Lord Ripon

• When Ripon was appointed viceroy in India, the liberal party under Gladstone
had come to power in England and it wanted to make the British rule in India
“profitable to natives” thus under Ripon a liberal policy was tried to undo
most of the reactionary and unpopular measures of Lytton.
• Repeal of Vernacular Press Act 1882, the much denounced vernacular press
act of 1882 was repealed and newspapers published in vernacular languages
were allowed freedom on par with the rest of the Indian press.
• Factory Act 1881, For the first time, an act was passed to improve the lot of
factory labourers, which sought to regulate and improve the conditions of the
Indian factory workers
Lord Ripon
• Factory Act 1881, For the first time, an act was
passed to improve the lot of factory labourers,
which sought to regulate and improve the
conditions of the Indian factory workers
The First Factories Act
• In 1875, the first committee appointed to inquire into the conditions
of factory work favoured legal restriction in the form of factory laws.
• The first Factories Act was adopted in 1881.
• The Factory Commission was appointed in 1885.
The First Factories Act
• The same set of hands, men and women, worked continuously day
and night for eight consecutive days.
• Those who went away for the night returned at three in the morning
to make sure of being in time when the doors opened at 4 a.m., and
for 18 hours' work, from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., three or four annas was
the wage.
• When the hands are absolutely tired out new hands are entertained.
The First Factories Act
• Those working these excessive hours frequently died.
• There was another Factories Act in 1891, and a Royal
Commission on Labour was appointed in 1892.
• Restrictions on hours of work and on the employment of
women were the chief gains of these investigations and
legislation
Lord Ripon
• Financial Decentralization 1882, the Financial Decentralization inaugurated
under Lord Mayo was further widened under Ripon.
• The sources of revenue were divided into three classes, namely
• Imperial,
• Provincial and
• Divided.
FINANCIAL DECENTRALIZATION,
• Like Lord Mayo he believed in financial decentralization, thus this way
the burden financial management on the central administration was
drastically reduce.
• He divided the sources of revenue under three categories –
• Imperial,
• Provincial and
• Divided.
FINANCIAL DECENTRALIZATION
• 1. Imperial Heads:
• Revenue from Customs, Posts and Telegraphs, Railways, Opium, Salt, Mint, Military
Receipts, Land Revenue etc. were included in the imperial head. The Central Government
was required to meet the expenses of central administration out of this revenue.
• 2. Provincial Heads:
• Revenue from Jails, Medical slices, Printing, Roads, General Administration, etc. were
included in the provincial heads. As the income from provincial heads was insufficient for
provincial expenses, a part of Land revenue was assigned to the provinces.
• 3. Divided Heads:
• The revenue from Excise, Stamps, Forests, Registration etc. was divided in equal
proportion among the Central and Provincial Governments.
• The system of Divided Heads started by Ripon remained operative till it was modified by
the Reforms of 1919.
FINANCIAL DECENTRALIZATION,
• Railways, mint, military, post office, etc come under imperial resources.
• Provincial resources include health, roads, printing and
general administration.
• Divided resources envisage sharing of revenue between central
and provincial governments such as forest, stamp duties, registration, etc.
• Thus long time ago in the colonial era Lord Ripon highlighted the
importance of financial management and how best the revenue resources
in the countries could be utilized for the welfare of the people at the
central as well as provincial levels.
Local self -government 1882,
• Local self -government 1882, Ripon was founder of the
local self –government in modern India.
• Local self –government acts were passed in various
provinces during 1883-85.
• The local boards, urban and rural, were founded not so
much with a view to improve the efficiency of
administration, but as an instrument of political education
of the people.
Local self -government 1882,
• Lord Ripon is still remembered by the Indians for his attempts to establish
local self government.
• Lord Ripon believed that the aim of Local Self Government was to train the
Indians to manage their own affairs themselves.
• Lord Ripon wrote, “What I want is a gradual training of the best, most
intelligent and influential men in the community, to take an interest and
active part in the management of their local affairs.”
• Ripon made it clear that he was advocating for the decentralization of
administration not with a view of improving administration but as an
instrument of political and popular education.
• The idea of local self government was not a new one.
Local self -government 1882,
• Municipalities had already existed in big towns but the Government
nominated the municipal commissioner.
