60 Days Plan: UPSC IAS Prelims 2019 – History and Current Affairs (Day 7)

• Portuguese Cartaz system referred to a naval trade license or pass issued by the Portuguese in Indian Ocean during the sixteenth century.
• A similar system used by British was navicert system in 20th century.

• William Carey the founder of Serampore Mission has been called the patriarch, apostle, prophet, and pioneer of modern missionary movement.
• Serampore Mission (1800-1845) India’s First Christianity Missionary Organization. William carey and his associates established two the mission on 10 January 1800
• First Catholic church Bandel(West Bengal) 1599
• First protestant Church Serampore ( West Bengal) 1800
• William Carey started his ministry in Bengal with Joshua Marshman and William ward which is called as the Serampore Trio and they worked many years upliftment of Bengal society in educational, social and religious movement

• Mahalwari system was introduced in 1833 during the period of William Bentick.
• It was introduced in Central Province, North-West Frontier, Agra, Punjab, Gangetic Valley, etc of British India.
• The Mahalwari system had many provisions of both the Zamindari System and Ryotwari System.
• In this system, the land was divided into Mahals. Each Mahal comprises one or more villages.
• Ownership rights were vested with the peasants.
• The villages committee was held responsible for collection of the taxes.

• Misuse of Farman and Dastak by British which challenged the Mir Qasim’s authority and sovereignty.
• Abolition of all duties on internal trade of British.
• Misbehavior of the Company’s servant- They compelled the Indian artisans, peasants and merchant to sell their goods at cheap price , and also started the tradition of bribes and gifts.
• Plundering attitude of British which not only abuses the trade ethics but also challenges the Nawab authority

• Doctrine of lapse was the pro-imperialist approach to expand the realm of British Kingdom in India.
• It was introduced by Dalhousie who was the Governor-General; it was used by him to annex the independent Indian States.
• It was basically, an idea to annex those states which have no heir means state have no heir they get lapsed the right of ruling and it will not reverted by adoption.
• Policy to expand British territory in India on basis of pro-imperialistic approach.
  State must be handed over to British, if they have no heir or ruler
• Adoptions of child were not accepted for heir
• Policy was not in support to give title and pension to adopted child of rulers.
• Adopted heir would inherit only the personal property of the ruler
• Ended the title and pension.

The Indian army was carefully reorganized after 1858. Some changes were made necessary by the transfer of power to the Crown. Firstly, the domination of the army by its European branch was carefully guaranteed.

• The proportion of Europeans to Indians in the army was raised. Moreover, the European troops were kept in key geographical and military positions..
• The organization of the Indian section of the army was based on the policy of divide and rule so as to prevent its chance of uniting again in an anti-British uprising. Communal, caste, tribal and regional loyalties were encouraged amongst the soldiers so that the sentiment of nationalism would not grow among them. For example caste and communal companies were introduced in most of the regiments.
• The older policy of excluding Indians from the officer corps was strictly maintained. Till 1914, no Indian could rise higher than the rank of a subedar.

• It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of India and vested in him all civil and military powers. Thus, the act created, for the first time, a Government of India having authority over the entire territorial area possessed by the British in India. Lord William Bentick was the first governor-general of India.
• It deprived the governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers. The Governor-General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India. The laws made under the previous acts were called as Regulations while laws made under this act were called as Acts.
• It ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial body, which became a purely administrative body. It provided that the company’s territories in India were held by it ‘in trust for His Majesty, His heirs and successors’.
• This Act attempted to introduce a system of open competition for selection of civil servants, and stated that the Indians should not be debarred from holding any place, office and employment under the Company. However, this provision was negated after opposition from the Court of Directors.
• This act allowed wider space to the British in the India’s administration. It ended the British India Company’s commercial activities and transformed into the British Crown’s trustee in administering India.
• Open Competition system of selection and recruitment of civil servants.(Charter act of 1853).

• Anglo-French rivalry in India coincided with the wars between the English and French in Europe or primarily two reasons :
• For protection of commercial interests.
• Political developments in the south India and Europe provided pretexts to contest their claims which culminated in the three Carnatic wars.
• First Carnatic War (1740-48) – It was an extension of the Anglo-French rivalry in Europe and ended in 1748 with the treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle.
• Second Carnatic War (1749-54) – Although inconclusive, it undermined the French power in the south India vis-a-vis the English.
• Third Carnatic War (1758-63) – A decisive war, known for the Battle of Wandiwash.
• By the Treaty of Paris (1763), the French were allowed to use Indian settlements for commercial purposes only and fortification of settlements was banned.

