Scribd
Upload
31 views2 pages

Effects of The First Round Table Conference

The Round Table Conferences were a series of meetings aimed at discussing India's political future, involving various political leaders and parties. The first conference (1930-1931) was marked by the absence of the Indian National Congress and ended in failure, while the second conference (1931) included the INC but also faced significant disagreements, particularly over the issue of separate electorates. The third conference yielded little progress, with its recommendations eventually leading to the Government of India Act of 1935.

Uploaded by

Pooja
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views2 pages

Effects of The First Round Table Conference

The Round Table Conferences were a series of meetings aimed at discussing India's political future, involving various political leaders and parties. The first conference (1930-1931) was marked by the absence of the Indian National Congress and ended in failure, while the second conference (1931) included the INC but also faced significant disagreements, particularly over the issue of separate electorates. The third conference yielded little progress, with its recommendations eventually leading to the Government of India Act of 1935.

Uploaded by

Pooja
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

1ST Round Table Conference

Participants
58 political leaders from British India.
16 delegates from the native princely states.
16 delegates from the three British political parties.
The Indian National Congress decided not to participate in the conference. Many of the INC
leaders were imprisoned due to their involvement in the civil disobedience movement.
Among the British-Indians, the following representatives attended the conference: Muslim
League, Hindus, Justice Party, Sikhs, liberals, Parsis, Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans,
landlords, labour, women, universities, Sindh, Burma, other provinces, and the
representatives from the Government of India.

Issues discussed

 Federal structure
 Provincial constitution
 Provinces of Sindh and NWFP
 Minorities
 Defence services
 Franchise
 Executive responsibility to the legislature
 Dr B R Ambedkar demanded separate electorates for the ‘untouchables’.
 Tej Bahadur Sapru moved the idea of an All-India Federation. This was supported by the
Muslim League. The princely states also supported this on the condition that their internal
sovereignty is maintained.

Effects of the First Round Table Conference


The First Round Table Conference lasted till 19th January 1931.
Although many principles on reforms were agreed upon, not much was implemented and the
Congress Party carried on its civil disobedience. The Conference was regarded as a failure.
The British government understood the importance and the need for the Congress Party to
make any decision on India’s political future.
2nd Round Table Conference

The Second Round Table Conference was held in London from 7 September 1931 to 1
December 1931 with the participation of Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.

he session started on 7 September 1931. The major difference between the first and the second
conference was that the INC was participating in the second one. This was one of the results of
the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.
Another difference was that unlike the previous time, British PM Macdonald was heading not a
Labour government, but a National government. The Labour Party had been toppled two weeks
before in Britain.
The British decided to grant a communal award for representing minorities in India by providing
for separate electorates for minority communities. Gandhi was against this.
In this conference, Gandhi and Ambedkar differed on the issue of separate electorates for the
untouchables. Gandhi was against treating untouchables as separate from the Hindu community.
This issue was resolved through the Poona Pact 1932.
The second round table conference was deemed a failure because of the many disagreements
among the participants. While the INC claimed to speak for the whole of the country, other
participants and leaders of other parties contested this claim.

3rd Round Table Conference

Not much was achieved in this conference also. The recommendations of this conference were
published in a White Paper in 1933 and later discussed in the British Parliament. The
recommendations were analysed and the Government of India Act of 1935 was passed on its
basis.

You might also like