REFORMS OF WILLIAM BENTINCK (1828-33)

Lord William Bentinck was born on 14th September 1774 in Buckinghamshire, England. He
was the son of Britain’s former prime minister. Bentinck joined the British army at the age of
16 and had become a colonel by 1798. In 1803, he was named the Governor of Madras. In
1828 he was appointed as the Governor-General of Bengal (last). The Charter Act of
1833 was passed in his tenure. This Charter renamed the Governor-General of Bengal as the
first Governor-General of India with the additional charge of Bengal lieutenant Governor.
This Act marked the centralisation in India’s administration and also made provisions for
the inclusion of Indians in government service. He was undoubtedly the first
Governor-General of British India who acted on the dictum that “the welfare of
the subject peoples was a main, perhaps the primary duty of the British in India.

His main task was to save the bankrupt East India Company. Therefore, during his tenure of
seven years as the Governor-General of India, many reforms were introduced by him in the
field of finance, education, and social reforms. Some of his reforms by him are discussed
below.

SOCIAL REFORMS:
1) Abolition of Sati

 Sati, the age-old custom of burning widows alive on their husband's funeral pyres,
was practiced in India since ancient times. This inhumane social practice was
widespread in northern India, particularly in Bengal and Rajasthan.
 During the period of Bentinck, some liberal Hindu social reformers like Raja
Rammohan Roy and Devendranath Tagore pleaded it by law. As a result, Bentick
consulted the governors of the provinces and his officials and issued Regulation
XVII on December 4, 1829, declaring the practice of Sati illegal. The law applied to
Bengal alone first. Then in 1830, the governments of Madras and Bombay also passed
laws declaring the practice of Sati illegal. Of course, a section of Indians protested
against these laws and sent representation to Britain but liberal Hindus supported
these laws. The practice was given up by the Indians only gradually, yet it was
certainly a bold step taken by William Bentinck.

2) Female infanticide

 Female infanticide was one of the most heinous and heartless crimes committed by
civilized people.
 This practice of killing female infants was widespread in Rajputana, Punjab, Malwa,
and Cutch.
 Bentinck took effective steps to prevent the ritual of child sacrifice on Bengal's
Saugar Island.
 He not only prohibited female infanticide but also made it a punishable offence,
which helped in checking these social evils.

3) Suppression of Thugs
  The most admirable measure taken by Bentinck, which contributed to the material
well-being of the people, was the suppression of the 'thugs.' They were a family of
robbers.
 They moved around in small groups of fifty to a hundred people, posing as
commercial gangs or pilgrims and strangling and robbing peaceful travellers and
mainly the traders.
 They became more numerous in central and northern India during the 18th century
when anarchy reigned following the disintegration of the Mughal Empire.
 Colonel Sleeman organized a systematic campaign against the thugs beginning in
1830. Over the course of five years, nearly 2000 of them were apprehended.
 The majority of them who were captured were either imprisoned for life, were
transported to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands or given death sentence. After
constant, efforts, the practice of Thuggee in organised groups could be eliminated by
the close of the year 1837.


4. Human sacrifices were declared illegal:

To please gods and goddesses were prevalent among certain communities in India. This
practice was declared illegal by Bentinck and severe punishments were given to the
offenders. He thus, helped in checking these social evils.

5) Introduction to English Education

 Lord Willaim Bentinck's administration was marked by the introduction of English

education.
 He formed a committee, chaired by Lord Macaulay, to make recommendations for
the advancement of education. Macaulay presented his famous Minutes on February
2, 1835 before the Council in which he firmly advocated the cause of western
education and the English language. He contended that Indian education lacked
scientific knowledge completely and that oriental learning was completely inferior to
European learning. He claimed : “A single shelf of a good European library was
worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.” Macaulay was ignorant of
India’s past achievements in the realms of science and thought. More than that he was
a patriot and was deeply devoted to English language and learning. Therefore; he was
bound to be prejudiced against Indian learning and language. Besides, probably the
necessity of English educated Indians to be employed as clerks, was also one reason
of his support to English language. But, more than that, the reason dear to Macaulay’s
heart was that the English learning and language would “form a class of persons
Indian in blood and in colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, and in morals
and intellect.
 William Bentinck wholeheartedly accepted this recommendation. In 1835, the
government passed a resolution making English the official and literacy language of
India.

