Which one of the following statements does not apply to the system of Subsidiary Alliance introduced by Lord Wellesley?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) To secure a fixed income for the Company
Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (c). The subsidy an ally paid was a reimbursement for the British force kept in its territory, and rulers who could not pay lost territory instead (Awadh gave up half its land in 1801), so a fixed income for the Company was not an object of the system; its purposes were a large army at Indian expense, exclusion of the French and British paramountcy. In the exam, judge a policy by its stated aims, not by its incidental receipts.
The Subsidiary Alliance was a military and political device. It planted a British force in an ally's territory at the ally's cost, offered the ruler protection against external threats, and tied the states to British control. Securing a fixed income for the Company was never its aim: the subsidy was the price of the troops, and when a ruler could not pay it, territory was taken instead. So (c) is the statement that does not apply.
- ✓ (c) The money an ally paid was the cost of maintaining the British contingent stationed with it, not a revenue for the Company. NCERT notes that if the ruler failed to pay, part of his territory was taken away as a penalty; the object was control, not a steady income.
- ✗ (a) This did apply: the ally had to provide the resources for maintaining the British armed contingent stationed in its territory, which gave the Company a large army at Indian expense.
- ✗ (b) This did apply: NCERT says the British Resident was installed to protect rulers against internal or external threats, and Britannica names Napoleon's Egyptian expedition of 1798-99, which created a new French threat to India, among the immediate causes of the Company's drive towards paramountcy in Wellesley's time.
- ✗ (d) This did apply: an ally could not negotiate with other rulers or go to war without British permission and had to accept a Resident, and NCERT says the system effectively transferred real power to the British, which placed British power above the Indian states.
Remember · Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance: British troops in the ally's state, paid for by the ally (territory taken if unpaid); foreign relations only through the British, no wars without the Company's consent; protection against external threats. Its aims were military and political, not revenue.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part III, Chapter 2 “(c) The ally would have to provide the resources for maintaining this contingent. (d) The ally could enter into agreements with other rulers or engage in warfare only with the permission of the British.”
- NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Chapter 4 “Another stratagem (known as 'subsidiary alliance') was to install a British 'Resident' in the courts of Indian rulers to protect them against internal or external threats; in exchange, they would have to maintain British troops at their own expense and conduct foreign relations only through the British.”
- NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Chapter 4 “While appearing to preserve the sovereignty of princely states, the system effectively transferred real power to the British while burdening Indian rulers with the costs of their own subjugation!”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: India, The ascent to paramountcy ↗ · reference work “A new French threat to India emerged, this time overland, with Napoleon I’s Egyptian expedition of 1798–99.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·