Basics
- The Communal Award was announced by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, on August 16, 1932, as the outcome of the 3rd RTC and as part of the Divide and Rule Policy.
- Communal Award established separate electorates and reserved seats for minorities, including the depressed classes.
Main Provisions
- Muslims, Europeans, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, the depressed classes, women, and even the Marathas were to have their own electorates.
- Seats in provincial legislatures were to be distributed on a community basis.
- The number of seats in provincial legislatures was to be doubled.
- Muslims were to be given weightage wherever they were in the minority.
- Except in the North West Frontier Province, 3% of seats in all provinces were to be designated for women, and the depressed classes were to be declared/assigned the status of minority.
- The depressed were to be given a “double vote,” one to be utilised in distinct electorates and the other in general electorates.
- Labourers, landowners, traders, and industrialists were to be given seats, while the Marathas were to be given seven seats in the province of Bombay.
Reactions
- The Congress was opposed to separate electorates but was not in favour of changing the Communal Award without the consent of minorities.
- Gandhi saw the Communal Award as an attack on Indian unity and nationalism and opposed it by launching a hunger strike.
- Leaders like B.R. Ambedkar, and M.C. Rajah welcomed the new provisions.