KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY MODERN INDIA | MODULE 3 INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT (1885-1905) History of Indian National Congress can be divided into: 1. Moderate Phase (1885-1905) 2. Extremist Phase (1905-1919) 3. Gandhian Era (1919-1947) MODERATE PHASE The first generation of congress leadership was called moderates and the first twenty years after the formation of congress is called the phase of moderates. The leading figures during this phase were A.O. Hume, W.C. Banerjee, Surendra Nath Banerjee, Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Gopalakrishna Gokhale, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Badruddin Tyabji, Justice Ranade, G.Subramanya Iyer etc. Initially Congress was dominated by the educated middle class leadership. They were inspired by the British democratic liberal tradition. Most of them were from three British Presidencies: Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. They did not demand independence or even self government. They demanded only limited democratic rights for the educated members of Indian society They had firm faith in the providential nature of British rule in India Their complaint was not against the British rule, but the un-British attitude of British rulers in India. Thus they considered the atrocities and exploitation of British as aberration rather than the inherent nature of the British rule. They wanted to reform colonial Bureaucracy by Indianising the civil services and provide greater participation of Indians in legislative processes. The moderates never resorted to violence. They believed in the efficacy of peaceful and constitutional agitation. It was well explained by Gokhale in his journal Sudharak as 3P method: Petition, Prayer and Protest. DEMANDS OF MODERATES Administrative Demands Enlarge Indian participation in legislatures through an expansion of the central and provincial legislatures. Abolish the India Council of Secretary of State for India which prevented the secretary of state from initiating liberal policies in India. Administrative reform by appointing more Indians in higher posts in civil services 1 KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY Simultaneous civil service exam in both London and India and raise the age limit for appearing for the exams Include two Indians in Viceroy‟s executive Council and one such member in each of the executive councils of Bombay and Madras. Establish new legislative councils for North-Western Province and Punjab Budget should be referred to legislature and subjected to right to discuss and vote on it. Provide right to appeal to the standing committee of the House of Commons against the Government of India. Economic Demands End the drain of wealth from India to England Extent state assistance and protection for Indian agriculture and industries End free trade policy that destructed Indian industries Reduce Land revenue Reduce salt tax End the exploitation of workers in plantation industries Extent the system of permanent settlement in other parts Military Demands Reduce Military expenditure. Share the military expenditure evenly among British and India governments. Indians should be taken into army as volunteers Appoint more Indians in higher ranks Other Civil and Political Demands Repeal discriminatory laws against Indians Repeal Arms Act (1878) Extension of trial by jury system Ensure freedom of press RESPONSE OF COLONIAL RULERS In the beginning, the Britishers had a favourable attitude towards the Congress. But, by 1887, this attitude began to change. On 30 November 1888, at St Andrew's Day dinner in Calcutta, a few weeks before leaving India, Lord Dufferin described congress as an organisation representing only a 'Microscopic minority' of India. Income tax abolished in 1870s was reimposed in 1886. The salt tax was raised from Rs. 2 to Rs. 2.5. The only achievement of the Congress was the enactment of the Indian Councils Act, 1892 that enlarged the legislature by adding a few nonofficial members. Page | 2 KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY INDIAN COUNCILS ACT, 1892 Indian National Congress from its inception continuously demanded the reforms of the legislative council and adoption of the principle of election in place of nomination. Indian Councils Act 1892 was introduced in British Parliament by Lord Cross. The Indian Councils act 1892 increased the number of the additional members in Central Legislative Council to between 10 and 16 The Council now had 6 officials, 5 nominated non-officials, 4 nominated by the provincial legislative councils of Bengal Presidency, Bombay Presidency, Madras Presidency and North-Western Provinces and 1 nominated by the chamber of commerce in Calcutta. The Indian Councils Act 1892 gave the members right to ask questions on Budget or matters of public Interest after giving six days‟ notice. But no right to ask supplementary questions. A system of indirect elections was introduced to elect the members of the Provincial legislative councils. The universities, district board, municipalities, zamindars and chambers