Q20. The Deepavali Declaration of 1929 concerned which issue?
[UPPSC PCS Prelims GS (10 May 2015)]
(A) Communal representation
(B) Dominion status
(C) Labour leadership
(D) Untouchability
Answer: (B) Dominion status
Explanation: Lord Irwin’s October 1929 declaration clarified that Dominion status was the intended direction of India’s constitutional evolution. It did not specify a timetable, and Indian leaders continued to press for more definite commitments on self-government.
Q19. In which year was the Regulating Act passed?
[MPPSC General Studies 2015]
(A) 1753
(B) 1757
(C) 1764
(D) 1773
Answer: (D) 1773
Explanation: The British Parliament passed the Regulating Act in 1773 to supervise the East India Company’s Indian government. It established a Governor-General in Bengal and made arrangements leading to the creation of the Supreme Court at Calcutta.
Q18. In what year was Pitt’s India Act enacted?
[WBCS Prelims 2015]
(A) 1773
(B) 1781
(C) 1784
(D) 1858
Answer: (C) 1784
Explanation: Pitt’s India Act was passed in 1784. It established the Board of Control, giving the British government a more direct supervisory role in territorial and political affairs while the Company’s directors continued to control commercial matters.
Q17. Who earned the title ‘Liberator of the Press’ in colonial India?
[WBCS Prelims 2015]
(A) Lord Bentinck
(B) Macaulay
(C) Warren Hastings
(D) Charles Metcalfe
Answer: (D) Charles Metcalfe
Explanation: Charles Metcalfe is remembered as the Liberator of the Indian Press for liberalizing press regulations in 1835. His measure reduced restrictions on newspapers and marked a notable change in Company-era press policy.
Q16. Who removed judicial powers from the District Collector under British rule?
[MPSC Prelims 2015]
(A) Lord Cornwallis
(B) Warren Hastings
(C) Lord Ripon
(D) William Hunter
Answer: (A) Lord Cornwallis
Explanation: Lord Cornwallis separated revenue collection from judicial functions through reforms culminating in the Cornwallis Code of 1793. This restructuring aimed to reduce conflicts of interest, although justice still operated within an authoritarian colonial system.
Q15. For what purpose was the Simon Commission appointed?
[WBCS Prelims (2015)]
(A) Indian constitutional reforms
(B) Administrative reforms
(C) Educational reforms
(D) Jail-code reforms
Answer: (A) Indian constitutional reforms
Explanation: The Simon Commission was appointed in 1927 to review the operation of constitutional changes under the 1919 Act and recommend future reforms. It lacked Indian members, provoking broad political boycott and demonstrations in 1928.
Q14. Who introduced the system of civil service under East India Company rule?
[WBCS Prelims (2015)]
(A) Lord Hardinge
(B) William Bentinck
(C) Warren Hastings
(D) Lord Dalhousie
Answer: (C) Warren Hastings
Explanation: Warren Hastings laid important foundations for Company civil administration. Lord Cornwallis later reorganized and professionalized its service structure, earning the separate epithet Father of Civil Services in India. The question distinguishes beginnings from subsequent institutional reform.
Q13. Who organized the Public Works Department during the mid-nineteenth century (1845–1855)?
[JPSC Civil Services Paper I (2015)]
(A) Lord Dalhousie
(B) Lord Cornwallis
(C) Lord Auckland
(D) Warren Hastings
Answer: (A) Lord Dalhousie
Explanation: Lord Dalhousie strengthened colonial public works administration during his governorship from 1848 to 1856. His tenure also saw railway, telegraph and postal expansion. The department became important for infrastructure, communications and imperial administrative integration.
Q12. With which administrator is the British policy of Ring Fence associated?
[JPSC Civil Services Paper I (2015)]
(A) Henry Lawrence
(B) Lord Dalhousie
(C) Warren Hastings
(D) Lord Clive
Answer: (C) Warren Hastings
Explanation: Warren Hastings employed the Ring Fence approach to create protected buffer states adjacent to Company territory. The states received military support, often at their own expense, while the Company used the arrangement to guard strategic frontiers.
Q11. In which year was the legislation establishing High Courts for Calcutta, Bombay and Madras enacted?
[UPPSC PCS Prelims General Studies (2013)]
(A) 1861
(B) 1851
(C) 1871
(D) 1881
Answer: (A) 1861
Explanation: The Indian High Courts Act received passage in 1861, authorizing High Courts in the presidency towns. These courts began functioning in 1862 and replaced earlier Supreme Courts and Sadar Adalats, unifying important strands of colonial judicature.