• In rural areas there were committees to, manage local affairs such as
sanitation, the repair and construction of roads, maintenance of ferries,
education etc.
• However the local committees were all under official control.
• Moreover the area served by their committees was too large. So that their
members were not sufficiently acquitted with the needs of the people of
different localities.
• Lord Ripon sought to remove these obstacles in the sphere of Local Self
government by his resolution of 1882.
• Accordingly, in rural areas District Boards and Local Boards known as “tahsil
or “taluk boards were established.
Local self -government 1882,
• The members were to be elected by rent-payers rather than
nominated by the Government.
• In towns the powers and responsibilities of the Municipalities were
enlarged.
• The members were to be partly elected and partly nominated.
• The chairman was to be a non-official member.
• The nominated members should not be more than one third of the
total strength.
• The management of health, education, roads and communications
were to remain under the control of the local boards.
Local self -government 1882,
• The local bodies were given certain financial powers but the Government
retained the powers of inspection.
• The local bodies were kept free from government control.
• But if the Boards were not discharging their duties properly, then the
Government had the right to dissolve them.
• But usually, the government did not interfere in the affairs of the local
bodies.
• The Local Self Government Acts were passed in different provinces during
1883-85.
• The work of lighting, cleaning of streets, sanitation, education, water
supply, medical aid etc. was assigned to the local bodies of Madras, Punjab
and Bengal.
Lord Ripon
• Educational reforms, to review the development of
education in the country since the WOOD’S DISPATCH, AN
EDUCATION COMMISSION WAS APPOINTED IN 1882,
which emphasized the state’s special responsibility for the
expansion and improvement of primary education.
• Primary education was to be entrusted to the newly
established local bodies.
• To further promote education at the secondary level the
system of grants-in-aid and extension of facilities for
FEMALE EDUCATION WERE ALSO PROPOSED.
Lord Ripon
• The Ilbert Bill Controversy 1883-84,
• Ripon’s glorious rule ended in an unfortunate controversy
known as the Ilbert Bill controversy.
• Earlier the cases of the European were heard by the
European magistrates and judges, but Sir C.P. Ilbert, the
law member of the viceroy’s council, framed a bill which
completely abolished “every judicial disqualification based
merely on race distinctions”.
Lord Ripon
• The bill was vehemently criticized by the Europeans,
particularly the English community in India.
• Ultimately, under pressure the Bill was amended, which
virtually surrendered the very principle to uphold which the
Bill had been introduced.
• The amended Bill enacted on January 26, 1884, provided that
European and British subjects were to have a right to claim
trial by jury of twelve, at least seven of whom had to be
European or Americans.
• It also intensified the feeling of unity among the Indian
people.
Lord Ripon
• Renditions (give back)of Mysore,
• Ripon restored Mysore, which had been annexed by
Bentinck on the charge of misgovernment, to its
ruling family after fifty years of British
administration-a unique event in the history of
British India
Lord Ripon
• Ripon was industrious, able with a deep moral earnestness.
• He may be described as Gladstone’s agent in India.
• Ripon was liberal in his attitude and made some remarkable
changes in the administrative system of India.
Lord Ripon
• He granted various facilities to the Indians. P.E. Roberts writes about
Lord Ripon, “He was a true liberal of Gladstonian Era with a strong
belief in the virtues of peace, laissez faire, and self government.”
• Ripon was a true Democrat.
• He took some steps towards liberalizing the administration in India.
• His aim was to give popular and political education to the Indians.
• He formulated the local self government and laid the foundations of
representative institutions in India.
Lord Ripon
• Reforms:
• Repeal of Vernacular Press Act, 1882:
• Lord Ripon repealed the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 passed
by Lord Lytton by Act III of 1882 and thus news papers
published in vernacular languages were allowed equal
freedom with the rest of the Indian Press.
• This action of Ripon went a long way in conciliating public
opinion.
Lord Ripon
• The First Factory Act, 1881:
• To improve the lot of the factory workers in towns, he passed the first
Factory Act in 1881.
• The Act prohibited the employment of children under the age of seven,
limited the number of working hours for children below the age of twelve
and required that dangerous machinery should be fenced properly.
