Indian council act 1861 UPSC short notes
Here we will study the Indian council act 1861 (UPSC) from the viewpoint of Civil services exam and other State PSC exams. British Parliament passed this act in 1861. The most important point of this act is that it started the process of associating Indians with law making process.
Here we will cover the important features of Indian council act 1861 which will be useful for your UPSC exams and other State PSC exams.
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Why the Indian council act 1861 was passed?-
After 1857 Revolt, Britishers felt the need of cooperation of Indians in administration. So they enacted three acts in 1861,1892 and 1909 to promote this.
Main features of Indian council act 1861 (UPSC)-
The Indian council act 1861 (UPSC) started the process of associating Indians with law making process. The Viceroy during Indian council act 1861 was Lord Canning. Now let’s study the salient features of the Indian council act 1861.
Salient features of Indian council act 1861-
Some of the salient features of Indian council act 1861 are-
- It marked the beginning of associating Indians with law making process.
- It provided that Viceroy should nominate some Indians as non official members of his expanded council.
Accordingly Viceroy Lord Canning nominated 3 Indians to his Legislative Council– Raja of Banaras, Maharaja of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao.
It provided that the laws were to be made after due deliberation and discussion.
They could be changed also by same deliberative process only.
Other Important features of Indian council act 1861–
Other Important features of Indian council act 1861 are-
It also empowered Viceroy to issue ordinances without concurrence of Legislative Council during emergency.
The life of such an ordinance was six months.
- It gave recognition to portfolio system which was introduced by Lord Canning in 1859. So it laid the foundation of cabinet government in India.
- where each branch of Administration had its official head in the government who was responsible for it.
- It also initiated the process of decentralization as it restored the legislative powers to Bombay and Madras Presidencies.
It provided for establishment of new legislative councils for Bengal, North Western provinces and Punjab.
They were established in 1862,1886 and 1897 respectively. Thus this act laid the foundation of Legislative devolution.
Drawbacks of Indian Council act 1861–
There were several drawbacks in Indian council act 1861. lets discuss them-
- Legislative Council had no real powers and they still had many weaknesses in them.
- They could not discuss important matters and no financial matters at all without previous approval of government.
- They had no control over budget.
- They could not discuss executive action and final passing of bills still needed viceroys approval.
- Even if Viceroy approved the bill, Secretary of state could reject a legislation.
These are the Main features and drawbacks of Indian council act 1861. These points are very important from the viewpoint of our UPSC and other state PSC exams.
Have a Glance-
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Great post
Good luck.