Committees and Commissions in Pre-Independence India (1836-1947) (Set of 4 Volumes)

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The Commissions in the British administration have been known as Royal Commissions and had their origin in the functioning of the King during the beginning of the second millennium that we have just left behind.

The thirties of the nineteenth century were crucial for the development of the Commission and Committee system in Britain. The institution of Royal Commission was given a new boost by the Whig Party in the early thirties that led to the appointment of many Royal Commissions in India by the time the nineteenth century was to come to an end. It is very significant, therefore, that included in these volumes are the Commissions and Committees starting with the thirties of the nineteenth century.

Reports were prepared by Commissions and Committees of the British Indian Government to facilitate the continuance of the British rule in this country with the help of assessment of the ticklish issues in key areas of administration. Two important Committees whose findings are included in this volume are: the Committee on Prison Discipline (1838) and the Indian Jail Committee (1864). Another significant panel, particularly in view of the experience of the rebellion of 1857, whose report is included here is the Special Ordnance Commission (1874). On the economic front, the significant panels featured here are the Indian Famine Commission (1878) and two Commissions dealing with the manufacture, sale and other aspects of salt (1853 and 1875).

The rebellion of 1857 had challenged the might of the British Government which thought it necessary to enquire into the working of the vital sectors of the Indian Army. In this respect, report of the Special Commission to Enquire into the Organization and Expenditure of the Army in India (1879), included in this volume is quite important.

The material provided about the Commissions and Committees is quite useful and even comprehensive. It provides the names of the Chairmen/Presidents and the Members of a particular Commission or Committee, the necessary details of its Appointment, the Terms of Reference, the list of contents (chapters, sections, etc.) and, at the end, the all important Recommendations.

It is hoped that contemporary researchers would make a positive use of these reports and benefit from their findings, keeping in view, all the time, the colonial biases that might be a significant feature of these reports.

Independent India has had rumerous problems in the process of self-governance. All systems of governance had to be organised on set principles and considerations of national interest. It was the job of the leaders of the government as well as the opposition following independence in 1947, and particularly after the enforcement of the Constitution of the Republic of India, to evolve a system of credible probe and enquiry into various sectors of the polity. As a consequence, we see a very well organised system of Commissions and Committees of Enquiry to go into any serious matter of national concern in a thorough manner, before arriving at any new legislation or action plan. Before prescribing remedies for any situation of ailment, the real nature of the maladies has to be known and that has been done in a remarkable manner through the functions of the various Commissions and Committees that have performed very useful roles in the first fifty years of our Constitution at work.

While the Government and the opposition parties put in their efforts in establishing a tradition of enquiries through Commissions and Committees set up under the provisions and powers of the Parliament and the State Legislative Assemblies in independent India, the picture was not the same under a British dispensation prior to the country's independence.

The concept and method of enquiry in British India were not bound by the country's own national interests. They had to be useful for the overall paradigm of the British Government and its interests in India and, perhaps, in its other territories, going by the example of the developments in the large and pluralistic territory of India.

It would be interesting to go into a little bit of the background of Commissions and Committees under the British administration, to throw some light on the system of enquiry in the period covered by the volumes of this comprehensive publication.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages