Legislature of Burma

Last updated
Legislature of Burma
Type
Type
HousesSenate
House of Representatives
History
Founded1936 (1936)
Disbanded1947 (1947)
Preceded by Legislative Council of Burma
Succeeded by Union Parliament
Seats168
36 (Senate)
132 (House of Representatives)
Elections
Last election
1936 Burmese general election
Meeting place
Rangoon, British Burma

The Legislature of Burma was the legislative body of British Burma from 1936 to 1947. As an elected body, the Legislature of Burma was a bicameral legislature consisting of the 36-seat Senate and the 132-seat House of Representatives. [1]

Contents

Establishment

The Government of Burma Act 1935 separated Burma from British India as of 1 April 1937, [2] and created a 36-seat Senate and a 132-seat House of Representatives. [3]

Presidents of the Senate

NameTook officeLeft officeNotes
Joseph Augustus Maung Gyi 16 March 19371940 [4] [5]
U Po 19401941

Speakers of the House of Representatives

NameTook officeLeft officeNotes
Chit Hlaing 12 February 19371941 [4] [6]
Saw Sydney Loo-Nee 19411941 [7] [8]
Chit Hlaing March 1941? [9]

Notable legislation

In 1938, the Legislature of Burma attempted to remedy the dispossession of rural Burmese farmers who were displaced by Indians, in particular, the Chettiars, by passing the Tenancy Act, Land Purchase Act, and Land Alienation Act. [10] The Tenancy Act intended to safeguard tenants from eviction and to fix fair rents, while the Land Purchase Act allowed the government to purchase large swathes of land owned by non-agriculturalists to be resold on a tenancy basis to genuine farmers. [10] In 1938, the Legislature passed into law the progressive University Act. [11]

Related Research Articles

Kailash Nath Katju

Kailash Nath Katju was a prominent politician of India. He was the Governor of Orissa and West Bengal, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Union Home Minister and the Union Defence Minister. He was also one of India's most prominent lawyers. He was part of some of the most riveting cases of his times, including the famous INA trials. Dr Katju joined the freedom struggle against the British rule in India early on and spent several years incarcerated with fellow freedom fighters.

Sir Herbert Stanley Reed was an important figure in the media of India in the early 20th century who later became a Conservative Party politician in the UK. He was conservative member for the Aylesbury division of Buckinghamshire.

Government of India Act 1935 United Kingdom legislation

The Government of India Act, 1935 was an Act adapted from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest Act of (British) Parliament ever enacted until Greater London Authority Act 1999 surpassed it. Because of its length, the Act was retroactively split by the Government of India Act, 1935 into two separate Acts:

The Filmfare Best Actor Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Telugu films. The awards were extended to "Best Actor" in 1972. The year indicates the year of release of the film.

The Filmfare Best Film Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films.

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam

The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Malayalam films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. The year indicates the year of release of the film.

K. R. Vijaya is an Indian actress who has featured in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. She started her career in the 1960s and has been acting for more than four decades in South Indian cinema. The actress has worked with almost all the stalwarts of South Indian cinema and has played many key roles.

Krishak Sramik Party Anti-feudal political party in British Indian Bengal and then in Pakistans East Bengal and East Pakistan provinces (1929-1958)

The Krishak Sramik Party was a major anti-feudal political party in the British Indian province of Bengal and later in the Dominion of Pakistan's East Bengal and East Pakistan provinces. It was founded in 1929 as the Nikhil Banga Praja Samiti to represent the interests of tenant farmers in Bengal's landed gentry estates. Sir Abdur Rahim (judge) was its first leader. A.K. Fazlul Huq was elected leader in 1935 when the former was appointed as the president of the Central Legislative Assembly of India. In 1936, it took the name of Krishak Praja Party and contested the 1937 election. The party formed the first government in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. After the partition of British India, it was reorganized as the Krishak Sramik Party to contest the 1954 election, as part of the United Front. The coalition won the election and formed the provincial government in the East Bengal Legislative Assembly.

The first legislative council election for the Madras Presidency after the establishment of a bicameral legislature by the Government of India Act of 1935 was held in February 1937. The Indian National Congress obtained a majority by winning 27 out of 46 seats in the Legislative Council for which the elections were held. This was the first electoral victory for the Congress in the presidency since elections were first conducted for the Council in 1920 and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) became the Chief Minister. The Justice Party which had ruled the presidency for most of the previous 17 years was voted out of power. Congress also won the Legislative assembly election held simultaneously.

The Filmfare Best Film Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Malayalam films.

