Indian National Congress

• The Indian National Union was formed in 1884 AD by A.O. Hume.
• He called for a conference in Pune in December 1885 AD.
• The conference venue was shifted to Bombay.
• The leaders decided to rename the Indian National Union as the Indian National Congress.
• The first session of the Indian National Congress was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay under the presidentship of W.C. Bannerji.
• It was attended by 72 delegates from all over India.
• Lord Dufferin was the Viceroy of India during the foundation of INC.
• The first two decades of INC are described in history as those of moderate demands and a sense of confidence in British justice and generosity.
• Indian Council Act in 1892 AD allowed some members to be indirectly elected by Indians.

Indian University Act of 1904

• Indian Universities Act was passed in 1904 during the time of Lord Curzon.
• It was formed on the recommendations of Rayleigh commission.
• Under the act
• Universities were to give more attention to study and research
• the number of fellows of a university and their period in the office was reduced
• Five lakh rupees were to be sanctioned per annum for five years

Moderates of INC

• The national leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozshah Mehta, D.E. Wacha, W.C. Bonnerjea, S.N. Banerjea who dominated the Congress policies during the early period (1885-1905) were staunch believers in ‘liberalism’ and ‘moderate’ politics and came to be labeled as Moderates.
• The moderate political activity involved constitutional agitation within the confines of the law and showed a slow but orderly political progress.
• The Moderates believed that the British basically wanted to be just to the Indians but were not aware of the real conditions.
• Methods of Moderates
• Their main demands were –

1. Holding of Indian Civil Services examination simultaneously in England and India.
2. Wider employment of Indians in the higher grades of administrative services.
3. Spread of primary education among the masses.
4. By the beginning of the 20th century, they demanded Swaraj (self-rule) within the British Empire similar to the self-governing colonies in Canada and Australia.
5. Reduction of military expenditure.
6. Separation of judiciary from the executive.

Servants of India Society

• It was established by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
• It was formed with the objective of promoting social and human development through education, healthcare, sanitation, etc.
• It was also aimed at eradicating untouchability, discrimination, alcoholism, poverty, oppression of women like social evils.
• Apart from Gokhle, the other members of the organization were Surendra Nath Banerjee, Natesh Appaji Dravid, Gopal Krishna Deodhar, etc. 

Indian Parliamentary Committee 1893

• In 1893, Sir William Wedderburn entered the British Parliament as a liberal member.
• Sir William Wedderburn was a member of the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure in 1895.
• Sir William Wedderburn was the chairman (1893-1900) of the “Indian Parliamentary Committee” that founded in 1893.
• Sir William Wedderburn entered as a liberal member and sought to voice India's grievances in the House.
• In 1893, Sir William Wedderburn and W. S. Caine formed the “Indian Parliamentary Committee” with Dadabhai Naoroji and other Indian sympathizers.
• The purpose of the Indian Parliamentary Committee is to agitate for Indian political reforms in the House of Commons.