Work Done In 28 Months Of Congress Rule In 1937

The Congress Working Committee decided to accept office under the Act of 1935 after a few months of wrangling with the government. It established Ministries in six provinces during July: Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces, Orissa, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. Later, in the North-West Frontier Province and Assam, Congress Ministries were formed.

 

•    A central control board known as the Parliamentary Sub-Committee was formed with Sardar Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, and Rajendra Prasad as members to guide and coordinate their activities and to ensure that British hopes of the Congress being provincialized did not materialise. 

 

•    Thus began a novel experiment: a party dedicated to ending British rule took control of administration under a British-drafted constitution that gave Indians only limited state power, which could be taken away at any time by the imperial power. 

 

•    The Congress would now serve as both a government in the provinces and an adversary to the Central Government, which held effective state power. 

 

•    It was to implement social reforms in the provinces through the legislature and administration, while continuing the struggle for independence and preparing the people for the next phase of mass struggle. As a result, the Congress was forced to implement its Struggle-Truce-Struggle (S-T-S) strategy in a historically unique situation. 

 

•    The Congress's reputation as an alternative power that would protect the interests of the people, particularly the peasants, grew dramatically. At the same time, the Congress had a chance to show that it could not only lead people in mass protests, but also use state power to their advantage. Of course, the responsibility was enormous. 

 

•    The Congress Ministries' power and financial resources, however, were limited. They couldn't change the administration's fundamentally imperialist nature; they couldn't usher in a radical era. However, within the confines of their powers and the time they had (their term was only two years and four months), they attempted to implement reforms, take ameliorative measures, and improve the people's condition — in order to give the people a glimpse of the future Swaraj. 

 

1.    Simple living: They cut their own monthly salaries in half, from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 500. The general public had easy access to them. And they did pass a large amount of ameliorative legislation in a short period of time, attempting to fulfil many of the promises made in the Congress election manifesto.

 

The Congress's commitment to the defence and expansion of civil liberties is as old as the Congress itself, so it's no surprise that the Congress Ministries have made significant progress in this area. 

 

2.    All emergency powers acquired by provincial governments through Public Safety Acts and other means during 1932 were repealed, as were bans on illegal political organisations like the Hindustan Seva Dal and Youth Leagues, as well as political books and journals. 

 

3.    The Communist Party's ban remained in place, but because it was imposed by the Central Government and could only be lifted on its orders, the Communists could now operate freely and openly in the Congress provinces. 

 

4.    All restrictions on the media have been lifted. Securities seized from newspapers and presses were refunded, and criminal charges were dropped. The practise of blacklisting newspapers for government advertising was abandoned. 

 

5.    Arms that had been confiscated were returned, and licences that had been forfeited were reinstated. The police were the most feared, as well as the most despised, of all the British officials. ‘Indeed, the triumph of the Congress will be measured by the success it achieves in rendering the police and military practically idle... 

 

6.    The Congress government's first acts included the release of thousands of political prisoners and detainees, as well as the cancellation of internment and deportation orders against political workers. Many revolutionaries who were involved in the Kakori and other conspiracy cases were freed. 

 

•    However, problems remained in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where several revolutionaries convicted of violent crimes remained imprisoned. 

 

•    After going on a long hunger strike in July 1937, the majority of these detainees were sent to kala pani (Andamans Cellular Jail), from where they were transferred to their respective provinces. There were fifteen such prisoners in Uttar Pradesh and twenty-three in Bihar in February 1938. 

 

•    The Governors had to agree to their release, which they refused. The Congress Ministries, on the other hand, were dead set on releasing them. 

 

•    On February 15, the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar resigned over the issue. Negotiations were eventually successful in resolving the issue. By the end of March, all of the prisoners in both provinces had been released. 

 

In this area, the differences between the Congress and non-Congress provinces of Bengal and Punjab were most noticeable. Civil liberties were continued to be curtailed in the latter, particularly in Bengal, and revolutionary prisoners and detainees were not released despite repeated hunger strikes by the prisoners and popular movements demanding their release.

 

7.    The Congress Ministries attempted to provide immediate economic relief to peasants and workers. By exposing the roots of their poverty in colonial structure and policy, appealing to their nationalism, leading them in anti-imperialist struggles, and organising and supporting their struggles around their economic demands, the Congress had previously succeeded in gaining massive support among them.

 

8.    Congress had gained some state and administrative power, it was imperative that they use it to improve their economic situation and, as a result, strengthen Congress support. 

 

a.    First, the Congress pledged in its election manifesto and during the election campaign to pursue agrarian reform by reforming the land tenure system and lowering rent, land revenue, and debt burdens. 

 

b.    The Congress had made large promises to rural voters in order to entice them to vote for its candidates. 

 

1.    The provincial Ministries did not have enough power to do so under the 1935 Act's constitutional structure. 

 

2.    They also suffered from a severe lack of financial resources, as the Indian government took the lion's share of the country's revenues. 

