William Cavendish Bentinck took charge of Indian administration in July, 1828. He followed the policy of non-interference into the affairs of Indian states very much against the wishes of the Court of Directors. In 1828, public expenditure far exceeded the revenue.
Bentinck appointed two committees, one military and other civil, to make recommendations for effecting economy in expenditure. He adopted better measures for the collection of land revenue in Bengal. He had also stimulated the economy by encouraging iron and coal production, tea and coffee plantations and irrigation schemes.
William Bentinck abolished the Provincial Courts of Appeal and Circuit, transferring their duties to magistrates their duties to magistrates and collectors under the supervision of Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit. For the convenience of the public of Upper Provinces (present-day U .P.) and Delhi, a separate Sadr Nizamat Adalat and a Sadr Diwani Adalat were set up at Allahabad and the residents of these areas were no longer under the necessity of travelling a thousand miles to file their appeals at Calcutta.
Bentinck gave the suitors the option to use the Persian or vernaculars in filing their suits. In higher courts Persian was replaced by English as the court language. Qualified Indians were appointed in junior judicial capacities of Munsijfs and could restore the position of Sadr Amins. Bentinck tried to reform Hindu society by abolition of the cruel rite of sati and suppression of infanticide.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Regulation No. XVII of December, 1829 declared the practice of sati or of burning or burying alive of widows illegal and punishable by the criminal courts as culpable homicide. The Regulation of 1829 was applicable in the first place to Bengal’ Presidency alone, but in 1830 was extended in different forms to Madras and Bombay Presidencies. William Bentick’s attention was also drawn to the ritual of offering child sacrifices at special occasions in Saugar Island in Bengal. Bentick issued prompt orders to stop this evil practice.
Another great reform to the credit of Willaim Bentick is the suppression, of thugs. Section 87 of the Charter Act of 1833 provided that no Indian subject of the company were to be debarred from holding any office under the company by reason of his religion, place of birth, descent and colour’. It is believed that this charter clause was inserted at the instance of Bentick.
Bentick believed the press to be a safety- value for discontent. Perhaps the most significant and of far-reaching consequences were Bentinck’s decisions about education in India.
Macaulay had planned to produce a class of persons who would be “Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect” that Macaulay’s views were accepted and embodied in a Resolution of March 7, 1835, which decreed that English would be the official language of India in the higher branches of administration. Since then English language, literature, and natural science have formed the basis of higher education in India.