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 change. This was evident from the position assigned to the States in the next important announcement on the constitutional set-up of India, viz., the draft declaration known as the Cripps Plan.

56. The immediate purpose of the Cripps Mission was to induce the British Indian Party leaders to agree to share the responsibilities of the Central Government in which the States were not required to participate. The main reason for proposing the scheme for constitution-making was to promote such an agreement. The draft Declaration therefore primarily concerned itself with British India. It promised the non-acceding Provinces, if they so desired, "the same full status as the Indian Union", but as regards the States it only stated that, whether or not a State adhered to the new Constitution it would be "necessary to negotiate a revision of its treaty arrangements so far as they may be required in the new situation".

57. The Cripps Plan, as it stood, seemed to differentiate between the Provinces and the States in applying the principle of non-adherence. Attention to this apparent discrepancy was drawn in a memorandum submitted to Sir Stafford Cripps by the Delegation of Indian States in which it was urged that non-adhering States or a group of States should have the right to form a Union of their own with full sovereign status in accordance with a suitable and agreed procedure for the purpose. It was emphasised on behalf of the States Delegation that the existence of such a provision which would place the States on a par with the Provinces for constitutional negotiations, need not necessarily lead to the setting up of a separate Union or Unions of the Indian States. In fact, it was stated that the Indian States would make their fullest contribution towards evolving an Indian Union acceptable to them and to other units in India. Sir Stafford Cripps told the States Delegation that the contingency of a separate Union or Unions of States had not been considered in connection with the draft Declaration, but he personally did not see any fundamental impossibility in the suggestion.

58. The Cripps Plan accepted the principle of self-determination but it contained numerous pitfalls which imperilled the future of India. Even more unsatisfactory than the picture of the future that the Plan contained was its niggardly and halting approach to the present. The failure of the Cripps Mission gave a new turn to India's political struggle.