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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

“The Regulating Act (1773), the Pitt’s India Act (1784) and eventually the Charter Act of 1833 left the East India Company as a mere shadow of its earlier political and economic power in India.” Critically examine.

  • UPSC 2015
  • Early Structure of the British Raj

Across seven decades, Parliament progressively stripped the East India Company of both its sovereign pretensions and its commercial privileges, converting a semi-autonomous trading corporation into an administrative arm of the British state.

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What the full answer covers

  • The Regulating Act of 1773: Regulation Without Takeover
  • The Pitt's India Act of 1784: Dual Control Institutionalised
  • The Intervening Charters (1793, 1813): Erosion of Commercial Monopoly
  • The Charter Act of 1833: Political Survival, Economic Extinction
  • Assessing the "Mere Shadow" Verdict

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