 

•    Even after the Congress took office, the standard estimate for the policy's duration was two years. As war clouds gathered in Europe from 1938 onwards, the time constraint became even more apparent. As a result, the Congress Ministries had to act quickly and accomplish as much as possible in the limited time they had.

 

•    Furthermore, nearly all of the Congress-run states (that is, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bombay, Madras, and Assam) had reactionary second chambers in the form of legislative councils, which were elected on a very narrow franchise — while the number of voters in these states' assemblies was over 17.5 million, the number of voters in the second chambers was less than 70 thousand. 

 

•    Landlords, capitalists, and moneylenders dominated these, with the Congress constituting a small minority. Because a majority in the lower house was insufficient, the Congress had to simultaneously pressure and appease its upper-class constituents in order to pass any legislation through the second chamber. 

 

•    Thus, the Bihar government reached an agreement with the zamindars on tenancy bills, while the Uttar Pradesh government appeased the moneylender and merchant members of its upper house by delaying debt legislation in order to secure their support for tenancy legislation.

 

•    Finally, various parts of India's agrarian structure had evolved over centuries and was extremely complex and complicated. There was insufficient information about its various components, such as land rights. The problem of debt and money lending was also intertwined with peasant production and livelihood in a way that was far too complex to be solved in a single step.

 

•    As a result, any attempt at structural reform was bound to be a formidable and time-consuming operation, as the Congress and the Communists discovered later after independence when they attempted to transform the agrarian structure in various states of the Indian union.

 

•    Within these constraints, the Congress Ministries' agrarian policy went a long way toward promoting the peasantry's interests. These Ministries' agrarian legislation varied by province, depending on agrarian relations, the Congress's mass base, the class composition and outlook of the provincial Congress organisation and leadership, and the nature and extent of peasant mobilisation. It addressed issues such as tenancy rights, security of tenure, and tenant rents, as well as the problem of rural indebtedness.

 

Tenancy act in UP:  In October 1939, a tenancy act was passed in Uttar Pradesh, giving all statutory tenants in Agra and Oudh full hereditary rights in their holdings while removing the landlord's right to prevent occupancy growth. 

 

•    The rents of hereditary tenants could only be changed after ten years, and landlords' rights to increase rents even after that period were limited. For non-payment of rent, a tenant could no longer be arrested or imprisoned. 

 

•    All illegal exactions were abolished, including nazrana (forced gifts) and begar (forced unpaid labour). The new tenancy legislation was passed in Bihar primarily in 1937 and 1938, which was faster than in Uttar Pradesh. In most ways, it was more radical than U.P.

 

•    All rent increases since 1911 were repealed, resulting in a rent reduction of approximately 25%. 

 

•    The rent was also reduced if the prices had fallen during the currency of the previous rent, the soil had deteriorated, and the landlord had neglected irrigation. 

 

•    On payment of a nominal amount of 2% of rent to the landlord, occupancy ryots were given the absolute right to transfer their holding. 

 

•    The grant of occupancy rights to under-ryots if they had cultivated the land for twelve years was a radical departure.

 

•    Rent arrears were significantly reduced, and the interest rate on arrears was reduced from 12.5 to 6.25 percent. 

 

•    In the case of share-cropping, the landlord's share could not exceed 9/20 of the harvest. Lands sold in the execution of decrees for the payment of arrears between 1929 and 1937 (bakasht land) were to be returned to previous tenants in exchange for half of the arrears. 

 

The landlord's ability to collect rent was severely curtailed; the tenant could no longer be arrested or imprisoned on this basis, and his immovable property could no longer be sold without his permission.  Landlords were prohibited from charging illegal fees, and any violation would result in a six-month sentence. For non-payment of rent, occupancy tenants could no longer be ejected from their properties. In fact, the landlord's only right was to receive his rent, which had been significantly reduced.

 

Tenancy reform in Orissa: In May 1938, Orissa passed a tenancy bill granting the right of free transfer of occupancy holdings, lowering the interest rate on rent arrears from 12.5 to 6%, and eliminating all illegal levies on tenants. 

 

•    A bill passed in February 1938 reduced all rents in the zamindari areas, which had recently been transferred from Madras presidency to Orissa, to the rate of land revenue payable for similar lands in the nearby ryotwari areas plus 12.5% as compensation to the zamindars. 

 

•    The Governor refused to sign the bill because it would have reduced the zamindars' incomes by 50% to 60%. 

 

•    In Madras, a committee chaired by Revenue Minister T. Prakasam (1872-1957) recommended that the ryot, not the zamindar, was the owner of the soil in the Permanent Zamindari Settlement areas, and that the level of rents prevailing when the Settlement was made in 1802 be restored. This would have resulted in a two-thirds reduction in rents and the zamindari system's virtual liquidation. 

 

•    C. Rajagopalachari, the Premier, backed the report wholeheartedly. He was also opposed to compensating the zamindars. In January 1939, the Legislative Assembly passed a resolution accepting the recommendations, but the Ministry resigned before a bill could be drafted.

 

Tenancy reform in other province: Tenancy reform measures were also passed in the legislatures of Bombay, the Central Provinces, and the North-West Frontier Province, usually extending security of tenure to tenants in landlord areas. 

