East India Company Rule in India

East India Company Rule in India

i. Company Rule in India

a. East India Company begins in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab of Bengal surrendered his dominions to the Company.
b. In 1765, when the Company was granted the diwani, or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal and Bihar.
c. In 1773, when the Company established a capital in Calcutta, appointed its first Governor-General, Warren Hastings, and became directly involved in governance.
d. In First Anglo-Mysore war (1767-69), Haider ali defeated British and treaty of Madras signed.
e. In First Anglo-Mysore war (1780-84), haider ali died in 1782.
f. In Third Anglo-Mysore war (1789-92), british defeated Tipu sultan.
g. Tipu sultan died in Fourth Third Anglo-Mysore war in 1799.
h. The rule lasted until 1858, when, after the Indian rebellion of 1857 and consequent of the Government of India Act 1858, the British government assumed the task of directly administering India in the new British Raj.

ii. Important Acts

a. The regulating act, 1773 was first attempt to regulate the affairs of the company.

b. The Pitts India Act, 1784 gives supreme control over the company’s affairs and it administration in India.

c. Charter Act of 1813 compelled the East India Company to accept responsibility for the education of the Indian people also gives monopoly of trade with India except in Tea.

d. Charter Act of 1833 centralized the administration of India.

e. Charter act of 1843 extends period of Company for an unspecified period.

f. Government of India Act, 1858 transfers’ Indian administration from Company to British crown and governor-general was to be called the Viceroy.

g. Indian councils Act, 1861 starts association of Indians in legislation.

h. Indian councils Act, 1892 bring power to discuss budget to executive.

i. Indian councils Act. 1909 (Morley-Minto reforms) introduced indirect elections to the legislative councils.

j. Government of India Act, 1919 (Montague-Chemsford Reforms) produced their scheme of constitutional reforms. These reforms, popularly known as Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, led to the enactment of Government of India Act of 1919 Silent features are:

i. The Council of Secretary of State was to compromise 8-to-12 people, three of them Indian.

ii. Dyrachy System was introduced as the provincial level. Under this system, Subjects of Administration were divided into two groups; 1. Reserved subjects and 2. Transferred subjects. Reserved subjects were under the direct control of Governors, while transferred subjects were under ministers responsible to the legislature.

iii. The Central Legislature was to consist of two houses: the Council of State or Up per House and the Legislative Assembly or Lowered House. Both the Houses had equal legislative powers.

iv. Sikhs, Anglo-Indians, Christians and Europeans were also given the right to separate electorates.

v. Secretary of State now to be paid from British revenue. 

k. Government of India Act, 1935 have following rights

i. Provision for the establishment of a "Federation of India", to be made up of both British India and some or all of the "princely states"

ii. Introduction of direct elections, thus increasing the franchise from seven million to thirty-five million people

iii. It ends the system of dyarchy introduced by the Government of India Act 1919).

iv. A partial reorganization of the provinces:

v. Sindh was separated from Bombay

vi. Bihar and Orissa was split into separate provinces of Bihar and Orissa

vii. Burma was completely separated from India

viii. Establishment of a Federal Court

iii. Revolt of 1857

a. Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the Meerut cantonment and soon escalated into other parts.

b. The rebellion is also known as India's First War of Independence, the Great Rebellion, the Indian Rebellion and the Uprising of 1857.

c. The main cause was anger about the ammunition for the new rifles they had to use. The cartridges that were used in the rifles had to be bitten open. The Muslims were angry because they thought that the paper cartridges had pig fat in them. Hindu soldiers were angry because they believed the cartridges had cow fat in them.

d. The most ferocious battles were fought in Delhi, Awadh, Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and western Bihar. 

e. The rebellious forces under the commands of Kanwar Singh in Bihar and Bakht Khan in Delhi gave a stunning blow to the British. 

f. In Kanpur, Nana Sahib was proclaimed as the Peshwa and the brave leader Tantya Tope led his troops. 

g. Rani Lakshmibai was proclaimed the ruler of Jhansi who led her troops in the heroic battles with the British. 

h. The revolt was controlled by the British within one year, it began from Meerut on 10 May 1857 and ended in Gwalior on 20 June 1858.

iv. Social Reforms

a. The British gave their support to the loyal princes, zamindar and local chiefs but neglected the educated people and the common masses. Consequently, people's disgust with the British rule kept mounting, which gave rise to the birth of Indian National Movement.

b. The leadership of the freedom movement passed into the hands of reformists like Raja Rammohan Roy, Bankim Chandra and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. 

c. During this time, the binding psychological concept of National Unity was also forged in the fire of the struggle against a common foreign oppressor.

d. Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 which aimed at purging the society of all its evil practices. He worked for eradicating evils like sati, child marriage and purdah system, championed widow marriage and women's education and favoured English system of education in India. 

e. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) the disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, established the Ramkrishna Mission at Belur in 1897. He championed the supremacy of Vedantic philosophy. His talk at the Chicago (USA) Conference of World Religions in 1893 made the westerners realize the greatness of Hinduism for the first time.

