RAS question
The Wavell Plan proposed reconstituting the Viceroy's Executive Council with:
Correct answer: (C) Equal representation of caste Hindus and Muslims.
The Wavell Plan proposed a reconstituted Viceroy's Executive Council with equal representation for caste Hindus and Muslims.
Explanation
The Wavell Plan of June 1945 was framed as an interim arrangement within the existing constitutional structure. Its central proposal was to reconstitute the Viceroy's Executive Council by drawing members from Indian political life and giving balanced representation to the main communities. The key balance was parity between caste Hindus and Muslims. The arrangement also included one Scheduled Caste member, one Sikh member, and one Parsi or Christian member, while the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief would remain British. Hansard's record of the 14 June 1945 government statement supports this: it says the Council would include equal proportions of Moslems and Caste Hindus, with the Viceroy and Commander-in-Chief as the exceptions to Indian membership.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Proportional representation is wrong because the plan was built around a specific communal balance, especially equal proportions of caste Hindus and Muslims, not population-based proportionality.
- (B) Only British members is wrong because the proposal explicitly shifted the Executive Council towards Indian members, with only the Viceroy and Commander-in-Chief remaining British.
- (D) Only Congress members is wrong because the plan sought representation of the main communities and political forces, not an Executive Council made up solely of Congress nominees.
Concept
This tests the constitutional negotiations of late colonial India, especially interim British proposals before independence. It recurs in RAS because the Wavell Plan shows how communal representation shaped the transfer-of-power debate.