Joint Committee of Indian Constitutional Reform. Minutes of Evidence take before the Joint Committee on Indian Constitutional Reform. Unrevised Die Jovis Die Veneris 21 Julii 1933

I may say that speaking for the South of India while there is no Purdah system in force to the same extent as there is in the North and while moreover it must be recognised that there is some prejudice on the part of the husband to give the name of the wife and on the part of the wife to give the name of the husband nevertheless there will be very little difficulty in compiling a Register [...] May I draw the attention of the Secretary of State to page 12 of the White Paper proposals in which it is pointed out that the ratio of men to women voters will remain as at present in the neighbourhood of 20 men to one woman; and where it is stated that His Majesty's Government fully appreciate the importance of a large women's eletorate for the Federal Assembly? [...] May I know Sir Samuel Hoare whether after the evidence of the Indian Women's Organisation about which my Lord Chairman is not in a position to state anything if the Committee have the benefit of hearing that evidence you will reconsider the position of the Women's Vote once more in the light of the evidence the Indian women give if they give evidence at all?—I really canot differentiate t [...] Without of course calling in question the Communal Award may I call the Secretary of State's attention to the distribution of seats for the women both in the Provincial Councils and in the Federal Assembly. [...] Is it the fact that if the 199 ordinaty seats those of the scats which are to be divided between the general and the Muslims are divided according to the ratio of the adult population which have quoted to you that then the result would be 103 Muslims seats and 96 general seats?—If they were divided in accorance with the adult population figure did you say?