The Mantagu-Chelmsford Report (1918) foresaw the eventual need for an All-India Federation (granted the announcement of Aug 20th., we cannot at the present time envisage its complete fufilment in any form other than that of a congeries of a self-governing Indian provinces associated for certain purposes ubder a responsible govt. of india ; with possibly what are now the native states of India finally embodied in the same whole, in some relation which will not now attempt to define ). The Simon Commissin clearly foresaw the necessity for an All India federation but saw it as afar off goal. it was not within the Commission's mandate to investigate this issue.The report states ,
That some of the leading indian princes envisage some such polity in the future is shown by the pronouncement made on 19th Dec 1929, by H.H. the Maharaja of Bikaner to the legislative Assembly of the State . I look forward to the day when a United India will be enjoying Dominion status under the aegis of the King Emperor and the princes and the states will be in the fullest enjoyment of what is their due-as a solid federal body in a position of absolute equality with the federal provinces of British India. However distant that day may be , we desire in our proposals to do nothing to hindef but everything to help its arrival , for already there are emerging problems that can only be settled satisfactoily by co-operation between British India and the states.