Ramunni Menon Palat was an Indian lawyer, landholder and politician from Kerala, belonging to the Justice Party. He had a BCL degree from the University of Oxford. He was briefly the Minister for Public Health for the presidency, in Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu's interim provisional cabinet during 1 April-14 July 1937. He was a Jenmi (landlord) and represented the Westcoast (Malabar) Landholder's Constituency in the Madras Legislature during 1930-36. He was one of the two members in the Madras Legislative Assembly to oppose the Malabar Temple Entry Act which granted untouchables the right of entry into temples in the Malabar District. He later became a member of the Hindu Mahasabha. He was the son of the Indian National Congress leader C. Sankaran Nair and brother-in-law of the diplomat K. P. S. Menon. His great-grand daughter is the Hindi film actress Divya Palat.

The Filmfare Special Jury Award is given by the Filmfare Magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for South Indian films. It acknowledges a special and unique performance and encourages artistes, filmmakers and musicians to break new ground in drama, direction, music and acting.

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw

The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is the de jure national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar established by the 2008 National Constitution. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is made up of two houses, the Amyotha Hluttaw, a 224-seat upper house as well as the Pyithu Hluttaw, a 440-seat lower house.

1936 Burmese general election

General elections were held in Burma on 26 November 1936. The Government of Burma Act 1935 separated Burma from British India as of 1 April 1937, and created a 36-seat Senate and a 132-seat House of Representatives. The pro-constitution United GCBA of U Ba Pe emerged as the largest bloc in the House of Representatives, winning 46 seats. However, few parties were willing to work with U Ba Pe, and the Governor invited Ba Maw to form a government, despite his Poor Man's Party winning only 16 seats. Maw became Chief Minister after forming a coalition with Chit Hlaing and other "moderate extremists".

1932 Burmese general election

General elections were held in Burma on 9 November 1932, having originally been planned for 29 October. The election was held almost solely on the issue of whether Burma should separate from India, as the British government had indicated that it would take the outcome of the elections as an indication of Burmese opinion. Prior to the elections many of the major parties joined either the Anti-Separation League or the Separation League.

Bombay Legislative Assembly came into existence in 1937, as the legislature of Bombay Presidency, a province of British India. It functioned until 1960, when separate states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed.

Siddappa Kambli

Sir Siddappa Totappa Kambli was an Indian politician from Hubli.

Filmfare Awards Bangla is the Bengali segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by The Times Group to honour the artistic and cinematic excellence in Bengali. The first installment of the awards were held for Bengali, Assamese and Odia films in a ceremony on 29 March 2014. The award ceremony was discontinued for 2015 and 2016, then again continued from 2017 and now only given to Bengali Film Industry.

Mona Hensman MBE, born Mona Mitter, was an Indian educator, feminist, and politician. She was a Member of Parliament, representing Madras State in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament, as a member of the Indian National Congress. She was the first Women whip in Indian Parliament. She was the Principal of Ethiraj College for Women from 1953 to 1960.

The Women's suffrage movement in India fought for Indian women's right to political enfranchisement in Colonial India under British rule. Beyond suffrage, the movement was fighting for women's right to stand for and hold office during the colonial era. In 1918, when Britain granted limited suffrage to women property holders, the law did not apply to British citizens in other parts of the Empire. Despite petitions presented by women and men to the British commissions sent to evaluate Indian voting regulations, women's demands were ignored in the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. In 1919, impassioned pleas and reports indicating support for women to have the vote were presented by suffragists to the India Office and before the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and Commons, who were meeting to finalize the electoral regulation reforms of the Southborough Franchise Committee. Though they were not granted voting rights, nor the right to stand in elections, the Government of India Act 1919 allowed Provincial Councils to determine if women could vote, provided they met stringent property, income, or educational levels.

References

  1. "Government of Burma Act, 1935" (PDF). Government of Burma. King’s Printer of Acts of Parliament. 1935. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  2. "The New Constitution: Separation from India", The Times, 20 April 1937, p36, Issue 47663
  3. "Legislature and Electors Burma at the Polls", The Times, 20 April 1937, p37, Issue 47663
  4. 1 2 Reed, Sir Stanley (January 4, 1940). "The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who". Bennett, Coleman & Company via Google Books.
  5. Action, Burma Rights Movement for (January 4, 1937). "The Quarterly Civil List for Burma" via Google Books.
  6. Reed, Sir Stanley (January 4, 1936). "The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who". Bennett, Coleman & Company via Google Books.
  7. Lintner, Bertil (April 24, 2019). Burma In Revolt: Opium And Insurgency Since 1948. Routledge. ISBN   9780429700583 via Google Books.
  8. "Who's who in Burma". People's Literature Committee and House. January 4, 1961 via Google Books.
  9. https://mllcru.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/8/4/22848786/25256254-chronology-of-burma-history-1404-1996.pdf
  10. 1 2 "Economic Rehabilitation in Burma" (PDF). Current Intelligence Study Number 23. Central Intelligence Agency. 1 June 1945. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  11. Silverstein, Josef (1993). The Political Legacy of Aung San. SEAP Publications. p. 9780877271284.