Q5 · UPSC Civil Services Mains 2015 · GS I · 12 marks · 2 min read

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It would have been difficult for the Constituent Assembly to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for Independent India in just three years, but its experience gained with the Government of India Act, 1935 .Discuss.

Topic: World's Physical Geography. Syllabus: Salient features of world’s physical geography. Same official PYQ from year-wise 2015 and World's Physical Geography.

Revision summary

The 1935 Act trained parties in provincial government and wrote a long federal statute. The Constitution reused lists, governors, and much administrative design. Fundamental rights, adult franchise, and a republic were new nationalist work. Partition added problems 1935 never faced. Three years were possible because the scaffold already existed; the soul of the text did not.

Model answer

Flow diagram

flowchart TD
  A[GOI Act 1935] --> P[Provincial ministries lists]
  P --> D[Drafting speed]
  N[Rights republic franchise] --> C[Constitution 1950]
  D --> C
  A -.->|not sovereignty| N

Conclusion

  • Discuss 1935 as necessary experience and borrowed architecture, then name rights and republic as the Assembly’s own historic task.
  • Three years look short only if one forgets two decades of legislative practice before 1946.

Without the Government of India Act, 1935, the Assembly would have been slower and less sure with federal lists and parliamentary procedure. With it, India could still not have a free constitution until members wrote rights, adult vote, and a republic on top of that colonial frame.

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