Test: The Revolt of 1857- 2 - UPSC MCQ

(a) The changes introduced in the administrative set-up of the British territories in India- The most significant result of the uprising of 1857 was the end of East India Company rule and the assumption of the Government of India directly by the Crown. It transferred the power to govern Indian from the East India Company to the British Crown. While the authority over India was earlier in the hand of the Directors of the Company and the Board of control, now the power was to be exercised by the Secretary of State for India, aided by a Council.
(b) India's economic exploitation- The uprising of 1857 end the era of territorial expansion and ushered in the era of economic exploitation. India was turned into a typical colonial economy, exporting raw material and importing finished goods. The salary and allowances of the secretary of state and members of the India Council, the civil servants, and military officers were a large drain on the country's resources.
(c) Changes in the Army- the India army was reorganised after 1858, to prevent the reoccurrence of another uprising. The strength of European troops in India was increased. The general principle adopted was that the number of Indians sepoys should not exceed twice that of the European troops.
 

The Religious Disabilities Act of 1850 was a law passed in British India under East India Company rule that abolished all laws affecting the rights of persons converting to another religion or caste. The new Act allowed Indians who converted from one religion to other religion equal rights under no law, especially in the case of inheritance. Hence, C is the correct option.

Sir Sayyed Ahmad khan analysed the cause of uprising of 1857 advocating a reconciliation between the British and Muslims.

B is the correct option.

1. Sir John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner mutiny resulted from cartridge affair 
2. Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet, English general and political officer in India ... At the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 he was recalled from Iran, given ... The British military commander Sir James Outram thought it was a Muslim conspiracy.
3. In 1876, at the prompting of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli when rebellion was formed by Brahmans on religious pretences.
4. Charles Canning, the Governor-General of India during the rebellion of 1857.
    

• Annexation of Oudh (I)


• Abolition of Peshwa's Pension (II)


• Pensioning off the Rani of Jhansi (III)

• Abolition of Peshwa's Pension (II): This event occurred first, as it was an early action taken by the British authorities.


• Pensioning off the Rani of Jhansi (III): This event followed the abolition of Peshwa's pension, as the Rani of Jhansi was pensioned off after the annexation of Oudh.


• Annexation of Oudh (I): This event occurred last in the sequence, after the abolition of Peshwa's pension and pensioning off the Rani of Jhansi.

Therefore, the correct sequence of events is II, III, I.

Kachnagas revolt took place in Cachar region of Assam in 1882,. The leader of this revolt was Sambudhan. The revolt was crushed brutally by the British
The Munda revolt led by Birsa, called Ulgulan or the great tumult, started in 1899. A series of concerted attacks were unleashed on the British using guerrilla warfare tactics
The Great Kuki Rebellion took place in 1917.

The most important cause of popular discontent was the British policy of economically exploiting India. This hurt all sections of society. The peasants suffered due to high revenue demands and the strict revenue collection policy. Artisans and craftsmen were ruined by the large-scale influx of cheap British manufactured goods into India which, in turn, made their hand-made goods uneconomical to produce. People who made a living by following religious and cultural pursuits lost their source of livelihood due to the withdrawal of royal patronage caused by the displacement of the old ruling classes. A corrupt and unresponsive administration added to the miseries of the people.

The Doctrine of Lapse had caused suspicion and uneasiness in the minds of almost all ruling princes in India. The right of succession was denied for the Hindu Prince and the guarantee of adoption to the throne was disallowed.

In case of disputed interpretation the decision of the East India Company became final as there was no Supreme Court to say anything whether wrong or right. Punjab, Pegu, Sikkim had been annexed by the right of conquest. Satara, Jaitpur, Sambalpur, Bhagat, Udayapur, Jhansi and Nagpur were annexed with the extension of the Doctrine of Lapse. On the allegation of the written administration, Oudh was annexed.

• Reason I: The sepoys felt that Dalhousie had no grounds for having annexed Avadh. This action was seen as unjust and arbitrary by the sepoys.


• Reason II: Most of the company's sepoys came from Avadh. The annexation of their homeland created a personal connection and sense of loss among the sepoys.


• Reason III: The sepoys possessed regional and local patriotism. They had strong ties to their homeland and felt a duty to protect it from unjust actions.


• Reason IV: The sepoys had to pay higher taxes on the land their families held in Avadh. This financial burden further fueled their resentment towards the annexation.

Therefore, the combination of these reasons contributed to the anger and resentment felt by the Company's sepoys towards the annexation of Avadh by Lord Dalhousie in 1856.

