Raashid Shah

Cripps Mission    Demand for constituting Constituent assembly for framing their own constitution by Indian people were made by Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1938. In 1940, British Coalition government recognized the principle that Indians should themselves frame a new Constitution for autonomous India and in March 1942, Cripps was sent with draft declaration that provided• A constituent assembly be elected to frame Indian constitution and India will be given Dominion status.• There should be one India Union comprising all unions and Indian states• Any province which was not ready to accept the constitution would be free to retains its constitutional position and can enter into separate constitutional arrangements.As expected Cripps proposals were rejected by Muslim League protesting concept of one Indian union and one constituent assembly.      

Government of India Act, 1935   Main features of this act were: • In all previous GoI acts government of India was unitary but first time in GoI Act, 1935, A federal structure of government was prescribed. But Indian rulers of states never gave their consent and therefore federation as envisaged in act was never realized. • Certain degree of autonomy was provided to provinces this time and provinces were no longer delegation of Central government but were autonomous units of administration. Legislative powers were divided between provinces and centre. • Now governor was not subordinate of Governor General and was required to act on aid and advice of CoM. Governor was to govern on behalf of the Crown. Though in certain matters, governor has power of ‘discretion’ and exercise of his individual judgement and not to act on advice of CoM.• A system of Dyarchy at center was placed. Function of GG were divided in two groups.• Administration of defense foreign relations, ecclesiastical affairs and of tribal areas, was to be made by GG in his discretion with help counsellors appointed by him who were not reponsible to legislature.• In All other matters, GG was to act on adivce of CoM who were responsible to Legislature. But even in this regard, GG had power to act against advice if he felt any of his ‘special responsibilities’ was involved.But in reality no counsellors nor any CoM were appointed under Act, the old executive council provided by 1919 act continued to advice GG until the Indian Independence Act,1947.• Central legislature was bicameral, legislature of some of provinces were bicameral and some were uni-cameral. There were few limitations on Central legislature as follows• A bill passed by Central Legislature was subject to veto by crown and Governor.• GG was empowered to prevent discussion or suspend proceeding in legislature if he felt it would affect his special responsibilities.• GG could pass permanent acts at any time for discharge of special responsibilites and promulgate ordinances at any matter during recess of legislature.• No bill or amendment could be introduced in legislature without GG’s previous consent wrt certain matters.• Though Indian states did not join the Federation, the federal provisions were in fact applied as between center and provinces. The division of legislative subjects between center and provinces proposed in this act were kept more less same in Our present Constitution. Subjects were divided in 3 categories- Federal(External affairs, military, coinage, census etc), provincial(Police, education, provincial public services etc) and Concurrent(Criminal laws and procedures, Marriage and divorce, Arbitration etc). In case of repugnancy in the Concurrent field, Federal law will prevail over provincial law to the extent of repugnancy.• Dominion status was not conferred by GoI Act, 1935    

Motagu-Chelmsford Reform, 1919   Dyarchy in Provinces: Subjects of Administration were divided in two categories- Central and Provincial, Provincial were further subdivided into transferred and reserved. Elected members in provincial council were raised to 70%. Transferred subjects were to be governed by Governor on the aid and advice of Council of Ministers thus laid down a responsible government in narrow sphere of transferred subjects. Relaxation of central control over provinces was done through division of subjects in Central and provincial. Thus provinces can formulate their own budgets to raise revenue and spend it to run administration of such subjects. It should be noted that Provinces got power by way of delegation from the Center and the central legislature retained power to legislate for the whole of India relating to any subject. Therefore it should be mistaken for federal distribution of power. Bicameral Indian legislature was also introduced. 60 members 34 of which elected in upper house aka Council of State and 144 members of which 104 were to be elected in lower house akaLegislative Assembly. The electorates were however arranged on a communal and sectional basis, developing tendency of separatism further. There were many shortcomings in this Act such as it was GG and not courts who had authority to decide whether particular subject was central or provincial or without prior consent of GG , legislature could not take up for consideration any bill relating to a number of subjects, finance was set as reserved subjects therefore many progressive measures taken by provincial government were not effective for want of funds, ICS were responsible to SoS and not to ministers, overriding powers of governors, no provision for collective responsibilities of ministers etc. Working of Dyarchy system in provinces proved to be disaster and could not satisfy Indian aspirations and led to Non Co-operation movement.    

