Question map
Consider the following statements : 1. The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 recommended granting voting rights to all the women above the age of 21. 2. The Government of India Act of 1935 gave women reserved seats in legislature. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Explanation
The correct answer is Option 2.
Statement 1 is incorrect: The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Government of India Act, 1919) did not grant universal adult suffrage or direct voting rights to all women over 21. Instead, it allowed provincial legislatures the discretion to decide on female enfranchisement. While some provinces subsequently granted limited voting rights, these were strictly based on restrictive criteria like property ownership, education, and tax-paying status, rather than age alone.
Statement 2 is correct: The Government of India Act of 1935 significantly expanded the political representation of marginalized groups. It introduced the principle of "Separate Electorates" and provided reserved seats for women in both the Federal and Provincial legislatures to ensure their participation in the legislative process. It also further extended the franchise to women based on literacy and being the wife of a voter, though universal suffrage was only achieved after Independence.
PROVENANCE & STUDY PATTERN
Guest previewStatement 1 is a classic 'Extreme Word' trap ('all women') combined with historical anachronism. Statement 2 is a direct fact found in standard texts like Spectrum (Chapter 26). The question rewards those who track the specific evolution of franchise rather than just memorizing 'Dyarchy' or 'Bicameralism'.
This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.
This snippet records the exact claim as a test statement used in a standard polity text, indicating the claim is a known historical proposition subject to verification.
A student could treat this as a hypothesis to check against primary descriptions of the 1919 Act or contemporary franchise schedules.
Identifies the Government of India Act, 1919 as the product of the MontaguâChelmsford Reforms and situates it as an act that enacted substantive constitutional changes.
A student can use this to focus search on the 1919 Actâs provisions (electoral/ franchise clauses) to see whether women's suffrage at age 21 was included.
Notes structural changes (e.g., bicameral legislature) introduced by the 1919 Act, implying the Act dealt with legislative composition and therefore potentially with electoral/ franchise arrangements.
A student could examine how the Act defined elector qualifications for the new Council/Assembly to infer whether women above 21 were enfranchised.
States that prior to 1988 the voting age in India was 21, showing a historical norm of a 21âyear voting age which can be a baseline when assessing earlier reforms.
A student might combine this with the 1919 Act focus to ask whether the 1919 provisions used a 21âyear threshold and whether that applied to women as well.
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