Covenanted civil service
Also called: Covenanted services · Topic: Europeans in India and the Rise of Company Rule · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The covenanted civil service was the higher civil service of the East India Company. Its members signed a covenant, a formal written promise, with the Company's directors in London. Lord Cornwallis reorganised it in the late 18th century. He gave its officers high salaries and banned them from private trade and from taking gifts, to reduce corruption. Indians were largely kept out of these top posts.
Example
A young Englishman named by a Company director would sign his covenant, train in England, and then serve in India as a Collector or judge. Cornwallis believed only Europeans should hold such posts, so even educated Indians could reach only lower jobs.
Don't confuse with
- Uncovenanted service: the lower ranks of the administration, who signed no covenant. They were mostly Indians and were paid much less.
- Indian Civil Service (ICS): the later name of the higher service after the Crown took over in 1858, with entry by open competitive exam.
Related concepts
- Charles Metcalfe
- Warren Hastings
- Regulating Act 1773
- Supreme Court at Calcutta 1774
- Pitt's India Act 1784
- Impeachment of Warren Hastings
- Cornwallis Code 1793
- Charter Act 1793
- Fort William College
- Haileybury College