NEHRU REPORT

1928
 BACKGROUND
• The British Government was required to initiate
new reforms in India every ten years under the Act
of 1919.
• In 1927, the Simon Commission was dispatched to
India for this aim.
• The majority of Indian political parties have
decided to boycott the Commission, citing a lack of
Indian participation as a reason. The British made
the decision to place the ball in the hands of Indian
politicians.
• Lord Birkendhead, Secretary of State for
Indian Affairs, challenged the Indians, “If they
have any political capability and competence
then they should form a unanimous
constitution and present it to us and we will
implement it.”
 INTRODUCTION
• In January 1928, Indian political groups embraced the challenge and
convened an All Parties Conference in Delhi.
• Hundreds of delegates from all major political parties, including the
Indian National Congress, All India Muslim League, National Liberal
Federation, Hindu Mahasabha, Central Sikh League, and others,
attended the meeting. The meeting was unable to establish an
agreement on the topic of minorities' rights.
• In March of that year, the All Parties Conference held its second
round. Although two sub-committees were constituted, the overall
result was the same as the first session. In May 1928, during the
third session of the All Parties Conference in Bombay, a seven-
member committee chaired by Motilal Nehru was formed to
examine the main aspects of India's future constitution.
 REPORT FEATURES
• Despite numerous difficulties, the Nehru Committee finished
its work, and its findings, known as the Nehru Report, was
presented before the All Parties Conference's fourth session in
August 1928. The Committee argued that anything less than
total Swaraj was pointless, and issued the following demands:
1. With a Parliamentary system of government, India should be
granted Dominion Status.
2. A bi-cameral legislature, comprising of the Senate and the
House of Representatives, should be established. The Senate
will be made up of 200 members who will be elected for
seven years, while the House of Representatives will be made
up of 500 members who will be elected for five years.
3. On the advice of the executive council, the
Governor-General will act. It was to be held
collectively accountable to the legislature.
4. In India, there should be a federal government
with residuary powers vested in the centre.
5. Minorities will not have their own electorate. It
claimed “since separate electorate awakens
communal sentiments therefore it should be
scrapped and joint electorate should be
introduced”.
6. There should be no weighting system in place for any province.
7. There would be no special seats for Punjabi and Bengali groups.
8. Reservation of Muslim seats, on the other hand, may be
conceivable in provinces with a Muslim population of at least
10%.
9. The judiciary should be separate from the executive branch.
10. At the centre, there should be a quarter-million Muslims.
11. Sind should be separated from Bombay if it can establish
financial independence.NWFP reforms should be implemented.
 RESPONSE BY MUSLIMS
• Muslims did not approve of the report, and both
Muslim members of the Committee refused to sign it.
• Due to ill health, Syed Ali Imam was unable to attend
Committee meetings, and Shoaib Qureshi refused to
sign the repot.
• Jinnah, representing the Muslim League, offered the
following four revisions to the Nehru Report at the
fourth session of the All Parties Conference in
December, which was held to consider the Nehru
Report:
 FOUR SUGGESTIONS
1. In the Central Legislature, there should be at least
one-third Muslim representation.
2. In the event that adult suffrage (right of vote) is not
achieved, seats should be reserved for Muslims
based on population in Punjab and Bengal.
3. The constitution should be federal in nature, with
residuary powers devolved to the provinces.
4. Sind should be separated as soon as possible, and
reforms should be implemented in the NWFP and
Balochistan as soon as possible.
 RESULTS
• When Jinnah's suggestions were placed to a vote in the All
Parties Conference, they were rejected.
• The Congress was successful in obtaining a majority vote in
favour of the Report. They demanded that the government
draught a constitution by December 31 based on the
recommendations of the Nehru Report, or else the party
would launch a popular movement to achieve Swaraj.
• It was also decided that January 26 would be celebrated as the
Independence Day. Jinnah considered it as the “parting of the
ways” and once the “Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity” was
now convinced that the Hindu mindset in India was bent upon
pushing the Muslim minority to the wall.