Who prescribed the separate electorates for India on the basis of the Communal Award in August, 1932?

The Communal Award was announced on August 16, 1932, by the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald [1]. Following the failure of the Second Round Table Conference to reach a consensus on minority representation, MacDonald unilaterally introduced this award to define the composition of provincial legislatures. It extended the system of separate electorates to various communities, including Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, and Europeans. Most significantly, it granted separate electorates to the 'Depressed Classes' (now Scheduled Castes), a move that Mahatma Gandhi vehemently opposed as he believed it would permanently divide Hindu society [1]. This opposition led to Gandhi's fast unto death in Yerwada Jail, eventually resulting in the Poona Pact [2]. While Lord Irwin was the Viceroy during the earlier Civil Disobedience phase and Winston Churchill was a vocal critic of Indian concessions, it was MacDonald who presided over the conferences and issued the award.

Sources

1. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award
2. [2] https://www.gacbe.ac.in/pdf/ematerial/18BPA66S-U4.pdf