Modern Indian History

Dadabhai Naoroji was the first man to say that internal factors were not the reasons of poverty in India but poverty was caused by the colonial rule that was draining the wealth and prosperity of India. In 1867, Dadabhai Naoroji put forward the ‘drain of wealth’ theory in which he stated that the Britain was completely draining India. He mentioned this theory in his book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. Further in his book , he stated the loss of 200-300 million pounds of revenue to Britain. Dadabhai Naoroji considered it as a major evil of British in India.

Indian Council Act of 1892 laid the foundation of parliamentary system in India. It increased the number of additional (non-official) members in the Central and provincial legislative councils, but maintained official majority in them. It also gave them the power of discussing budget and addressing questions to the executive.

Dadabhai Naroji the Grand Old Man of India, was of the opinion that the British were basically just and good. He wanted to place the true state of affairs in India before the people of England.

Dadabhai Naoroji is widely known as the Grand Old Man of India for his pioneering work in exposing the economic drain of India under British rule.

The Early Nationalists defended civil rights whenever the British government tried to curtail them. In fact it was because of the political work done by the Early Nationalists that democratic ideas began to take root among Indians.

Moderates believed in constitutional and peaceful methods. They aimed at administrative and constitutional reforms and  wanted more Indians in the administration. To bring political awareness among the people they held meetings and discussions on social, economic and cultural matters. The early Nationalists used press for criticizing the worng policies of the government.  

The Early Nationalists defended civil rights whenever the British government tried to curtail them. In fact it was because of the political work done by the Early Nationalists that democratic ideas began to take root among Indians.

The Moderates made the following demands in the administrative sphere:

1. Demand for simultaneous Indian Civil Service examinations in England and India.
2. Complete separation of the executive and the judiciary. They made this demand to protect Indians from arbitrary acts by the police and the bureaucracy.
3. Increase in the powers of the municipal bodies and reduction of official control over them.
4. Repeal of the Arms Act and Licence Act.
5. Wider employment of Indians in the higher grades of administrative services.
6. Spread of primary education among the masses.
7. Improvement of the police system to make it honest, efficient and popular.

From 1885 to 1905, the Congress was led by a group of leaders known as the Early Nationalists. The members of this group were drawn from the educated middle class consisting of professionals like lawyers, barristers, teachers and officials, who drew inspiration from Western Liberal and Radical thoughts.

The Early Nationalists aimed to educate the Indian people about the exploitative nature of British rule and to create public awareness, rather than demanding immediate independence.

The methods adopted by the Early Nationalists had two objectives:

• Their first objective was to educate people in India in modern politics, to arouse national political consciousness and to create united public opinion.
  
• The second objective of the early nationalists was to influence the British government and the British public.
  

The second objective of the Early nationalists was to influence the British government and the British public. To achieve this objective, they made use of three P's i.e. petitions, prayers and protests. They sent petition request and letters of protest to the British government to look into the problems of the Indians.