History - Rulers of British India (Part - 6)

Lord Rippon (1880-84)

1. Appointed by the Liberal Party Government of Gladston.

2. Withdrew from Afghanistan. Abdur Rahman was recognised the Amir of Afghan.

3. Passing of the first Factory Act 1881 for the welfare of child labour. It also improved the labour conditions.

4. Repeal of Vernacular Press Act in 1882.

5. Lowered salt tax.

6. Decentralised finance. The sources of revenues were classified into three; (i) Imperial Heads, (ii) Provincial Heads and (iii) Divided Heads. The revenue from Imperial Heads (customs, posts & telegraphs, railways, opium, salt, mint, etc.) went to the Central Government. The income from subjects under Provincial Heads (jails, roads, medical services, etc.) was to be credited to the accounts of the provincial governments. The receipts from the Divided Heads (excise, stamps, forests, registration, etc.) were to be divided between the central and the provincial governments.

7. Foundation of local self government (1882) - passing of local self government acts in various provinces during the period 1883-84. Ripon is known as the father of Indian local self government.

8. Holding of the first decennial and regular census in 1881 which put the total population at 254 million.

9. Appointment of an Education Commission under Sir William Hunter in 1882 to review the progress of India after implementation of the Woods’ Despatch in 1854. As per the recommendations of the Hunter Commission, more share of government income was earmarked for education and more primary and secondary schools were set up. The thrust was shifted from university education to school level education.

10. The Ilbert Bill controversy, 1883-84 relating to passing of a bill framed by the Law Member of the Viceroy’s council, Sir C.P. Ilbert, which abolished judicial disqualification based on race. The Criminal Procedure Code of 1873 prescribed that no European living in India could be tried by an Indian judge. The issue was raised by Behari Lal Gupta, an officer of the Indian Civil Service. The Ilbert Bill envisaged removal of this discrimination.

11. Ramesh Chandra Mitter was appointed the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on Chief Justice Sir P.C. Garth proceeding on furlough.

12. The Ilbert Bill and the appointment of Ramesh Chandra Mitter provoked the European community in India. There was strong protest from the Europeans, particularly the English, and eventually under pressure, the government amended the bill and provided for the rights of the Europeans to claim trial by jury of 12, out of which at least 7 were to be Europeans.

13. Famine code of 1883.

14. Resigned, following the opposition of the Europeans, Rippon resigned in 1884.

Lord Dufferin (1884-88)

1. Foundation of Indian National Congress (INC) in Bombay (28th December 1885).

2. Third Anglo-Burmese war.

3. In 1886 upper Burma was annexed.

4. Aitchison Committee was appointed to review the Civil Services. It suggested the abolition of the Statutory Civil Services and strengthening of provincial services. But it rejected the demand for simultaneous exams in India to the ICS.

5. Held a garden tea party for the Congress leaders in 1886, when the INC held its second session in Calcutta. But later, he was disenchanted with the policies of the Party and commented that it was a “microscopic minority jumped into the un-known” and called it “annual babu Congress”.

Lord Landsdowne (1888-94)

1. Passed the Age of Consent Act in 1891 which forbade marriage of a girl below age 12.

2. Categorised the Civil Services into imperial, provincial and subordinate civil services.

3. 1891, second Factory Act was passed.

4. 1892, Indian Council Act was passed. Indirect elections were introduced in India for the first time.

5. 1893, Durand Mission was sent to Kabul. Durand defined the boundary between India and Afghanistan. After partition of India in 1947, the Durant Line became the official boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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