• The Indian press was freed of restrictions by Charles Metcalfe in 1835. He is called ‘Liberator of India Press’. This step had been welcomed enthusiastically by the educated Indians. It was one of the reasons why they had for some time supported British rule in India.
• But the nationalists gradually began to use the press to arouse national consciousness among the people and to sharply criticize the reactionary policies of the Government. This turned the officials against the Indian press and they decided to curb its freedom.
• This was attempted by passing the Vernacular Press Act in 1878. This Act put serious restrictions on the freedom of the Indian language newspapers only.

• A Morley-Minto Reform was another name of Indian Council Act of 1909, AD which was named after the secretary of state and the Viceroy. It was instituted to placate the moderates.
• It may also be remembered that the elected members were not elected by the people but by landlords, organizations or traders and industrialists, universities and local bodies. The British also introduced communal electorates as a part of these reforms.
• This was meant to create disunity between Hindus and Muslims. Some seats in the councils were reserved for Muslims to be elected by Muslim voters.
• It considerably increased the size of the legislative councils, both Central and provincial. The number of members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16 to 60. The number of members in the provincial legislative councils was not uniform.
• It retained official majority in the Central Legislative Council but allowed the provincial legislative councils to have non-official majority.
• It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both the levels. For example, members were allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on the budget, and so on.
• It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians with the executive Councils of the Viceroy and Governors. Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council. He was appointed as the law member.
• It introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept of ‘separate electorate’. Under this, the Muslim members were to be elected only by Muslim voters. Thus, the Act ‘legalized communalism’ and Lord Minto came to be known as the Father of Communal Electorate.
• It also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chambers of commerce, universities and zamindars.
• Indian Council Act of 1909, AD was instituted to placate the moderates and appeasement to the disseminate Muslims from National Movement by granting them separate electorate.

Explanation:

• Following were the failure  reasons for 1857 revolt-
• Limited territorial spread was one factor; there was no all-India veneer about the revolt. The eastern, southern and western parts of India remained more or less unaffected.
• The Indian soldiers were poorly equipped materially, fighting generally with swords and spears and very few guns and muskets. On the other hand, the European soldiers were equipped with the latest weapons of war like the Enfield rifle. The electric telegraph kept the commander-in-chief informed about the movements and strategy of the rebels.
• The revolt was poorly organized with no coordination or central leadership. The principal rebel leaders- Nana Saheb,Tantia Tope, Kunwar Singh,Laxmibai – were no match to their British opponents in generalship. On the other hand, the East India Company was fortunate in having the services of men of exceptional abilities in the Lawrence brothers, John Nicholson, James Outram, Henry Havelock, Edward, etc.

Explanation:

• was an attempt to create that system of education which educates only upper strata of society through English.
• English become court language and Persian was abolished as court language.
• Printings of English books were made free and available at very low price.
• English education gets more fund as compare to oriental learning.
• In 1849, JED Bethune founded Bethune School.
• Agriculture Institute was established at Pusa (Bihar)
• Engineering Institute was established at Roorkee.

• Following were the economic impact of the British rule in India:
• Deindustrialization– India was a major player in the world export market for textiles in the early 18th century, but by the middle of the 19th century it had lost all of its export market and much of its domestic market. Other local industries also suffered some decline, and India underwent de-industrialization as a consequence. While India produced about 25 percent of world industrial output in 1750, this figure fell to only 2 percent by 1900.
• Ruralisation– Loss of peasantry during early years of British rule, along with the loss of handicrafts Industry in India led to formation of new urban centres and ruralisation of many ancient and medieval towns in India.
• Deterioration of Agriculture– Faulty Land revenue collection practices, plantation Crops cultivation with little or no revenue for the farmers, transferability of land, little spending by Government on improvement of land productivity made farmer miserable. The peasant turned out to be the ultimate sufferer under the triple burden of the Government, zamindar and moneylender. His hardship increased at the time of famine and scarcity.
• Rise of bourgeoisie class in India – There emerged the new class of Indian traders, moneylenders and bankers. But, the colonial situation retarded the development of a healthy and independent industrial bourgeoisie, and its development was different from other independent countries like Germany and Japan.
• Famine and Poverty – Regular recurrence of famines became a common feature of daily existence in India. These famines were not just foodgrain scarcity-based phenomena, but were a direct result of poverty unleashed by colonial forces in India.

