Railway
Which Governor-General is known as the 'Father of the Civil Services' in India?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ā¾Hide ā“
Answer: Option B ā Lord Cornwallis
Detailed Solution
Lord Cornwallis, who became Governor-General in 1786, is known as the "Father of the Civil Services" in India, because he reorganised the Company's administrative services on modern lines.
His civil service reforms:
- He raised the salaries of the Company's servants, so that they would not need to depend on private trade, bribes and gifts.
- He strictly prohibited private trade and the acceptance of presents by Company officials.
- He made promotions dependent on seniority.
- He separated the work of revenue collection from the administration of justice.
- He created the covenanted civil service, whose members signed a covenant (agreement) with the Company.
- However, he excluded Indians from all higher posts, believing that only Englishmen could be trusted with them; this policy continued for a long time.
Other reforms of Cornwallis:
- Judicial reforms: he set up a graded system of civil and criminal courts, and made the collectors purely revenue officials.
- Police reforms: he set up thanas (police stations), each under a daroga, an Indian officer.
- Land revenue: he introduced the Permanent Settlement in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, under which zamindars became owners of the land and paid a fixed revenue.
Wars:
He fought the Third Anglo-Mysore War against Tipu Sultan, which ended with Tipu giving up half of his territory.
Earlier career:
- He was the British general who surrendered to the Americans at Yorktown (1781), during the American War of Independence.
- He came to India again as Governor-General in 1805, and died soon after at Ghazipur, where his tomb stands.
Later developments in the civil services:
- The East India College at Haileybury was set up in England (1806) to train the Company's civil servants.
- Open competition for the Indian Civil Service was introduced in 1853.
- Satyendranath Tagore was the first Indian to pass the ICS examination (1863).
Why not the other options?
- āWellesley, Warren Hastings and Dalhousie are known for other things.
Quick tip
Remember: "Father of the Civil Services" in India = Lord Cornwallis (from 1786; raised salaries, banned private trade; thanas under darogas; Permanent Settlement); died at Ghazipur.
š¬ Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt āŗStill stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students ā answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Governors-General & Viceroys Questions
View all āŗ- Q1.Who is known as the 'Father of Civil Services in India'?
- Q2.Who is known as the 'Father of Local Self-Government in India'?
- Q3.Who was the first Viceroy of India?
- Q4.Who was the Viceroy of India when the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885?
- Q5.The first railway line in India (1853) was started during the time of which Governor-General?
More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Governors-General & Viceroys ā Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Governors-General & Viceroys, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the Governors of Bengal, the Governors-General and the Viceroys of India from Warren Hastings to Lord Mountbatten, and the major reforms, policies, acts and events of each tenure. Questions almost always link a Governor-General or Viceroy to an event or reform: the Permanent Settlement under Cornwallis, the abolition of sati under William Bentinck, the doctrine of lapse under Dalhousie, the partition of Bengal under Curzon, and the Vernacular Press Act under Lytton. Revise the list in chronological order, with one or two key events for each. Practise the Governors-General and Viceroys questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.