Question

The Dual system of Government was abolished by _________ in 1772 and Bengal was brought under direct control of the British.

Answer 1

Warren Hastings abolished the dual system of government which was started by Robert Clive.

About Warren Hastings

• Warren Hastings was the first Governor of the Presidency of the Fort William in Bengal in the year 1772
• He was the first Governor-General of Bengal in 1774 till he resigned in the year 1785
• He was a writer or can be called as a clerk in the early stages of his career in the East India Company at Calcutta in 1750
• He became the British resident at Murshidabad, the capital of Bengal in the year 1758, after Mir Jafar was given as the Nawab after the Battle of Plassey.
• During his tenure, the first Anglo-Maratha and the second Anglo-Mysore and wars were fought
• In the year 1773, the Regulating Act of 1773 was passed during his period
• He gave support to Sir William Jones in the formation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1785

Abolition of Dual system of Government in Bengal

• Warren Hastings abolished the Dual System which was established by Robert Clive.
• In this Dual System of Government in Bengal, the company had Diwani rights that is the rights to collect revenue and the Nizam or Indian chiefs had the power on administrative authority
• The Nawab’s annual allowance which was around Rs.32 lakh was reduced to half that Rs.16 lakh
• The annual tribute which was paid to the Mughal Emperor came to an end

We read about the abolition of the Dual system of Government. Do you know how this system of government was initiated? Let us read about it now.

What was the Dual system of Government and who introduced it?

Dual government was introduced by Robert Clive in Bengal in 1765 and it was continued till 1772.

Robert Clive’s Rule of Bengal: Dual System

• Robert Clive was the Governor of Bengal during the year 1757-60 and also from 1765-67
• During his first tenure that is from 1757-1760 Bengal’s governor, under the Nawab Mir Jaffar, corruption was rampant
• The company’s one and only aim was to maximise the revenue at the expense of the peasants
• He gathered a great personal fortune in India and returned to Britain in the year 1760
• He came back to India in the year 1765 as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bengal state
• During this time, there was huge and widespread corruption in the company
• So Clive prohibited the company’s employees from engaging in any sort of private trade
• He also put a hold on accepting gifts from them
• He also initiated a ‘Society of Trade’ in 1765 but it was later abolished
• Mir Qasim the son in law of Mir Jaffar had ascended the throne of Bengal
• He wanted to snatch himself from the English influence
• The Battle of Buxar was fought between the British and the combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja Ud Daulah who was the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. This battle was won by Britishers
• The result of this battle was, the Diwani that is the right to collect revenue of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha was sanctioned to the British by the Mughal Emperor in return for an annual sum of money and in districts of Allahabad and Kora
• Robert Clive, who had the power to undertake Awadh as well, refrained from annexing it. His intention was to use it as a ‘buffer’ state between the British and the Marathas
• The Nizamat considered as the territorial jurisdiction of Bengal and remained with the Nawab but in ground reality, the English had a good hold over this power
• This was referred to as Clive’s Dual System in which the company was the Diwan and the Nawab held the Nizamat