Question

Which announcement of Lord Canning in 1856, adversely affected the Mughal dynasty in India?

Answer 1

Hint: The British Empire had been well established by 1856 and its territorial frontiers were finalized in the east and north-west. It's Paramount power was well recognized by the princely states. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British Empire took over almost the whole of India. Complete answer: By war or diplomacy, one independent state after another was brought within the orbit of a subsidiary alliance system or incorporated in British dominion. As the land was the chief source of income, for nearly a century the British in India Experimented with various modes of revenue settlements to extract the maximum share of the agricultural produce. Higher yield being the sole purpose, the socio-economic structure of the Indian community was wholly ignored and in consequence, adversely affected. The Mughal Empire might have continued to rest for a long time if its administration and firm power had not broken down, mostly as a result of the factors discussed above. Their administrative efficiency during the 18th century hit rock-bottom. The administration was neglected and law and order broke down in many parts of the country due to the policies of ‘Effective Control’, ‘Subsidiary Alliance’ and ‘Doctrine of Lapse’. Hindu rulers were denied the right of succession. The right of succession was humbled when on Prince Fariquddin’s death in1856, whose succession had been recognized conditionally by Lord Dalhousie, Lord Canning announced that the next person who will succeed would have to renounce their respective title and the ancestral Mughal palaces. The stagnation of Indian society was now broken and there emerged new forces of change. These new changemakers were to provide the dynamism of modern India.

Note: The annexation of Awadh in 1856 was a blow to the prestige of the ruling
classes, the local population and the sepoys. Apart from Delhi, Awadh was the
second most important centre of the revolt of 1857.