RAS question
The Indian Statutory Commission (Simon Commission) submitted its report in:
Correct answer: (C) 1930.
The Indian Statutory Commission, better known as the Simon Commission, submitted its two-volume report in May 1930.
Explanation
The Simon Commission was appointed in November 1927, but its report came later: it submitted a two-volume report in May 1930. That distinction is the point of the question, because 1927 marks the appointment, not the reporting stage. The report recommended abolishing dyarchy, extending representative government in the provinces, and moving towards a federation at the centre. By the time it appeared, Indian politics had already moved ahead through the Nehru Report of 1928 and the Purna Swaraj demand of 1929. Even so, its recommendations remained important because they influenced the Government of India Act, 1935.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 1927 was the year in which the Simon Commission was appointed, not the year in which it submitted its report.
- (B) 1932 is linked here with the Communal Award, whereas the Simon Commission's report had already been submitted in May 1930.
- (D) 1935 refers to the Government of India Act, which was influenced by the Commission's recommendations but was not the report-submission year.
Concept
This tests the constitutional reform timeline of late colonial India, especially the sequence from the Simon Commission to the Government of India Act, 1935. RAS asks such dates because commissions, nationalist responses, and later legislation often appear together in Modern History.