(In
this chapter let us know what exactly happened during the British rule that
prompted and provoked Indian’s to think of a separate Constitution for India).
ü The British came to India in 1600 AD
as traders in the form of East India Company.
ü East India Company was also known as
East India Trading Company or English East India Company.
ü The East India Company was founded
in the year 1600 for persuading the trade with East Indies (South Asia and
South East Asia).
ü But the East India Company traded
mainly in the Indian subcontinent and China.
ü The East India Company has exclusive
rights to trade in India.
ü In the year 1765 the East India
Company obtained “Diwani” (Rights over revenue and civil justice) of Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa.
ü In the year 1858 after the Sepoy
mutiny, British crown assumed direct responsibility for the governance of
India.
ü This rule continued up to August 15,
1947. (India got independence).
 The above few lines are the very
brief description. Now let us try to understand more. We will be learning what happened
between 1600 and 1947. |
THE COMPANY RULE (1773-1858): AND THE REGULATING ACT OF 1773
ü This was the first step taken by
British Government to control and regulate the affairs of East India Company in
India.
ü The political and administrative
functions of the company were recognized for the first time.
ü It laid the foundation of central
administration in India.
FEATURES (CHARACTERISTICS) OF 1773 ACT:
ü The Governor of Bengal was
designated as the Governor-General of Bengal and the Executive council of the 4
members was created to assist the Governor-General.
ü The first Governor-General of
Bengal was Lord Warren Hastings.
ü The 1773 act made the Governors of
Bombay and Madras presidencies subordinate to the Governor-General of Bengal.
ü The act provided for the
establishment of Supreme Court at Calcutta in the year 1774.
ü The Supreme Court comprised of a
Chief Justice and 3 other judges.
ü This act prohibited the servants of
the company from engaging in any private trade or accepting presentations
(gifts) or bribes from the natives (local people).
ü The 1773 act strengthened the
control of British government over the company by requiring the court the
Directors to report on its revenue, civil and military affairs in India.
ü The 1781 act of Settlement – passed
by the British parliament to rectify the defects of 1773 Act.
PITTS INDIA ACT OF 1784:
ü The Pitts India act distinguished
between commercial and political functions of the company.
ü The Court of Directors entrusted
with the responsibility to manage commercial affairs of the company.
ü The Board of control was entrusted
with the responsibility of political affairs.
ü Thus the Pitts India act established
the dual (double) government.
ü The company territories in India
were for the first time called British possessions in India.
CHARTER ACT OF 1833
ü This is the final step towards
centralization of power in India.
What is centralization?
This is the
concentration of power in single authority.
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ü The Governor-General of Bengal was
made the Governor-General of India.
ü The first Governor-General of
India was Lord William Bentinck.
ü The laws that were made prior to
1833 were called regulation.
ü The laws that were made under 1833
charter were called Acts.
ü The East India Company purely became
the administrative body.
ü Commercial body …….>
Administrative body.
ü This act provided for the company’s
territories in India were held by it in trust for His Majesty, his heirs and
successors.
ü The superintendence, direction and
control of whole civil and military government of all the British territories
and revenues in India was expressly vested in ‘The Governor General of India in
Council”.
ü For the first time the
Governor-General’s government was known as the Government of India.
ü The council was known as ‘Indian
Council”.
ü The council was enlarged for
legislative work by the addition of a Law member in addition to the existing
three.
ü This act attempted to introduce a
system of open competition for selection of civil servants. (This is an attempt
only; open competition system was introduced later).
ü Indians were not debarred from
holding any place, office and employment under the company, but negated because
of the opposition from the court of directors.
CHARTER ACT OF 1853:
ü This was the last charter act passed
by the British Parliament between 1793 and 1853.
ü This act created the Legislative
council.
ü The legislative council functioned
as a mini Parliament.
ü The Charter Act of 1853
introduced Open competition system of
selection and recruitment of civil servants.
ü This was also open to Indians.
(Indians were permitted to take part in the competitive examination).
ü Accordingly Macaulay Committee
(Committee on the Indian civil services) was appointed in the year 1854.
ü Satyendra Nath Tagore was the first
Indian to join the civil services.
THE CROWN RULE (1858 – 1947)
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT 1858
This
came into being after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
· Regarding the Sepoy Mutiny we
learn more during Indian History discussion.
|
ü This act is also known as the Act
for good government in India.
