Who was the First Governor General of India?

Posted on : 09 December, 2021 12:32

Introduction

The first governor general of India was Lord William Bentinck ( born 14 September 1774 in Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire) an aristocrat who sympathized with many of the liberal ideas of his day and made a number of important administrative reforms in Indian government and society. He served the British govt from 1828to 1835 as Governor of Bengal and governor general of India. The Charter act of 1833 had made William Bentinck the first governor general of India. This act brings a number of changes in British administration as:

Charter act of 1833

The govt of India act 1833 or charter act of 1833 is an act of parliament of the UK and it gave another lease of life to the company for the next 20 years. Some of the major provisions of this act are as follows.

· It redesignated the governor general of Bengal as the governor general of India which made William Bentinck the first governor general of India. The gov gen of India, in consultation with his council, controls all civil, military, and revenue matters in the whole of India.

· The gov gen in council was given the power to control, superintend and direct the civil and military affairs of the company.

· This act had introduced a law member to gov gen in the council which enhanced the strength of the council from 3 to 4. Lord Macaulay was the first law member of India, became the first chairman of the first law commission which was set up by this law.

· It deprived the gov of Bombay and madras of their legislative powers. This act was the final step of the British govt towards centralization.

· It completely ended the monopoly of the East India company by ending its monopoly of tea trade and trade with China.

· This act is considered to be an attempt to codify all the Indian laws. The laws made under the previous acts were called regulations while laws made under this act were called Acts.

· It introduced the system of meritocracy in govt services. Section 87 of the charter act declared that merit was to be the basis for employment in govt services and the religion, birthplace, and race of the candidates were not to be considered in employment.

· It attempted to introduce a system of open competition for the selection of civil services, which was negated after opposition from the court of the director. This provision was later added by the charter act of 1853.

· With this act, the debt of the company was taken over by the Indian govt which agreed to pay its shareholders a 10.5% dividend on their capital out of the Indian revenues for the next years. This added to the burden of Indians proved to be an important component of the drain of wealth.

Reforms of William Bentinck, The First Governor General of India

The first governor general of India - Bentinck who was a man of peace, discipline, and economy took an active part in the reform movement of England. He developed a strong faith in the program of peace retrenchment and reform. His administration in India was marked by peaceful activities as he followed the policy of non-interference and non-aggression for Indian states

As Macaulay wrote “Bentick infused into oriental Despotism the spirit of British freedom; who never forgot that the end of the government is the welfare of the governed."

Administrative Reforms of the First Governor General of India -William Bentinck:·

The first governor general of India - Lord Bentick was a great reformer. Among the other governors-general, he was the one who was sympathetic towards the Indian people and also tried to remove the difficulties of the Indian people. He concentrated on studying the condition of the Indian empire, examining the administration. inspecting the army, and making reforms in all fields.

·He started the practice of appointing Indians in the Company’s service, which was earlier stopped by Lord Cornwallis. The first governor general of India - William Bentick appointed Indians in government service. With this, the educated Indian finds places in the post of district magistrate and district collector. This was a vital step towards the Indianization of the government service.

·The Presidency of Bengal was divided into twenty divisions. A commissioner was appointed over each division. The Commissioner also decides the cases which were previously dealt with by the judges of the courts of appeal and circuit in the provinces. They also got the right to supervise the working of the District Magistrates and Judges.

Judicial Reforms of the First Governor General of India -William Bentinck:

The Provincial Courts of appeal and circuit had been largely responsible for the huge arrears of cases. Bentick abolished these courts which were earlier set up by Charles Cornwallis He established different grades of courts to avoid delay in the trial of cases.
He established a Supreme Court in Agra to hear civil and criminal appeals · Bentick also reduced the severity of the punishment. The system of beating a man with whips was abolished by Bentinck.
The first governor general of India - Bentinck initiated the reform process by employing a number of Indians as subordinate judge posts with enhanced salaries and increasing their jurisdiction which was earlier degraded by Cornwallis.
The first governor general of India - Bentinck replaced the language of the higher court from Persian to English and also ordered for use of vernacular language in place of Persian.

Financial Reforms of the First Governor General of India:

The company's treasures had been depleted due to a reduction in income and heavy expenditure on wars such as the Burmese war. The company was facing a huge deficit of about one crore. So Bentick’s first duty was to stabilize the economy of the state. He had taken extensive measures to revive the economy of the state.
Bentick appointed two committees, one Military and one civil to enquire into the increased expenditure of the company.
During those days opium was produced in Central India and was sent to China from Karachi. A profiteering route had been created from Karachi to Bombay which had increased the company` profit in form of duties·
Public institutions and individuals enjoyed rent-free land in Bengal since the acquisition of Diwani. Bentinck had changed this order, inquired into the rights of those who held free grants of land and resumed the management of these rent-free land.
Bentick also enhanced the income of the company by appointing Indians in administrative posts as they were paid less in comparison to their British counterparts.

Educational Reforms of the 1st Governor General of India -William Bentinck:

Bentick’s great achievement was his intellectual reform. The amount of one lac rupee which was sanctioned through the charter act of 1813 for the revival and promotion of education in India, had not been spent in the beginning due to a controversy between orientalists and anglicist on the medium of education. Was it to be given through the Indian language or through the English language?
Lord Macauley, the law member of the Council gave a definite shape to the controversy. He recommended that education should be imparted in the English language.
Macauley’s proposals were accepted by Bentick and embodied in a resolution of March 7, 1835, which declared that “His Lordship in council is of opinion that the great object of the British Government ought to be the promotion of science & European literature among the natives of India & that all the fund appropriated for the purpose of education would be best employed on English education alone.”
He also took a number of steps to promote the study of English literature and science. Schools were opened at many places under his rule, also established a medical college in 1835 in Calcutta to train Indian doctors.

Social Reforms of the First Governor General of India:

Lord Bentinck was not only known for his administrative and financial reforms but he was also credited for making a number of social reforms in Indian society.
He was against the prevalent evil practice of sati. On observing these evils Bentinck wanted to abolish this system to save the lives of many widows and therefore abolished the system of Sati by the proclamation of a regulation in 1829.
He also took the steps against thugee system, bands of miscreants who formed secret groups and traveled over the country garbed as merchants or pilgrims. Till 1834 thug system was completely stopped by him.
The first governor general of India William Bentick left India in 1835 AD. He holds the highest rank among all the Governors-General in India due to his various reforms. The 1st governor general of India William Bentinck's 7 years regime came to be known as an “Age of Reforms”. Dr. Ishwari Prasad writes: “The majesties of Bentick were the majesties of peace. His regime stands in keen contrast to the years that preceded or those that followed it.”