Governance decentralization of British India and development of public service in the beginning of the 20th century

Abstract

In the early twentieth century British colonial authorities continued their efforts to decentralize the governance and financial system of British India by providing greater administrative and financial authority to provincial governments, which required delineation of powers and the financing of the government of British India and the provincial governments. Governor-General of India, Lord Curzon tried to escape the disadvantages of the "Ripon scheme" and introduced a scheme of "quasi-permanent nature", based on three principles. The basic idea of the scheme was to raise the interest of the provinces to increasing of their income. The lack of success of the reforms led to the establishing by Edward VII in September 1907 of "Royal Commission on Decentralization of India", which was to examine the situation on the ground and then to make suggestions. In February 1909 the Commission submitted a report, which laid out the arguments both in favor of centralization of governance and in favor of decentralization. In order to enhance the decentralization they proposed measures for increasing of the powers of provincial governments and authorities subordinate to administrative units, governance of public services on a wide range of issues, primarily "provincial" and "subordinate" parts of the Indian Civil Service, the police, as well as medical, sanitation and so on. Particular emphasis was placed on the need to develop local government throughout India, particularly in rural areas. The most important role among them was assigned to panchayati. They envisaged the establishment of self-government at the district level and at the lowest level - a village or a group of villages. Accordingly, the proposed redistribution of competences between different levels of government and self-government. To implement the changes, the commission recommended to redistribute sources of financing government bodies at each level and discussed specific taxes thoroughly enough. They also mentioned some situations when the income did not cover the costs of provinces, districts and villages. The report revealed the need for changes in the cost structure of different levels of authorities. The article suggests some measures for implementation of recommendations of the Commission, the assessment of its activities by a number of researchers and sources, and makes a brief conclusion.