Arrival of Warren Hastings

Clive left India in 1767, but the Evening of his life was not peaceful. There were numerous voices in Britain about his through corruption in India and his “conduct” was cross examined in the British Parliament. He was vindicated, but despite that, he stabbed himself to death with a pen Knife on 22 November 1774. The suicide was partially attributed to his Opium addiction.

Conditions before arrival of Warren Hastings

3 Years after Clive left India, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa came under the grip of the Bengal Famine of 1770, which swept away one third of the population. The Dual System of the Government proved to be an utter failure. The divided responsibility between the English Diwans and Indian Nizams made it impossible to find out who was to blame. The court of directors at England discerned about, what changes required to handle this.

• The Administration of the East India Company, back home was managed by a body of directors who were 24 in number. These were called “Court of Directors“.
• The Court of Directors was elected by an annual election in which the shareholders took participation. The collective body of the Shareholders was called “Court of Proprietors“.
• The Court of Directors created the committees which used to carry out the day to day functioning.

Before arrival of Warren Hastings, the East India Company was on brink of financial bankruptcy in 1770 onwards. This was a result of corruption by the company officials and immediately afterwards, the Famine reduced the revenue of the company.

• In August 1772, the East India Company applied for a Loan of One Million Pounds to the British Government. This gave the parliament an opportunity to cross examine Clive and affairs of the company and then vote for regulation of the company. The result was the Regulating Act of 1773.