Impacts of British Rule on India Flashcards
How much did India’s public debt grow by between 1857-60?
70%
How much had land tax contributed to national income when the British came to power in India? What had this reduced to by the end of the colonial period?
15% to 1%
How many principle offices did the National Bank of India have by 1900? Where were some notable ones located?
19 - India, Ceylon, Burma and East Africa
How much did India’s export values grow between 1870 and 1914?
Five fold
How much did the Indian economy grow on average per year between 1880-1920? Why did this not show any real improvement?
1%
Because the population grew at the same rate and hence why the change per capita was negligible
How had India’s economy transitioned under British rule?
From a manufacturing and textile economy to one much more agrarian (and thus ‘backward’)
How did India’s position change among Britain’s export markets between 1870-1913?
India rose from third to first place
How did the creation of the gold standard in the 1870s impact India?
It put India at a trade disadvantage as her trade was mainly with countries on the gold standard but British imperial policy meant she continued to be on the declining silver standard.
When was the Indian rupee eventually pegged to the gold standard?
1899
By the 1880s, how much had Britain invested in Indian infrastructure? What proportion of overseas investment did this equate to?
£270 million
1/5 of British investment overseas
Who did the greater government efficiency benefit economically?
Landlords, capitalists and the new professional classes
What did over half the government spending go into even in 1936? What does this show?
Military, justice, police and jails
This shows that the British were not seeking to develop India economically or socially e.g. through widespread education investment
How did India’s share of global GDP change over the colonial period?
It declined from 20% to 5%
How many tea plantations were there in 1851 and 1871?
1851 = 1 plantation 1871 = 295 plantations
What did the Indian contingent of the army benefit from under colonial rule?
Increased training and improved equipment
What proportion of land was improved by land improvement and irrigation schemes?
6%
Which group benefitted the most from decreased land taxes?
Landlords
How had the British converted the region of Assam?
They changed it from a jungle to 2 million acres of cultivated land
What do Neoroji and Dutt believed happened to the wealth of India under colonial rule?
They believed it was drained off to Britain
How many miles of railway network was there in 1860? 1880? Who carried out most of the construction of this?
1860 - 838 miles
1880 - 15,842 miles
How can the railway network be seen to have a limited positive social impact?
Because the railway was geared towards trade and control, ordinary people were not able to exploit the mobility advantages which it brought for a while.
When and where was the first telegraph line established?
From Diamond Harbour to Calcutta in 1851
Who introduced the national post system in 1854?
Dalhousie
Why were there no major social changes under colonial rule?
Because the caste system remained dominant and little changes occured to the joint family system or in production techniques in agriculture
How many deaths resulted from famine between 1860 and 1900? What does this show?
14.5 million deaths
This shows the ineffectiveness of the British relief efforts such as the famine commission set up in 1867.
How can the Hindu Widow’s Remarriage act of 1856 be seen as a social improvement?
Because it granted the chance to Hindu women to remarry. Such marriages could give them not onlt a higher social status but also a spouse to better financially support them.
What was William Bentinck’s positive contribution to Indian society?
The outlawing of Thagi and Sati in 1829 since it meant that barbaric acts towards women and strangers in the villagers were reduced.
How did Mary Carpenter attempt to empower women in India?
- She established girls’ schools in Bombay and Ahmedebad
- She helped establish a corps of British teachers to work in India
- She set up a college to train female teachers
What proportion of university students were men?
90%
Name some examples of elite schools designed to produce WOGS
Rajkumar College, Mayo College, Bombay’s Cathedral School
What important law was passed in 1891 for young women?
A law setting the age of sexual consent for girls in marriage at 12 years
By 1900, what proportion of men were still engaged in rural activites?
75%
Which groups opposed the British introduction of new compulsory birth and marriage registrations?
Muslims and Hindus
What did the penal code of 1861 enforce?
Equality under the law regardless of caste status
e.g. Brahmin and Sudra were liable to the same punishment for the same offence
What was the role of identured labour in India from the 1830s? When was this banned?
Many Indians accepted contracts called indentures to work for the British abroad, often on plantations. They were needed due to the abolition of slavery.
It was only banned in 1917
When did missionary activities amongst the Indian population stop?
Following the Indian Mutiny
What was the Ilbert bill of 1883 attempting to counter?
The prioritisation of white settlers within the justice system by allowing Indian judges to try British officers at a district level.
Why does historian Ian St John argue that the new legal system in India only repressed the majority of Indians?
Those lacking land, literacy, funds and time were at the mercy of the privileged within the legal system set up by the British
What division occured within towns like Madras and Calcutta in the second half of the C19th?
They developed into “white towns” and “black towns” as the European settlers segregated themselves for the Indians, deeming themselves to be superior
What was the name for the special suburbs where the British kept to themselves?
Cantonments
Who were the main receivers of British medical advances? Use the example of smallpox vaccination
European Settlers were the main receivers of the progress.
For example, the vaccination rate was only 2.7% for smallpox in 1880 and 1881 suggesting only the europeans and the privileged few had access to the programme.
What positive social mobility was observed in the urban areas of India?
The emergence of industrial captilaists, lawyers, doctors, teachers and journalists who had not inherited their roles through status
What universities were set up in 1857? How many Indians total entered universitt as a result?
Calcutta, Madras and Bombay
60,000
Name the proportion of mid-level civil service appointments held by Hindus, Muslims and Eurasians by 1887
Hindus - 47%
Muslims - 7%
Eurasions - 19%
In wars with which countries were sepoys obliged to fight as a result of imperial rule?
China, Afghanistan and Burma
When were the public health commissioner and a statistical officer appointed to the government of India?
1869
Which countries did the Nurski-Seistan railway link?
India and Afghanistan
What administrative information did the British ensure was recorded?
Births, deaths, marriages, adoptions, property deeds and wills
What did the British allow to be formed in 1885? How did this help lead to Indian political independence?
Indian National Congress
It allowed elected delegates to convene and discuss the problems with British rule. It incited factions to emerge who politcally opposed the empire.
How were members of the Indian administration selected after 1853? What was the positive and negative impact of this?
Entrance into the administration was based entirely on merit and the examination was open to any British citizen.
This resulted in India benefitting from a highly skilled collection of British officials within the administration. However, these officials often had little knowledge of India and were innately conservative (promoting segregation).
By 1900, how many senior Civil Service positions were filled by the indigenous Indian population?
33 out of 1021
How did Viceroy Canning’s tour of India between 1859 and 1861 benefit some of the Indian elites?
- He returned some land and titles back to the natives
- He shared positions in the Imperial Assembly and Statutory Civil Service amongst the Indian nobility
What was the role of the British in regions where Indian princes continued to rule?
They exercised oversight and interference in order to ensure that their imperial policy was pursued.
What was the consequence of the Marley-Minto reforms of 1909?
They directly introduced the elective principle to membership in the imperial and local legislative councils in India. Lord Minto was forced by the Liberal Marley to increase Indian participation in governing the country.
What did the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 mean for the Indians?
It limited the freedom of speech of the native press and encouraged the English one
Whilst the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 was repealed in 1882, which later act reintroduced more censorship of the Indian press?
The Indian Press Act of 1910
