Administrative Reforms by SR JK

ADMINISTRATIVE &
ECONOMIC POLICIES OF
BRITISH RULE
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS
• The affluence of English East India company after the plassey plunder evoked a
strong desire amongst minsters of the british government to bring it under state
control. In 1767, parliament passed an act obligating the company to pay to British
treasury 4,00,000 pounds per year
• A series of administrative reforms were introduced 1773 onwards which aimed to
bring the English East India company directly under the control of British
government.
• The Regulating Act of 1773: this act made changes in the constitution that of Court
of Directors of the Company and subjected their actions to the supervision of
British government. However, the regulating act soon broke down in practice.
• Pitt’s India regulating Act of 1784: the act gave the british government supreme
control over the company’s affair and its administration in India.
• It established a Board of Governor consisting of six commissioners, including two
cabinet commissioners. Who would oversee the civil, military and revenue affairs of the
company.
• The act placed the government of India in the hands of Governor-General & a council of
three. It also clearly subordinated the Bombay and Madras presidency to Bengal in all
questions of war and diplomacy.
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While the Pitts India Act laid down the general framework in which the GoI
was to be carried out till 1857, later enactments brought several changes
which gradually diminished the power of the company.
The Charter Act of 1813: the company’s monopoly over trade in India was
ended and trade with India was thrown open to all British subjects.
• But trade in tea and trade with China were still exclusive to the company.
• The government of India continued to be run by the company under strict
control of Board. The company was to retain the possession of territories and
revenue for twenty years more without prejudice to the sovereignty of the
crown.
The Charter Act of 1833: the company’s monopoly on trade with China also
ended.
• The lease for company was extended for 20 more years & territories of India
were to be governed in the name of crown.
The Charter Act of 1853: the company was to continue the possession of
territories. However, the company’s patronage over the services was
completely dissolved & services were thrown open to a competitive exam.
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BRITISH ECONOMIC POLICIES IN INDIA:
1757-1857
1. Colonial trade policies
2. The expansion of railways & communication
3. Colonial land policies: Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari
system, Mahalwari system
COLONIAL TRADE POLICIES
• Commercial policies from 1600-1757: East India Company’s role in

India was that of a trading corporation which brought goods/precious
metals into India and exchanged them for Indian goods like textiles &
spices which it sold abroad.
• The British manufacturers put pressure on their government to impose
tariff barriers on sale of Indian goods in England.
• 1757 & the qualitative shift in the Company’s trading pattern: after the
battle of Plassey, the company used its political control over Bengal
to acquire monopolistic control over Indian trade and production.
Moreover, it utilized the revenue of Bengal to finance its export of
Indian goods.
Industrial revolution in Britain & the rise of Lancashire manufacturers: the

rise of domestic manufacturers in England forced the company by law in 1769 to
export british manufactured goods of 3,80,000 every year, though it suffered a
loss on transaction.
• Imposed a one-sided free trade on India & from an exporter of finished
goods, it was reduced to the status of a raw material supplying colony and a
market for english manufactured goods
Economic drain of wealth- the British exported to Britain a part of India’s

wealth & resources for which India got no adequate economic or material
return. In 1765, the company acquired diwani rights of bengal and gained
control over its revenues. Through the revenue generated, it purchased indian
goods as “investments” and through these investments, Bengal’s revenue was
sent to England. By the end of 18th century, the drain constituted 9% of India’s
national income.
Expansion of railways in India was pursued from 1853 onwards to

meet the demands of colonial expansion. From 1853-1905, the
British built railways of 45,000 km. two important aspects of
development of Indian railways are to be understood.
• The total investment of 350crore was provided by british investors
for which the Indian govt assured a fixed rate of 5% return on their
investments (when the interest rate in britain was 3%)
• The planning & construction of railways was done keeping the
economic, political & imperialistic interests of British imperialism in
India. The railway rates were fixed in a manner so as to favour
imports & exports & discriminate against internal movement of
goods.
LAND REVENUE POLICIES
The consolidation of british rule in India was financed by the revenue

generated through taxation of indian peasantry. To push up revenue
collection, the British adopted a variety of strategies:
Permanent settlement- introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 in Bengal,
Bihar & Orrisa. It had the following distinctive features:
• The zamindar was granted property rights over land. Their right of ownership
was made hereditary & transferable.
• On the other hand, the cultivators were reduced to the low status of mere
tenants and were deprived of long standing customary rights to land.
• The revenue rates were fixed for perpetuity. While the stability of tax revenue
system was supposed to incentivize the landlord to increase agricultural
production
• Drawback: Land revenue rates were fixed at absurdly high levels. The result
was that between 1793 & 1807 half the zamindari lands were put up for sale.
This led to the rise of a new zamindari class, the erstwhile landlords were
displaced (displacement of old zamindari class).
Ryotwari Settlement: Thomas Munro (1820) recommended the

