Important acts passed during British rule in India

There were various acts passed by the British during their rule in India. It is divided into 2 parts i.e Company rule (1773-1858) and Crown rule (1858-1947). Questions in competitive exams are always asked from this topic. Here, we provide the complete list of these acts alongwith questions for your practice at the end of this topic.

Company rule : (1773-1858)

1) Regulating act of 1773 :-

a) In it the Governor of Bengal was designated as Governor – General of Bengal. Also an executive council of 4 members was created to assist him. Lord Warren Hastings was made the first Governer-General of Bengal.

b) In it the governors of Madras and Bombay presidencies were made subordinate to the governor-general of Bengal. (Note :- before this act, these 3 presidencies were independent of each other.)

c) Supreme Court at Calcutta(1774) was formed under this act. This court has 1 chief justice + 3 other judges. Sir Elijah Impey was the first chief justice of it.

Extra Note :- Centralisation started in 1773 Regulating act.

2) Act of settlement, 1781:-

It is also known as amending act of 1781. This act was passed as a corrigendum to the Regulating act of 1773, or we can say that to rectify the defects of Regulating act of 1773. Features of Act of settlement, 1781 are as :-

a) It exempted the servants of company (for their official actions) from the jurisdiction of Supreme Court.

b) It also exempted the governor general and its council (for their official actions) from the jurisdiction of Supreme Court.

3) Pitt’s India act, 1784 :-

a) It seperated the political and commercial functions of the company.

b) Here, a new body called Board of Control was created so, Court of directors was there to manage commerical functions while Board of control was there to manage political functions of company.

c) So, this act established the system of double government.

4) Charter act of 1793 :-

a) It extended the trade monopoly of the company in India for another 20 years.

5) Charter act of 1813 :-

a) Trade monopoly of the company in India was abolished which means now onwards, other British companies can also trade in India.

 Note :- But, monopoly of the company continued over its trade in tea and trade with China.

b) It allowed the Christian missionaries to come to India to enlighten the people.

c) It provides for the provision of 1 Lakh Rupees/year to be spend on the education of Indians.

d) It asserted the sovereignty of British crown over the territories of company in India.

6) Charter act of 1833 :-

a) Here the Governer-General of Bengal was made as the Governor-General of India. Lord William Bentick was the first Governor-General of India.

b) It deprived the Governors of Madras and Bombay of their  legislative powers. Legislative power for the entire British India was given to Governor-General of India.

c) It completely ended the monopoly of East India company over trade .

d) Here, East India Company was made a purely administrative body.

e) This act attempted to introduce a system of open competition for selection of civil servants i.e Indians are also allowed to compete. But, this provision was rejected after opposition from Court of directors.

Note :- Centralisation started in Regulating act of 1773.

Note :- Centralisation at its peak in Charter act of 1833.

7) Charter act of 1853 :-

a) It started a system of open competition for selection of civil servants i.e Indians were also allowed for covenanted civil services.

Note : At that time there were 2 types of civil services i.e Covenanted civil services(higher civil services) and Uncovenanted civil services(lower civil services).

Important Note : Macaulay Committee (committee on Indian Civil service) was appointed in this regard in 1854.

b) It seperated the executive and legislative functions of Governor-General’s council.

Crown rule : (1858-1947)

8) Government of India act of 1858 :-

As revolt of 1857 took place, so British govt. came up with this act called as Act for good govt. of India. It abolished the East India Company, and power was taken directly by the British crown in its hand. Features of this act are as :-

a) It changed the designation of Governor-General of India to that of Viceroy of India. Viceroy was direct representative of British crown in India. Lord Canning was the first Viceroy of India.

b) It said that now onwards, India is to be governed directly in the name of, Her Majesty i.e  British Crown.

c) It ended the system of double govt. by abolishing the Court of Directors as well as Board of control.

d) It created a new office called as Secretary of State for India. This office was provided with complete control over Indian administration.

Note : Secretary of state was a member of British Cabinet and he was responsible to the British Parliament.

e) This act established a 15 member council of India to assist the Secretary of state for India. Secretary of state was made the chairman of this council.

Note : These 15 members were nominated by the Viceroy.

9) Indian council act of 1861 :-

 As revolt of 1857 took place, so Britishers felt that to avoid any such revolts in future, lets include the Indians in the administration of country. So, for this purpose, 3 acts were passed by the British parliamnet i.e act of 1861, 1892 and 1909. Features of Indian council act of 1861 are as :-

a) It started the process of decentralisation by restoring the legislative powers of Madras and Bombay presidencies.

Note :- From here decentralisation started which will reach its peak in Govt. of India act of 1935.

b) As they want participation of Indians in the administration, so this act came with the provision that Viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official members of his expanded council.

Important Note :- Here, Lord canning (Viceroy) nominated 3 Indians in his legislative council i.e Maharaja of Patiala, Raja of Benaras and Sir Dinkar Rao.

c) Portfolio system was introduced means a member of Viceroy’s council was made incharge of one or more departments of Govt.

Note :- This system was just like today’s portfolio system in govt. like Home ministry, Defense ministry, Finance ministry etc.

d) This act gave the power to Viceroy of issuing ordinances during an emergency. These ordinances were valid for 6 months.