• The Act also made provision for one hour rest during the working period
and four days leave in a month for the workers.
• Inspectors were appointed to supervise the implementation of these
measures.
• Thus for the first time he British Government tried to improve the working
conditions of labourers in factories.
Lord Ripon
• Other Reforms:
• During that time the recruitment to Indian Civil Service examination
was held in England only and the age limit was 18.
• Ripon urged for the simultaneous examination both in India and in
England
• He failed in his objective because he could not motivate the
Government.
• However he succeeded in enhancing the age limit from 18 to 21.
Lord Ripon
• Ripon resigned from his post in 1884 before the term of his
viceroyalty was over.
• He was very popular with the Indians.
• ACCORDING TO PANDIT MADAN MOHAN MALVIYA, “RIPON WAS THE
GREATEST AND THE MOST BELOVED VICEROY WHOM INDIA HAS KNOWN.”
• Ripon is remembered according to Surendra Nath Banarjee
for, “the Purity of his intentions, the loftiness of his ideas,
righteousness of his policy and his hatred of Racial
disqualifications.”
Lord Ripon
• At the time of his departure for England the priests blessed him and
offered him gifts.
• He was the only person who realized that the people of India should
themselves make effort to attain freedom.
• Report’s doings in India marked the beginning of the political’ life in
India.
• His departure was followed by the establishment of Indian National
Congress in 1885.
Lord Curzon
He was educated
at Wixenford School,
Eton College and
Balliol College, Oxford.
At Oxford he was President
of the Union and Secretary of
the Oxford Canning Club.
Lord Curzon
• Lord Curzon was appointed as the viceroy of India in 1899 in
succession of lord Elgin II.
• As a viceroy Curzon had a clear-cut knowledge about the task he had
to do as the ruler.
• From the very beginning of his career he was convinced of the
necessity and the urgency of a thorough reforms of the entire
administrative machinery.
• The control of administration was the sole aim of the British in India.
• Hence Curzon sought to introduce reforms in such a way so that he
could use the administrative machinery in his own way.
Lord Curzon
• There was not a single department where the administrative reforms
of Curzon were not introduced.
• Curzon aimed at the efficiency of the administration and sought to
strengthen officialization and centralization.
• Taking no account of the feelings and aspirations of the Indian people,
Curzon wanted to establish the stronghold of the British Empire.
• CURZON AFTER BECOMING A VICEROY APPOINTED AN EXPERT
COMMISSION TO PROBE INTO THE WORKING OF DEPARTMENT AND
THEN ENACTED NECESSARY LEGISLATION.
Lord Curzon
• IN 1902, CURZON APPOINTED A POLICE COMMISSION UNDER THE
PRESIDENT SHIP OF SIR ANDREW FRAZER.
• The police commission appointed by Curzon was entrusted with the
task of enquiring the efficient functioning of the police administration
of every province.
• The reports of the commission published in the year of 1903.
• According to the reports the police force was far from being efficient,
defective in training and organization, inadequately supervised and
oppressive.
Lord Curzon
• The Commission recommended the increase of salary of the police
thereby strengthening the efficiency of the police department in all
provinces.
• Moreover the commissions sought the constructions of the training
schools for the officers and the constables, direct recruitments in the
place of promotion in the s higher ranks.
• According to the reports of the Commission a provincial police service
was created.
Lord Curzon
• CENTRAL DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE was also
recommended by the Commission, which would enquire the criminal
cases both in towns and the villages.
• Most of the recommendations of the commissions were accepted and
implemented by Curzon.
• During the reign of Curzon there was an increase of expenditure on
the Police department.
Lord Curzon
• THE EXISTING SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN INDIA HOWEVER PROVED
FAULTY TO CURZON.
• According to Curzon educational institutions in India had become the
production house of the political revolutionaries.
• Thus the growth of the political revolutionaries in the schools would
be a great threat to the British supremacy in India.
• Hence Curzon took the educational reforms as one of the significant
part of his administrative reforms.
Lord Curzon
• In 1902, the university commission was appointed to enquire into the
condition of Universities in India and to recommend proposal for the
improvement of the education procedure in the Universities.
