1.
British Raj
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The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India, the resulting political union was also called the Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name. It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan and this area is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar desert. In addition, at times, it included Aden, Lower Burma, Upper Burma, British Somaliland. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948, among other countries in the region, Ceylon was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, the kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory, British India and the Native States. In general, the term British India had been used to also to the regions under the rule of the British East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858. The term has also used to refer to the British in India. The terms Indian Empire and Empire of India were not used in legislation, the monarch was known as Empress or Emperor of India and the term was often used in Queen Victorias Queens Speeches and Prorogation Speeches. The passports issued by the British Indian government had the words Indian Empire on the cover, in addition, an order of knighthood, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, was set up in 1878. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, during the partition of Bengal the new provinces of Assam and East Bengal were created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, there were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India, the larger ones had treaties with Britain that specified which rights the princes had, in the smaller ones the princes had few rights. Within the princely states external affairs, defence and most communications were under British control, the British also exercised a general influence over the states internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers. Although there were nearly 600 princely states, the majority were very small
2.
British Indian Army
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The Indian Army was the principal army of India before independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of both British India and the Princely states, which could also have their own armies. The Indian Army was an important part of the British Empires forces, the term Indian Army appears to have been first used informally, as a collective description of the Presidency armies of the Presidencies of British India, particularly after the Indian Rebellion. The first army officially called the Indian Army was raised by the government of India in 1895, however, in 1903 the Indian Army absorbed these three armies. The Indian Army should not be confused with the Army of India which was the Indian Army itself plus the British Army in India, before 1858, the precursor units of the Indian Army were units controlled by the Company and were paid for by their profits. These operated alongside units of the British Army, funded by the British government in London. Many of these took part in the Indian Mutiny, with the aim of reinstating the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II at Delhi. The meaning of the term Indian Army has changed over time, The officer commanding the Army of India was the Commander-in-Chief, the title was used before the creation of a unified British Indian Army, the first holder was Major General Stringer Lawrence in 1748. By the early 1900s the Commander-in-Chief and his staff were based at GHQ India, Indian Army postings were less prestigious than British Army positions, but the pay was significantly greater so that officers could live on their salaries instead of having to have a private income. Accordingly, vacancies in the Indian Army were much sought after and generally reserved for the higher placed officer-cadets graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. British officers in the Indian Army were expected to learn to speak the Indian languages of their men, prominent British Indian Army officers included Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, Claude Auchinleck and William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim. Commissioned officers, British and Indian, held identical ranks to commissioned officers of the British Army, Kings Commissioned Indian Officers, created from the 1920s, held equal powers to British officers. Viceroys Commissioned Officers were Indians holding officer ranks and they were treated in almost all respects as commissioned officers, but had authority over Indian troops only, and were subordinate to all British Kings Commissioned Officers and KCIOs. They included Subedar Major or Risaldar-Major, equivalents to a British Major, Subedar or Risaldar equivalents to Captain, recruitment was entirely voluntary, about 1.75 million men served in the First World War, many on the Western Front and 2.5 million in the Second. Soldier ranks included Sepoys or Sowars, equivalent to a British private, British Army ranks such as gunner and sapper were used by other corps. In the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. The three Presidency armies remained separate forces, each with its own Commander-in-Chief, overall operational control was exercised by the Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army, who was formally the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies. From 1861, most of the manpower was pooled in the three Presidential Staff Corps
3.