Morley Minto Reform, Indian Council Act, 1909   Majority of non-official members were introduced in provincial legislative council by including elected non-official members in council whereas majority of official retained in Central Legislative council. Legislative councils were also given power to pass resolutions on the budget and other important public matters save some specified subjects such as foreign affairs, military or Indian States. Separate representation for Muslim community was introduced thus sowing seed of partition.  

Indian Council Act, 1892   Two important relaxations were made in this act 1. Though majority of officials were retained, non official members henceforth were nominated by Bengal Chambers of Commerce and Provincial Legislative Council, whereas the non-officials of Provincial legislative council were nominated by local bodies like municipalities, district boards and universities. 2. Council could discuss budget and raise questions to executive.    

Government of India Act, 1858   It was first statute passed by British Parliament for governance of India under direct rule of the British Government. It was dominated by principle of absolute imperial control without any popular participation. Subsequent sequence of statutes till writing of our constitution is one of gradual relaxation of imperial control and evolution of responsible government. According to this act, there would be a Secretary of State(SoS) on India, assisted by 15 member Council of India, who would exercise power of crown over India. SoS was responsible to British Parliament and governed India through Governor General(GG) assisted by executive council. Essential features of system introduced by this act were centralized administration, No separation of function ie. civil, military, executive and legislative all powers in GG, absolute control on Indian administration by SoS and totally bureaucratic system unconcerned of public opinion in India.    

CARNATIC CLASSICAL MUSIC    Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in gayaki (singing) style.Although there are stylistic differences, the basic elements of sruti (the relative musical pitch),swara (the musical sound of a single note), raga(the mode or melodic formulæ), and tala (the rhythmic cycles) form the foundation of improvisation and composition in both Carnatic and Hindustani music. Typical instruments used in performances may include: ? the ghatam, kanjira,morsing, venu flute, veena, and chitraveena. The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as gayaki).Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on main elements:? raga, ? the modes or melodic formulæ, and ? ta?a, the rhythmic cycles. SrutiSruti commonly refers to musical pitch.It is the note from which all the others are derived. SwaraSwara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative (higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency. Swaras also refer to the solfege of Carnatic music, which consist of seven notes, “sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni” Raga systemA raga in Carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody It specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka (ornamentation), which phrases should be used or avoided, and so on. It is a series of obligatory musical events which must be observed, either absolutely or with a particular frequency. In Carnatic music, the sampoorna ragas (those with all seven notes in their scales) are classified into a system called the melakarta, which groups them according to the kinds of notes that they have. There are seventy-two melakarta ragas, thirty six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is sadharana (perfect fourth from the tonic), the remaining thirty-six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is prati (an augmented fourth from the tonic). The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras (“wheels”, though actually segments in the conventional representation) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. There is a system known as the katapayadi sankhya to determine the names ofmelakarta ragas.Ragas may be divided into two classes: janaka ragas (i.e. melakarta or parent ragas) andjanya ragas (descendant ragas of a particular janaka raga). Janya ragas are themselves subclassified into various categories: Tala systemTala refers to a fixed time cycle or metre, set for a particular composition, Talas have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change within a song. Carnatic music singers usually keep the beat by moving their hands up and down in specified patterns, and using their fingers simultaneously to keep time. Tala is formed with three basic parts (called angas) which are laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam, though complex talas may have other parts like plutam, guru, and kaakapaadam. There are seven basic tala groups which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:? Dhruva tala? Matya tala? Rupaka tala? Jhampa tala? Triputa tala? Ata tala? Eka talaThe main traditional forms of improvisation in Carnatic music consist of the following: ? Alapana? Niraval? Swarakalpana? Ragam? Tanam? Pallavi? Tani Avartanam Raga AlapanaIt is the exposition of a raga or tone – a slow improvisation with no rhythm, where the raga acts as the basis of embellishment.The performer will explore the ragam and touch on its various nuances, singing in the lower octaves first, then gradually moving up to higher octaves, while giving a hint of the song to be performed. NiravalNiraval, usually performed by the more advanced performers, consists of singing one or two lines of text of a song repeatedly, but with a series of melodic improvised elaborations.Although niraval consists of extempore melodic variations, generally, the original patterns of duration are maintained The lines are also played at different levels of speed which can include double speed, triple speed, quadruple speed and even sextuple speed.The improvised elaborations are made with a view of outlining the raga, the tempo, and the theme of the composition.Kalpanaswaram Kalpanaswaram, also known as swarakalpana, consists of improvising melodic and rhythmic passages using swaras (solfa syllables).The swaras can also be sung at the same speed or double the speed of the melody that is being sung, though some artists sing triple-speed phrases too. Ragam Tanam PallaviRagam, Tanam, and Pallavi are the principal long form in concerts, and is a composite form of improvisation. It consists of raga alapana, tanam, and a pallaviline. Set to a slow-paced tala, the pallavi line is often composed by the performer. Through niraval, the performer manipulates the pallavi line in complex melodic and rhythmic ways.The niraval is followed by kalpanaswarams.Tani AvartanamTani Avartanam refers to the extended solo that is played by the percussionists in a concert, and is usually played after the main composition in a concert.The most common and significant forms in Carnatic music are the varnam and the kriti (orkirtanam).VarnamThe features and rules of the raga (also known as the sanchaaraas of a raga) include how each note of the raga should be stressed, the scale of the raga, and so on. All varnams consist of lyrics, as well as swara passages, including a pallavi, an anupallavi,muktayi swaras, a charanam, and chittaswaras. Varnams are practised as vocal exercises in multiple speeds by performers of Carnatic music, to help develop voice culture, and maintain proper pitch and control of rhythm. Kritikritis are varied in structure and style, but generally consist of three units:• Pallavi. This is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music, with 1 or 2 lines.• Anupallavi.

