Lord Ripon: Ilbert Bill Controversy

In the last post, we have read about some benevolent steps taken by Lord Ripon. In this post, we shall continue from the general reforms of Lord Ripon.

First Factory Act, 1881

Lord Ripon came out with the First Factory Act in India. It was basically centered around child labor and children below 7 years of age were not employed in the factory. Although Lord Ripon did it on humanitarian grounds.

But the real reason was Indian industrialization was gaining momentum and was appearing as a challenge for British capitalists and industrialists. Indirectly Lord Ripon created consciousness among laborers.

Financial Devolution

This was started by Lord Mayo and promoted by Lord Ripon. He divided the income of the state into three parts,

• Imperial Head (Central Tax) like income tax.
• Provincial Head ie State taxes.
• Divided Head, taxes shares between centre and state.

This structure improved the status of states as they got the power of imposing taxes on the people. It also gave relief to the center regarding the management of provinces.

Redemption of Mysore

William Bentinck on the grounds of maladministration occupied Mysore. Lord Ripon considered it as unnecessary interference in the affairs of princely states. So, he returned back Mysore to the local ruler.

Ilbert Bill Controversy

Preface of Ilbert Bill Controversy

Lord Ripon’s era is basically famous for the Ilbert Bill Controversy.

After 1861, there was legal uniformity in India. So, in this scenario, Bihari Lal Gupta, the judge of a lower court was promoted to session court. In spite of his promotion, he did not get the right to judge European offenders. So, he wrote to the government that promotion without an increase in power is useless.

Lord Ripon understood this cause and in this scenario, Mr C. P. Ilbert introduced a bill called Ilbert Bill. The motive of this bill was to bring Indian judges at par with the European judges.

Controversy Started

Ilbert Bill created a cyclone in India as whites (European) were angry for giving equal status to Indians or a Slave community. So, along with this irrespective of their personal differences, all the European nations united and stood up against the Ilbert Bill.

So, this was Ilbert Bill Controversy. This Ilbert Bill Controversy gave two messages to Indians,

• Racial Discrimination did by the Europeans or Britishers.
• Importance of unity, the unity of Europeans pressurised Lord Ripon who agreed to amend the bill and finally, Lord Ripon resigned.

Ilbert Bill Controversy gave a lesson to Indians. So, this was followed by the beginning of the National Convention in 1883. It was a meeting organized by leaders of different political parties to discuss the united front in India. So, this led to the formation of the National fund in 1883. In 1885, it laid the foundation of the Indian National Congress.

So, we will discuss the Indian National Congress in the coming post. Thank you so much. 🙂 Stay Connected. 🙂