding beyond a dissertation-based book, THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE IN BRITISH INDIA 1921–47: Parliamentary Experiences under the Raj, is an exposé of the highest Indian legislative body of that epoch; it belongs to the larger genre of the British Indian narratives on the continuing constitutional encounters between the rulers and the ruled. What’s more, this book illuminates a neglected quarter of the past—the record