The excuse Dalhousie had advanced for annexing Awadh was that he wanted to free the people from the Nawab's mismanagement and taluqdars oppression, but, in practice, the people got no relief. Indeed, the common man had now to pay higher land revenue and additional taxes on articles of food, houses, ferries, opium and justice. The dissolution of the Nawab's administration and army threw out of jobs thousands of nobles, gentlemen and officials together with their retainers and officers and soldiers and created unemployment in almost every peasant's home. Similarly, merchants, shopkeepers and handicraftsmen who had catered to the Awadh Court and nobles lost their livelihood. Moreover, the British confiscated the estates of a majority of the taluqdars or zamindars. These dispossessed taluqdars, numbering nearly 21,000, anxious to regain their lost estates and position, became the most dangerous opponents of the British rule. 

The British confiscated the estates of a majority of the taluqdars or zamindars. These dispossessed taluqdars, numbering nearly 21,000, anxious to regain their lost estates and position, became the most dangerous opponents of the British rule. 

The annexation of Awadh, along with the other annexations of Dalhousie, created panic among rulers of the native states. They now discovered that even their most groveling loyalty had failed to satisfy the British greed for territory.

What is of even greater importance, the political prestige of the British suffered a great deal because of the manner in which they had repeatedly broken their written and oral pledges and treaties with the Indian powers and annexed them or reduced them to subordination and imposed their own nominees on their thrones?

This policy of annexation and subordination was, for example, directly responsible for making Nana Sahib, the Rani of Jhansi and Bahadur Shah their staunch enemies.

The political causes for the First War of Independence (1857) include:
(a) British policy of expansion
(b) Disrespect shown to Bahadur Shah
(c) Treatment given to Nana Saheb and Rani Laxmi Bai 
(d) Absentee sovereignty of the British
 

Explanation:

• All-India Confederacies: Two confederacies in India had the strength to drive out the British from India.


• Internal Rebellion: In the 1850s, both of these confederacies were struck by an internal rebellion.


• Options: The options provided are Marathas and Chait Singh, Raja of Varanasi; Chait Singh and Wazir Ali of Avadh; Marathas and Wazir Ali of Avadh; None of these.


• Correct Answer: The correct answer is option B which states Chait Singh and Wazir Ali of Avadh.


• Marathas: The Marathas were a powerful confederacy in India but they were struck by internal rebellion in the 1850s.


• Chait Singh: Chait Singh, the Raja of Varanasi, was also part of the confederacy that had the strength to drive out the British but faced internal rebellion.


• Wazir Ali of Avadh: Wazir Ali of Avadh was another key figure in the confederacy who was struck by internal rebellion.

By analyzing the options and understanding the historical context, it is clear that the confederacies of Chait Singh and Wazir Ali of Avadh were the ones who were struck by internal rebellion in the 1850s, preventing them from driving out the British from India.

A. Special marriage act                 I. 1872 
B. The Indian evidence act            I. 1872 
C. The Royal titles act                    II. 1876
D. Lottery introduced in Presidency towns  III. 1843 

The Indian Evidence Act, originally passed in India by the Imperial Legislative Council in 1872, during the British Raj, contains a set of rules and allied issues governing admissibility of evidence in the Indian courts of law. 

The Royal Titles Act 1876 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which officially recognized Queen Victoria as “Empress of India”. This title had been assumed by her in 1876, under the encouragement of the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. 

The correct option is C.
As the third statement is not related to the given topic. 
In 1856 Lord Canning announced that after the death of Bahadur Shah his successors would not be allowed to use the imperial titles and dignities with their names, this announcement adversely affected the Mughal Dynasty in India.

Syed Ahmad Khan in 1860. He regards the non-admission of Indians into the legislative and administrative branches of the Government of India as the primary cause of the Mutiny of 1857* the others being merely incidental or arising out of it. The permanence and prosperity of the Government depend on an accurate knowledge of the manners, customs, usages, habits, hopes and aspirations, temper and ability of the people of India. But the foreign Government cannot possess such knowledge until the people are allowed to participate in the administration of the country.

The sentiments of the people were hurt when the government started to tax even the land which belonged to the temples and mosques. The government passed a law in 1850 which enabled a person who had converted to Christianity to inherit his ancestral property. This was seen as a step to encourage conversions and also to interfere in the religion of the people. The Muslims also thought that the spread of English education was un-Islamic. 
 

The Character Act of 1813 was the first parliamentary approval for propagation of Christianity in India.

The policy of modernising Indian society and culture was also encouraged by the Christian missionaries and religious minded persons such as William Wilberforce and Charles Grant, the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, who wanted to spread Christianity in India. They too adopted a critical attitude towards Indian society but on religious grounds. They passionately believed that Christianity alone was the true

The English language played an important role in this respect. It became the medium for the spread of modern ideas. It also became the medium of communication and exchange of ideas between educated Indians from different linguistic regions of the country.

