Curzon and the limits of Viceregal power, India, 1899-1905
George Curzon was post-Mutiny India‟s most imperialist, zealous and youngest Viceroy. From 1899-1905, he attempted to single-handedly implement a 12 point reform programme designed to optimise the efficiency of administration, eliciting fierce opposition and support from the divers other constituents of the Government of India. This thesis examines two basic, intersecting themes that defined the course of George Curzon‟s Viceroyalty of India: executive power and the checks upon it. It analyses the degree to which the major constituent components of the Government of India successfully delineated and fenced in the boundaries of Viceregal power by their own, and the extent to which they collaborated with each other to do so, with reference to internal administration. The clashes over polity in the seats of power had roots in the past intimacies of the dramatis personae; impressions gained at Eton were carried over, and influenced relationships in Whitehall. Cross-disciplinary theories of power are used to explain Curzon‟s relations with his provincial governors in Madras and Bombay Presidencies, the United Provinces and Punjab, and the Indian Army, the senior Indian Civil Service, the Viceroy‟s Council, the nascent Indian National Congress and public opinion in India, the British Cabinet, the India Office, the Secretary of State and the Council of India in London. The factors that helped and hindered Curzon in his quest to integrate these disparate elements into an efficient administrative framework run along the lines he wished provide clarity to the ambiguities present in official motives and
North-West Frontier: people and events 1839-1947
The book is comprised of fifteen chapters with an epilogue, bibliography and an index. The writer Arthur Swinson (1915-70) was a British Army officer, served in India during Second World War on the East Indian Front of Kohima. The writer’ s military career can be judged in the book by his elaborate narrations of military campaign, army tactics, military terminology, equipment of wars and army units etc. The book is written in the narration form. It is the story of Frontier region of British India. The writer does not only focus on the British N.W.F.P Province, but the whole belt of the Frontier region which include the area of present day Pakistan i.e. Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan also. It is an interesting and informative story of the most fascinating area of the world during one of its most fascinating period. The book contains nearly all the topics pertaining to the history of N.W.F.P during British rule, so it could be useful text for the students of history. The book begins with very interesting account of the geography of the region, its people and their characteristics. The description pf river Indus from its source to Arabian Sea, its basin and defensive position is well elaborated. The topography of the region, the Pakhtun, their origin, their virtues and vices, love for violence, Pkhtun wali. The accounts of travelers is well written. The history of Durrani Empire is also briefly traced. Throughout the book the writer followed the Great man Theory in his narration. He even dedicated the names chapters to them like, Lord Auckland has a plan, the poet in Simla, England finds a Hero. He discussed the personalities of many British civil and military officers in very exalted language .Some of them are Lord Auckland, Alexander Burms, Macnahten, Cavagnari, Charls Napier, John Jacob, Sandemenn, and John Lawlerance and so on.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.