Question

Mention two administrative changes that the British government brought about regarding the East India Company’s rule in India.

Answer 1

Hint: The East India Company (EIC) was an English and later British joint-stock company. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies and later with Qing China.

Complete solution:
The two main administrative changes brought in the British government about regarding the East India company’s rule in India are:
i) The Board of Management of the Company and the Court of Directors have been abolished. All their authority was transferred to a cabinet minister, known as India's secretary of state.
ii) The appointments to the civil service had to be made by free competition, in compliance with the rules laid down in the Council by the Secretary of State.

> After the First Opium War, the company gradually took possession of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, and held trading posts and colonies in the Persian Gulf Residencies.
> Originally chartered as the 'London Trading in the East-Indies Governor and Company of Merchants,' the company grew to account for half of the world's trade, particularly in basic commodities such as cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea and opium. The group also regulated the origins of the British Empire in India.

Note: The Indian Revolt of 1857 resulted in widespread destruction in India (also known as the Indian Mutiny or Sepoy Mutiny): many blamed the East India Company for enabling the events to take place. The British Government nationalised the company in the wake of the Revolt, under the terms of the Government of India Act 1858.