Military organization
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Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer military capability required by the national defense policy. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in an armed forces. Armed forces that are not a part of military or paramilitary organizations, such as insurgent forces, often mimic military organizations, the use of formalized ranks in a hierarchical structure came into widespread use with the Roman Army. These in turn manage Armed Services that themselves command combat, combat support and combat support formations. Within each departmental agency will be found administrative branches responsible for further agency business specialization work, in most countries the armed forces are divided into three or four Armed services, army, navy, and air force. Many countries have a variation on the model of three or four basic Armed Services. Some nations also organize their marines, special forces or strategic missile forces as independent armed services, a nations coast guard may also be an independent military branch of its military, although in many nations the coast guard is a law enforcement or civil agency. A number of countries have no navy, for geographical reasons, most smaller countries have a single organization that encompasses all armed forces employed by the country in question. Third-world armies tend to consist primarily of infantry, while first-world armies tend to have larger units manning expensive equipment and it is worthwhile to make mention of the term joint. In western militaries, a joint force is defined as a unit or formation comprising representation of power from two or more branches of the military. It is common, at least in the European and North American militaries, to refer to the blocks of a military as commands, formations. In a military context, a command is a collection of units and it is not uncommon for a nations services to each consist of their own command, but this does not preclude the existence of commands which are not service-based. A formation is defined by the US Department of Defense as two or more aircraft, ships, or units proceeding together under a commander. The formations only differ in their ability to achieve different scales of application of force to achieve different strategic, operational and tactical goals and it is a composite military organization that includes a mixture of integrated and operationally attached sub-units, and is usually combat-capable. Example of formations include, divisions, brigades, battalions, wings, formation may also refer to tactical formation, the physical arrangement or disposition of troops and weapons. Examples of formation in such usage include, pakfront, panzerkeil, testudo formation, any unit subordinate to another unit is considered its sub-unit or minor unit. It is not uncommon for unit and formation to be used synonymously in the United States, in Commonwealth practice, formation is not used for smaller organizations like battalions which are instead called units, and their constituent platoons or companies are referred to as sub-units. In the Commonwealth, formations are divisions, brigades, etc, different armed forces, and even different branches of service of the armed forces, may use the same name to denote different types of organizations
4.
Pune
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Pune is the second largest city in the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ninth most populous city in the country. In the 18th century, Pune was the centre of the Indian subcontinent. Considered to be the capital of Maharashtra, Pune is known as Oxford of the East due to the presence of several well-known educational institutions in the city. The city has emerged as an educational hub in recent decades. Since the 1950s and 1960s, Pune has had a traditional old-economic base as most of the old industries continue to grow, a few college in the Europe have also actively engaged in Student-exchange programs with several colleges in Pune. Pune is also one of the fastest growing cities in the Asia-Pacific region, the ‘Mercer 2015 Quality of Living rankings’ evaluated local living conditions in more than 440 cities around the world where Pune ranked at 145, second in India after Hyderabad. It also highlights Pune among evolving business centres and emerging nine cities around the world with citation Hosts IT, the oldest reference to the place is found inscribed on a Rashtrakuta Dynasty copper plate dated AD937, which refers to the town as Punya-Vishaya meaning Sacred News. By the 13th century, it had come to be known as Punawadi, copper plates dated 858 AD and 868 AD show that by the 8th century an agricultural settlement known as Punnaka existed where Pune is today. The plates indicate that this region was ruled by the Rashtrakuta dynasty, the Pataleshwar rock-cut temple complex was built during this era. Pune was part of the territory ruled by Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri from the 9th century to 1327, in 1595, Maloji Raje Bhosale was granted the jagirdari of Pune by the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. Pune was ruled by the Ahmadnagar Sultanate until it was annexed by the Mughals in the 17th century, Pune was part of the Jagir granted to Maloji Bhosale in 1599 for his services to the Nizamshahi of Ahmadnagar. His grandson, Shivaji, the founder of Maratha Empire, was born in Shivneri fort not far from Pune, Shivaji was brought up by his mother in Pune. Pune changed hands several times between the Mughals and the Marathas in the period between 1660 and 1705 and he stabilised the revenue collection and administrative systems of areas around Pune and in neighbouring area of the Maval region. In addition, he developed methods to manage disputes and to enforce law. Construction on the Lal Mahal began in 1631 AD, the Lal Mahal was completed in 1640 AD. Jijabai is said to have commissioned the building of the Kasba Ganapati temple, the Ganesha idol consecrated at this temple has been regarded as the presiding deity of the city. Shivaji encouraged the development of dams in the Parvati and Kondhwa regions of Pune for agricultural purposes, Pune and its surrounding villages were the major recruitment areas for Shivajis army between 1645 AD and 1680 AD. Between 1660 AD and 1670 AD the town was captured by Mughal General Shahista Khan, Shivaji often used Pune as his transit base during his major campaigns such as Varhad-Karanja, AhemadaNagar District, Karnataka, and Jalna
5.
