Daily Static Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
- Pitt’s India Act
- Charter Act of 1833
- Regulating Act
- Charter Act of 1813
The correct sequence is the Regulating Act (1773) → Pitt’s India Act (1784) → Charter Act (1813) → Charter Act (1833). The Regulating Act created the Governor-General of Bengal and a Supreme Court at Calcutta, and Pitt’s India Act set up the Board of Control, establishing dual control. Options (a), (b) and (d) each misplace the Regulating Act, Pitt’s Act or the 1833 Act.
- It made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India.
- It ended the commercial functions of the East India Company.
- It added a Law Member to the Governor-General’s Council.
- It introduced open competition for recruitment to the civil services.
Statement 1 is correct — Lord William Bentinck became the first Governor-General of India. Statement 2 is correct — the Company became a purely administrative body for the British Crown. Statement 3 is correct — a Law Member, Macaulay being the first, was added as the fourth member of the Council. Statement 4 is incorrect — open competition came with the Charter Act of 1853, as the 1833 attempt to open the services to Indians was not carried out.
- Assertion (A): The Government of India Act, 1919 introduced dyarchy at the Centre.
- Reason (R): Under the 1919 Act, provincial subjects were divided into reserved and transferred categories.
A is incorrect — the 1919 Act introduced dyarchy at the provincial level, and it was the Government of India Act, 1935 that proposed it at the Centre. R is correct — transferred subjects were handled by ministers responsible to the legislature, while reserved subjects stayed with the Governor and his Executive Council. The 1919 Act did make the Central legislature bicameral (Council of State and Legislative Assembly), but did not introduce dyarchy there.
- Statement 1: The all-India federation envisaged by the Act never came into being.
- Statement 2: The Act introduced bicameral legislatures in all the provinces.
Statement 1 is correct — the federation was to come into force only after a stipulated number of princely states acceded, and since they never did, the federal part remained inoperative, though the provincial part took effect in 1937. Statement 2 is incorrect — bicameralism was introduced in only six provinces: Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Madras and the United Provinces. The Act did abolish dyarchy in the provinces and introduced provincial autonomy.
Option (c) is incorrectly matched — the Charter Act of 1813 ended the Company’s monopoly of trade with India but retained its monopoly of the tea trade and trade with China, and it was the 1833 Act that ended its commercial role altogether. The other pairs are correct: the 1861 Act began decentralisation and the portfolio system under Canning, the 1892 Act also introduced a limited element of indirect election, and the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909 introduced separate electorates.