ü This is the first statute enacted by
the Parliament for the governance of India under the direct rule of the British
government.
ü The GOI Act abolished the East India
Company.
ü The British crown assumed
sovereignty over India from the East India Company.
ü The designation of Governor-General
of India was changed to the Viceroy of India.
ü The last Governor-General of
India was Lord Canning.
ü The first Viceroy of India was Lord Canning.
ü The GOI act abolished the Board of
Control and Court of Directors.
ü A new position called Secretary of
State for India was created and the powers of the crown were exercised by the
Secretary of State for India.
ü The Secretary of state for India is
a member of Cabinet and is responsible to the British Parliament.
ü The Secretary of state for India was
assisted by a council called ‘Council of India’ that contained 15 members.
ü The Council of India was composed of
exclusively of people from England.
ü The secretary of state of India who
was responsible to the British Parliament governed India through the
Governor-General, assisted by an executive council which consisted of higher
officials of the government.
ü The administration of the country
was unitary and rigidly centralized through 1858 Act.
ü The provincial governments though
existing headed by a Governor were mere the agents of the Government of India
and functioned under the direct control of the Governor-General.
ü There was no separation of
functions. The legislative, executive, civil and military authority was vested
in Governor-General in council of India who was responsible to the secretary of
state for India.
ü The control of the secretary of
state of India over the Indian administration was absolute (complete, total).
ü The machinery of the administration
was totally unconcerned about the public opinion.
INDIAN COUNCILS ACT OF 1861:
ü This act introduced a grain of
popular element by including some non-official members in the executive council
while transacting legislative business like legislative council.
ü The Viceroy of India would nominate
Indians to the legislative council.
ü The functions of nominated members
were confined exclusively to the consideration of the legislative proposals
placed before it by the Governor-General (Viceroy).
ü Even in the provinces for initiating
legislations the prior sanction of the Governor-General (Viceroy) was
necessary.
ü In the year 1862 Lord Canning (first
Viceroy of India) nominated Raja of Benaras, the Maharaja of Patiala and Sir
Dinakar Rao to the legislative council.
ü This act restored the powers of
Bombay and Bengal presidencies.
ü The Legislative Council for Bengal
was created in the year 1862.
ü The Legislative council for NWFP
(North West Frontier Province) was created in the year 1866.
ü NWFP is in present
day Pakistan and the name is changed to “Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa”.
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ü The Legislative Council for Punjab
was created in the year 1897.
ü This act gave recognition to the
portfolio system. (Portfolio system means placing each member in charge of a
specific department).
ü Lord canning introduced Portfolio system in the
year 1859.
ü This act also empowered the Viceroy
to issue ordinances.
ü What is Ordinance? We learn during the discussion of
the President of India.
1892 ACT: (THE INDIAN COUNCILS ACT)
ü This act gave the legislative
councils the power of discussing the budget and addressing questions to the
executive.
ü This act also provided for the
nomination of some non-official members to the legislative councils by the
Viceroy.
Indian Councils ACT of 1909 (MORLEY – MINTO REFORMS):
ü Minto was the then Viceroy.
ü Morley was the then Secretary of
State.
ü This act increased the size of
legislative councils by including elected non-official members.
ü An element of election was
introduced at the central legislative council but the official majority was
maintained.
ü The members of the legislative
council were allowed to ask supplementary questions.
ü The members were allowed to move the
resolutions on budget or on any matter of public interest except subjects like
armed forces, Foreign affairs and Indian states.
ü This act provided the association of
Indians with executive council of the viceroy and the Governor.
ü The first Indian to join the
Viceroys Executive council was Satyendra Prasad Sinha.
ü The 1909 act introduced a system of
communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept of ‘Separate Electorate’.
ü Under the ‘Separate Electorate’ the
Muslim members were to be elected only by Muslim voters.
ü For the 1st time the seeds of separatism were
sown.
ü The 1909 act legalized communalism.
ü Minto was regarded as the “Father of Communal Electorate”.
ü The Minto-Morley reforms did not aim
at establishing a parliamentary system of the government.
ü The final decision on all matters
was retained in the hands of the irresponsible executive.
