UPPSC 2020 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 22 of 150

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.)

• (a)Lord Hastings — 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)Lord William Bentinck — 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 — Lord Auckland (Governor-General 1836-1842) is remembered for the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War, not for any acquisition of Sikkimese territory.

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.

All four options are Governors-General, so the question rewards knowing WHO annexed Sikkim's land. The reliable hook is that Dalhousie (1848-56) is the empire-builder of the 'Doctrine of Lapse' era — almost every 1848-56 annexation is his. The question's loose wording ('merged Sikkim') refers to his 1850 annexation of Sikkimese territory, not the 1975 political merger of the whole state.

• 1850: under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie the British annexed about 640 sq mi of the Sikkim terai / Darjeeling tract after the 1849 detention of Dr. Campbell and Dr. J. D. Hooker.
• 1817 Treaty of Titalia (Hastings) returned Nepal-annexed land to Sikkim and made it a British buffer; 1835 deed of grant (Bentinck era) ceded the Darjeeling hill.
• 1861 Treaty of Tumlong made Sikkim a de facto British protectorate.
• The whole kingdom of Sikkim became India's 22nd state only in 1975 — Dalhousie merged only Sikkim's territory into British India.

• Confusing Dalhousie's 1850 annexation of Sikkim's TERRITORY with the 1975 political merger of the whole state into India.
• Crediting the 1835 Darjeeling cession (Bentinck era) as the 'merger' instead of the larger 1850 Dalhousie annexation.

UPPSC/UPSC test the Governors-General by pairing each with his signature act — Dalhousie with annexations (Doctrine of Lapse, Awadh, Sikkim terai), Hastings with the Nepal war treaties, Auckland with the Afghan war.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The British annexation of a large tract of the Sikkim terai in 1850 followed which of the following incidents?

  • (a)The refusal of Sikkim to pay tribute
  • (b)The detention of Dr. Archibald Campbell and Dr. J. D. Hooker in 1849
  • (c)A Sikkimese attack on Darjeeling
  • (d)The death of the Chogyal of Sikkim

  Answer(b) The detention of Dr. Archibald Campbell and Dr. J. D. Hooker in 1849 — the British used this episode as the pretext for the 1850 annexation of Sikkimese territory.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Sikkim became a full-fledged State of the Indian Union in which year?

  • (a)1947
  • (b)1956
  • (c)1971
  • (d)1975

  Answer(d) 1975 — after a referendum, Sikkim was merged as the 22nd State of India in 1975 (36th Constitutional Amendment), long after Dalhousie's 1850 territorial annexation.