The Indian Councils Act 1892 was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The main provisions of the bills were as under:

 

• The number of non-official members was increased, both in Central and Provincial legislatures.
• The universities, zamindars, municipalities, etc. were authorized to recommend members to Provincial Councils. This was the introduction of the Principle of Representation.
• This act allowed the councils to discuss each year’s annual financial statement.
• The number of the Additional Members of the Governor General Executive Council was raised up to 16.
• Under this act two-fifth of the members of the council was to be non-official.
• The Additional Members of the Council could ask questions of public interest under this Act.
• The numbers of the Additional Members of the provincial councils were also raised, for Bengal it was 20 and 15 for the Awadh.

 

It can be stated that this Act was the cautious extension of the Act of 1861. One of the drawbacks of the 1892 Act was that it was impossible for non-official members to express any demands against the official bloc. Even after this Act was passed the Government approved many bills regardless of the fact that the Indian Members strongly opposed them.