Government Of India Act Of 1858 Essay

Government of India Act of 1858:

This act was passed following the British crown's taking over the governance of India from the English East India company. It was dominated by absolute imperial control with no representation for the people of India. Over the next few decades the nationalist would campaign for reforms and this would result in the passage of several Government of India acts, whichslowly began giving the Indians a role in the governance of their own country. This act established the basic government structure which the British would follow till the end of their rule. India was to be governed by a Secretary of State for India (a member of the British cabinet) who would be assisted by a Council of fifteen members (who were known as the Council of India). The above mentioned posts were held solely by Englishmen who were based in London. The representative of the British crown in India was the Viceroy, and an Executive council, once again made up solely of Englishmen.

The main features of the Government of India act of 1858 were:

-The country would be administered in a unitary fashion, with total centralization. Although the country was divided into provinces, which had their own

It was inevitable that the administration of the English East India Company's territories in India would have to be re-organized. Meanwhile the industrial revolution had resulted in a fiercely competitive market in the western world, and hence many European countries had colonized other nations in order to obtain their resources at a low cost. Britains interest in India began picking up substantially and by around 1850, there was a substantial amount of British money invested in India. Hence the need to maintain control over India was imperative from the British point of view. Eventually by an act of parliament in 1858, the administration of India was passed over from the English East India Company to the British