The successors of Lord Curzon did not take any active interest in the improvement of the education system. The education system was ‘overloaded’ and the universities worked merely as examining bodies. A fresh commission under Dr. M E Saddler of Leeds University was set up to study and report the problems of university education. This was called Saddler Commission or Calcutta University Commission.

• The major objective of this commission was to free the universities from the burden of the secondary education, so that the wholly focus on the Higher education. This resulted in the creation of Board of secondary education in the Provinces; United Provinces was the first to have such board.
• The secondary education was separated from the University education and admission to the university was upgraded from metric level to intermediate level.
• The Saddler Commission also recommended the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the intermediate colleges. The Education was made a ” provincial subject”.
• Creation of Inter University Board for coordination among the universities.
• As far as Calcutta University is concerned, this commission gave the following recommendations:
• More powers should be given to the university.
• A full time paid Vice Chancellor should be appointed in the University.
• Provisions should be made to differentiate the Pass Course from the Honors course.
• A residential university should be established at Dhaka.
• A special board of women education should be set up in Calcutta University.

The above recommendations were accepted and implemented in due course of time. After independence UGC was established in 1953 with the recommendation of a similar Radha Krishna Commission.

• The Portuguese hold over the coastal areas and superiority in naval power helped them significantly. By the end of the 16th century, the Portuguese captured not only Goa, Daman, Diu, and Salsette but also a vast stretches along the Indian coast.
• The French establishments included Pondicherry, Karikal and Yanam on the Coromandel Coast, Mahe on the Malabar Coast and Chandernagor in Bengal.
• The Dutch, during their stay in India, tried their hands on the minting of coinages. As their trade flourished they established mints at Cochin, Masulipattam, Nagapatam Pondicherry and Pulicat. Even more, Gold pagoda with an image of Lord Venkateswara, (God Vishnu) was issued at Pulicat mint. The coins issued by the Dutch were all modelled on the local coinages.

Permanent Settlement System: The Permanent Settlement of Bengal was brought into effect by the East India Company headed by the Governor-General Lord Cornwallis in 1793. This system was also called the Zamindari System. This was basically an agreement between the company and the Zamindars to fix the land revenue.

First enacted in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, this was later followed in northern Madras Presidency and the district of Varanasi.

Features of the system were as follows:

• Landlords or Zamindars were recognized as the owners of the land. They were given hereditary rights of succession of the lands under them. The Zamindars could sell or transfer the land as they wished.
• The Zamindars‘proprietorship would stay as long as he paid the fixed revenue at the said date to the government. If they failed to pay, their rights would cease to exist and the land would be auctioned off. The amount to be paid by the landlords was fixed. It was agreed that this would not increase in future (permanent). The fixed amount was 10/11th portion of the revenue for the government and 1/10th was for the Zamindar. (The revenue settled under the Ryotwari settlement was periodically revised after 20-30 years when the revenue demand was usually raised.) Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• The Zamindar also had to give the tenant a patta which described the area of the land given to him and the rent he had to pay the landlord.

The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crime Act, 1919

Governor General Chelmsford had appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Justice Sydney Rowlatt in 1917 for retrospections of the nature of revolution and for suggestion which was popularly known as ‘Rowlatt Committee’.  In 1918, committee submitted its report with recommendation for punitive as well as preventive measures. This act empowered the government to arrest any person without warrant and can detent for two years without trial.

Provisions of Act

• The Governor-General had power to implement the Act to any area.
• The Act envages for the speedy trial of offences.
• In the interest of public safety, suspected persons could be arrested and confined.
• It provided that persons interned under the Defence of India Act may not be released,
• In the trials of such cases the juris were to be dispensed with.

• In a bid to rectify the defects of the Regulating Act of 1773, the British Parliament passed the Amending Act of 1781, also known as the Act of Settlement.
• The next important act was the Pitt’s India Act of 1784. Thus, the act was significant for two reasons:
• First, the Company’s territories in India were for the first time called the ‘British possessions in India’; and
• Second, the British Government was given the supreme control over Company’s affairs and its administration in India.
• Hence, A is the correct option because both A and R is true and R is the correct explanation of A.

