- One of his first acts upon his arrival in India was to address the disastrous Bengal Famine, which had killed millions of Indians. He accomplished this by directing the army to distribute relief supplies to rural populations and attempting to increase the rising supply by lowering its price.
- Lord Wavell, sympathetic to the Indian Independence Struggle, convened the Shimla Conference and the Wavell Plan to bring the various factions together in order to set the tone for independent India’s future government. Both failed due to a lack of agreement between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.
- Proposals of Wavell Plan (Shimla Conference)
- All members of the executive council, with the exception of the governor-general and the commander-in-chief, were to be Indians.
- Caste Hindus and Muslims were to be represented equally.
- The reconstructed council was to function as an interim government within the framework of the 1935 Act (i.e., not accountable to the Central Assembly).
- The governor-general was to exercise his veto on ministerial advice.
- Representatives from various parties were to submit a joint list to the viceroy for nominations to the executive council.
- If a joint list was not possible, separate lists were to be submitted, with the possibility of negotiations on a new constitution being kept open once the war was won.
- The Scheduled Castes would also be represented separately, and the possibility of a new constitution would be discussed.
- The Governor-veto General’s would not be abolished, but it would not be used excessively.
- Cabinet Mission in 1946
The Wavell Plan was formed to break the current political deadlock in India, but Lord Wavell abandoned the proposals due to disagreements between Muslim League and Congress leaders, and the proposals were eventually dissolved at the Shimla Conference.