Correct Answer - Option 3 : 1856 to 1862
The governor-general of India was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1947, the representative of the Indian head of state.
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Lord Canning served as Governor-General of India from 1856 to 1862.
- During his tenure, the Government of India Act, 1858 was passed which created the office of Viceroy to be held by the same person who was Governor-General of India.
- Thus, Lord Canning also served as the first Viceroy of India.
Hence, the correct answer is 1856 to 1862.
- The important events during his tenure include –
- the Mutiny of 1857, which he was able to suppress successfully,
- the Passing of the Indian Councils Act, 1861 which introduced a portfolio system in India,
- withdrawal of the “Doctrine of Lapse” in which was one of the main reasons for the mutiny of 1858,
- the introduction of Code of Criminal Procedure,
- enactment of Indian High Courts Act, Indian Penal Code (1858),
- Bengal Rent Act (1859),
- the introduction of Income-tax on an experimental basis, etc.
- On November 1, 1858, Lord Canning sent forth the royal proclamation in a grand Darbar at Allahabad via which Queen Victoria intimated that she had assumed the direct government of India.
- This proclamation also set forth the principles on the basis of which India was to be governed in the future and the British policy towards people of British-Indian territories and princes.