• ON THE BASIS OF THE REPORTS APPROACHED BY THE COMMISSION,
THE INDIAN UNIVERSITIES ACT (1904) WAS PASSED.
• The Act sought to increase the official control over the universities.
• In doing this, the number of fellows from the administrative body of
the universities was limited, which increased the nominated elements
over the elected fellows.
Lord Curzon
• Hence only the government can only prohibit the regulation
passed by the Senates.
• Conditions for AFFILIATION OF THE PRIVATE COLLEGES WERE
MADE MORE RIGID AND THE PERIODICAL INSPECTION by the
syndicate was made compulsory.
• The universities were forced to take active part in the
promotion of study and research.
Lord Curzon
• THE ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS OF CURZON ALSO
INCLUDED THE ECONOMIC REFORMS.
• Curzon was shrewd diplomat and he could well understood
that unless he controlled the financial set up properly, the
company would lose its administrative hold in India.
Lord Curzon
• Curzon passed legislations regarding the
• famines,
• land revenues,
• Irrigation,
• Agriculture,
• Railways,
• taxation and
• currency.
• The famine and drought of 1899 had affected wide areas in the north,
south central and western India.
• Hence a famine Commission was appointed under the President ship
MacDonnell.
Lord Curzon
• The Commission was entrusted to enquire into the results of the
famine operations.
• According to the reports of the Commissions the relief distributed to
the famine stricken people was excessive.
• The commission recommended the payment by physical work by the
able bodied person and laid down several rules to deal with the
fodder famine.
• In 1901, a Commission was appointed under the Chairmanship of Sir
Colin Scott Moncrieff.
Lord Curzon
• This commission was entrusted with the department of irrigation.
• The commission recommended an additional expenditure 4 crores of
rupees on irrigation.
• THE CONSTRUCTION WORK ON THE JHELUM CANAL was completed
and other works were taken into hand in order to develop the
irrigation works.
• Besides for the improvement of the Indian agriculture and the
livestock, scientific methods of cultivation were adopted.
• MOREOVER AN IMPERIAL AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT WAS SET UP
UNDER THE DIRECT SUPERVISION OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.
Lord Curzon
• CURZON IN ORDER TO EXTEND AND STRENGTHEN HIS
CONTROL ON THE TRADE AND COMMERCE OF THE
COUNTRY CONSTITUTED A NEW DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.
• This department was entitled to look after the entire
industrial and the commercial interest in India.
Lord Curzon

• This department looked after the

• Posts and telegraphs,
• factories,
• Railway Administration,
• Mines,
• Ports, and
• Marine etc.
• the Indian coinage and the
• paper Currency Act of 1899 made a British sovereign legal tender in India at
the rate of Rs. 15 to a sovereign.
• Thus India was put on a gold standard.
Lord Curzon
• Curzon gave special attention to the development of the railways.
• The existing lines were improved while the works on new lines were
taken into hand.
• Curzon invited Mr. Robertson from England to take advice about the
working and the administration of the railways.
• LATER CURZON DEVELOPED A RAILWAY BOARD to look after the
matters connected with the administration and control of the state
owned lines according to the recommendations of the Railway
expert.
Lord Curzon
• CURZON ALSO AIMED FOR THE RESTRUCTURE OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF
THE COUNTRY.
• Hence he introduced reforms in the existing judicial system of the country.
• Curzon increased the numbers of judges of the Calcutta high court in order
to cope up with the increased work.
• HE ALSO INCREASED THE SALARY, PENSION, AND BENEFITS OF THE JUDGES
OF THE HIGH COURT AS WELL AS THE SUBORDINATE COURTS.
• Above all the Indian code of civil procedure was revised.
• However nothing substantial was done to improve the procedure followed
or delay caused decision of cases.
Lord Curzon
• From the very beginning of the British rule in India the army had
performed a double task to protect the country from the foreign
aggressions as well as maintained the internal peace and security.
• Curzon after becoming the viceroy of India wanted to strengthen the
army so that he could hold the administrative control with the help of
those armed forces.
• Curzon vested the duty of the reorganization of the army on lord
Kitchener the Commander in chief from 1902 to 1908, under Lord
Kitchener, the Indian army was grouped into two commands -the
northern commands with its headquarters at Murree and the
southern command with its headquarter at Poona.
