Lord William Bentinck was Governor-General from:
1828–1835.
He is best known for:
His administration marked:
A major transition towards reform-oriented and centralised British rule.
When Bentinck arrived:
The Company's finances were under considerable pressure.
His first priority was:
Reducing the financial deficit and improving administrative efficiency.
Bentinck attempted to:
His financial policy helped:
Restore greater balance to Company finances.
Bentinck followed:
A policy of economy and retrenchment.
He reduced:
Administrative and military expenditure.
This was important because:
The Company had accumulated financial difficulties after expensive wars.
Bentinck widened:
Opportunities for Indians in subordinate and some executive positions.
Indian officials were appointed to posts such as:
Deputy Magistrates.
Bentinck reorganised district administration.
He:
Combined the offices of District Collector and District Magistrate.
This strengthened:
Administrative coordination at the district level.
Bentinck reorganised:
The judicial administration.
He reduced:
He also strengthened:
District-level judicial administration.
Bentinck permitted:
Greater use of Indian vernacular languages in lower courts.
This made:
Judicial proceedings more accessible to ordinary Indians.
English increasingly replaced:
Persian
in:
This encouraged:
The spread of English education.
One of Bentinck's most important achievements was:
Abolition of Sati in 1829.
The:
Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829
declared Sati:
Illegal and punishable by criminal courts. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
The abolition was enacted through:
Regulation XVII of 1829.
It made participation in or assistance to Sati:
A punishable criminal offence.
The social reform movement led by:
Raja Ram Mohan Roy
played an important role in creating intellectual and social support for the abolition of Sati.
Bentinck's decision followed:
Investigation and consideration of Indian opinion and official reports. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
The prohibition was subsequently extended to:
Madras and Bombay Presidencies in 1830.
Bentinck's administration undertook:
A systematic campaign against Thuggee.
The campaign was associated particularly with:
Colonel William Henry Sleeman.
Thuggee involved:
Organised groups who robbed and killed travellers.
The British considered Thuggee:
A serious law-and-order problem.
Sleeman organised:
The campaign significantly:
Weakened Thuggee networks.
Bentinck also took measures against:
Female infanticide.
The policy aimed to:
Strengthen enforcement against the killing of female children.
Bentinck's administration also acted against:
Human sacrifice in certain regions.
The government treated such practices as:
Criminal offences.
Education became an important part of Bentinck's administration.
The central debate was between:
Orientalists
and:
Anglicists.
Favoured:
Promotion of Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and traditional Indian learning.
Favoured:
English education and Western knowledge.
Thomas Babington Macaulay submitted his:
Minute on Indian Education in 1835.
It strongly supported:
English education and Western learning.
Bentinck accepted:
The Anglicist direction of educational policy.
Government resources were increasingly directed towards:
English education and Western knowledge.
The policy encouraged:
This contributed to:
The emergence of a new English-educated Indian middle class.
The:
Calcutta Medical College
was established in:
It promoted:
Modern medical education in India.
One of the most important constitutional developments during Bentinck's tenure was:
Charter Act of 1833.
The Act changed the title:
Governor-General of Bengal
to:
Governor-General of India.
Bentinck therefore became:
The first Governor-General of India. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
The Charter Act of 1833:
Centralised legislative power.
The Governor-General in Council received:
Exclusive legislative authority for British India.
The legislative powers of:
Bombay and Madras
were significantly curtailed. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
The Charter Act of 1833:
Ended the East India Company's remaining commercial functions.
The Company became essentially:
An administrative body rather than a commercial trading organisation. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
The Act provided for:
A Law Member in the Governor-General's Council.
The first Law Member was:
Thomas Babington Macaulay.
A:
Law Commission
was established in 1834.
Macaulay became:
Its first chairman.
Its objective was:
Codification and systematisation of Indian laws.
The Charter Act of 1833 declared that no Indian should be disqualified from government employment:
On the basis of religion, place of birth or descent.
However:
Actual higher-level Indian participation remained limited in practice.
Bentinck generally followed:
A cautious and relatively non-aggressive policy.
However, he did intervene when British interests or administrative concerns were considered important.
In:
1831,
the British assumed direct administration of Mysore.
The stated justification involved:
Alleged misgovernment.
The Wodeyar ruler remained:
Nominally the ruler.
Coorg was annexed in:
The British justified the intervention on:
Political and administrative grounds.
Bentinck maintained:
Cordial relations with Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The two powers met at:
Ropar in 1831.
The meeting demonstrated:
Diplomatic engagement between the British and the Sikh kingdom.
It helped maintain:
Peaceful relations along the Sutlej frontier.
Bentinck's administration also promoted:
Commercial and strategic interest in navigation of the Indus.
The British sought:
Greater access to riverine trade routes.
Bentinck promoted:
His administration encouraged:
These developments helped:
Integrate British-controlled territories economically and administratively.
Bentinck's administration combined:
Economy + Reform + Centralisation + Social intervention + Educational change.
Bentinck is important because his tenure:
Bentinck's reforms also had limitations:
Bentinck was the first Governor-General of Bengal.
❌ Incorrect.
Warren Hastings:
First Governor-General of Bengal.
Bentinck:
First Governor-General of India.
Sati was abolished by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
❌ Incorrect.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy:
Major social reformer and advocate of abolition.
Bentinck:
Legal abolition in 1829.
Thuggee was suppressed mainly by Bentinck personally.
❌ Incorrect.
The campaign was strongly associated with:
Colonel William Sleeman.
Charter Act of 1833 created the office of Governor-General of Bengal.
❌ Incorrect.
It transformed:
Governor-General of Bengal → Governor-General of India.
Bentinck completely opened higher civil services to Indians.
❌ Incorrect.
The Charter Act expressed a principle of non-discrimination, but:
Higher administration remained largely dominated by Europeans.
Bentinck's administration represents a major transition from:
Military expansion and territorial consolidation
towards:
Administrative reform, social intervention and economic rationalisation.
His rule helped create:
A more centralised colonial state with an expanding reform-oriented administrative agenda.
Lord William Bentinck, Governor-General from 1828–1835, is regarded as an important reformer whose administration combined financial consolidation, social reform, educational change and administrative centralisation.
Bentinck's tenure was significant because it combined:
Financial consolidation + Administrative centralisation + Social reform + Educational transformation.
It laid important foundations for the modern colonial state while also deepening British control over Indian society and administration.