 

•    The Congress Ministries' agrarian legislation improved and secured the status of millions of tenants in zamindari areas. Of course, the basic system of landlordism was unaffected. 

 

•    Furthermore, the majority of those who benefited were statutory and occupancy tenants. The interests of the occupancy tenants' sub-tenants were ignored. 

 

•    Agricultural labourers were unaffected as well. This was partly due to the fact that these two groups had not yet been mobilised by the kisan sabhas, and they had not yet registered to vote due to the Act of 1935's limited franchise. As a result, they were unable to exert pressure on the Ministries via elections or the peasant movement.

 

•    Except in Uttar Pradesh and Assam, the Congress government passed a series of strict debtors' relief acts that regulated the moneylenders' business -— provisions of the acts included measures such as the cancellation or drastic reduction of accumulated interest, which ranged from 6.25 percent in Madras to 9% in Bombay and Bihar. 

 

•    These governments also embarked on a number of small-scale rural reconstruction projects. 40,000 dublas (tied serfs) were freed in Bombay. In Bombay, grazing fees in the forests were abolished, while in Madras, they were reduced. 

 

•    Unlike the tenancy bills, which were vehemently opposed by landlords, the debtors' relief bills were opposed not only by moneylenders, but also by lawyers, who were otherwise staunch supporters of the Congress because debt litigation provided a significant portion of their income.

 

•    In general, the Congress Ministries basic strategy was to advance workers' interests while promoting industrial peace, reducing the use of strikes as much as possible, establishing conciliation machinery, advocating compulsory arbitration before resorting to strikes, and fostering goodwill between labour and capital, with the Congress and its ministers acting as intermediaries, all while attempting to achieve a balance between the two. 

 

•    This attitude alarmed India's capitalist class, which felt compelled to band together in order to pressure "provincial governments to move slowly" on such issues. 

 

•    The Bombay Ministry of Textiles appointed a Textile Enquiry Committee shortly after taking office, which recommended, among other things, a wage increase of one core rupees. Despite mill owners' objections, the recommendations were carried out. 

 

•    The Industrial Disputes Act was passed in November 1938, and it was based on the philosophy of "class collaboration, not class conflict," as Prime Minister B.G. Kher put it. Instead of taking direct action, the Act emphasised conciliation, arbitration, and negotiations. Lightning strikes and lockouts were also addressed by the Act. The Government was given the authority to refer an industrial dispute to the Court of Industrial Arbitration under the Act. 

 

•    In Madras, too, the government promoted the policy of "internal settlement" of labour disputes through government sponsorship. 

 

•    Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh, was the epicentre of severe labour unrest, as workers expected active support from the popularly elected government. 

 

•    In May 1938, there was a major strike. A Labour Enquiry Committee, led by Rajendra Prasad, was established by the government.

 

•    The Committee recommended that workers be paid more, with a minimum wage of Rs. 15 per month, which an arbitration board is established, that an independent board be formed to recruit labour for all mills, that maternity benefits be provided to women workers, and that the employers recognise the Mazdur Sabha, which is dominated by the left. 

 

•    However, the report was rejected by the employers, who had refused to cooperate with the Committee. However, they did, in the end, succumb to the Government's pressure and adopt the report's main recommendations.

 

•    In 1938, a similar Bihar Labour Enquiry Committee, led by Rajendra Prasad, was formed. It also recommended that trade union rights be strengthened, labour conditions be improved, and mandatory conciliation and arbitration be tried before a strike was called.

 

•    Prohibition was enacted in a few areas across the country. 

 

•    Untouchables, or Harijans (children of God), as Gandhiji referred to them, were given special treatment, including the passage of laws that allowed Harijans to enter temples. and to have free access to government offices, public water sources such as wells and ponds, roads, public transportation, hospitals, educational, and other similar institutions supported by public funds, as well as restaurants and hotels. 

 

•    Furthermore, no court or public authority was to recognise any custom or usage that placed Harijans under any civil disability. Harijan students now have access to more scholarships and free ships. There have been efforts to increase the number of Harijans in the police force and other government positions. 

 

•    Primary, technical, and higher education, as well as public health and sanitation, received a lot of attention from the Congress Ministries. 

 

•    Girls' and Harijans' education was improved. 

 

•    The Ministries, in particular, introduced basic education with a focus on manual and productive labour. 

 

•    Adult literacy campaigns were organised in large numbers. Khadi, spinning, and village industries all received support and subsidies. 

 

•    Prison reform schemes were implemented. 

 

•    The Congress administrations removed roadblocks to indigenous industrial expansion and actively promoted several modern industrial ventures, such as automobile manufacturing. 

 

•    Through the National Planning Committee, which was appointed by Congress President Subhas Bose in 1938, the Congress Governments joined the effort to develop planning.

 

Mass political activity and popular mobilisation were to continue in non-mass struggle phases of the national movement, though within the four-walls of legality; in fact, it was a part of the office-acceptance strategy that offices would be used to promote mass political activity.