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

322 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
—nor is there any assurance given that the scanty rights to
be conceded will be made altogether inviolable.¹
According to the White Paper the powers of the Governor
in relation to his ministers, to the Provincial Legislature and
to the Provincial Administration will be an exact replica of
those enjoyed by the Governor-General at the centre. Hence
it is not necessary to repeat all those provisions. The only
difference will be that in the Provinces there will be no
'reserved departments' managed by 'Counsellors' but cor-
responding to them there may be 'Excluded Areas' or 'Par-
tially Excluded Areas' the administration of which will be
beyond the control of the Legislature. Most of the provinces
will have only one Chamber—but in Bengal, the United
Provinces and Bihar there will be two Chambers. The term
of the Lower House—the Legislative Assembly—will be
five years, and that of the Upper House—Provincial Council
—will be seven years. The Provincial Council will be con-
stituted partly by nomination by the Governor and partly by
direct election from constituencies for Moslem and for non-
Moslem voters. In Bengal and Bihar a certain number will
also be elected by the Provincial Assembly by the method of
the single transferable vote. And in Bengal one member will
be elected by qualified European voters. The constitution of
the Provincial Legislative Assembly has been explained below.
The Franchise Scheme embodied in the White Paper is
based on the Lothian Committee's Report, the Prime Minister's
Communal Award and the Poona Pact. Talking, generally,
the present provincial franchise has been made the franchise
for the Lower House of the Federal Legislature. The present
ratio of women to male voters will remain unchanged. The
existing franchise in all the provinces is essentially based on
property. The White Paper proposes to supplement property
qualification by an educational qualification common to men
and women. There will be a differential franchise in the case
of the Depressed Classes in order to enfranchise about 2 per
cent. of their population. The White Paper proposes to
¹ For instance, it is not clear that imprisonment without trial will be
be rendered impossible in India as has been done in Great Britain owing to
the Habeas Corpus Act.