Introduction
The general breakdown of the central authority, in the wake of Mughal’s fall, resulted in a English trading company taking over India. Initially, the English East India Company’s focus was not on administration. Its aim was ensuring smooth trade. However, after the terrible Bengal famine of 1770, they began to exercise power with some responsibility. Not withstanding their exploitative economic policy, their professed objective was the safety of the people they governed and administration of justice. The justification for their expansionist policy was the
extermination of tyranny of the local rulers and the harassment by robbers and marauders in the country. Railways and telegraph, introduced for easier communication, also served the purpose of curbing resistance and the control
of the local population. However, their agrarian and commercial policies had a ruinous impact on the economy. India’s wealth was drained in several forms. By the 1830s there was large scale emigration of ruined peasants and weavers to
plantations in the British Empire countries.Before the emperor granted the Diwani toClive, the Nawab of Bengal, successor of Mir Jafar, had practically transferred the Nizamat (civil administration) to the Company. So the Company had to function as Diwan and theNizam.
Establishment of British Raj
The Diwan’s duty included the collection of revenue and the control of civil justice. The Nizam’s function was to exercise military power and to dispense criminal justice. Thus the Company acquired the real power, while the responsibility of administration was with the Nawab. This arrangement is called Dual System
or Double government or Dyarchy. But soon the dual system began to break
down. Governance without responsibility led to the outbreak of a terrible famine in 1770. Nearly one third of Bengal's population perished. The miseries of the province were intensified by the Company servants who had monopolized the sale
of rice and realized huge profits. Finally, the Company realized its responsibility and passed the Regulating Act of 1773. Warren Hastings was appointed the Governor General of Bengal.
Thomas Munro:
Munro arrived Madras in 1780.In the first 12 years he was engaged in Mysore War as soldier. He worked in the Baramahal (Salem district) from 1792-1799Thomas Munroand Kanara from 1799-1800. He was collector of Ceded Districts:Kadapa, Kurnool, Chittoor, Anantapur. Itwas during this period that he conceivedthe idea of Ryotwari Settlement. In 1820 hebecame Governor of Madras Presidencyand served for seven years. In 1822 heofficially enforced the Ryotwari System inMadras. During his governorship, he gaveattention to education and regarded anyexpenditure on it as an investment. Healso emphasized the need for Indianizationof the services. He died of Cholera atPattikonda (Karnool district) in July1827. A very popular governor, peopleconstructed shrines in his honour, andnamed their children after him. His statuewas erected at Madras in 1839 by publicsubscription.
Doctrine of Lapse
Traditionally Hindu custom allowed the adoption of a son in the absence of male heirs. The adopted son had the right to inherit
property. In this context the question raised was whether
Dalhousie such an adopted prince holding the state subordinate
to the Paramount Power (England) could succeed without the consent of the latter. Before Dalhousie’s arrival, the custom was to obtain the
sanction of the Company government before or after adoption. Governor General Dalhousie held that the paramount power could legally refuse to sanction adoption in the case of rulers of States dependent on it. This meant that dependent States could be regarded as lapsed to the paramount power, by its refusal to sanction
the succession of adopted sons.
9th ss one marks
Native States and British Paramountcy
In the aftermath of the Battle of Plassey (Palashi) (1757), when the Company embarked on its career of expansion, it established the system of dual government. Under this system, everything was sought to be done by the Company’s servants in the name of some powerless and dependent prince. In theory the Company was only the diwan (the collector of revenue), but in practice it exercised full authority. This authority was asserted by the refusal to continue the payment of annual tribute to the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II promised by Clive. Cornwallis even stopped affirming obedience in letters to the emperor. Wellesley carried matters further with his objective of establishing British predominance through his Subsidiary Alliance System. Wellesley made subsidiary alliances with the three of the major States of India: Hyderabad, Poona and Mysore.
Education
The establishment of a Madrasa by a learned maulvi with the support of Warren Hastings was the beginning of initiatives of British government to promote education. This Madrasa started with forty stipendiary students. What
Warren Hastings had done for the Muslims, his successor was prepared to do for the Hindus.Cornwallis established a Sanskrit college (1791) in Benares. The successive governors in the next twenty years, however, did nothing to follow
it up. The Company held the view that it was not desirable in its own interests to encourage education in India. In 1813, when the Company Charter was renewed, it contained a clause intended to force on the Company the initiative for a regular educational policy. Hastings encouraged the foundation of vernacular schools
by missionaries. He was the patron of the Hindu College, established at Calcutta in 1817, supported by the Indian public for the teaching of English and of Western science. The cause of education was further promoted by missionaries like Alexander Duff. Thanks to Hastings’ liberal outlook, press censorship instituted in 1799 was abolished. It was in such an atmosphere that the Bengali Weekly, the Samachar Darpan was started in 1818.
0 கருத்துகள்