द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

INTRODUCTION 23
Left Wing disappeared from the political arena for the time
being—through imprisonment, as in the case of Lokamanya
B. G. Tilak of Poona, or voluntary exile, as in the case of Sri
Aurobindo Ghosh of Bengal. Things were therefore quiet
till the Great War broke out, when the revolutionary party
which had been born during the first decade of this century
became very active. During the Great War, public opinion
in India demanded an announcement from the British
Government regarding the policy of British rule in India.
This demand was made all the more because Britain gave
out that she was fighting for the freedom of small nations
and of suppressed nationalities. To placate Indian opinion
an announcement was made on August 20th, 1917, by Mr.
E. S. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, that the policy
of His Majesty's Government was that of 'the increasing
association of Indians in every branch of the administration
and the gradual development of self-governing institutions
with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible
government in India as an integral part of the British Empire.'
In order to follow up this announcement, Mr. Montagu
visited India and a joint report was made by the Secretary of
State for India and the then Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, on
the question of the Indian constitutional reforms. The
reforms proposed in the Montagu-Chelmsford report, were
embodied in the Government of India Act, 1919. The most
important innovation made in this Act was the system of
government, called dyarchy. In the provinces the govern-
ment was to be composed of two sections, called 'transferred'
and 'reserved.' The transferred departments like Education,
Agriculture, Excise and Local Self-Government were to be
administered by ministers who must be elected members of
the Legislative Council and who would be removable by a
vote of that council. The reserved departments like Police,
Justice and Finance were to be administered by members of
the Governor's Executive Council, who would be appointed
by His Majesty's Government and who would be independent
of the vote of the Legislative Council. The Governor's
Cabinet was thus to be composed of ministers administering
'transferred' departments and of members of the Executive