Who is lord curzon

He noticed that the rent rate of raiyats cultivating khas government owned land was much higher than that of the zamindari peasants. He issued orders to scale down rent for khas land.

The most famous was the Punjab Land Alienation Act, which aimed at protecting cultivators from eviction from their lands for debt and prohibiting non-agricultural people to take control of land. He created an Agricultural Department to promote scientific agriculture.

An experimental farms and research institute was set up at Pusa in Bihar. A more positive measure was the establishment of co-operative societies in order to emancipate the peasantry from the bondage of the mahajans moneylenders.

Curzon's idea of improvement was rooted in the balanced development of agriculture, industry and communication to all of which he paid due attention. By the end of the 19th century, India had miles of railway. To this, Curzon added miles more, a phenomenal development in terms of growth rates.

For better management, railway was transferred from the public works department to a newly established Railway Board, which operated the state railways and made plans for their development. A new department of commerce and industry was created to deal with exclusively the commercial and industrial questions. Besides railways, Curzon pushed forward irrigation works with equal vigour. He set up a commission Scott-Moncrieff Commission which planned extension of irrigation works at a cost of Rs 40 million.

Though an arch imperialist, Lord Curzon rounded off his material development by cultural activity. He conceived and carried out the project of erecting a monument of British rule, the victoria memorial in Calcutta.

By establishing the Department of Archaeology for the conservation of the Indian artistic heritage and the carrying out of new excavation, Lord Curzon had firmly institutionalized the pioneer work of General cunningham and others whose initiatives were seldom followed up by required institutionalization. He ruthlessly evicted offices and officers from the sites of historical monuments.

In these works and in organising archaeology, Curzon was fortunate to find a new Cunningham in Sir John Marshall. Curzon remained as Foreign Secretary until January , when the Conservative administration left office.

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Sign in via your Institution. At the top of the stairs stood the outgoing Viceroy, Lord Elgin, and his staff. The formal handover took place in the throne room of Government House on January 6th, five days before Curzon's fortieth birthday.

His warrant of appointment was read out and he then escorted the departing Elgins to their boat on the River Hooghly. As well as a mass of work, an exhausting quantity of official entertaining awaited the Curzons, including a state ball, a state garden party for 1, guests and innumerable dinner parties. In that month of January, he calculated, Government House served a total of 3, meals.