introduction of ryotwari system in Madras and Bombay presidency.
• Under this system, the revenue settlement was to be made directly with the
cultivators/ryots. The cultivator was to be recognized as the owner of his
plot of land subject to the payment of land revenue
• The settlement under the ryotwari system was not made permanent. It was
revised periodically after 20-30 years when the revenue demand was
usually raised
• Drawback: However, the ryotwari system did not bring into existence a new
system of peasant ownership because in most areas, the land revenue
fixed was exorbitant & the government retained the right to increase land
revenue at will.
Mahalwari Settlement: William Bentinck (1822) introduced in ganga valley,
North-West provinces, part of central india and punjab. Here the revenue
settlement was made at the village level.
IMPACT OF COLONIAL LAND
REVENUE POLICIES
1. High burden of taxation: the peasantry suffered under the new
revenue settlement systems imposed by the british.
2. Commodification of land and alienation of cultivators from their
land: the british system of revenue settlement didn’t recognize the
customary rights of cultivators and made land a marketable
commodity.
3. Shift in pattern of cultivation from food crops to cash crops: to
meet the high revenue demands
4. Alienation of the old zamindari class: the inability to meet the high
revenue demands imposed by the british saw the old zamindars
being deposed of their erstwhile zamindaris and the rise of the new
merchant-zamindars
ECONOMIC
CRITIQUE OF
COLONIALISM
• Moderates- were 1st to develop an economic crtique-

• This was their most important contribution to the
development of national movt in india. The themes built
around laid the foundation through lectures, pamplets,
newspapers, songs.
• The process of disillusionment -1860
• 3 imp- naoroji, mg ranade, romesh chandra dutt- economic

history of india.
• They delineated colonial structure- four aspects of domination-
• 1) trade- distorted pattern, tariff policy, role of raliways
• 2) industry- role of foreign capital
• 3) finance- taxation policy
• 4) expenditure pattern- high expenditure on army and
bureaucracy
TRADE- THE DISTORTED
PATTERN
Capitalism no longer functioned through the crude tools of
plunder & tribute, but through the more disguised & complex
mechanism of free trade and foreign capital investment.
The essence of 19th century colonialism lied in the
transformation of india into a supplier of food stuffs & raw
materials to metropolis, a market for invest of british capital
& british made goods.
Nationalists said that bcoz of the adverse impact of trade on

indigenous industries, there was a progressive decline of india’s
traditional handicrafts.
British pointed with pride about the increasing volume of foreign
trade & the rapid construction of railways- as sign of economic
development, but the nationalists pointed out that it was not the
volume but its pattern/nature of goods internationally exchanged
& their impact on national industries & agri.
In trade the bias being overwhelmingly towards the export of raw
material & import of manufactured goods
Railways- nationalists pointed out that the railways had not been
coordinated with india’s industrial needs.
• The railways principally opened up the indian hinterland as a vast market
to british made goods,
• the railways tarrif policy was such that it was much cheaper to transfer
goods from indian port cities to smaller towns (goods imported) rather
than transfer goods manufactured within one part of country to other
location-
• moreover the benefits of railways construction- ie in terms of
encouragement to machine industry & capital investment went to british
industries.
A major obstacle to rapid industrial develop was the policy of free

trade which was which was on the one hand ruining india’s
handicraft & on the other forcing the infant & underdeveloped
modern industries into a premature & disastrous competition with
the highly organised & developed industries of west.
INDUSTRIALIZATION- FOREIGN CAPITAL

The nationalists agreed with remarkable unanimity that the
complete economic transformation of the country on the basis of
modern techno & capitalist enterprise was the primary goal of all
economic policies.
At the same time, they were all clear that however strong be the
need of india for industrialization, it had to be based on indian &
not foreign capital.
While birtish said that foreign capital was a precondition to national
advancement the nationalists pointed out that foreign capital
created vested interests which demanded security for investors &
perpetuated foreign rule.
FINANCE- TAXATION POLICY
Nationalists criticized the colonial pattern of finance, taxes were so

raised that they overburdened the poor, while letting the rich foreign
capitalists & bureaucrats free.
regressive taxation policy- nationalists demanded the reduction of
land revenue & abolition of salt tax and the imposition of income tax
& import duties on products which the rich & middle classes
consumed.
EXPENDITURE PATTERN-ARMY
• The pattern of expenditure was such that it was meant to serve
imperial interests, in particular
• the high expenditure on army which was used by the british to
conquer & maintain imperialist control over large parts of asia
& africa.
• Expenditure on bureaucracy- huge salaries paid to european
officers which were repatriated back to their home states in
Europe.
THE DRAIN THEORY- NAIROJI

