RAS question
The Indian Universities Act of 1904 was passed during the Viceroyalty of:
Correct answer: (B) Lord Curzon.
The Indian Universities Act of 1904 was passed during the viceroyalty of Lord Curzon.
Explanation
The Indian Universities Act of 1904 belongs to Lord Curzon's phase of university reform. The cited eGyanKosh unit states that Curzon was dissatisfied with Indian universities, called the 1901 Simla conference, and that the recommendations of the Indian Universities Commission were followed by the Government of India Resolution of 1904 and then the Indian Universities Act, 1904. The Act tightened government control over universities: the Senate was reduced, fellows were limited to a fixed number and term, Syndicates became stronger executive bodies, territorial limits were defined by the Governor-General-in-Council, and government approval was required for Senate regulations. Nationalist opinion opposed it, seeing the reforms as suspicious and restrictive because Indian opinion had not been invited into the process.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Lord Dufferin cannot fit the 1904 Act because his viceroyalty ended in 1888, well before the Act was passed.
- (C) Lord Ripon is outside the relevant chronology because his tenure ended in 1884, two decades before the Indian Universities Act of 1904.
- (D) Lord Minto is not the answer because he succeeded Curzon in 1905, after the Indian Universities Act had already been passed.
Concept
This tests the modern Indian history theme of colonial education policy, especially how viceroys used university reform to shape higher education. It recurs in RAS because Curzon's measures are often linked with government control, nationalist criticism, and early twentieth-century educational policy.