Modern Indian History Class 17

Political and administrative impact of the 1857 revolt 

• The Governor General of Bengal was replaced with the Viceroy.
• Administrative impact:
• Now there was a focus on effective policing and intelligence.
• 1860 police commission led to the Indian police act, of 1861 which set up police structure and functions which continued till 1947 with little change.
•  Indian police act, of 1861:
• The state police concept was implemented properly throughout British India.
• Provincial police under the inspector general who reported to the governor/LG.
• District police under the superintendent of police who reported to DC/DM
• Therefore for 1st time, a proper hierarchy of specialists with a proper chain of command was implemented.
• In 1857, a Police Raj was created and Indians were excluded from all senior positions. 
• Civil services:
• The civil services exam was introduced by the Charter of 1853 and Indians could give exams.
• The exam was held in London and after 1857, it was ensured that simultaneous exams is not held in India.
• The maximum age was kept low between 19-23, this was to prevent Indians from clearing the exam.
• Finally, Indian national movement pressure led to exams in India.
• 1st exam was held in 1922 in India and the decision was GOI 1919.
• British military:
• After the 1857 revolt, the Peel commission led to the following change:
• Prevent homogeneity by having a heterogeneous mix of different castes, in a regiment.
• This was to prevent caste-based bonds of unity among sepoys like in the Bengal army in the 1857 revolt.
• Prevent inter-region interaction between regional army units to prevent pan-India unity among regiments.
• Britsih benefited from the lack of unity between their regional armies in the 1857 revolt.
• Now recruitment was done on basis of race, and the idea of a martial race started by the British.
• That is Jats, Rajput, and Sikhs were termed as martial races, who were loyal, courageous, and good fighters but lacked leadership skills given the British.
• Therefore martial races and those regions which stayed loyal were preferred in recruitment.
• British focused on building a culture of loyalty to salt and promoted the idea of sacrifice for the employer for the honour of one community.
• Now the British maintained a large standing army, that is an army in peacetime.
• British ensured at least a 1:2 ratio between Europeans and Indians in the army.
• No Indians in senior military positions.
• There was high use of the British army against INM and peasant revolt.
• Also British wanted to ensure that sepoys, don't influence by INM, therefore they were kept in barracks as much as possible.

British imperialist ideologies 

• White man's burden:
• The idea among western Europeans is that they are a superior civilization and therefore have a responsibility to civilize the rest of the world.
• This belief strengthened due to the enlightenment, scientific revolution, industrial revolution, capitalism,  etc.
• Orientalism(dominated until 1813):
• Oriental implies relating to the east.
• Orientalists believed in the greatness of ancient Indian civilization and therefore wanted to study Indian scriptures, languages, literature, etc.
• Willaim Jones argued in favour of kinship ties between Indians and Europeans.
• He argued that Indian and European languages are part of the same family and therefore Indian civilization is at par with European civilization and supported Aryan invasion theory.
• However, orientalism supported colonialism as: 
• Degrataions in the recent past argued orientalist and white man's burden was to restore the glory of ancient times.
• The responsibility to restore the golden past was to be with the British and not with Indians, who were seen as incapable of leadership.
• Aryan invasion theory implied that even the great past was the product of the west and therefore supported cultural colonialism.
• The argument of kinship had the benefit of decreasing opposition to colonial rule.
• Orientalists believed in ruling India the Indian way because:
• Since the Indian way of life is great thus don't impose the British way of life.
• Some believed India is not ready for modern British ideas, therefore preventing the negative reactions from Indians against the British, this also led to less focus on social reforms, and administrative and legal reforms.
• Therefore orientalism helped in the smooth transition of power from Indian rulers to British.
• The authoritarianism of Cornwallis:
• Greater study of the ancient past led to believe among the British that degradation in present is too much.
• Therefore attempt should not be to restore the golden past but impose the British system.
• He was an authoritarian who imposed the British system of administration and removed Indians from all senior positions.
• For example, he was influenced by English landlordism and brought Permanent settlement in 1793.
• He was also a racist as he converted the British bureaucracy into an aloof elite,  that is he discourages the intermingling of EIC officials with Indians and supported separateness.
• Indian were now not allowed in gated colonies of the British and EIC were discouraged from having Indian wives, Eurasians were banned from joining EIC service.
• The reason for this was racism and preventing a repeat of the American revolution where the British permanently settled in 13 colonies in the 1600s and then revolted against the British crown, therefore he also banned the purchase of land by EIC officials who had Indian wives.
• Authoritarianism leads to the establishment of a strong state which implements rule of law.
• By 1813 orientalism came under attack:
• and it was argued that it has denied the benefits of British rule to India.
• As orientalism prevented Britain from modernization of India.
• Therefore now push to the westernization of India to achieve the white man's burden and 3 imperial ideologies emerged.
• Liberalism:
• British rule should civilize India and liberate it from backwardness rather than the British just conquering India.
• This is by giving India the best ideas for the age.
• They argued for bringing western education and implementation British legal system with rule of law, westernization of the Indian economy, and social reforms to end social ills.
• Utilitarianism:
• It argued that it is only good governance that is good laws and their efficient implementation that can modernize India.
• James Mill in his book "history of British India" argued that the great Indian civilization is a myth and that what India needs is an effective schoolmaster.
• The focus was on utility as supported use of vernacular instead of the English language to spread western education.
• It also favoured majoritarianism, that is those laws and actions are goods that maximize benefits for maximum stakeholders.
• Evangelicalism:
• It argued that the main thing wrong with India is its religion, therefore Christianizing India to modernize India.
• The charter act of 1813, led by Charles Grant of EIC legalized the entry of Christian missionaries and there was a push to conversion to Christianity
• The charter act of 1813 ended the monopoly of EIC over Indian trade, therefore now the Indian economy was to be westernized with FDI, and the import of technology via non-EIC  British business.
• Post-1857 revolt high increase in racism and authoritarianism and now the British argued that Indians are beyond reforms.
• Now India was not just inferior but also different, that is not a kin of Europeans.
• British became distrustful of Indians and present sharing of power in any meaningful manner.

The topic of the next class:  Land revenue systems of the British.