Government of India Acts
- Date:
- 1773 - 1935
- Major Events:
- Government of India Act
Government of India Acts, succession of measures passed by the British Parliament between 1773 and 1935 to regulate the governing of India. The first several acts—passed in 1773, 1781, 1784, 1786, 1793, 1813, 1833, and 1853—were generally known as East India Company Acts. Subsequent measures—in 1858, 1919, and 1935—were titled Government of India Acts.
Company rule
- Regulating Act of 1773: First major step by the British Parliament to regulate the East India Company’s rule in India.
- Pitt’s India Act of 1784: Established dual rule in which the company controlled commerce and the crown managed political matters.
- Charter Act of 1793: Extended the company’s trade monopoly in India for 20 years.
- Charter Act of 1813: Abolished the company’s trade monopoly in India except trade in tea.
- Charter Act of 1833: Ended commercial activities of the company.
- Charter Act of 1853: Established the Indian Legislative Council.
- Government of India Act of 1858: Transferred the company’s administrative powers to the crown.
- Government of India Act of 1919: Introduced a bicameral central legislature and direct elections in India.
- Government of India Act of 1935: Established Federation of India, consisting of a central executive, a central legislature, provinces, and princely states.
The British Parliament passed several acts to regulate the East India Company’s rule in India. The first major step in this regard was the Regulating Act passed in 1773. It set up a governor-general of Fort William in Bengal with supervisory powers over Madras and Bombay presidencies. The Amending Act of 1781, also called the Act of Settlement, was passed to amend the Regulating Act, notably limiting the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court at Calcutta and granting immunity to the governor-general for official acts. Pitt’s India Act of 1784, named for the British prime minister William Pitt the Younger, established the dual system of control by the British government and the East India Company, by which the company retained control of commerce and day-to-day administration but important political matters were reserved to a secret committee of three directors in direct touch with the British government; this system lasted until 1858.
The act of 1786 granted extraordinary powers to the governor-general of Bengal. The Charter Act of 1793 extended the company’s trade monopoly in India by 20 years. The Charter Act of 1813 broke the company’s trade monopoly in India and allowed Christian missionaries to enter British India. The Charter Act of 1833 ended the commercial activities of the company, which became an administrative body. It retitled the governor-general of Bengal as the governor-general of India and established a government of India with complete control over British territories in India. The final Charter Act (1853) separated the legislative and executive powers of the governor-general’s council, establishing the Indian Legislative Council with limited local representation.
Crown rule
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 altered the political landscape of India. The British Parliament passed the Government of India Act of 1858 and transferred the company’s administrative powers to the crown. It renamed the governor-general of India to viceroy of India, the crown’s representative.
The Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935 were comprehensive enactments, the former giving legal expression to the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. The act of 1919 introduced a limited form of accountable governance in India. It divided administrative fields, or subjects, into central and provincial categories and implemented dyarchy in the provinces; provincial subjects, or transferred subjects, such as public health and education came under the control of Indian ministers, and reserved subjects such as law enforcement and finance were under the control of crown-appointed executive councillors. Moreover, it established bicameralism at the central level—expanding the Indian Legislative Council into a lower house, the Legislative Assembly, and an upper house, the Council of State—and introduced direct elections.
Based on the partition plan proposed by Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act in July 1947. It came into effect on August 15. The act ended British rule and partitioned British India into two independent dominions, India and Pakistan. Both countries remained dominions under Britain until their respective constitutions came into force (India in 1950 and Pakistan in 1956), officially repealing the Indian Independence Act.
The act of 1935 laid the foundation for the Constitution of India. It proposed a Federation of India made up of provinces and princely states—semiautonomous territories in British India ruled by local monarchs under the suzerainty of the crown. To divide powers between the central government and the provinces, the act introduced three legislative lists—federal, provincial, and concurrent—dividing subjects between the central government (federal), the provinces (provincial), and both (concurrent). The act ended provincial dyarchy and granted provinces autonomy. Bicameralism was established in 6 of 11 provinces, and voting rights were extended to about 14 percent of the population. The act established the Federal Court and recognized the Reserve Bank of India’s role in monetary control. This framework later influenced the Indian Independence Act of 1947, which granted independence to India and Pakistan.