Pune district
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Pune is situated in Maharashtra state of India. Pune city is the district headquarters, in the most recent census on 2011, the total population of the district was 9,426,959, making it the fourth most populous district in India. Urban population comprises 58. 08% of the total population, the current population of Pune urban agglomerate is over 5 million. The territory was formed into a district or sarkar, with sub-divisions called paragana. From such records as are available it appears that the collection was mostly farmed amongst the important chieftains who were henchmen of the Nizamshahi. Ahmednagar king had to bear the brunt of a attack from the Mughal armies which converged on the capital in 1595. Amongst the chieftains so favoured was Maloji Bhosale, who was made a Rana in 1595, Maloji Bhosale was also given charge of the forts of Shivneri and Chakan, which have played a very important part in the early political history of the Pune territory. Even before his coming into the title of Raja, Maloji had several watans as patil for a number of villages, Maloji had married Dipabai, sister of Jagpalrao Naik Nimbalkar, the deshmukh of Phaltan. In the year 1600, Ahmednagar was captured by the Mughals, thus, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, the suzerainty over the possessions of the Ahmednagar kingdom, including the Pune territory, passed to the Mughals. Malik Ambar, the minister of Nizam Shah, raised Murtaza II to the Nizamshahi throne with its temporary headquarters at Junnar. By the time Malik Ambar died in 1626, the system of the Pune area had been put on a sound. He, therefore, in 1629 broke with Nizam Shah and retired to Pune. But with a view perhaps to securing his own jagirs which would be endangered, he offered his allegiance to the Mughals, who besides confirming his jagirs conferred on him the command of 5,000 horses. In fact, in 1632 Shahaji forsook the Mughals and accepted the friendship of the Adilshahi rulers of Bijapur, after this success of the Mughals, the Ahmednagar kingdom ceased to exist, its territory being divided between the Adil Shah of Bijapur and the Mughals. In this scheme of division Pune fell to Bijapur, Shahaji for some time refused to surrender Junnar, which was the very seat of the foundation of the Nizamshahi dynasty. But this he had ultimately to surrender, Shahaji, however, seems to have enjoyed sufficient importance with the hostile powers to be called upon even in defeat to play an important part in the administration of the new regime. It was in this connection that when Shahaji went on his Karnatak expeditions that he left had passed under the control of Bijapur, the Fasli year was also officially introduced at this time. In so far as Shivaji had any official residence in Pune this was the place which he inhabited, Dadaji died in 1647, and Shivaji almost naturally took charge of all the responsibility that devolved on him as deputy of his father
6.
Bombay Presidency
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The Bombay Presidency, also known as Bombay and Sind from 1843 to 1936 and the Bombay Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India. The English East India Company transferred its Western India headquarters from Surat, its first colony in that region, the Presidency was brought under British Parliament control along with other parts of British India through Pitts India Act. Aden was annexed in 1839, while Sind was annexed by the Company in 1843 after defeating the Talpur dynasty in the Battle of Hyderabad and it was made a part of the Bombay Presidency. The districts and provinces of the presidency were directly under British rule, while the administration of the native or princely states was in the hands of local rulers. The presidency, however, managed the defence of princely states, the Bombay Presidency along with the Bengal Presidency and Madras Presidency were the three major centres of British power. In 1661 Bombay was ceded to the Kingdom of England as part of the dowry of the infanta Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to King Charles II, as English trade in Bombay increased, Surat began its relative decline. In 1687, Bombay was made the headquarters of all the East India Companys possessions in India, however, in 1753 the governor of Bombay became subordinate to that of Calcutta. During the 18th century, the Hindu Maratha Empire expanded rapidly, claiming Konkan, in western Gujarat, including Kathiawar and Kutch, the loosening of Mughal control allowed numerous local rulers to create virtually independent states. The British annexed Surat in 1800, British territory was enlarged in the Second Anglo-Maratha War which ended in 1803. The East India Company received the districts of Bharuch, Kaira, etc. in 1803 the Bombay Presidency included only Salsette, the islands of the harbour, Surat and Bankot, but between this date and 1827 the framework of the presidency took shape. The Gujarat districts were taken over by the Bombay government in 1805, in 1858, under the terms of Queens Proclamation issued by Queen Victoria, the Bombay Presidency, along with the rest of British India, came under the direct rule of the British crown. Henry Bartle Frere was the first Governor appointed by the Crown, under Sir Bartle Frere agricultural prosperity reached its highest point, as a result of the American Civil War and the consequent enormous demand for Indian cotton in Europe. The money thus poured into the country produced an epidemic of speculation known as the Share Mania, which ended in a commercial crisis, but the peasantry gained on the whole more than they lost, and the trade of Bombay was not permanently injured. However, the important portfolios like finance, police and irrigation were reserved with members of the Governors Executive Council, in 1932, Aden was separated from Bombay and made a separate province, and Sindh became a separate province on 1 April 1936. The Government of India Act 1935 made the Bombay Presidency into a regular province and it enlarged the elected provincial legislature and expanded provincial autonomy vis a vis the central government. In the 1937 elections, the Indian National Congress won the elections in Bombay, the Cooper ministry did not last long and a Congress ministry under B. G. Kher was sworn in. Council of Ministers in Khers Cabinet, In 1939, all of the Congress ministries in British Indian provinces resigned and Bombay was placed under the Governors rule. After the end of World War II, the Indian National Congress re-entered politics, the Bombay Presidency became the Bombay State when India was granted independence on 15 August 1947 and Kher continued as the Chief Minister of the state, serving until 1952
7.
