The Indian Political Department, formerly part of the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India, was a government department in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. The department looked after the diplomatic and "political" relations with the subsidiary states of the British Empire in India, and some states overseas. The nature of its work was

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of public administration, governance used by imperial powers to control parts of their empires. This was particularly used by colonial empires like the British Empire to control their possessions in Colonisation of Afri ...

. The department was disbanded at the time of Indian independence and replaced by a newly formed States Department in the Government of India.

History

A department was originally formed under the name "Secret and Political Department" on 23 September 1783, It was created by a resolution of the board of directors of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

; this decreed the creation of a department which could help “relieve the pressure” on the administration of

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

in conducting its "secret and political business". From 1784 to 1842, the department was divided into three branches: secret, political and foreign. In 1843, the department was renamed the Foreign Department, and renamed again to Foreign and Political Department in 1914. A post of Political Secretary was created in 1914 as well. A separate Political Department came into being only in 1937, necessitated by the

Government of India Act 1935 The Government of India Act 1935 (25 & 26 Geo. 5. c. 42) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act passed by the British Parliament that originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest act that the British Parliament ever enact ...

, which separated the two functions of the

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

, viz., Governor-General (for the administration of

) and Crown Representative (for the supervision of the princely states). A fresh post of Political Advisor to the Crown Representative was created, with a cabinet rank. The post-holder headed the Political Department. Sir Conrad Corfield was the last person to hold this post before Indian independence.

Staff

The staff employed by the IPD, known as the Indian Political Service, were generally referred to as political officers, and were recruited from four areas: * Two thirds were recruited from the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

* Next most numerous were those recruited from the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

* Some came from the

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

* Some came from the Indian Public Works and Engineering Department All members of the IPS were seconded from their original service and were subject to their original service's pension and retirement rules. The IPS was allowed to recruit two ICS officers every year, which was reduced to one every fifth year. On the Army side, four or five Indian Army officers were recruited on alternate years. When the process of Indianisation reached the IPS, some were also recruited from the Provincial Civil Services and services connected with the frontier. Employees of the political service were predominantly European, although small numbers of Indians were employed.Hansard 26 June 1939
/ref> In 1947 it had a staff of 170 officers, of which 124 were serving. They included seventeen Indians – twelve Muslims, four Hindus and one Sikh. The political officers attached to individual states were called Political Agents or Residents, the latter rank being limited to large states like

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

and Jammu and Kashmir (typically "salute states"). The large states had full legislative and judicial powers, and the role of residents would tend to be mainly diplomatic. In smaller states, some of the legislative and judicial functions would be carried out under the guidance of the political agents, or directly by them. In addition, the rank of Agent to the Governor-General (AGG) or Agent to the Crown Representative was used for officers in charge of collections of states in a region, which were then called Agencies. An Agency might have several Political Agents or assistants attached to it, reporting to the AGG. The powers and duties of the political officers varied widely and were often left to the discretion of the officers themselves. They were also subject to the policies of Viceroy in power, who might be interventionist or generous.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last1=Coen , first1=Sir Terence Creagh , title=The Indian Political Service: A Study in Indirect Rule , date=1971 , publisher=Chatto & Windus , location=London , isbn=0-7011-1579-3 , url=https://archive.org/details/indianpoliticals0000crea , via=archive.org , ref={{sfnref, Coen, The Indian Political Service, 1971 Government of British India 1783 establishments in British India Indian Civil Service Military of British India