Development of India

1. The consolidation of British rule in India fell to Warren Hastings, who did much to dispense with the fiction that the Mughal Emperor was still the sovereign to whom the Company was responsible.

2. British rule was justified that it would introduce in place of Oriental despotism and anarchy a reliable system of justice, the rule of law and the notion of 'fair play'.

3. Around 1858, India became a Crown colony, to be governed directly by the Parliament, and henceforth responsibility for Indian affairs would fall upon a member of the British cabinet, the Secretary of State for India, while in India itself the man at the helm of affairs would continue to be the Governor-General.

4. During World War I, large number of Indian troops erved overseas, and that it would be the intent of the Government of India to increase gradually Indian participation in the administration of the country was seen as an encouragement of Indian ambitions of eventual self-rule. 

5. Among Indians, there were debates surrounding female education, widow remarriage, the age of consent for marriage and more generally the status of woman; and in the meanwhile with increasing emphasis on English education and the expansion of the government.