Under Morley-Minto reforms, number of elected members in the Imperial Legislative Council and Provincial legislative Council was increased. In the Provincial Councils, non-official majority was introduced but since some of these non-official were nominated and not selected, the overall non-elected majority remained.

• The decision to effect the Partition of Bengal was announced in July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took place on 16 October 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas.
• The Communal Award was made by the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on 16 August 1932 granting separate electorates in India for the Forward Caste, Lower Caste, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans and Untouchables (now known as the Dalits) etc.
• Indian Councils Act, 1909: The Indian Councils Act 1909 or Morley-Minto Reforms was passed by British Parliament in 1909. For the first time, the Indian Councils act gave recognition to elective principle for the appointment of nonofficial members to the councils. However, it introduced separate electorates.The electorate was decided on the basis of class & community. For the provincial councils a provision of three categories was made viz. general, special and chambers of commerce. However, for the central council, a fourth category Muslims was added.

It is the amount paid by one bank to the other when its customer uses the other bank’s ATM network.

Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com/business/atm-firms-for-rule-tweaks/cid/1309946

Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) set up, owned and operated by non-bank entities are called “White Label ATMs” (WLAs). They provide the banking services to the customers of banks in India, based on the cards (debit/credit/prepaid) issued by banks.

Non-bank entities that set up, own and operate ATMs are called “White Label ATM Operators” (WLAO). The WLAO’s role is confined to acquisition of transactions of all banks’ customers by establishing technical connectivity with the existing authorized, shared ATM Network Operators / Card Payment Network Operators.

In a step to boost activities of white label automated (WLA) teller machine operators, the RBI has allowed such entities to buy wholesale cash, above a threshold of 1 lakh pieces of any denomination, directly from the RBI and currency chests against full payment.

WLAs are also allowed to source cash from scheduled banks, including cooperative banks and regional rural banks.

It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southeast.

Yerukala – Telangana/Andhra Pradesh (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/its-dark-nights-for-bats-in-telanganas-nalgonda/article24604246.ece)

Savara – Andhra Pradesh (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/savara-tribal-art-gasps-for-survival/article24637087.ece)

Yakthung – Sikkim (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/more-assembly-seats-for-sikkim/article24667220.ece)

Note – Go through Wikipedia pages of the mentioned tribes/communities.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given license to three entities to launch Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) — a digital platform where small businesses (MSMEs) can get access to capital by auctioning their trade receivables and they are governed by the Payment And Settlement Systems Act.

The TReDS will facilitate the discounting of both invoices as well as bills of exchange.

Read More – https://rbi.org.in/scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?id=2904

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Govt. of India has designed Bhoomi Rashi as a single point platform for online processing of land acquisition notifications to accelerate highway infrastructure development projects in India.

Bhoomi Rashi will fast track the process of land acquisition and result in greater benefits for all stakeholders.

Farmers, landowners, contractors and investors will benefit from the transparency introduced by the portal in the land acquisition process.

The Bhoomi Rashi portal will be a new milestone in the nation’s journey towards DIGITISATION and TRANSPARENCY.

Bhoomi Rashi portal is developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and National Informatics Centre.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=181568

Source: https://mea.gov.in/incoming-visit-detail.htm?30319/Visit+of+Minister+of+Foreign+Affairs+and+European+Integration+of+the+Republic+of+Moldova+to+India+August+1115+2018

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/soon-teslas-blackhole-to-gobble-up-waste-in-ladakh/cleaning-up-the-roof-of-the-world/slideshow/65560617.cms

Google has launched Project Navlekha to expand the reach of Indian content. The project would allow Indian vernacular news publishers to get their content online

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/googles-project-navlekha-to-help-regional-publications-go-online/article24799483.ece

The UN E-Government Survey 2018 has ranked India at 96 positions for its performance in development and execution of information technologies, up from 107 in 2016 and 118 in 2014, a massive leap over the years.

The survey, published every two years, ranks 193 UN member states on basis of their performance on mainly three dimensions or e-governance development index (EGDI): online service index (OSI), telecommunication infrastructure index (TII), and human capital index (HCI).

UN carried out this year’s survey with the theme “gearing e-government to support transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies”.The survey is aimed at serving as a development tool for countries to identify areas of strength and challenges in e-government and shape their policies and strategies

Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2018