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Indian Freedom Struggle (1707–1947 A.D.)

Notes A new ‘Irregular Force’ was created in the Panjab under the direct control of the Panjab
administration and with a separate system and discipline. Gorkha regiments were raised and their
strength continually added to. These regiments proved of great value to the British during the
crisis of 1857-58.
Educational Reforms: In Lord Dalhousie’s time a number of important reforms were introduced
in the field of education. In 1853 the Thomasonian system of vernacular education was
recommended for the whole of the North-Westen Provinces, Lower Bengal and the Panjab with
such modifications as their various circumstances might be found to require. Similar instructions
were sent to the Bombay and Madras authorities.
In July 1854 Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control, addressed to the Government of
India his famous education despatch known as “Wood’s Despatch” which provided for the creation
of “a properly articulated scheme of education from the primary school to the university.” Wood’s
despatch was very comprehensive and in the words of Lord Dalhousie “left nothing to be desired”.
It laid the foundations on which the modern education system has been built up. It recommended
Anglo-Vernacular schools throughout the districts, Government colleges of higher grade in
important towns and a University in each of the three presidencies of India. The ‘infiltration
theory’ was abandoned. Voluntary efforts in the field of education were to be aided by grants-in-
aids from the state; such grants were to be sanctioned subject to certain rules and on condition of
proper government inspection. A Director of Public Instruction was to be appointed in each province
who aided by inspectors was to organise and control education at the level lower than the University.
Examining universities on the model of the London University were to be set up at Calcutta,
Bombay and Madras. These universities were to award degrees in token of acquirement of
knowledge. Chairs were to be created for the instruction in Law and Civil Engineering. The first
three universities in India were esiablished in 1857.
Teaching of both the Vernaculars and English was to be encouraged, but English was thought to
be the best vehicle for instruction of Western philosophy and sciences. An Engineering college
was established at Roorkee.
Railway Development: Under Dalhousie British dominion In India was bound together by iron
lines. Strategic railway lines were planned to facilitate internal communication for the defence of
India. The broad outlines of the scheme were laid down by Lord Dalhousie in his famous Railway
Minute of 1853 which formed the basis for the future railway extension in India. The first railway
line connecting Bombay with Thane was laid down in 1853. The following year a railway line was
built from Calcutta to the Raniganj coal-fields. A few miles of railway line were also built in the
Madras Presidency. By 1856 various routes were being surveyed and constructed.
The railway lines were not built out of the Indian exchequer but by private enterprise. Besides
relieving the Indian exchequer of the expense it could not have borne, it gave the English capital
and enterprise a chance of investment. Subsequently railway lines in India were mostly built by
public companies under a system of ‘Government guarantee’ on the lines indicated by Lord
Dalhousie.
Besides encouraging trade and facilitating commerce and annihilating distances the railways have
gone a long way in uniting India. As early as 1865 Sir Edwin Arnold wrote: “Railways may do for
India what dynasties have never done—what the genius of Akbar the Magnificent could not effect
by Government, nor the cruelty of Tipu Sahib by violence—they may make India a nation”.
The Electric Telegraph: Dalhousie may be regarded as the Father of Electric Telegraph in India.
O’Shanghnessy was appointed the Superintendent of the Electric Telegraph Department in 1852.
Obstacles seemed insurmountable, but were overcome by the untiring zeal and energy of
O’Shanghnessy. Nearly 4,000 miles of electric telegraph lines were constructed connecting Calcutta
with Peshawar, Bombay and Madras and other parts of the country. In Burma a line was laid
down from Rangoon to Mandalay. The Telegraph Department proved of great assistance during
the great Rebellion of 1857-58. “It is that accursed string (the telegraph), that strangled us”, acclaimed
a rebel at the time of his execution.
Postal Reforms: The basis of the modern postal system also was laid down under Lord Dalhousie.

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