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT, 1919
ü This act came into picture when the
Indian National Congress became very active during the 1st World war and launched the ‘Home
Rule’ movement.
ü This is also called Montague –
Chelmsford reforms.
ü Chelmsford was the then Viceroy.
ü Montague was the then Secretary of
state.
ü On August 20, 1917 the British
Government made a declaration that the policy of His Majesty’s Government is
that of increasing association of Indians in every branch of administration and
the gradual development of self-governing of institutions with a view to
progressive realization of responsible government in British India as an
integral part of the British empire.
ü Montagu-Chelmsford were entrusted
with the responsibility of formulating proposals for the said policy and the
GOI Act, 1919 gave a formal shape to the same.
ü The report of Montague-Chelmsford
led to the enactment of GOI of 1919.
ü The GOI Act 1919
introduced diarchy or dual government.
ü The diarchy was introduced
at the provinces and not at the centre.
ü This act demarcated the central and
provincial subjects.
ü The provincial subjects were further
divided into transferred subjects and reserved subjects.
ü Transferred subjects are those
subjects that are administered by the Governor with the aid of ministers and
responsible to the Legislative Council in which the proportion of elected
members was raised to 70 percent.
ü Hence, the foundation of responsible
government was introduced in the narrow sphere in the form of transferred
subjects.
ü The reserved subjects on the other
hand were to be administered by the Governor and his executive council without
any responsibility to the Legislature.
ü The source of revenue was also
divided into 2 categories, so that the provinces could run the administration
with the aid of revenue raised by the provinces by themselves.
ü Provincial budget was separated from
the Central budget.
ü The control of the Governor-General
over provinces was retained by empowering the Governor to reserve the bill for
the consideration of the Governor-General.
ü Through the GOI Act of 1919
bicameralism (two houses i.e. Upper and Lower House) was introduced at the
centre.
ü The Upper House was called Council
of state composed of 60 members of whom 34 were elected.
ü The lower House was called
Legislative Assembly composed of 144 members of whom 104 were elected.
ü The powers of both the Upper and
Lower Houses were equal except that the power to vote supply (budget) was given
only to the Lower House.
ü The concept of elections was
introduced.
ü The Indian Legislative council
consists of the Upper House (Council of State) and the Lower house (Legislative
Assembly).
ü The majority of the members from
both the houses are elected directly.
ü The act of 1919 extended communal
representation for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Europeans and Anglo-Indians. (Remember the
1909 act introduced communal representation only for Muslims and not for all
communities). (These are the questions that are asked in the examination, read carefully).
ü This act provided for the
establishment of Public Service Commission.
ü Accordingly the Public Service
Commission was set up for recruiting Civil Servants.
ü The act of 1919 also provided for
the separation of provincial budget from the central Budget. (Province means a
smaller area, just like a present day state. Today we have 2 budgets in the
country, central and state budgets, this started with the 1919 Act and even
after the commencement of the Constitution we continued with the same).
ü The 1919 reforms failed to fulfill
the aspirations of the people in India and this led to “Swaraj” or
“Self-government” agitation under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
ü In the year 1927 a statutory
commission was appointed under the chairmanship of Simon to inquire into and
report on the working of the 1919 Act.
SIMON COMMISSION:
ü The Simon Commission was appointed
by the British Government in November 1927.
ü This was a 7 member Commission.
ü The Chairman of the Commission was
Sir John Simon.
ü The purpose of the commission was to
report on the condition of India under the new constitution (GOI 1919).
ü All the members of the committee
were British.
ü Hence all the parties boycotted the
Commission.
ü The Simon Commission submitted the
report in the year 1930.
ü The Simon Commission recommended for
the abolition of diarchy.
ü This commission also recommended for
the continuation of communal electorate.
ü The British government convened
three round table conferences to consider the proposals of Simon Commission.
ü The conferences to be attended by
the representatives of British Government, British India and Indian princely
states. (Regarding the round table conferenceswe learn more during the study of
National Movement).
ü The three rounds table conferences
held between 1930 and 1932.
ü Mahatma Gandhi
attended the second round table conference only.
ü On the basis of these discussions a
white paper on constitutional reforms was prepared and the same was submitted
to the Parliament.
ü The recommendations were
incorporated in the GOI Act of 1935.
COMMUNAL AWARD OF 1932:
ü On August 4, 1932 the communal award
was announced by Ramsay MacDonald (The then British Prime Minister).