of commerce were empowered to recommend members to provincial councils. The legislative councils were empowered to make new laws and repeal old laws with the permission of the Governor-General. This act can be said to be a first step towards the beginning of the representative government in India. But only very few of the constitutional demands of moderates were fulfilled by this act. ACHIEVEMENT OF MODERATES Even though the Congress failed to achieve its goal, it succeeded in creating national awakening and instilling in the minds of the Indian people a sense of belonging to one Nation. They provided a forum for the Indians to discuss major national issues. They popularized the ideas of democracy, civil liberties and representative institutions. By criticizing the government policies, they gave the people valuable political training. Though, they were not ready to take aggressive steps which would bring them in direct conflict with the Government. ECONOMIC NATIONALISM The most significant contribution of moderates was they offered an economic criticism of British rule. The ideas and theories they put forward are collectively referred to as economic nationalism. Moderates such as Dadabhai Naoroji, M.G.Ranade, G.Subrahmania Iyer and R.C Dutt produced well-documented studies to conclusively prove that British rule was primarily responsible for the total ruination of Indian industries and agriculture. Page | 3 KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY They opposed the British free trade policy that resulted in the decline of Industrial growth of India. They accused that this policy turned India into a supplier of agricultural raw materials and foodstuffs and a consumer of manufactured goods. India was thus reduced to the status of a dependent agrarian economy and a field of British capital investments. Dadabhai Naoroji declared that the British rule was “an everlasting and every day increasing foreign invasion”. Economic Drain Theory The drain theory was the key theme of the economic nationalism. Dadabhai Naoroji put forward this theory in 1867. The drain theory argues that the wealth of India was being drained out to England in the form of home charges, military charges and guaranteed interest payment on railway investment. Home charge, which formed an important part of drain of wealth, consisted of: 1) Funds used to pay salaries and pensions of British personnel engaged in India 2) Expenditure incurred in England by the Secretary of State and his India Office 3) Funds used for waging wars outside India by the British 4) Interest on Public debt rose abroad 5) Dividend to the share-holders of the East India Company 6) Stores purchased by Secretary of State and the Government of India for Military, Civil and Marine Departments in Britain. In Naoroji‟s calculation this drain of wealth from India to Britain amounted to about £ 12 million per year, while William Digby calculated it to be £ 30 million. This amounted to at least half of the total revenue income of British Indian Government. This drain impoverished Indian and obstructed the capital formation in India. Naoroji calculated the Per Capita Income of Indians as Rs. 20, while Digby‟s calculation was Rs. 18 for 1899. British never accepted this calculation. Lord Ripon‟s finance secretary calculated PCI as Rs. 27, while Lord Curzon calculated it to be Rs. 30 in 1901. To quote Dadabhai Naoroji “materially British rule caused only impoverishment; it was like „the knife of sugar‟. That is to say there is no oppression; it is all too smooth and sweet, but it is the knife notwithstanding.” He also said that “British rule is a bleeding drain from India.” Naoroji included this theory of drain of wealth in his paper Poverty in India (1876). He later expanded his arguments and presented in 1901 as his book Poverty and Un- British Rule in India. He showed how India‟s wealth was going away to England in the form of salaries, savings, pensions, payments to British troops in India and profits of the British companies. Page | 4 KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY R.C. Dutt made the theme of drain of wealth the subject of his famous book Economic History of India published in 1901-03 in two volumes. Justice M G Ranade through many essays such as „Indian Political Economy‟ documented the impact of British rule in Indian economy. LIMITATIONS OF MODERATE POLITICS The moderate politics remained limited in nature, in terms of goals, programmes, achievements and participation. The early moderate politicians were mainly Hindus, barring the notable exception of Bombay politician, Badruddin Tyabji. Between 1892 and 1909, nearly 90% of the delegates who attended the Congress sessions are Hindus and only 6.5% were Muslims and among the Hindus again, nearly 48% were Brahmans and the rest were upper-caste Hindus. In 1888 Session Congress passed a rule that no resolution would be accepted if an overwhelming majority of Hindus or Muslim delegates objected to it. But these gestures did not remove the apprehension of Muslims. The basic weakness of the early national movement lay in its narrow social base.