>Furius at 13:14, 25 February 2021

2021-02-25T13:14:50Z

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The '''Indian Political Department''' ('''IPD''') was a government department in [[British India]]. It originated in a resolution passed on 13 September 1783 by the board of directors of the [[British East India Company|East India Company]]; this decreed the creation of a department which could help “relieve the pressure” on the administration of [[Warren Hastings]] in conducting its "secret and political business".

In 1843, [[Governor-General of India|Governor-General]] [[Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough|Ellenborough]] reformed the administration,
organizing Secretariat of the Government into four departments – Foreign, Home, Finance and Military. The officer in charge of the foreign department was supposed to manage the "conduct of all correspondence belonging to the external and internal diplomatic relations of the government". Its political officers were responsible for the civil administration of frontier districts,<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/367225/_The_Raj_Reconsidered_British_Indias_Informal_Empire_and_Spheres_of_Influence_in_Asia_and_Africa_2009_ James Onley, ''The Raj Reconsidered: British India’s Informal Empire and Spheres of Influence in Asia and Africa'' (2009)]</ref> and also served as [[Agencies of British India|British agents]] to rulers of [[Princely states]]. A distinction was made between the "foreign" and "political" functions of the department; relations with all "Asiatic powers" (including native [[princely state]]s of India) were treated as "political" and those with all European powers as "foreign". At independence in 1948, the Foreign and Political department of the British India government was transformed into the new [[Ministry of External Affairs (India)|Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations]]. A small number of British officers continued to serve as employees of the [[Government of India]].<ref>[http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1947/dec/11/british-officers-employment Hansard 11 December 1947]</ref>

=="Politicals"==
The staff employed by the IPD, known as the '''Indian Political Service''', were generally referred to as political officers, or colloquially as "politicals", and were recruited from four areas:<ref>{{Citation
|publisher = Routledge
|isbn = 0415346827
|ol = 3291326M
|location = London
|title = The British Empire & Tibet 1900 - 1922
|author = Wendy Palace
|date = 2004
|oclc = 834529138
|id = 0415346827
}}</ref>
* Two thirds were recruited from the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]]
* Next most numerous were those recruited from the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]]
* Some came from the [[Indian Medical Service]]
* Some came from the Indian Public Works and Engineering Department

Employees of the political service were predominantly European, although small numbers of Indians were employed.<ref>[http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1939/jun/26/political-service-cadre-posts Hansard 26 June 1939]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://meaindia.nic.in/onmouse/ifs1.htm Indian Foreign Service: A Backgrounder]

[[Category:Government of British India]]
[[Category:1783 establishments in British India]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service]]
[[Category:Military of British India]]

{{India-gov-stub}}

Indian Political Department - Revision history

>Furius at 13:14, 25 February 2021