Social Acts Under British Rule - General Knowledge of Modern India

Social Acts Under British Rule - General Knowledge of Modern India

The policies of the British in the beginning of the 19th century, although contributed to the eradication of the evils prevalent in the then social society, but gradually did the work of weakening the socio-religious fabric of India as they were mainly based on English thinking and understanding.

Read More History: Quit India Movement - General Knowledge of Modern India

The lecturers of orientalism said that Indian society needed modernization and westernization. They had to face sharp criticism from many ideologies. According to people like William Wilberforce and Charles Grant, 'Indian society is full of superstitions, idolatry and dictatorship of priests'. They wanted to modernize India through Christian missionaries. The British made many changes in the social practices of India.

The following steps were taken by the British to improve the condition of women and eliminate many social evils:-

• Female Feticide: This practice was very prevalent among upper class Bengalis and Rajputs who considered women as economic burden. Therefore, in order to improve the thinking of Indian society, the Bengal Regulation Act of 1795 and 1804 declared the killing of girl child illegal and in 1870 an act was also passed to ban female infanticide. By this act, it was made mandatory to register the birth of all the children by the parents and there was a system of monitoring the girl child for a few years after birth as well. It was specially implemented in areas where this practice was more prevalent.
• Abolition of Sati: It was influenced by the efforts of Raja Rammohan Roy. The British government decided to end the practice of Sati or the practice of burning a widow alive and declared it a criminal murder. The Sati Abolition Act of 1829 was earlier limited to Bengal, but in 1830, it was also implemented in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies with some amendments.
• Abolition Of Slavery: This was another evil practice that came to the notice of the British and they abolished slavery in India by the Charter Act of 1833 and by the fifth act of 1843 this practice was legally abolished and non - declared legal.
• Widow Remarriage: Brahma Samaj gave it the most importance and attracted people's attention to it. Many women's colleges, universities, organizations were established to encourage widow remarriage and evidence was gathered in favor of widow remarriage from the Vedic age.
• Prohibition On Child Marriage: The Native Marriage Act (Civil Marriage Act) of 1872 was brought for the purpose of stopping it but it was not very effective because it did not apply to Hindu, Muslim and many other religions. In 1891 AD, with the efforts of BM Malabari, the Age of Consent Act was passed and the marriage of a girl below the age of 12 years was banned. Finally, after independence, it was changed by the Prevention of Child Marriage (Amendment) Act and the age of marriage was fixed at 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys.