- Prevailing condition
- 1857 revolt major jolt
- Br invested lot in Indian for railways
- IR in Br, USA, Japan and Europe increased competition
- Renewed resurgence of Imperial ideology and which was reflected in reactionary policies of Lytton, Dufferin, Lansdowne, Elgin and Curzon
- Administration
- Act of 1858 - Transferred the power to govern from EIC to Br Crown
- Powers of DOC and BOC went to Secy.(MP) of State of India aided by council
- GG became Viceroy or Crown's personal rep
- Since the power centre moved from Vice to Secy, policies were influenced by Br Industrialist, merchants and bankers, thereby making it more reactionary than before
- GG with Exe council of members. Majority decides by vice can veto
- Indian councils act of 1861 enlarged the GG council to make laws and called it as Imperial Legislative council(but no control over exe)
- GG can add 6-12 non-officials(English or Indian) to his exe council
- ILC just gave appearance that laws are passed by them but actually they cannot pass any law without vice approval
- Provincial Administration
- India into presidencies - Bengal, Madras, Bombay were know as Presidencies.
- Presidencies were administered by Governor and 3 member exe council(crown appointee).
- Presidencies enjoyed more powers than provinces
- Provinces were administered by Lt.Gov and Chief commissioners appointed by the GG.
- Till 1833 centralisation(control of purse) peaked and realised centralisation is not efficient for huge India
- So Lord Mayo separated finance of centre and province 1870 by giving fixed sum to admins
- Lord Lytton further enlarged it in 1877 by transferring more expenditure heads like land revenue, excise, L&O, general administration
- 1882 - Instead of grands provinces got entire source of income from certain sources and fixed share from others
- Decentralisation is to lower admin expenses and increase revenue and overall province worked under centre which was under secy who was under Br govt
- Local bodies
- Financial difficulties led to formation of local bodies.
- Need felt to transplant European advances such as economy, sanitation, education and other civic amenities.
- For this funding was necessary so transferred these subjects to local bodies and local taxes also
- Local bodies first formed in 1864-1868 consisting of nominated members and presided over Dist magistrate.
- In 1882 lord Ripon allowed elected(limited franchise) non-officials. They also became chairmen but not president
- Except calcutta, madras, Bombay local bodies functioned like departments only
- Changes in the Army
- Proportion of Europeans in army increased - 1:2 in Bengal, 2:5 in Bombay and Madras
- European troops in key geographical and military positions.
- Domination of European branch over Indian branch ensured
- Crucial branches like artillery , armoured corps, tanks were exclusively kept with European hands
- Older policy of excluding Indians from officers ranks continued - till 1914 no Indian above subedar
- Organisation of indian army is based on 'balance and counterpoise' or 'divide and rule'.
- Discrimination in recruitment on basis of caste, region and religion and communalism encouraged
- Fiction created - martial(punjabis, gurkhas, pathans) - helped Br and non-martial class(awad, bihar, central india and south India) participated in 1857 revolt
- 1875 - 1/2 army from punjab
- Army isolated from nationalist ideas by preventing newspaper, journals reaching them
- Army used for
- Defending India from other colonialist
- Expanding Br colonialism in asia and africa
- Br branch served as army of occupation
- So 52% of total revenue spent on Army
- Public services
- Initially Indians were barred.
- Through open exam in London - only english, classical greek and latin
- 1863 - 1st indian satyendranath tagore bro of rabindranath tagore cleared it
- Max age - 23 in 1859 to 19 in 1878
- All high posts reserved for br
- After 1918 Indianisation of civil service didn't serve Indian interest
- Relations with the princely
states
- Princely states helped Br suppress revolt
- So Lord canning - Back waters in the storm
- Princely states rewarded by abandoning annexation and allowed right to adopt heirs
- But Br resident in court
- Now complete subordination of princely states under Br authorities
- 1876 - Queen Victoria took title Empress of India
- Br claimed the right to
supervise internal affairs, even dismissed princes
- at times to provide modern administration to these provinces to integrate these provinces completely
- Popular democratic and nationalist movements within the province
- Br suppressed many internal revolt as well as checked serious administrative abuses.