Presidencies and provinces of British India
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Provinces of India, earlier Presidencies of British India and still earlier, Presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in the subcontinent. Collectively, they were called British India, in one form or other they existed between 1612 and 1947, conventionally divided into three historical periods. During 1612–1757, the East India Company set up factories in several locations, mostly in coastal India and its rivals were the merchant trading companies of Holland and France. By the mid-18th century, three Presidency towns, Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta had grown in size, during the period of Company rule in India, 1757–1858, the Company gradually acquired sovereignty over large parts of India, now called Presidencies. However, it increasingly came under British government oversight, in effect sharing sovereignty with the Crown. At the same time it gradually lost its mercantile privileges, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Companys remaining powers were transferred to the Crown. In the new British Raj, sovereignty extended to a few new regions, increasingly, however, unwieldy presidencies were broken up into Provinces. In 1608, the English East India Company established a settlement at Surat, and it was followed in 1611 by a permanent factory at Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast, and in 1612 the company joined other already established European trading companies in Bengal. Company rule in Bengal, however, ended with the Government of India Act 1858 following the events of the Bengal Rebellion of 1857 and these rulers were allowed a measure of internal autonomy in exchange for British suzerainty. British India constituted a significant portion of India both in area and population, in 1910, for example, it covered approximately 54% of the area, in addition, there were Portuguese and French exclaves in India. Independence from British rule was achieved in 1947 with the formation of two nations, the Dominions of India and Pakistan, the latter also including East Bengal, present-day Bangladesh. The term British India also applied to Burma for a time period, starting in 1824, a small part of Burma. This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma commenced being administered as a separate British colony, British India did not apply to other countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka, which was a British Crown colony, or the Maldive Islands, which were a British protectorate. It also included the Colony of Aden in the Arabian Peninsula, the original seat of government was at Allahabad, then at Agra from 1834 to 1868. Bombay Presidency, East India Companys headquarters moved from Surat to Bombay in 1687, the East India Company, which was incorporated on 31 December 1600, established trade relations with Indian rulers in Masulipatam on the east coast in 1611 and Surat on the west coast in 1612. The company rented a trading outpost in Madras in 1639, meanwhile, in eastern India, after obtaining permission from the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to trade with Bengal, the Company established its first factory at Hoogly in 1640. Almost a half-century later, after Emperor Aurengzeb forced the Company out of Hooghly, by the mid-18th century the three principal trading settlements, now called the Madras Presidency, the Bombay Presidency, and the Bengal Presidency were each administered by a Governor. After Robert Clives victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, in 1772, the Company also obtained the Nizāmat of Bengal and thereby full sovereignty of the expanded Bengal Presidency
8.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
9.
East India Company
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The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
10.
Government of India Act 1858
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The Government of India Act 1858 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on August 2,1858. Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company, however, before this bill was to be passed, Palmerstone was forced to resign on another issue. Later Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby introduced another bill which was titled as “An Act for the Better Government of India”. This act provided that India was to be governed directly and in the name of the Crown, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 forced the British Government to pass the Act. The Companys territories in India were to be vested in the Queen, India was to be governed in the Queens name. The Queens Principal Secretary of State received the powers and duties of the Companys Court of Directors, a council of fifteen members was appointed to assist the Secretary of State for India. The council became a body in India affairs. For all the communications between Britain and India, the Secretary of State became the real channel, the Secretary of State for India was empowered to send some secret despatches to India directly without consulting the Council. He was also authorised to constitute special committees of his Council, the Crown was empowered to appoint a Governor-General and the Governors of the Presidencies. An Indian Civil Service was to be created under the control of the Secretary of State, hereto all the property and other assets of the East India Company were transferred to the Crown. The Crown also assumed the responsibilities of the Company as they related to treaties, contracts, the Act ushered in a new period of Indian history, bringing about the end of Company rule in India
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British Indian Army