Governors-General, Acts & Administration (Set 2)

Lord Minto is often called the “Father of the Communal Electorate,” for accepting the separate-electorate demand under the 1909 Act.

In 1773, Parliament formally exonerated Clive, in a vote that also praised his services to the nation, despite the earlier corruption accusations.

Clive served as Governor of Bengal twice: from 1757 to 1760, and again from 1765 to 1767.

The British cited “misrule” as grounds for annexing Awadh in 1856, deposing and exiling Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.

The 1861 Act let the Governor-General nominate, not elect, Indian members to his legislative council — a symbolic first step with no real power to challenge government decisions.

The portfolio system was introduced under Governor-General Lord Canning, giving individual council members specific departments to oversee, much like a modern cabinet.

The 1861 Act restored legislative powers to the Bombay and Madras presidencies, and also allowed new legislative councils to be set up in other provinces.

The 1892 Act’s indirect-election method used recommendations from bodies like universities and chambers of commerce — not real electoral democracy, but a voice for India’s small, English-educated elite.

The 1892 Act allowed discussion of the budget and questions to government, but no power to vote on financial matters — a precedent the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 built directly on.

The correct date is 7 February 1856. Governor-General Dalhousie annexed Awadh that day, citing years of misgovernment under Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.

Coverley Jackson drafted the 1856 Summary Settlement. Henry Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner, applied it on the ground.

The settlement’s theory treated taluqdars as outsiders. Officials believed many had usurped proprietary rights that originally belonged to village communities.

British forces disarmed the taluqdars and demolished many of their forts after annexation. This was a deliberate break with the old Awadh order, not a negotiated transition.

Taluqdari-held villages fell from roughly two-thirds of Awadh’s villages to just over a third under the new settlement. Henry Lawrence was Chief Commissioner during its implementation — James Outram had already left that post months earlier, in May 1856.

Under Ryotwari, the government settled revenue directly with each individual cultivator, called a ‘ryot,’ with no zamindar or village intermediary.

Thomas Munro, along with Alexander Read, devised the Ryotwari system, extending it across the Madras Presidency as its Governor.

Cornwallis introduced the Permanent (Zamindari) Settlement in Bengal in 1793, a different system from Ryotwari.

Alexander Read and Thomas Munro devised and introduced Ryotwari. Lord Cornwallis was associated with the separate Permanent Settlement, not Ryotwari.

The Mahalwari system settled revenue with a village or estate (‘mahal’) as a collective unit, not with each individual cultivator as Ryotwari did.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct: the 1861 Act added nominated non-official (Indian) members whose role was confined to considering the Governor-General’s legislative proposals. Statement 3 is wrong – the Governor-General RETAINED effective legislative power, which is why the changes were so limited.

Separate electorates for Muslims were introduced by the Morley-Minto Reforms (Indian Councils Act, 1909) – a distinct measure added to that reform. The 1919 Act, the Communal Award (1932) and the 1935 Act built on it but did not introduce it.

Article 395 repealed the Government of India Act 1935 and the Indian Independence Act 1947 (1 and 2). The GOI Act 1919 had already been repealed by the 1935 Act, and the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act 1949 was a separate, surviving statute – so only 1 and 2 were repealed by Article 395.