The Act's Provisions
The Act's most important provisions were:
- the division of British India into the two new and fully sovereign dominions of India and Pakistan, with effect from 15 August 1947;
- the partition of the provinces of Bengal and Punjab between the two new countries;
- the establishment of the office of Governor-General in each of the two new countries, as representative of the Crown;
- the conferral of complete legislative authority upon the respective Constituent Assemblies of the two new countries;
- the termination of British suzerainty over the princely states, with effect from 15 August 1947, and recognized the right of states to accede to either dominion
- the dropping of the use of the title "Emperor of India" by the British monarch (this was subsequently done by King George VI by royal proclamation on 22 June 1948).
The Act also made provision for the division of joint property, etc. between the two new countries, including in particular the division of the armed forces.
Read more about this topic: Indian Independence Act 1947
Famous quotes containing the words act and/or provisions:
“We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will, therefore, always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in pursuit of it. No, we are complicated machines; and though we have one main spring that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometime stop that motion.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Drinking tents were full, glasses began to clink in carriages, hampers to be unpacked, tempting provisions to be set forth, knives and forks to rattle, champagne corks to fly, eyes to brighten that were not dull before, and pickpockets to count their gains during the last heat. The attention so recently strained on one object of interest, was now divided among a hundred; and, look where you would, there was a motley assemblage of feasting, talking, begging, gambling and mummery.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)