Note : These ordinances were same like today’s President’s ordinance under article 123.

Extra note :- Decentralisation started in Indian council act of 1861.

Extra note :- Decentralisation was at its peak in Govt. of India act of 1935.

10) Indian council act of 1892 :-

a) It increased the non-official members in the legislative councils.

b) It increased the functions of legislative councils and gave them the power of discussing the budget. Here, questions were also asked from the executive.

11) Indian council act of 1909 :-

It is also called as Morley-Minto reforms (Morley was the then Secretary of state for India while Minto was the then Viceroy of India.) Its features are as :

a) It introduced the system of Separate electorate. Under this, Muslim members were to be elected by Muslim voters only. Thus, this act legalised communalism in India.

Note : That’s why Lord Minto is known as father of Communal Electorate.

b) It laid the provision for addition of Indians to the executive council of Viceroy. Satyendra Prasad sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s executive council.

Note : He was appointed as Law member.

c) Here, members of legisative councils were allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on the budget etc.

12) Govt. of India act of 1919 :-

It was also known as Montague-Chelmsford reforms(Montague was the then Secretary of state for India while Chelmsford was the then Viceroy of India.) Its features are as :-

a) Central and provincial subjects were seperated and their respective legislatures were empowered to make laws on their respective list of subjects.

b) Dyarchy was introduced at the provincial level which means double rule. In dyarchy, provincial subjects were further divided in 2 parts : Reserved subjects and Transferred subjects.

Important Note :- (Reserved subjects : All important matters are kept in it.) { Transferred subjects : Matters of less importance are kept in it.}

c) Bicameralism (at centre) and direct elections were introduced for the first time in country. Or, we can say that Indian legislative council was replaced by bicameral legislature. Bicameral legislature means Upper House(Council of state) and Lower house(Legislative assembly). Most of the members of these houses were elected by direct elections.

Note : Bicameralism at that time means today’s Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

d) It made the provision that 3 out of 6 members of Viceroy’s executive council were to be Indian.

e) Separate electorates were further extended for Sikhs, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians and Europeans.

f) It also granted franchise to limited number of people on the basis of tax they are paying, their education level and their property.

g) It also has provision for public service commission.

Note : Central public service commission was setup in 1926 for recruting civil servants on the recommendations of Lee commission.

13) Govt. of India act of 1935 :-

a) It has provision of All-India federation consisting of provinces and princely states. Hence, 3 lists were also made there like Federal list, Provincial list and Concurrent list. Residuary powers were given to the Viceroy.

Note : This federation never came into force because of the princely states not joining it.

b) This act seperated Burma from the British India.

c) It abolished the dyarchy in the provinces and introduced “provincial autonomy” in its place. It means that now onwards, provinces were act as autonomous units.

d) It has a provision of dyarchy at the centre which means federal subjects were divided into reserved subjects and transferred subjects.

Note : But this provision never came into force.

e) It introduced Bicameralism in 6 out of 11 provinces. These 6 provinces were Bombay, Bengal, Madras, Bihar, Assam and United province.

f) Separate electorate were further given to depressed classes(Scheduled castes), women and labour(workers).

g) It extended franchise. Here, 10% of total population of India got the voting rights.

h) It has provision for establishment of a Reserve bank of India.

i) It has provision for establishment of a Federal court.

Note :  Federal court was setup in 1937.

j) It has provision for establishment of Federal public service commission, Provincial public service commission and Joint public service commission for 2 or more provinces.

Short Trick to learn it :- Provisions of Dyarchy and Bicameralism are reverse of each other in 1919 and 1935 act. See the table belowv:-

Govt. of India act of 1919	Govt. of India act of 1935
Dyarchy was introduced at provincial level.	Provision for dyarchy at centre level.
Bicameralism at central level.	Bicameralism at provincial level i.e. 6 out of 11 provinces.

14) Indian independence act of 1947 :-

a) This act ended the British rule in India and declared India as an independent & sovereign state from 15^th August 1947.

b) It provided for partition of India and created 2 independent states i.e India and Pakistan with the right to secede from British commonwealth.

c) It granted freedom to Indian princely states either to join Dominion of India or Dominion of Pakistan or to remain independent.

d) This act abolished the office of Viceroy and created a post (for each dominion)of Governor-General, who was to be appointed by the British king on the advice of the dominion cabinet.

e) It designated the Governor-General of India and provincial governors as nominal heads of the states.

f) Now onwards, His Majesty’s govt. in Britian has no responsibility towards India and Pakistan.

g) It provided that these dominions were governed by the Govt. of India act of 1935, till the new Constituions were drafted.

h) It empowered the Constituent assemblies of both countries to frame and adopt any constitution for their respective nations and also to repeal any act of the British Parliament.

i) It empowered the Constituent assemblies of both the dominions to make laws for their respective territories till the new constitutions were drafted and enforced.

j) No act of British Parliament passed after 15^th August 1947 applied to these two nations.

k) It procalimed the lapse of British paramountcy over the Indian princely states and treaty relations with tribal areas from 15^th august 1947.