It was concluded that the Company had interfered too much with the traditional social structures and hierarchies of India and now new Government of India sought to appease Indian Royalty. Now the government could no longer ignore it. Until this point the matter of the governance of India had been regarded with a general indifference. The loss of British lives enraged the populace of England. This gave rise to the Indian ‘white collar’ middle class – a class which later played a pivotal role in the Indian National movement in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The aim of opening these universities and educating Indians was to create a class of persons Indian in appearance but Western in thought and loyalties.
This circumstance sowed the seed for the rise of an Indian middle class. Army recruitment was now mainly from rural peasantry so higher castes previously employed in the Bengal Presidency Armies had to look at other avenues for employment.
Naturally the already better- educated higher castes were the first whose services were utilized and the first to be educated at these universities. To educate Indians, universities were opened in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras Presidencies. Indians were drawn into governance at a local level. Although the old bureaucracy remained there was a major shift in approach. The Government of India Act was enacted in 1858 and the rule of India passed from the East India Company to the Crown. Thus it turned a lot of landless peasants into land-owners and forced landowners to send their sons into military service to retain prestige. Land was allotted as a reward for military service and other services to the Raj. Irrigation systems were built, large tracts of land made cultivable. Many policies were enacted to gain the loyalty of the peasantry. The British concentrated their recruitment in the rural areas. Successive wars in the Punjab between Sikhs, Afghans, Marathas and the British had aggravated the situation. The Punjabi peasantry in turn faced dire poverty due to water shortage, depleted soil fertility and loss of land. The Punjab’s population counted as less than 10% of British India but made up more than half of the British Indian army. Recruitment strategy from 1857 onwards shifted to the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. From the British point of view, the Bengali soldier had been responsible for the mutiny. The Sikhs had been at odds with the Mughal dynasty for nearly 300 years and probably did not want it re-instated. The Sikh and Pathan soldiers were instrumental in helping to re-capture Delhi. Only a small number mutinied (example at Sialkot and Ajnala near Amritsar) who in turn were quickly defeated and killed. Rebellions in Punjab were quickly contained as the Sikh and Pathan soldiers recruited in Punjab and North-West Frontier Province helped the British. Ramifications in Punjab due to Re-Organisations. Political, Social and Military Ramifications The ramifications of this were far-reaching. However, many men, women and children were massacred. At the infamous Siege of Cawnpore he had offered safe passage up to Allahabad to the besieged British. He thus, led the rebellion near Cawnpore (present day Kanpur). Nana Sahib was the adopted heir of Peshwa Baji Rao II but the Company refused to recognise him. Rebel leaders such as Nana Sahib and Rani Laxmibai belonged to this group.
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