The result of these measures was that although gold was not yet made legal tender it became the standard of value and the exchange value of rupees ceased to coincide with the actual price of silver.
The new measures were regarded as first steps towards the ultimate adoption of a gold currency. Another Committee was appointed in 1898 under Sir Henry Fowler. According to its recommendations, adopted in 1899, both sovereigns and rupees were made unlimited legal tender at the rate of Is. 4d. to the rupee, and the mints were opened only to the free coinage of gold. A Gold Standard Reserve was formed in 1900 out of the profits accruing from the coinage of rupees for the Government, which was resumed.
But even this did not solve the problem of Indian currency. Other changes were made in the twentieth century, and even to-day it constitutes one of the most disputed questions in Indian economics.
Higher Standard of Government
The transfer of the government of India from the Company to the Crown effected, as we have seen, a closer association between the Governments of India and England. In course of time, both in theory as well as in practice, the Indian Government came to be treated almost as a subordinate branch of the British Government. The Secretary of State, Sir Henry Fowler, stated in unequivocal language that the Government of India must always abide by that decision of the British Cabinet, even when it was regarded by them as injurious to the interests of India. Another Secretary of State made a similar observation as regards foreign policy. It was inevitable that in formulating policies and lines of action the British Cabinet should be mostly guided by the paramount consideration of the interests of Britain, and, not unoften, Indian interests would be sacrificed for Imperial considerations. This was particularly noticeable in matters affecting trade, manufacture, currency and foreign policy, and in a less degree in other branches of administration.
But against these undoubted evils we must set off the equally undoubted advantages that accrued to India from the same causes. The close and intimate association with the British Government almost revolutionised the Government of India by introducing those higher administrative ideals and the ” modern ” spirit, which distinguished Europe from Asia in the nineteenth century. The British Government naturally tried to impose the same high standard of administrative efficiency in India which had been evolved in their own country, and the enlightened liberal humanistic spirit of the West did not fail to make its influence felt in India. The scientific inventions of the West were also rapidly utilised in India to increase her material resources. In short, England served as the medium through which the modern progressive spirit of Europe remodelled the age-long inert medieval form of government in India. This process had no doubt begun even before the assumption of the government of India by the Crown, but there were no appreciable effects and notable transformations until the latter part of the nineteenth century. The new spirit can best be understood with reference to some typical measures of the Government to which we now turn.
We may first consider the measures dictated by a humanitarian spirit.
Restriction of Intoxicating Drugs
The ideals of temperance were sedulously propagated both in England and India, and there was a large and insistent demand by a section of the English public for the complete abolition of the use of opium, hemp, and alcohol in India. The Government of India derived large profits from the monopoly of the opium trade in China and the Straits, and the excise duty on opium, alcohol, and hemp in India. Nevertheless it was forced to yield to public opinion to a certain extent. A Royal Commission was appointed in 1894 to examine the matter. An agreement was concluded with China in 1907 for the gradual decrease and ultimate extinction of the opium trade. As regards home consumption of the three intoxicating drugs, the Government refused to accept the scheme of total abolition, but adopted a definite policy of restricting and controlling their use by imposing a high excise duty and licensing the retail trade in the commodities. It openly declared that ” its settled policy was to minimise temptation for the abstainer and to discourage excess among others and that no considerations of revenue could be allowed to hamper this policy”.
Students of English history are aware of the continued agitation in England for reducing the hours of work of factory workers and providing them with other amenities of life. By a series of laws the British Government forced the mill-owners to improve the lot of their workers even at a considerable pecuniary loss. In the same spirit the Government of India also passed several Acts to improve the lot of factory-workers in India. By the Acts passed in 1881 and 1891 the hours of work for women and children were limited, and the local governments were authorised to make rules for the supply of good drinking water and the maintenance of proper ventilation and cleanliness in the factories.
Famine Relief
Perhaps the most important achievement of Indian administration during the period under review was the formation of a definite system of famine relief. In an agricultural country like India, famine must have proved a great scourge to its people from times immemorial. The statement of Megasthenses that famine never visits India can hardly be regarded as accurate, but perhaps the Greek writer was misled by the fact that the rigours of famine were not so severely felt over a wide region, and were mostly confined to local areas. With the growth of population and the diminution of industrial activity, the periodical famines assumed more threatening proportions. We have no accurate information as to the devastation caused by these up to the commencement of the British period. A terrible famine broke out in Bengal in 1770 and nearly one-third of the population fell victims to it. During the next century famines occurred in different parts of India. The year 1866-1867 witnessed a severe famine, which took a heavy toll of human lives in Orissa, and spread all along the eastern coast from Calcutta to Madras. During the next ten years there were local famines in the United Provinces, the Punjab and Rajputana in 1868-1869, and in Northern Bihar in 1873.