 In 1835, William Bentinck established the Calcutta Medical College and it became
the first western medical school in all of Asia where people could be admitted
irrespective of caste or creed.
5) Financial Reforms
  When Bentinck took over as Governor-General in 1828, the East India
company's financial situation was very bad due to Burmese War. The exchequer was
extremely weak. The state budget had a one-million-rupee deficit.
 It became necessary for the Governor-General to take effective measures to improve
the financial situation. To accomplish this, he implemented the following measures:
o He reduced all officers' salaries and allowances;
o He reduced the number of officers on the payroll;
o In the military department, the allowances of those officers who were
posted within a radius of 400 hundred miles from Calcutta were reduced to
half. As a result of this measure a saving of £ 20,000 a year was effected.

At the time of his departure, the treasury had a surplus of Rs.1.5 million as a result of his
financial reforms.

6.) Administrative Reforms

 The Presidency of Bengal was divided into twenty divisions, each under the
charge of a Commissioner.
 He also advocated for Indians to be educated in the western style so that more Indians
could be employed in the administration.
 He started appointing Indians on administrative posts as they were willing to
accept less salaries as compared to the British.
 The highest post assigned to Indians during his period was that of a Sadar Amin who
was paid rupees seven hundred per month. The Indians thus were allowed to enter
into higher services on merit. This principle was accepted in the Company’s Charter
Act of 1833. It was declared that no person would be deprived of the chance to enter
into the service of the Company on grounds of religion, race, birth or colour.
 Confiscation of Jagir lands: The native rulers had given lands to many people by way
of rewards or charity during their period of rule. As these lands were gift-lands, no
revenue was charged from their owners. Bentinck ordered verification of claims of
these landholders. The lands of all those who could not prove their ownership were
confiscated and the rest of them were asked to pay revenue to the state. Many people
suffered from this measure because they were deprived of their lands. But the measure
certainly helped in increasing the income of the Company.
 License for Opium: During those days opium was produced in Bihar, Banaras and
Malwa in large quantities. Bentinck encouraged opium trade with China to yield
better income to the government. Licenses were issued liberally to the traders for this
purpose. The traders were given the facility of transporting the opium from Malwa
directly to Bombay instead of taking it to Karachi first. It reduced the cost of opium
and it was exported in a larger quantity which benefited the government.
 Bentinck started the practice of issuing linceses to all the opium traders, which
enhanced the income of the Company.
 Land Revenue System of North Western frontier Province: Even in terms of revenue,
Bentinck made a name for himself. He began the revenue settlements of the North
West Province, under the control of R.M. Bird. This agreement was made for a
period of 30 years and was made with either the tillers of the soil or the landowners.

7) Judicial Reforms
Administrative reforms implemented by Bentinck demonstrate his political maturity and
wisdom.

 He abolished Provincial Courts of appeal and circuit courts established by

Cornwallis because it involved lots of expenditure of state. The rights of these courts
were transferred to Collectors and Magistrates.
 A new judicial post, that is, of Sadar Amin, was created by him in 1831.
 Bentinck also established two High Courts, viz., the Sadar Diwani Adalat and the
Sadar Nizamat Adalat at Allahabad that the people there had not to go to Calcutta in
cases of their appeals.
 He established a Supreme Court in Agra. The civil and criminal appeals were
heard in this court.
 In 1829 magistrates were empowered to award punishment up to two years.
 Bentick also reduced the severity of the punishment. The system of beating a man
with whips was abolished by Bentick.
 So far, Persian had been the language of the court. Both the public and the Judges
were ignorant of Persian. So Bentick ordered the use of vernacular or local
language in place of Persian in lower courts. In higher courts Persian was
replaced by English as the court language. Qualified Indians were appointed as
Munsiffs and Sadar Amins.
 A Law Commission headed by Lord Macaulay, the first law member of his
council, was appointed in 1833 to codify Indian laws. Its labours resulted in the
Indian Penal Code, Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure and other Codes of law. It
was a most useful attempt which unified India judicially.

CONCLUSION
Macaulay says, “He never forgot the end of his government is the welfare of the
governed”. Bentinck was described as a "straightforward, homely, upright, benevolent, and
sensible man." His social reforms, such as the abolition of Sati and the prohibition of child
sacrifice, wiped out long-standing evils in Hindu society and aimed at welfare of subjects,
peace, law and order and balance between income and expenditure. He was able to bring
about a sound financial management system for the company, but the process was also
accompanied by a policy of westernisation.