ü This is meant for providing
extending separate electorate to Scheduled Castes.
ü In fact the concept of separate
electorate for depresses classes was raised by Dr. B.R.Ambedkar.
ü The proposal was accepted by the
British and announced the Communal award.
ü Gandhi opposed this on the grounds
that this proposal would disintegrate the Hindu society.
ü Mahatma Gandhi began indefinite
hunger strike in Yeravada jail (Pune, Maharashtra) against the separate
electorate for Scheduled Castes.
POONA PACT OF 1932:
ü As Mahatma Gandhi went on to hunger
strike Dr Ambedkar was under tremendous pressure to save the life Gandhi.
ü Hence Dr. Ambedkar accepted for an
agreement.
ü This is an agreement between the
Dalits (Then called depressed classes) of India led by Dr. B.R.Amdedkar and the
upper caste Hindus of India.
ü This took place on September 24,
1932 at Yeravada jail.
ü Under Poona pact of 1932 there shall
be seats reserved for the depressed classes out of general electoral seats in
the provincial legislature.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT OF 1935:
ü The GOI Act 1935 prescribed a
Federation.
ü The GOI act 1935 divided the powers
into
Federal List (59) Provincial List (54) Concurrent List (36)
ü The residuary powers were vested
with the Viceroy.
ü The GOI act of 1935 abolished the diarchy in provinces.
ü The GOI act of 1935 provided the diarchy at the centre. (This did not come
into operation).
ü The responsible government was
introduced in provinces. The Executive authority of the province was also
exercised by the Governor on behalf of the crown and not as a subordinate of
the Governor-General.
ü The GOI act of 1935 introduced
bicameralism (2 house, Upper and lower) in 6 out of 11 provinces. This was
Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.
ü In the rest of the provinces the
legislature was unicameral.
ü This act extended separate
electorate for depressed classes (SC’s), Women and labor.
ü This act extended the franchise (Right to vote). With this 10%
of the population got the voting right.
ü The GOI 1935 granted limited
franchise on the basis of tax, property and education.
ü The GOI act of 1935 provided for the
establishment of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the year 1935.
ü Establishment of RBI was recommended byHilton-Young Commission in the year 1926.
ü The RBI in the year 1935 was set up at Calcutta (Kolkata).
ü In the year 1937 RBI was shifted to Bombay
(Mumbai).
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ü
The GOI act of 1935 provided for the establishment of Provincial and Joint Public Service Commission.
The GOI act of 1935 provided for the establishment of Provincial and Joint Public Service Commission.
ü The GOI act also provided for the
establishment of Federal Court.
ü The Federal Court was set up in the
year 1937 in Delhi.
ü The seat of
the Federal court was the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building in
Delhi.
ü The first Chief Justice of the
Federal Court was Maurice Gwyer.
ü (Note: The present Supreme Court was
established on January 28, 1950).
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947:
ü On February 20, 1947 the Prime
Minister of England Sir Clement Atlee declared that the British rule in India
would end by June 30, 1948.
ü The Muslim League demanded for the
partition.
ü On June 3, 1947 the government
announced that the constitution is not applicable to unwilling parts of the
nation.
ü Lord Mount Batten (then Viceroy) put
forth the partition plan on the same day. It is called Mountbatten plan. (This
is also called June 3 plan).
ü This plan was accepted by both
congress and Muslim league.
ü The Indian Independence Act of 1947
ended the British rule and declared India as an independent and sovereign state
from August 15, 1947.
ü This act provided for the partition
of the country into India and Pakistan.
ü The office of Viceroy was abolished
and provided for the Governor-General for each dominion (India and Pakistan)
appointed by the king.
ü This act also empowered the constituent
assemblies to frame and adopt any constitution.
ü The Central legislature of India
composed of the legislative assembly and the council of states ceased to exist
on August 14, 1947.
ü The Indian Independence Act granted
freedom to the princely states either to join India or Pakistan or to remain
independent.
ü The civil servants were allowed to
entitle all the benefits.
ü Lord Mountbatten became the first
Governor-General of independent India.
ü Jawaharlal Nehru was sworn in as the
first Prime Minister of India by Lord Mount Batten.
ü Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the first
Governor-General of Pakistan.
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