• The focal point of the nationalist critique of colonialism was the
drain theory. The nationalist leaders pointed out that a large part
of capital & wealth was being drained to britain in the form of
salaries & pensions.
• The drain took the form of excess of exports over imports for
which india got no economic or material return
R.c dutt- the taxation raised by a king, is like moisture being

sucked up by the sun, to be returned to earth as fertilizing rain;
but the moisture raised from indian soil now descends as
fertilizing rain largely on other lands, not on india., econmic drain
has reduced india to a land of famines-more frequent, more
widespread & more fatal than any known before in the history of
india/world
Moreover, the drain theory possessed the great political merit of

being easily grasped by a nation of peasants- “no drain” became a
political slogan
DRAIN THEORY- UNDERMINE
HEGEMONY
The agitation on economic issues contributed to undermining
ideological hegemony of alien rulers over indian minds- that is the
idea of benevolent colonial rule in the minds of people- ie british
intend to work for the welfare of indians.
The secret of british power lied not only in physical but also in
moral force, the nationalist economic agitiation gradually
undermined these moral foundations
The corrosion of faith in british rule inevitably spread to the

political field, the nationalists linked every important economic
question with the politically subordinated status of the country.
the result was that while early nationalists were moderate in
political method- they cut at the political roots of the empire &
sowed in the land seeds of disaffection, disloyalty & even sedition
CONCLUSION-
Early nationalists were laying strong, enduring foundations for the
national movt to grow upon. They sowed the seeds well & deep,
they did not base their nationalism primarily on appeals to
abstract or shallow sentiments- like religion, caste etc.
They rooted their nationalism in a brilliant scientific analysis of the
complex economic mech of modeern colonialism & on the chief
contradiction b/w indian & british interests.
Nationalists of 20th cent were to rely heavily on this economic

critique of colonialism, these themes were to reverberate in indian
villages and cities carried forward by youthful gandhian agitators,
thus serving as the basic foundations on the basis of which mass
movts were launched at a later stage.
At the same time, bcoz of this firm found, they would not, unlike
china, egypt and many other colonial countries waver in their anti
imperialism.
LAW, ARMY
AND POLICE
REFORMS
• The British administration in India was based on three pillars: the civil
service, the army & the police.
• Civil service: Lord Cornwallis, governor-general from 1786-93
established and organized the civil service in India. He tried to check
the massive corruption in administration by introducing a series of
reform through:
• Raising salaries of the officers.
• Strict enforcement of rule against private trade & debarred civil servants
from taking bribes, presents etc.
• Granting promotions through seniority so that members would remain free
of outside influence.
• Charter Act of 1853: Till 1853, all appointments to the civil service
were made by the directors of East India company. The directors of
the company fought hard to retain this privilege, but it was taken
away by the Charter Act of 1853. From now on, the recruits were to
be selected through the Civil Services exam.
• An important feature of Indian Civil Service since the days of

Cornwallis was the rigid & complete exclusion of Indians from it. It
was legally laid down in 1793, that all higher posts with yearly
salary of 500 pounds or above were to be reserved for englishmen.
• The reason for the exclusion of Indians were:
• The belief that only British could establish administrative services
serving British interests
• The beliefs that Indians were corrupt, incapable and untrustworthy.
• The proclamation of 1858: declared the British intention of including

Indians, freely & impartially in the civil services
• Indian Civil services Act of 1861: reserved a certain offices for
Covenanted civil servants, but the examination was held only in
English language & the maximum permissible age was gradually
reduced from 23 in 1859 to 19 in 1878.
• The INC raised the demand since its inception raised the demand for
indianization of civil services. for increasing the age limit for
recruitment and holding the exam simultaneously in India & Britain.
• Police: Lord Cornwallis stripped the zamindar of policing functions

& established a regular police force to maintain law and order.
• Modernized the old system of thanas (circles) in a district under
daroga (an Indian) and a Superintendent of Police at the head of
District.
• Bentinck (Governor General from 1828-35) abolished the office of
SP. The collector was to head the police force in his jurisdiction.
This resulted in a badly organized police force putting a heavy
burden on collector.
• Indian Police Act of 1861: was established on the basis of Police
Commission recommendations 1861 which reintroduced the
position of SP at the district level.
• Army: was another pillar of British regime. It was the

instrument through which Indian powers were conquered.
• It defended the British empire in India from foreign rivals &
safeguarded british supremacy from the ever-present
threat of internal revolt. It was also a chief instrument for
extending and defending British empire in Asia & Africa.
• The Bulk of company’s soldiers were recruited chiefly
from India from UP & Bihar, however all officers above the
level of Subedar were British.
• Judicial system: the british laid the foundation of a new system of

dispensing justice through a hierarchy of civil & criminal court. This
was started by Warren Hastings (1772-1785).
• Hastings introduced the system of District Diwani courts (civil cases)