Lord Curzon
• In each division there should be three brigades, one of British
battalion and the two of the native battalion.
• Every brigadier was held responsible for the efficiency of his brigade.
• A training college for officers on the model of Camberley college of
England was setup at Quetta.
• Better arms were supplied to the British troops.
• Above all every battalion of the army was subjected to a severe test
called "The Kitchener Test".
• THE REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY NATURALLY MEANT AN
INCREASE IN EXPENDITURE ON THIS DEPARTMENT.
Lord Curzon
• Act reduced the strength of the elected members in the local
bodCurzon sought to undo the noble work done by lord Ripon in the
field of local self-government.
• The Calcutta Corporation ies.
• As a result the British element were increasing in definite majority
both on the corporation and its various bodies.
• In short the corporation was reduced to an "Anglo-Indian House".
Lord Curzon
• The Indian members in the local bodies as well as in the Corporation
were offended due to this Act and 28 members of the Calcutta
Corporation resigned in protest.
• Curzon remained indifferent at this protest.
• A true imperialist lord Curzon sought to establish the British
supremacy in India.
• He not only established the control of the Company, rather his
administrative reforms proved extremely oppressive
Lord Curzon
• Lord Curzon occupies a high place among the rulers of British India like
Lord Wellesley and Lord Dalhousie.
• He was a thorough imperialist.
• In order to make the administration efficient, Lord Curzon overhauled the
entire administrative machinery.
• Lord Curzon occupies a high place among the rulers of British India like
Lord Wellesley and Lord Dalhousie.
• He was a thorough imperialist.
• In order to make the administration efficient, Lord Curzon overhauled the
entire administrative machinery.
• His internal administration may be studied under the following heads.
Lord Curzon
• Educational Reforms
• Curzon took a serious view of the fall in the standard of education and
discipline in the educational institutions.
• In his view the universities had degenerated into factories for producing
political revolutionaries.
• To set the educational system in order, he instituted in 1902, a Universities
Commission to go into the entire question of university education in the
country.
• On the basis of the findings and recommendations of the Commission,
Curzon brought in the Indian Universities Act of 1904, which brought all the
universities in India under the control of the government.
Lord Curzon
• Police and Military Reforms
• Curzon believed in efficiency and discipline.
• He instituted a Police Commission in 1902 under the chairmanship of
Sir Andrew Frazer. Curzon accepted all the recommendations and
implemented them.
• He set up training schools for both the officers and the constables and
introduced provincial police service.
• As for the remodeling of the army, it was by and large done by Lord
Kitchener, the Commander-in-Chief in India in Curzon’s time.
Lord Curzon
• Calcutta Corporation Act (1899)
• The Viceroy brought in a new legislative measure namely the Calcutta
Corporation Act in 1899 by which the strength of the elected
members was reduced and that of the official members increased.
• Curzon gave more representations to the English people as against
the Indians in the Calcutta Corporation.
• There was strong resentment by the Indian members against Curzon’s
anti-people measures.
Lord Curzon
• Preservation of Archaeological objects
• Curzon had a passion for preserving the ancient monuments of
historical importance in India.
• No Viceroy in India before or after him took such a keen interest in
archaeological objects.
• He passed a law called the Ancient Monuments Act, 1904 which
made it obligatory on the part of the government and local
authorities to preserve the monuments of archaeological importance
and their destruction an offence.
Lord Curzon
• Partition of Bengal, 1905
• The Partition of Bengal into two provinces was effected on 4 July
1905.
• The new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam included the whole of
Assam and the Dacca, Rajshahi and Chittagong divisions of Bengal
with headquarters at Dacca.
• Though Curzon justified his action on administrative lines, partition
divided the Hindus and Muslims in Bengal.
• This led to the anti-partition agitation all over the country. This had
also intensified the National Movement.
Lord Curzon
• Estimate of Lord Curzon
• Lord Curzon assumed his office, when he was forty years old.
• All his reform measures were preceded by an expert Commission and
its recommendations.
• He made a serious study of the Indian problems in all their aspects.
• At the beginning Curzon earned the popularity and admiration of the
Indian people.
• He lost the popularity by the act of Partition of Bengal.