SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 9 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

What was the role of the India Council established by the Government of India Act, 1858?

(a)To control trade with India
(b)To advise the Secretary of State
(c)To represent Indian opinion in Britain
(d)To review court judgments

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The Government of India Act, 1858 moved the rule of India from the East India Company to the Crown. A new Secretary of State for India, a British cabinet minister, took over the powers of the Company's Court of Directors.

To assist him the Act created a 15-member Council of India, an advisory body → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
To control trade with India — The Company's trade had ended long before 1858: the Charter Act of 1833 closed its commercial business. The Council advised on governing India, not on trade.
(c)
To represent Indian opinion in Britain — Its members were British, sitting in London. No Indian was appointed until 1907, when Lord Morley named Krishna Govinda Gupta and Syed Hussain Bilgrami.
(d)
To review court judgments — Appeals from Indian courts went to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The Council of India advised the Secretary of State and did not sit as a court.

Concept

After the Revolt of 1857, Parliament ended Company rule. The 1858 Act abolished the Court of Directors and the Board of Control, the dual system set up by Pitt's India Act, 1784.

In their place came one minister, the Secretary of State for India, advised by the Council of India. In India the Governor-General gained the title Viceroy, and Lord Canning was the first.

The Council advised but did not bind. The Secretary of State could send some secret despatches to India without consulting it.

Key facts

Government of India Act, 1858: rule passed from the East India Company to the British Crown.
It created the Secretary of State for India, assisted by a 15-member advisory Council of India.
It abolished the Board of Control and the Court of Directors.
Lord Canning became the first Viceroy of India.

Study next

Pitt's India Act, 1784 and the Board of ControlIndian Councils Act, 1861Morley-Minto reforms and the Indian Councils Act, 1909

Common traps

Reading 'Council' as a body that represented Indians. The Council of India had no Indian member until 1907.
Confusing the Council of India, which sat in London, with the Governor-General's councils in India.

The 1858 Act is also asked by its core change at 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.12 (power transferred to the Crown). The Council of India appears as a wrong option at 23 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.8, where the key is Pitt's Board of Control.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: History — all 218 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.