Question

Why was Pitt’s India Act introduced?

Answer 1

Hint: The dual system of control split between the East Indian Company and the British Government. It was repealed by the Government of India Act 1916.

Complete answer: - The act came in response to the Regulating Act of 1773. This act had been brought in to make reparations for the Company’s misgovernance and was the first of its kind of parliamentary authorization.
- The Company was now responsible for day-to-day activities, primarily those of economic nature and was represented by a Court Of Directors.
- A Board of Control of three directors, six members in total, controlled political and military matters, in consultation directly with the Crown. The head of the Board was called the Secretary of State and was accompanied by a Councillor of the Exchequer and four Privy councillors.
- Some of these political changes included, giving the Governor-General the right to veto and making the Bengal presidency the primary, in effect making Calcutta the capital.
- The major drawback of this act was the blurring of responsibility of the Governor-General. On one hand, there was not a clear distinction between the roles of the Court of Directors and the Board of Control, making the Governor-General responsible to heads instead of one, further increasing inefficiency. But this also meant that sometimes the Governor-General made executive decisions when jurisdictions were unclear.

Note: Named after the Prime Minister of UK, William Pitt the Younger, this act introduced in 1784 ended in 1858 and made two significant changes in terms of important actors:
- Put a stop to the EIC’s monopoly.
- Introduce British missionaries.