v. Indian Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)

a. Formation of Indian National Congress (INC)
i. The Indian Association was, in a way, the forerunner of the Indian National Congress, which was founded, with the help of A.O. Hume, a retired British official.
ii. The birth of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885 marked the entry of new educated middle-class into politics and transformed the Indian political horizon.
iii. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the president ship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee and was attended among others by and Badr-uddin-Tyabji.
b. Partition of Bengal (1905)
i. On 20th July 1905 lord Curzon issued an order dividing Bengal into two states Easter Bengal and Assam.
ii. Aim was to divide Hindu and Muslims and break nationalism in Bengal.
iii. Partition of Bengal came into effect from 16th October 1905.
iv. Against the partition of Bengal, Swadeshi and Boycott was adopted as a protest movement.
v. Due to protests, two parts of Bengal were reunited in 1911.

c. Congress Split and Reunite. 

i. Lal Bal Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal) were a triumvirate of assertive nationalists in British-ruled India in the early 20th century, from 1905 to 1918.

ii. Tilak was unpopular with moderate group of Bombay.

iii. In 1906 culcatta session Bipin Chandra pal wanted tilak as congress president.

iv. Congress split in the nationalist rank at Surat session of 1907.

v. In 1916 lucknow session, the extremists were welcomed back into congress.

vi. Lucknow pact marks an important step forward in Hindu-Muslim Unity.

d. Home Rule League Movement (1916-17) begins with objective to attain home rule for india as self government within british empire.

e. Jalianwala Bagh massacre 

i. Jalianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919 was one of the most inhuman acts of the British rulers in India. 

ii. The people of Punjab gathered on the auspicious day of Baisakhi at Jalianwala Bagh, adjacent to Golden Temple (Amritsar), to lodge their protest peacefully against persecution by the British Indian Government. 

iii. General Dyer with his armed police force and fired indiscriminately at innocent empty handed people leaving hundreds of people dead, including women and children.

f. Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movement (1919-22)

i. Khilafat committee was formed by ali brothers Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani.

ii. In 1919 at Khilafat conference Delhi it was decided to withdraw co-operation across country. 

iii. Gandhiji was one of leader of Khilafat Movement.

iv. Non-Cooperation Movement launched on 31st August 1920.

v. Non-cooperation movement was on peak when Gandhiji withdrew it due to Chauri Chaura incident on 5th February 2022

g. Civil Disobedience Movement (1930)

i. Mahatma Gandhi led the Civil Disobedience Movement that was launched in the Congress Session of December 1929. 

ii. The aim of this movement was a complete disobedience of the orders of the British Government. 

iii. On 26th January 1930, meetings were held all over the country and the Congress tricolour was hoisted. 

iv. Dandi march was undertaken from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandhi by Gandhi on 12th March 1930.

v. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru but the movement spread across country.

vi. First round table conference in January 1931.

vii. In Gandhi-Irwin Pack, March 1931, lord Irwin agreed to release all political prisoners except Bhagat singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.  They were hanged to death on March 23, 1931.

viii. Gandhiji attended the second Round Table Conference at London which fails.

ix. Congress didn’t participated in Third round conference.

x. During this time, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were arrested on the charges of throwing a bomb in the Central Assembly Hall (which is now Lok Sabha) in Delhi, to demonstrate against the autocratic alien rule. 

xi. Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)

h. Quit India Movement

i. In August 1942, Gandhiji started the 'Quit India Movement' and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement 'Do or Die' call to force the British to leave India. 

ii. The movement was followed, nonetheless, by large-scale violence directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule. 

iii. Meanwhile, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who stealthily ran away from the British detention in Calcutta, reached foreign lands and organized the Indian National Army (INA) to overthrow the British from India.

iv. Subhash Chandra Bose, with the help of Japan, preceded fighting the British forces and not only freed Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the Britishers but also entered the north-eastern border of India. 

v. But in 1945 Japan was defeated and Netaji proceeded from Japan through an aeroplane to a place of safety but met with an accident and it was given out that he died in that air-crash itself.

vi. "Give me blood and I shall give you freedom" - was one of the most popular statements made by him, where he urges the people of India to join him in his freedom movement.

i. Partition of India and Pakistan

i. At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Labour Party, under Prime Minister Clement Richard Attlee, came to power in Britain. The Labour Party was largely sympathetic towards Indian people for freedom.

ii. A Cabinet Mission was sent to India in March 1946, which after a careful study of the Indian political scenario, proposed the formation of an interim Government and convening of a Constituent Assembly comprising members elected by the provincial legislatures and nominees of the Indian states. 

iii. An interim Government was formed headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, the Muslim League refused to participate in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly and pressed for the separate state for Pakistan. 

iv. Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, presented a plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan, and the Indian leaders had no choice but to accept the division, as the Muslim League was adamant.

v. Thus, India became free at the stroke of midnight, on August 14, 1947. (Since then, every year India celebrates its Independence Day on 15th August). 

vi. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minster of free India and continued his term till 1964. 

vii. Constituent Assembly was formed in July 1946 for which Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee.

viii. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its President. 

ix. On January 26, 1950, the Constitution was came into force and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected the first President of India.

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