Tappa:   Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music whose specialty is its rolling pace based on fast, subtle, knotty construction.It originated from the folk songs of the camel riders of Punjab and was developed as a form of classical music by Mian Ghulam Nabi Shori or Shori Mian, a court singer for Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, the Nawab of Awadh. Thumri:   Thumri is a semi-classical vocal form said to have begun in Uttar Pradesh There are three types of thumri: poorab ang, Lucknavi and Punjabi thumri. The lyrics are typically in a proto-Hindi language called Brij Bhasha and are usually romantic.   Ghazal: Ghazal is an originally Persian form of poetry. In the Indian sub-continent, Ghazal became the most common form of poetry in the Urdu language Vocal music set to this mode of poetry is popular with multiple variations across Iran, Afghanistan,Central Asia, Turkey, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Ghazal exists in multiple variations, including semi-classical, folk and pop forms.    

Tarana   Another vocal form, taranas are medium- to fast-paced songs that are used to convey a mood of elation and are usually performed towards the end of a concert. They consist of a few lines of poetry with soft syllables or bols set to a tune. The singer uses these few lines as a basis for fast improvisation. The tillana of Carnatic music is based on the tarana, although the former is primarily associated with dance.    

Khyal Khyal is a Hindustani form of vocal music, adopted from medieval Persian music and based on Dhrupad. Khyal, literally meaning “thought” or “imagination”,is unusual as it is based on improvising and expressing emotion. A Khyal is a two- to eight-line lyric set to a melody. The lyric is of an emotional account possibly from poetic observation.Khyals are also popular for depicting the emotions between two lovers, situations of ethological significance in Hinduism and Islam, or other situations evoking intense feelings.The origination of Khyal is controversial, although it is accepted that this style was based on Dhrupad and influenced by Persian music. Many argue that Amir Khusrau created the style in the late 16th century. This form was popularized by Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah, through his court musicians. Some well-known composers of this period were Sadarang,Adarang, and Manrang.