Test: Administrative Organisation and social & Cultural Policy - 2 - UPSC MCQ

The British introduced the modern concept of the rule of law in India. This concept was a guarantee of personal liberty to some extent, and the administration was largely carried out according to laws as interpreted by the courts.

The Indian legal system under the British was based on the concept of equality before the law. This meant that in the eyes of the law, all men were equal and the same law applied to all persons irrespective of their caste, religion, or class.

Till 1813, British authorities followed a policy of non-interference in the religious, social, and cultural life of the country. However, after 1813, they took active steps to transform Indian society and culture.

The practice of sati was outlawed in 1829 by William Bentinck, who made it a crime to associate in any way with the burning of a widow on her husband's pyre.

The Charter Act was passed in 1813, incorporating the principle of encouraging learned Indians and promoting the knowledge of modern sciences in India. The Act directed the Company to spend the sum of one lakh of rupees for the purpose.

Lord Macaulay, who was the Law Member of the Governor-General's Council, argued in a famous minute that Indian languages were not sufficiently developed to serve the purpose, and that "Oriental learning was completely inferior to European learning".

The "downward filtration theory" aimed to educate a few persons from the upper and middle classes who were expected to assume the task of educating the masses and spreading modern ideas among them.

The British educational policy in India aimed to expand the market for British manufactures, strengthen the foundation of their political authority, and get a cheap supply of educated Indians for administrative and business positions, but it did not aim to promote Indian nationalism and independence.

A major lacuna in the early British educational policy in India was the almost total neglect of the education of girls for which no funds were allocated.

By 1857, there were only three medical colleges in India, located in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. This shows the neglect of scientific and technical education during the early British educational policy in India.