who was Robert Clive? Mention any two demerits of a dual administration set up by him in Bengal
Answers
Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB, FRS (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. He began as a British military officer and East India Company (EIC) official who established the military and political supremacy of the EIC by seizing control of Bengal and eventually the whole of the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar. He is credited with seizing control of a large swathe of India (now Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and parts of Southeast Asia and the wealth that followed, for the Company, in the process turning himself into a multi-millionaire. Together with Warren Hastings he was one of the key early figures setting in motion what would later become British India. Blocking impending French mastery of India, and eventual British expulsion from the continent, Clive improvised a military expedition that ultimately enabled the EIC to adopt the French strategy of indirect rule via puppet government
The condition of agriculture in Bengal gradually deteriorated under the Dual System of Administration of Clive. The power of collecting revenue rested in the hands of the Company only. The Nawab of Bengal failed to advance loans to the needy farmers due to the shortage of funds.