Lord Cornwallis was:
Governor-General of Bengal from 1786–1793.
He is particularly associated with:
His tenure marked an important phase in:
The institutional consolidation of British rule in India.
Cornwallis introduced a comprehensive set of:
Administrative, judicial and revenue reforms.
These reforms are collectively associated with:
The Cornwallis Code of 1793.
Cornwallis aimed to:
Create a more organised and disciplined colonial administration.
He sought to:
Cornwallis is often regarded as:
The father of the civil services in India.
He attempted to create:
A professional and better-paid Company bureaucracy.
Cornwallis increased:
Salaries of Company officials.
The objective was:
To reduce corruption and discourage private commercial activities by officials.
Company servants were:
Restricted from engaging in private trade.
They were also prohibited from:
Accepting presents and bribes.
The aim was:
To reduce corruption and conflicts of interest.
Cornwallis increasingly reserved:
Higher administrative positions for Europeans.
Indian officials were generally:
Excluded from the higher levels of the Company's administration.
This created:
A racially exclusive colonial bureaucracy.
Cornwallis' reforms contributed to:
Cornwallis reorganised:
The judicial system.
His reforms aimed to:
Cornwallis attempted to separate:
Revenue administration from judicial administration.
This was important for:
Developing a more structured colonial judicial system.
The judicial system was reorganised through:
District-level courts.
These courts dealt with:
Higher courts were established to hear:
Appeals from lower courts.
The system included:
The:
Sadar Diwani Adalat
was the highest civil appellate court.
It dealt with:
Civil cases and appeals.
The:
Sadar Nizamat Adalat
was the highest criminal appellate authority.
It dealt with:
Criminal cases.
The Cornwallis Code attempted to:
Systematise British administration and judicial procedures.
It brought together:
Cornwallis attempted to establish:
More regular and codified procedures.
However:
The system remained discriminatory towards Indians.
Cornwallis reorganised:
The police administration.
The objective was:
To establish stronger law and order under Company control.
The district was divided into:
Police jurisdictions or thanas.
Each thana was placed under:
A daroga.
The daroga was generally:
A paid police official working under Company supervision.
Cornwallis reduced:
The traditional policing functions of zamindars.
Police authority increasingly came under:
Direct Company supervision.
One of Cornwallis' most important policies was:
Permanent Settlement of Bengal, 1793.
It was introduced in:
Bengal, Bihar and parts of Odisha.
Under Permanent Settlement:
Zamindars were recognised as hereditary proprietors of land, subject to payment of fixed land revenue to the government.
The government demand was:
Permanently fixed.
The land revenue demand was fixed permanently.
Therefore:
The government could not ordinarily increase its demand from the zamindars even if agricultural income increased.
Zamindars had to:
Pay the fixed revenue to the Company.
If they failed to pay:
Their estates could be sold.
The possibility of:
Sale of estates for revenue default
was an important feature of the Permanent Settlement.
This contributed to:
The emergence of new groups of landholders.
The British expected it to:
The British believed that:
Secure property rights would encourage zamindars to improve agriculture.
They expected:
Agricultural productivity to increase.
In practice, several problems emerged:
The Permanent Settlement:
Did not provide adequate protection to cultivators.
Peasants often faced:
Permanent Settlement contributed to:
The formation of a powerful landed class in Bengal.
It also influenced:
Agrarian relations during the colonial period.
Cornwallis also played a major military role in:
The Third Anglo-Mysore War, 1790–1792.
The British fought against:
Tipu Sultan of Mysore.
Cornwallis formed an alliance with:
This created:
A powerful coalition against Tipu Sultan.
Cornwallis personally led:
British military operations.
British forces advanced towards:
Seringapatam.
The war ended with:
Treaty of Seringapatam, 1792.
Tipu Sultan was required to:
The war:
Cornwallis generally preferred:
A cautious approach to territorial expansion.
He sought:
Consolidation rather than unlimited expansion.
Compared with some later expansionist policies:
Cornwallis generally favoured limited intervention in Indian states.
However:
Strategic and military circumstances still led to major conflicts such as the Third Anglo-Mysore War.
Cornwallis helped create:
A more centralised and bureaucratic colonial state.
His reforms strengthened:
A major limitation was:
The exclusion of Indians from higher administrative positions.
This established:
A racially hierarchical colonial bureaucracy.
Indian officials continued to serve in:
Lower and subordinate administrative positions.
But the most important posts were increasingly:
Reserved for Europeans.
Cornwallis believed:
Low salaries encouraged corruption.
Therefore he combined:
Higher salaries + Restrictions on private trade + Strict official discipline.
His reforms helped transform:
Company administration
into:
A more formal colonial bureaucracy.
Cornwallis' role was primarily:
Consolidation and institutionalisation.
Unlike:
Wellesley's aggressive Subsidiary Alliance policy,
Cornwallis focused more strongly on:
Administrative reform and consolidation.
Established foundations of Company administration.
Systematised and bureaucratised those institutions.
Administrative consolidation + Permanent Settlement + Third Anglo-Mysore War.
Aggressive expansion + Subsidiary Alliance.
Institutional consolidation.
Aggressive annexation + Doctrine of Lapse.
Permanent Settlement was introduced by Warren Hastings.
❌ Incorrect.
Permanent Settlement:
Cornwallis, 1793.
Permanent Settlement gave proprietary rights directly to peasants.
❌ Incorrect.
It recognised:
Zamindars as proprietors, subject to revenue payment.
Cornwallis introduced Subsidiary Alliance.
❌ Incorrect.
Subsidiary Alliance:
Lord Wellesley.
Cornwallis defeated Tipu Sultan permanently.
❌ Incorrect.
The Third Anglo-Mysore War weakened Tipu.
Tipu was finally defeated and killed in:
1799, during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
Cornwallis promoted Indians to the highest administrative posts.
❌ Incorrect.
Higher administrative posts were:
Dominated and largely reserved for Europeans.
Cornwallis' greatest contribution was:
Institutional consolidation of Company rule.
He created a more:
Centralised + Bureaucratic + Regulated + Hierarchical
colonial administration.
However, the system was also:
Racially discriminatory and economically exploitative.
Lord Cornwallis, Governor-General of Bengal from 1786–1793, played a major role in institutionalising British administration through revenue, judicial, police and civil service reforms.
Cornwallis transformed Company rule into a more structured colonial bureaucracy. His reforms strengthened British administration and revenue collection, while simultaneously establishing racial and economic hierarchies that shaped colonial rule for decades.