The correct answer is option (C). Abolition to Sati and Legislation of widow marriage were disliked by hindus and made them dislike the British.
Due to fierce campaign and lobbying of Raja Rammohan Roy and others,Sati practice was formally banned in all the lands under Bengal Presidency by Lord William Bentinck on 4 December 1829. By this regulation, the people who abetted sati were declared guilty of “culpable homicide.”
The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856, also Act XV, 1856, enacted on 26 July 1856, legalised the remarriage of Hindu widows in all jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule. It was drafted by Lord Dalhousie and passed by Lord Dalhousie before the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

General Service Enlistment Act of 25 July 1856 espoused that the Bengal Army shall take upon the responsibility of serving overseas, if need be. Out if the three Presidencies, only the armies of Bombay and Madras had the obligation of serving overseas, as such they faced immense strain for deployment at Burma and China fronts. The General Services Enlistment Act called for the same from Bengal Army as well that faced great resentment because they were initially exempted from overseas operations.

The New Enlistment Act of 1856 entailed that every unit of the Bengal Army was accountable for servings overseas, if asked to do so. Though this was applicable to only the new recruits of the Bengal Army, the older recruits feared that they too would be asked to do so and hence they resented.

In 1857 Mr. Mangles, the Chairman of the Directors of the East India Company, in the House of Commons said that Providence has entrusted the extensive empire of Hindustan to England in order that the banner of Christ should wave triumphant from one end of India to the other. Everyone must exert all his strength that there may be no dilatoriness on any account in continuing in the country the grand work of making all Indians Christians. Major Edwards also openly declared that the Christianization of India was to be the ultimate end of our continued possession of it. Lord Shaftsbury believed that the failure to Christianize India was the cause of the whole trouble. 
 

While the poor classes were groaning under poverty and discontent, the upper and middle classes were no less affected. The resumption of rentfree tenures by Bentinck dispossessed many landholders of their estates, though this measure secured increased revenue to the State. The limn Commission set up in Bombay in 1852 to investigate the title of landowners, confiscated more than 20,000 estates in the Deccan. It is no wonder that there prevailed grave discontent all over India. Economic distress became more acute with the outbreak of seven famines in the first half of the nineteenth century. 

 Ill-treatment of Indian soldiers: The East India Company discriminated against their Indian sepoys. They were poorly paid, ill-fed and badly housed. They were forbidden from wearing any caste or sectarian marks, beads or turbans. As a result, there was resentment among the Indian troops.  
Decay of Cottage Industries and Handicrafts: Because of the British policy of preferential treatment to British businesses, Indian industries were gradually destroyed. By the middle of the 19th century, export of cotton and silk goods had practically ceased. The misery of the unemployed artisans was further complemented by the disappearance of their traditional patrons and buyers, i.e. the princes, chieftains and zamindars.

The privilege of free postage so long enjoyed by the scpoys was withdrawn with the passing of the Post Office Act of 1854 Besides, the disparity in numbers between European and Indian troops had lately been growing greater. In 1856, the Company's army consisted of 238,000 native and 45,322 British soldiers. 

May 10, 1857 was a Sunday. The British officers at the Meerut cantonment in north India were preparing to attend church, while many other British soldiers were off duty. The Indian troops in the cantonment, already waiting for an opportunity to revolt against their foreign masters, seized the day. Almost 50 British soldiers, and other men, women and children were killed by the sepoys and the crowds who soon joined the Indian soldiers.

The following were the causes of the failure of 1857 Revolt:

• The Revolt was a failure due to localized and poorly organized.
• The Revolt lacked mass support.
• The lack of common ideal among sepoys was the cause of the failure.
• It was hard to find a leader who has the military capability and political skills.
• The sepoys didn’t have any support from the ruling prince.

The revolt of 1857 suffered from a weak leadership. It was not planned and organized. There was a clear lack of unity among the rebels and there was no common purpose among them during the revolt of 1857. 

So, option D which states that the rebels had a strong leadership is correct.

The educated middle classes did not support the rebels. The revolt did not spread to all the parts of India instead it was confined to Northern and Central India. Also, the rulers of Kashmir, Gwalior, and Hyderabad helped the British against the revolt. The lack of resources both in trained men and modern weapons made the rebels to give up the fight on many occasions. There was infighting in the ranks of the rebels. Also, many communities like Rajputs, Gurkhas, Holkars supported the British rather than taking part in the mutiny.