& District Fauzdari courts (criminal cases).
• This was modified under Cornwallis, the fauzdari courts were
abolished and instead circuit courts were established at Calcutta,
Dacca, Murshidabad & Patna. These circuit courts had european
judges and were to act as courts of appeal for both civil and criminal
cases.
• 1833 Law commission under Lord Macaulay: was

introduced for codification of Indian laws. A Civil Procedure
Code (CPC, 1859), an Indian Penal Code (IPC 1860) and a
Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC 1861) were made.
• This lead to codification and modernization of existing laws
through judicial interpretations. Also the IPC, CPC, CrPC code
judicially unified the country and a rule of law was established.
• However, the laws were made without any public participation,

the judicial system became more complicated and expensive &
the courts were overburdened
BRITISH EDUCATION POLICY

• Calcutta madarsah- warren hastings- 1781: for the study of muslim law
• Sanskrit college- jonathan duncan-in bengal in 1791- for study of hindu
law and philosophy.
• Charter act of 1813: the act directed the east india company to
sanction an amount of 1lakh rupees for promoting the spread of
modern sciences and encouraging learned indians.
• ORIENTALIST-ANGLICIST DEBATE:
• the debate was regarding the medium of instruction and content of the
educational curriculum
• Orientalists: argued that while western science and literature should be
taught to prepare students for employment, emphasis should be on
expansion of traditional indian learning in regional languages.
• Anglicists: argued about the superiority of western education over native

modes of learning. They also argued that the medium of instruction should
be english alone.
• Maculay’s Minute & downward filtration theory -1835:
• it settled the orientalist-anglicist controversy in the favour of anglicists.
• Lord maculay held that indian learning was inferior to european learning.
English was made the medium of instruction in government schools and
colleges.
• The british opened up a few english schools & colleges ignoring the need
for a large number of elementry schools thus neglecting mass education.
• Downward filtration theory: the british planned to educate a small section of
upper and middle classes in western education. It was the responsibility of
these educated indians to disseminate westen sciences and literature
amongst the masses. This was called the downward filtration theory.
Wood’s Dispatch (1854): the recommendations of charles

wood marked a radical break from Macaulay’s minute, it
rejected the downward filtration theory and argued for
• The government to assume responsibility of educating the
masses.
• It recommended english as a medium of instruction for higher
education and vernacular at the school level.
• In 1857, Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were
established.
• HUNTER EDUCATION COMMISSION-(1882-1883):

• Earlier schemes neglected, primary and secondary education.
Hunter commission aimed to bring focus to these segments.
• Raleigh Commission (1902) and Indian universities act 1904:

• The raleigh commission was appointed to look into the condition of
indian universities . Based on its recommendations, the indian
universities act 1904 was passed.
• However, through this act curzon tightened the government control
over universities and severely curtailed their reach and autonomy.
Gokhale called it a retrograde measure.
• The number of fellows in university and their period in office were
reduced. Most fellows were to be nominated by government.
• Conditions were to be made stricter for affiliation of private colleges

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Administrative Reforms by SR JK

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ADMINISTRATIVE &

• Commercial policies from 1600-1757: East India Company’s role in

Industrial revolution in Britain & the rise of Lancashire manufacturers: the

Economic drain of wealth- the British exported to Britain a part of India’s

Expansion of railways in India was pursued from 1853 onwards to

The consolidation of british rule in India was financed by the revenue

Ryotwari Settlement: Thomas Munro (1820) recommended the

• Moderates- were 1st to develop an economic crtique-

• 3 imp- naoroji, mg ranade, romesh chandra dutt- economic

Nationalists said that bcoz of the adverse impact of trade on

A major obstacle to rapid industrial develop was the policy of free

INDUSTRIALIZATION- FOREIGN CAPITAL

Nationalists criticized the colonial pattern of finance, taxes were so

THE DRAIN THEORY- NAIROJI

R.c dutt- the taxation raised by a king, is like moisture being

Moreover, the drain theory possessed the great political merit of

The corrosion of faith in british rule inevitably spread to the

Nationalists of 20th cent were to rely heavily on this economic

• An important feature of Indian Civil Service since the days of

• The proclamation of 1858: declared the British intention of including

• Police: Lord Cornwallis stripped the zamindar of policing functions

• Army: was another pillar of British regime. It was the

• Judicial system: the british laid the foundation of a new system of

• Hastings introduced the system of District Diwani courts (civil cases)

• 1833 Law commission under Lord Macaulay: was

• However, the laws were made without any public participation,

BRITISH EDUCATION POLICY

• Anglicists: argued about the superiority of western education over native

Wood’s Dispatch (1854): the recommendations of charles

• HUNTER EDUCATION COMMISSION-(1882-1883):

• Raleigh Commission (1902) and Indian universities act 1904:

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