Modern Indian History

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.

From 1885 to 1905, the Congress was lead 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. It was their hope that British would grant 'Home Rule' to Indians. They relied on the solemn pledges made by the British government.

Demands of Early Nationalists were divided in to four parts:

• Constitutional Reforms
• Economic Reforms
• Administrative Demands
• Defence of Civil Rights

• Repeal of the Arms act and License act
• Indianisation of services by taking exams of Indian Civil Services in India and England.
• Spread of primary education among the masses
• Increase in the power of local bodies and reduction of official control over them.

The social ills in Early Nationalists phase were:

• Sati
• Untouchability
• Child marriage

Servants of India Society was founded in 1915 by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Its aim was to unite and train Indians of different ethnicities and religions in welfare work. It was the first secular organization in that country to devote itself to the underprivileged, rural and tribal people, and other social causes.

Dadabhai Naoroji’s mentioned the concept of drain of wealth from India during British rule in his book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. He made an estimate of drain which was around Rs 8 million. He observed that the drain consists of the remittances by European Officials, their expenditure in England, pensions and salaries paid in England, etc.

Dadabhai Naoroji’s mentioned the concept of drain of wealth from India during British rule in his book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. He made an estimate of drain which was around Rs 8 million. He observed that the drain consists of the remittances by European Officials, their expenditure in England, pensions and salaries paid in England, etc.

Dadabhai Naoroji formulated the 'Drain Theory' and famously used the phrase 'Bleeding India White' to describe the economic exploitation of India by the British.