Constitutional proposals for British India. They were made in the Report on Indian Constitutional Reforms (1918) by Edwin Montagu (1879–1924), Secretary of State for India, and Frederick John Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford (1868–1933), governor-general of India (1916–21). They followed the promise of responsible government made in 1917, and envisaged a gradual progress towards devolution of power and Indian self-government. In some ways the Government of India Act (1919) which followed can be seen as a measure to shore up imperial authority by containing opposition; it was regarded by Indian nationalists as inadequate and not a full implementation of the proposals.