Spectrum Test: Survey Of British Policies In India - UPSC MCQ

• Determined to avoid a united mass action challenging their authority, the British rulers in India decided to practice a naked policy of divide and rule, by putting princes against states' people, region against region, province against province, caste against caste and Hindus against Muslims. 

• After an immediate spell of repression against Muslims, following the 1857 revolt, the authorities decided, after 1870, to use the middle and upper educated classes among Muslims against the rising tide of nationalism, using conflicts over scarce resources in education, administrative jobs and later political spoils (which were inherent in the very logic of colonial underdevelopment) as a tool to create a split along religious lines among educated Indians.

• In their pursuit of reactionary policies and hope to expand their social base, the British looked for alliances with the most reactionary social groups—the princes and zamindars. Etc. 

• The British intended to use them as a counterweight against the nationalist-minded intelligentsia. Now, the zamindars and landlords were hailed as the 'natural' and 'traditional leaders.

•  Lands of most of the Awadh taluqdars confiscated before 1857 were restored to them. 

• The interests and privileges of zamindars and landlords were protected in opposition to those of the peasants. The former in turn saw the British as guarantors of their very existence and became their firm supporters.

The Indian Factory Act, 1881 dealt primarily with child labour (between 7 and 12 years of age). Its significant provisions were: 

• employment of children under 7 years of age prohibited, 

• working hours restricted to 9 hours per day for children, 

• children to get four holidays in a month, 

• hazardous machinery to be properly fenced off.

• These laws did not apply to British-owned tea and coffee plantations where the labour was exploited ruthlessly and treated like slaves. 

• The Government helped these planters by passing laws such as those that made it virtually impossible for a labourer to refuse to work once a contract was entered. 

• A breach of contract was a criminal offence, with a planter having the right to get the defaulting labourer arrested. More labour laws were passed under nationalist pressures in the twentieth century, but the overall working conditions remained deplorable as ever.

Explanation:

1. Industrial Revolution - began in the 18th century and resulted in the growth of industrial capitalism.

This statement is correctly matched. The Industrial Revolution started in the late 18th century in Britain and marked a significant shift in economic and social structures. It led to the growth of industrial capitalism, where industries took over the economic landscape, leading to increased production and technological advancements.

2. French Revolution - gave rise to new attitudes of mind, manners, and morals.

This statement is not correctly matched. The French Revolution, which took place from 1789 to 1799, did bring about significant social and political change, but it is better known for its impact on political ideologies and the rise of nationalism and democracy. It did influence mindsets and attitudes to an extent, but its primary contribution was in the political sphere.

3. Intellectual Revolution - gave the message of liberty, equality and fraternity, unleashed the forces of democracy and nationalism.

This statement is not correctly matched. The term "Intellectual Revolution" is not a widely recognized historical event or period. The statement seems to be referring to the Enlightenment, which was an intellectual and philosophical movement that took place during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Enlightenment emphasized reason, individualism, and the questioning of traditional authority. While it did contribute to the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity, which in turn influenced the French Revolution, it is not accurate to label it as the "Intellectual Revolution."

Thus, statements 2 and 3 are the ones that are not correctly matched.

(i) Rationalism which advocated faith in reason and a scientific attitude. 

(ii) Humanism which advocated the love of man—the belief that every man is an end in himself and should be respected and prized as such. No man has a right to look upon another man as a mere agent of his happiness. These ideals gave rise to liberalism, socialism and individualism. 

(iii) Doctrine of Progress according to which nothing is static and all societies must change with time. Man has the capacity to remodel nature and society on just and rational lines.

• The Conservatives advocated the introduction of a few changes as possible. Indian civilization, they felt, was different from the European one but not necessarily inferior to it. 

• The Paternalistic Imperialists became influential, especially after 1800. They were sharply critical of Indian society and culture and used to justify India's economic and political enslavement. 

• Some of the British officials who came to India after 1820 were Radicals. They were strongly supported by Raja Rammohan Roy and other like-minded reformers. 

• But predominantly, the ruling elements in the British Indian administration continued to be imperialistic and exploitative. 

• They thought that the modernization of India had to occur within broad limits imposed by the needs of easier and more thorough exploitation of its resources.

(i) protection of the invaluable Indian empire; 

(ii) expansion of British commercial and economic interests; 

(iii) keeping other European imperialist powers, whose colonial interests came in conflict with those of the British, at an arm's length in Asia and Africa. 

These aims led to British expansion and territorial conquests outside India's natural frontiers and conflicts with other imperialist European powers such as Russia and France. While the interests served were British, the money spent and the bloodshed was Indian.