- Administrative Policies
- Divide and Rule
was given more emphasise - race,religion,region,caste...etc
- 1857 hindu muslim unity was broken by suppression of muslims and making hindus their favourite
- After 1870 this policy was reversed by offering government services to muslims
- Hostility to educated
indians
- Though they didn't participate in revolt they later questioned imperialist character of Br using their recently acquired modern knowledge
- They later organised nationalist movement and started Indian National Congress in 1885
- So officials tool active steps to curtail higher education
- Attitude towards zamindars
- Friendship with zamindars, landlords and princes to use them as dam against nationalist movement
- Placated through restoring land back
- They were hailed as natural leaders of Indian people
- Attitude towards social
reforms
- Br sided with conservative and orthodoxy as they believed sati abolition and widow remarriage caused revolt
- They actively encouraged communalism
- Extreme backwardness of
social services
- Education, healthcare, sanitation, water supply, roads, irrigation were all neglected as the most of the revenue was spent on army
- Labour legislation
- 12-16 hrs a day and no weekly off
- Rs.4-Rs.20 per month wages
- Even though Br was pro-capitalist Br manufacturers put pressure on govt to regulate labour as cheap labour could give them competition
- 1st Indian Factory act - 1881 - dealt primarily with the problem of child labour - 7-12 yr old won't work for more that 9 hrs a day and 4 holiday in a month and proper fencing of dangerous machinery
- 2nd indian factory act - 1891 - weekend off for all workers - women 11hrs and children 7 hrs
- Neither of the act applied to Br owned tea and coffee plantation - e.g assam is thinly populated so labour from outside was force recruited and kept them as virtual slaves
- Restriction on the press
- Br introduced it
- Educated saw the potential and used it for arousing nationalism
- 1835 - Charles Metcalfe removed restriction so educated Indians supported Br.
- 1878 - Vernacular press act - people protested so act repealed in 1882
- For 25 yrs press enjoyed freedom until Swadeshi and boycott movement
- 1908 and 1910 press curtailed
- Divide and Rule
was given more emphasise - race,religion,region,caste...etc
- RACIAL ANTAGONISM
- Doctrine of racial superiority
- Maintained social distance to preserve authority
- Many European only geographical locations
- FOREIGN POLICY
- Br dictated foreign policy is based on 3
interests
- To protect invaluable Indian possession
- Expand commerce in Asia and Africa
- To keep other imperialist nations out
- To achieve this Br waged many wars with its neighbours
- 1814 Nepal war
- Nepal lost
- Accepted br resident
- Ceded Garhwal and Kumaon
- Abandoned the claim over Tarai
- Withdrew from Sikkim
- Lost Hill station like shimla, Mussoorie and nainital
- Gurkhas joined in large number
- Conquest of burma
- 3 successive war
- Br merchants had interest in Burmese natural resources
- Br also want to check French interest in Burma
- King Alaungpaya - 1752-1760 conquered arakan
- His son Bodawpaya conquered Manipur and assam(1882)
- So Br declared war in 1824 and capture assam,cachar,manipur and arakan and reched AVA
- 1826 - treaty of yandabo
- 1 crore compensation
- Cede Arakan and Tenasserim
- Abandon all claims to Assam, Cachar, and Jainitia
- Recognise Manipur as independent state
- Br resident at AVA while posting Burmese envoy at Calcutta
- By this treaty Burma lost most of its coastline and Br established its base to expand into Burma
- King Thibaw signed commercial treaty with france in 1885
- Br merchants forced Br to annex upper Burma to trade with china and Br-India did and King surrendered in 1885 and Burma was annexed
- But soldiers didn't surrender and hid in jungles and carried over guerrilla warfare
- Br took 4 years and 40000 soldiers to suppress it at Indian expense
- Burmese nationalist with INC started widespread movement after WW1
- Br separated Burma from India(1935) to weaken movement though Burmese opposed it
- Finally 1948 - Burma won its independence under U Aung San
- Relation with Afghanistan
- Based on
- Checking russian advances
- Promote Br commercial Interest in Central Asia
- Make it at least a buffer state between Russia and br
- Wanted to keep Afghanistan week and divided to control it
- Br in 1839 replaced independent ruler Dost Muhammed with shah shuja deposed in 1809 and br pensioner in Ludhiana
- But people didn't like him and afghan tribes revolted and Br retreated in 1841 and recognised Dost Md. In this Br lost 1.5 crore and 20000 soldier
- 1842 - kabul reoccupied by Br(as revenge only) and evacuated and recognised Dost Md as independent ruler
- Br then followed policy of non-interference and occasional aid after Russian turned its attention to central Asia after its defeat with Crimea
- In 1870 Anglo-Russian rivalry intensified and Br tried to control Afghanistan again.
- So 1878 2nd afghan war -
sher Ali's son Yakub Khan signed treaty of Gandamak(1879), by which Br
got all they want
- Resident
- Control over foreign policy
- Control over border districts
- Afghans fought back and killed the Br resident Major Cavagnari
- Now br reversed policy and followed non- interference and Grandson of Dost Md, Abdur Rahman recognised as the new ruler. In return foreign policy in Br hand.
- WW1 and Russian revolution created new situation and afghans demanded full independence
- After assassination of Habibullah his son Amanullah declared open war on Br and got independence in 1921 through Treaty of Afghanistan
- Based on
- Br dictated foreign policy is based on 3
interests