of the Indian Army, Indian finances, and India’s foreign relations for another generation; Win Muslim support by conceding most of Jinnah's Fourteen Points; Convince the Princes to join the Federation by giving the Princes conditions for entry never likely to be equalled. It was expected that enough would join to allow the establishment of the Federation. The terms offered to the Princes included: Each Prince would select his state’s representative in the Federal Legislature. There would be no pressure for Princes to democratize their administrations or allow elections for state representatives in the Federal Legislature. The Princes would enjoy heavyweight. The Princely States represented about a quarter of the population of India and produced well under a quarter of its wealth. Under the Act: The Upper House of the Federal Legislature, the Council of State, would consist of 260 members: 156 (60%) elected from British India and 104 (40%) nominated by the rulers of the princely states. The Lower House, the Federal Assembly, would consist of 375 members: 250 (67%) elected by the Legislative Assemblies of the British Indian provinces; 125 (33%) nominated by the rulers of the princely states. ensuring that the Congress could never rule alone or gain enough seats to bring down the government This was done by over-representing the Princes, by giving every possible minority the right to separately vote for candidates belonging to their respective communities (see separate electorate), and by making the executive theoretically, but not practically, removable by the legislature. Gambles taken Viability of the proposed Federation. It was hoped that the gerrymandered federation, encompassing units of such hugely different sizes, sophistication and varying forms of government from the autocratic Princely States to democratic provinces, could provide the basis for a viable state. However, this was not a realistic possibility (see e.g. The Making of India’s Paper Federation, 1927-35 in Moore 1988). In reality, the Federation, as planned in the Act, almost certainly was not viable and would have rapidly broken down with the British left to pick up the pieces without any viable alternative. Princes Seeing and Acting in Their Own Long-Range Best Interests - That the Princes would see that their best hope for a future would lie in rapidly joining and become a united block without which no group could hope, mathematically, to wield power. However, the princes did not join, and thus exercising the veto provided by the Act