The Sedition Committee of 1918, whose report led to the passing of the Rowlatt Act, was headed by:
- A.Sir Sidney Rowlatt
- B.Lord William Hunter
- C.Sir Alexander Muddiman
- D.Sir Harcourt Butler
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Sir Sidney Rowlatt. The Sedition Committee of 1918, appointed under the English judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt, examined revolutionary conspiracies in India and recommended special powers for the executive, which Parliament granted in the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly the Rowlatt Act, allowing detention without trial; Gandhi's Rowlatt Satyagraha followed. Option B is wrong because Lord William Hunter headed the Disorders Inquiry Committee of 1919 into the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which was a consequence of the Rowlatt agitation. Option C is wrong because Sir Alexander Muddiman chaired the Reforms Enquiry Committee of 1924 on the working of dyarchy. Option D is wrong because Sir Harcourt Butler chaired the Indian States Committee of 1927, which held that the princely states dealt with the Crown and not with the Government of India. Note that the committee of 1918 is named after its chairman, not after the Act, so the pair to memorise is Rowlatt the judge in 1918 and the Rowlatt Act in 1919.
Read the full article: Commissions and Committees of British India: Years and Chairmen
Practice Questions
View allWhen was Simon Commission sent to India?
- A.1937
- B.1927
- C.1917
- D.1958
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The British Government announced the Indian Statutory Commission in November 1927 under Sir John Simon to review the working of the Government of India Act, 1919; the commission itself reached Bombay on 3 February 1928 and submitted its report in 1930.
Read the full explanation →A resolution boycotting the Simon Commission was passed at the 1927 ____ Congress session.
- A.Kanpur
- B.Lucknow
- C.Lahore
- D.Madras
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The annual session of the Indian National Congress held at Madras in December 1927, presided over by Dr M. A. Ansari, resolved to boycott the Simon Commission at every stage and in every form, and the same session passed a resolution on complete independence.
Read the full explanation →The Simon Commission which was sent by the British Government was boycotted because:
- A.The Commission curbed financial independence of India.
- B.The Commission did not have any Indian member.
- C.There were differences amongst the members.
- D.It gave special powers to the Princely states.
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All seven members of the Indian Statutory Commission were British members of Parliament, among them Clement Attlee, and Indians of every party read this as a declaration that they were unfit to decide their own constitution; hence the boycott and the slogan 'Simon, go back'.
Read the full explanation →Which commission recommended the establishment of a central bank for India, a recommendation that took shape as the Reserve Bank of India?
- A.Fowler Commission
- B.Chamberlain Commission
- C.Hilton Young Commission
- D.Babington Smith Committee
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The Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance of 1926, named after its chairman Edward Hilton Young, recommended that the functions of currency and credit be taken away from the Government and handed to a central bank; the recommendation was carried out by the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934…
Read the full explanation →The Indian Education Commission of 1882, appointed during the viceroyalty of Lord Ripon, was headed by:
- A.Sir Charles Wood
- B.Sir William Wilson Hunter
- C.Sir Thomas Raleigh
- D.Sir Michael Sadler
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The Indian Education Commission of 1882, known as the Hunter Commission, reviewed the progress of education since Wood's Despatch and recommended that the State pay special attention to primary education in the vernacular and hand schools over to the newly created local boards, in keeping with Ripon's local self-government resolution.
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