RAS question
The first Indian member of the Viceroy's Executive Council was:
Correct answer: (C) S.P. Sinha (1909, under Morley-Minto Reforms).
Satyendra Prasanno Sinha was the first Indian member of the Viceroy's Executive Council, appointed in 1909 as Law Member under the Morley-Minto reforms.
Explanation
Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, later Lord Sinha, is the relevant name because the 1909 reform framework opened the Viceroy's Executive Council to an Indian member. The official President of India source states that the Indian Councils Act of 1909 empowered the Governor General to nominate one Indian member to the Executive Council, which led to Satyendra Prasanno Sinha's appointment as the first Indian member. He entered as Law Member under the Morley-Minto reforms. His later distinction as the first Indian member of the British Cabinet, as Under-Secretary of State for India, is separate from the answer but helps identify why he is a recurring modern-history figure.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Gopal Krishna Gokhale is not the answer because his association was with the Imperial Council, not as the first Indian member of the Viceroy's Executive Council.
- (B) Dadabhai Naoroji is not the answer because his major institutional distinction here was membership of the British Parliament, not the Viceroy's Executive Council.
- (D) Tej Bahadur Sapru is not the answer because he belonged to a later phase and was not the first Indian appointed to the Viceroy's Executive Council in 1909.
Concept
This tests the constitutional-reform timeline of modern Indian history, especially the institutional changes around the Morley-Minto reforms. RAS repeatedly asks such questions because councils, representation and first Indian appointments mark the step-by-step expansion of limited colonial participation.