ABSTRACT
The Congress attitude to political institutions was expressed in a demand for a Constituent Assembly to determine the future structure of government and the formation of a National Planning Committee with Nehru as Chairman to co-ordinate the economic development of India. As the movement for Indian political freedom gathered impetus in the 1020’s and 1930’s, its objectives were only vaguely related to forms of government. The British Government’s plan for the transfer of power entailed a transition period during which India and Pakistan functioned as Dominions under the 1935 Government of India Act. In the sphere of local self-government, the trend has been back towards autocracy. In the colonial countries which have attained independence during and after World War II people continue to treat the Government as something alien. In the West, democratic government hinges upon the individual as the unit of decision; upon free political choice, free from the trammels of family, religion, domicile, and occupation.
