The formation of the Congress ministries in July 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935 marked the first time Indian nationalists held executive authority at the provincial level. Governing eight out of eleven provinces, the ministries worked under the oversight of the Congress Central Parliamentary Board (Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad). This board uniformized policies across provinces to ensure that administration served as an instrument for national advancement rather than a tool of colonial consolidation.
Administrative and Civil Liberties Reforms
The immediate priority of the Congress ministries was to dismantle the repressive apparatus deployed by the British state to crush the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Restoring Civil Rights
- Repeal of Repressive Laws: Ministries repealed emergency powers, public safety acts, and specialized wartime ordinances that had restricted political activity.
- Lifting Organization Bans: The ban on the Congress Working Committee, youth leagues, and nationalist volunteer corps was lifted. However, the ban on the Communist Party of India (CPI) remained in place due to overriding central imperial mandates.
- Media Freedom: Restrictions, bans, and security deposits confiscated from nationalist newspapers and printing presses were systematically revoked.
- Political Prisoners: Hundreds of political dissidents, including several revolutionary nationalists convicted in connection with the Kakori and other conspiracy cases, were released from prison.
Police and Intelligence Reforms
- The expansive, unchecked powers granted to the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) were curtailed.
- Ministries banned the practice of using village headmen and local revenue officials to spy on nationalist political workers.
- Confiscated properties and lands belonging to peasants who had participated in tax-resistance campaigns (such as the Bardoli Satyagraha) were legally restored to their original owners.
Agrarian and Tenant Reforms
Addressing the profound rural distress aggravated by the Great Depression was the core legislative focus of the ministries, resulting in historic tenancy protections.
Key Provincial Enactments
| Province | Legislative Acts Passed | Structural Impact on Agrarian Setup |
| Bihar | Bihar Tenancy Act (1938) | Passed in coordination with landlords, it reduced rents by 25% on average, abolished illegal exactions, and restored occupancy rights to tenants who had lost lands to debt defaults. |
| United Provinces | United Provinces Tenancy Bill | Granted hereditary rights to tenants-at-will, capped arbitrary rent hikes by Zamindars, and outlawed the practice of forced labor (begar). |
| Madras | Madras Debt Relief Act | Spearheaded by C. Rajagopalachari, this act wiped out outstanding interest on ancient rural debts and fixed low statutory limits on moneylender interest rates. |
| Bombay | Bombay Agricultural Debtors Relief Act | Established state-mediated debt conciliation boards to scale down ancestral debts and protect smallholdings from foreclosure. |
Labor Welfare and Social Reforms
The ministries sought to balance industrial productivity with labor rights while initiating major progressive social changes.
Labor Interventions
- Wage Improvements: The ministries set up independent labor inquiry committees in industrial hubs like Kanpur and Bombay, which successfully recommended immediate wage hikes for textile workers.
- Industrial Disputes: The Bombay Trade Disputes Act (1938) was enacted to streamline labor relations through compulsory arbitration, aiming to reduce work stoppages while preserving factory outputs.
Social Welfare and Education
[ Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (Nai Talim) ] │ ┌─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┐ ▼ ▼ [Free & Compulsory Primary Education] [Manual & Vocational Craft Training]
- The Wardha Scheme: Implemented the Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (Nai Talim), which prioritized free, compulsory primary education in the mother tongue centered around manual and vocational crafts.
- Temple Entry Legislation: The Madras Temple Entry Indemnity Act and similar laws in Bombay legally dismantled untouchability barriers, opening public temples to Dalits (Harijans).
- Prohibition: Total prohibition of liquor was introduced in select districts across Madras (beginning in Salem) and Bombay to protect working-class household incomes.
Subhas Chandra Bose and State Planning Reforms
Subhas Chandra Bose’s ascension to the Congress Presidency at the Haripura Session (1938) transformed how the economic scope of the ministry reforms was envisioned.
The Shift to Heavy Industrialization
While Mahatma Gandhi and the right-wing leadership favored a village-centric, cottage-industry model, Bose insisted that modern national survival required large-scale economic planning. In October 1938, Bose convened a conference of the provincial Ministers of Industry from all Congress-led states.
The National Planning Committee (1938)
Under his presidential authority, Bose established the National Planning Committee (NPC) and appointed Jawaharlal Nehru as its Chairman. Bose directed the Congress ministries to pool their provincial resources and align their state budgets toward:
- Comprehensive resource mapping and state-directed industrialization.
- Developing heavy industries, electricity grids, and technical education.
- Creating a blueprint for a planned economy that could be fully executed upon attaining complete independence.
Ideological Conflicts and Limitations
Despite their legislative successes, the implementation of these reforms exposed deep fractures within the nationalist movement.
Left-Right Confrontation over Reforms
The radical Left, represented by the All India Kisan Sabha (led by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati) and the Congress Socialist Party (CSP), criticized the ministries for failing to completely liquidate the Zamindari system. In Bihar and UP, when radical peasant groups launched agitations for total land redistribution, the right-wing Congress High Command backed the ministries in using state machinery and Section 144 to suppress the protests, protecting landowning interests to maintain class unity.
Handling of Strike Waves
When communist and socialist trade unions organized massive textile strikes in Bombay and Kanpur, the respective Congress ministries deployed police forces to maintain public order. This use of colonial-era police methods against working-class bases drew sharp condemnation from Bose and the radical Left.
The Tripuri Crisis (1939)
By the Tripuri Session (1939), Bose argued that the ministerial experiment had run its course and was causing a “constitutionalist drift” that dulled the revolutionary edge of the Congress. He demanded that the ministries present a definitive six-month ultimatum to the British state and resign to prepare for a final mass civil disobedience campaign. The rejection of this militant line by the Gandhian faction led to Bose’s resignation and his subsequent formation of the All India Forward Bloc to pursue extra-parliamentary liberation.
Termination of the Reform Era (1939)
The era of provincial reform came to a sudden halt not due to internal failures, but due to imperial overreach at the start of World War II.
The War Declaration
In September 1939, Viceroy Lord Linlithgow unilaterally declared India a belligerent party in World War II without consulting the elected provincial ministries. This action fundamentally exposed the structural limits of the 1935 Act, proving that executive sovereignty remained fully concentrated in colonial hands.
The Resignation
The Congress Working Committee demanded an immediate pledge of post-war independence and the formation of a national government at the center as conditions for cooperation. When the British government demurred, the Congress High Command ordered the immediate resignation of all provincial governments. By November 1939, all eight ministries stepped down, ending the 28-month reform experiment.
Last Modified: June 12, 2026