<P> A greater number of Indians were now enfranchised, although, for voting at the national level, they constituted only 10% of the total adult male population, many of whom were still illiterate . In the provincial legislatures, the British continued to exercise some control by setting aside seats for special interests they considered cooperative or useful . In particular, rural candidates, generally sympathetic to British rule and less confrontational, were assigned more seats than their urban counterparts . Seats were also reserved for non-Brahmins, landowners, businessmen, and college graduates . The principal of "communal representation", an integral part of the Minto - Morley Reforms, and more recently of the Congress - Muslim League Lucknow Pact, was reaffirmed, with seats being reserved for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo - Indians, and domiciled Europeans, in both provincial and Imperial legislative councils . The Montagu - Chelmsford reforms offered Indians the most significant opportunity yet for exercising legislative power, especially at the provincial level; however, that opportunity was also restricted by the still limited number of eligible voters, by the small budgets available to provincial legislatures, and by the presence of rural and special interest seats that were seen as instruments of British control . </P> <P> The three Round Table Conferences of 1930--32 were a series of conferences organised by the British Government to discuss constitutional reforms in India . They were conducted according to the recommendation of Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah to the Viceroy Lord Irwin and the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, and by the report submitted by the Simon Commission in May 1930 . Demands for swaraj, or self - rule, in India had been growing increasingly strong . By the 1930s, many British politicians believed that India needed to move towards dominion status . However, there were significant disagreements between the Indian and the British leaders that the Conferences could not resolve . </P> <P> In 1932 the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, after the failure of the three Round Table Conferences (India) in London, now confronted Gandhi's Congress in action . The India Office told Willingdon that he should conciliate only those elements of Indian opinion that were willing to work with the Raj . That did not include Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, which launched its Civil Disobedience Movement on 4 January 1932 . Therefore, Willingdon took decisive action . He imprisoned Gandhi . He outlawed the Congress; he rounded up all members of the Working Committee and the Provincial Committees and imprisoned them; and he banned Congress youth organisations . In total he imprisoned 80,000 Indian activists . Without most of their leaders, protests were uneven and disorganised, boycotts were ineffective, illegal youth organisations proliferated but were ineffective, more women became involved, and there was terrorism, especially in the North - West Frontier Province . Gandhi remained in prison until 1933 . Willingdon relied on his military secretary, Hastings Ismay, for his personal safety . </P> <P> MacDonald, trying to resolve the critical issue of how Indians would be represented, on 4 August 1932 granting separate electorates for Muslims, Sikhs, and Europeans in India and increased the number of provinces that offered separate electorates to Anglo - Indians and Indian Christians . Untouchables (now known as the Dalits) obtained a separate electorate . That outraged Gandhi because he firmly believed they had to be treated as Hindus . He and Congress rejected the proposal, but it went into effect anyway . </P>

As british rule in india came to an end