Question

Which ICS officer was involved in the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885?
1. Macaulay
2. Lord Simon
3. Lord Irwin
4. Allan Octavian Hume

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : Allan Octavian Hume

The Correct Answer is Allan Octavian Hume.

• Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer, created the Indian National Congress (British India to Free India) to create a forum for civil and political dialogue among educated Indians.
• The power of India passed from the East India Company to the British Empire after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
• Hume set out on a mission to establish a charitable organisation by contacting a group of University of Calcutta alumni.
• In May 1885, Hume obtained the viceroy's permission to establish a "Indian National Union," which would be allied with the government and serve as a forum for Indian public opinion.
• The Indian National Congress was established on December 28, 1885, at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay, with 72 delegates in attendance.
• Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee of Calcutta was elected president, and Hume was appointed General Secretary.

 

• Allan Octavian Hume was a political reformer, ornithologist, and botanist who served in British India as a member of the Imperial Civil Service (later the Indian Civil Service).
• He was one of the Indian National Congress's members.
• Hume, a noted ornithologist, has been called "the Father of Indian Ornithology" and "the Pope of Indian Ornithology" by those who considered him dogmatic.