| Dalhousie, Lord (1812- 1860) Governor
General of India from 1848 to 1856. Born on 22 April 1812 he was educated
at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford. He was a Privy Councillor and President
of the board
of trade before assuming the office of the Governor General
of India on 12 January 1848. Though then hardly thirty-six and of ill
health, he had a commanding voice and imperious temper. A strong believer
of western supremacy in every sense, his administration marked the expansion
of British Indian territories and the introduction of reforms and constructive
activities. Dalhousie fought the second Sikh War (1848-49) and annexed
the Punjab. He annexed a portion of Sikim in 1850 and towards the end
of 1852 his army fought the Second Burmese War and conquered lower Burma.
He believed that British
rule was more beneficial to the Indians than the rule of their own
princes. It is said about him that his predecessors had acted on
the principle of avoiding annexation but Dalhousie acted on the
general principle of annexing if he could do so legitimately. So
he introduced the Doctrine of Lapse by which the sovereignty of
independent states lapsed to British Indian government when such
a state lacked a natural heir and right of adoption was declared
invalid. |
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Lord Dalhousie |
By this measure he annexed the states of Satara, Sambalpur,
Udaipur, Jhasni and Nagpur. Dalhousie abolished the titular sovereignties
of the Carnatic and Tanjore as he regarded them obsolete and refused,
on the death of the ex-Peshwa Baji Rao II, pension of Nana Shaheb, adopted
son of the peshwa. In the end he also annexed Oudh in 1856 on the ground
of misgovernment. He wished to abolish the imperial title of the Mughal
emperor and withdraw the royal family from the palace in Delhi and deprive
Bahadur Shah's son of the imperial name. It is rightly said about the
application of Dalhousie's doctrine of lapse that when heirs were lacking
he abolished titles; when they were plentiful he made abolition a condition
of recognition of family headship against rival claimants. Dalhousie,
thus, changed the political map of the subcontinent within eight years
of his rule.
A great deal of reforms was, however, introduced in Dalhousie's
time. He reorganised Calcutta Secretariat and appointed a Lieutenant Governor
for Bengal to relieve the administrative burden of the Governor General.
He laid down the main lines of development of railway system in India.
Telegraphs were setup and the postal system was reformed. He founded the
public works department through which works programme like construction
of roads, bridges and other public utility works including extension of
irrigation projects were undertaken. A department of public instruction
was setup and gradual stages of education were planned. He, through law,
legalised re-marriage of Hindu widows and removed the disability of a
convert to Christianity to inherit paternal property. In 1853 the east
india company's Charter was renewed and under the new condition
the Indian civil service was thrown open to Indians. There was hardly
a branch of administration from the conservation of forests to the improvement
of jails where Dalhousie had not tried his reforming hand. It is, therefore,
said that of the British administrators of India some were conquerors,
some were builders, while others were reformers, but Lord Dalhousie was
all in one.
Dalhousie's vision was to create a westernized India
and probably for that he went 'too far and too fast'. Though he left behind
a contented Punjab, provided the benefits of railways, roads and telegraphs
but he ignored completely the feelings of those who were affected by his
policy of territorial expansion and of creative reforms. For these the
British had to pay the penalty of the sepoy
revolt of 1857. He retired on 29 February 1856, left India
with a shattered health and died in 1860, suffering for four years from
physical pain and distress. [KM Mohsin]
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