RAS question
The Wavell Plan (1945) proposed:
Correct answer: (B) Reconstitution of the Executive Council with equal Hindu-Muslim representation.
The Wavell Plan of 1945 proposed reconstituting the Viceroy's Executive Council with equal representation for Caste Hindus and Muslims, excluding the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief.
Explanation
The Wavell Plan was centred on remaking the Viceroy's Executive Council, not on an immediate final settlement of India's constitutional future. Except for the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief, the proposed council would consist entirely of Indian members and would hold major portfolios such as Finance, Home and External Affairs. Its crucial political formula was parity between Caste Hindus and Muslims. That is why option B is the substantive answer: the plan tried to create an interim executive arrangement with equal Hindu-Muslim representation at the centre. The plan failed at the Shimla Conference, where agreement over the proposed council could not be secured.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Complete independence was not the proposal in the Wavell Plan; it offered an interim reconstitution of the Executive Council within the existing constitutional framework.
- (C) Provincial elections were not the focus of the plan; the question turns on the proposed composition of the central Executive Council.
- (D) Partition of India was not proposed by the Wavell Plan; it was an interim executive arrangement, not a partition scheme.
Concept
This tests late-colonial constitutional negotiations, especially the 1945 attempt to break the political deadlock through an interim central executive. It recurs in RAS because the Wavell Plan links British wartime strategy, Congress-League negotiations and the failure of the Shimla Conference.