Who had merged Sikkim in India ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie was Governor-General (1848-1856), the great annexer of British India. In 1849 the Sikkim authorities detained two British officers travelling in their hills — Dr. Archibald Campbell (the Darjeeling superintendent) and the botanist Dr. J. D. Hooker. Using this as a pretext, in 1850 Dalhousie's government annexed a large tract of Sikkimese territory — roughly 640 square miles (about 1,700 sq km) of the Sikkim terai and the Darjeeling hill area between the Mechi and Teesta rivers — into British India. In UPPSC's key this annexation of Sikkim's territory to British India is the 'merger' credited to Dalhousie. (Note honestly: Dalhousie annexed Sikkimese TERRITORY, not the whole kingdom; the full merger of Sikkim as India's 22nd state came only in 1975.)

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Lord (Marquess of) Hastings, Governor-General during the Anglo-Nepalese War, is linked to Sikkim through the 1817 Treaty of Titalia, which RETURNED to Sikkim the land Nepal had taken — the opposite of annexing Sikkim's territory to British India.  (b) It was during Bentinck's tenure that Sikkim first ceded the hill of Darjeeling to the Company by a 1835 deed of grant — but that was a small leased strip, not the large 1850 annexation of Sikkimese territory, which was Dalhousie's act.  (d) Lord Auckland (Governor-General 1836-1842) is remembered for the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War, not for any acquisition of Sikkimese territory.

Concept: British control over Sikkim advanced in stages. 1817 Treaty of Titalia (under Hastings) made Sikkim a client-buffer against Nepal; 1835 deed of grant (Bentinck era) leased the Darjeeling hill to the Company; 1850 (under Dalhousie) the British annexed the Sikkim terai and Darjeeling tract after detaining Campbell and Hooker; 1861 Treaty of Tumlong turned Sikkim into a de facto British protectorate. Sikkim finally merged into the Indian Union as its 22nd state in 1975.

State PCS 2020 Q22 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q22 — History PYQ with Answer